march exchange from smash

this was the march exchange envelope from smash. very pretty - and the exploding head was my bonus. :-)

smash girl does it again

smash girl made me laugh out loud. this came after a few of my posts referring to my head exploding.

in a few days, i will have some posts that say *crunch time* where i explain what is going on.

i actually cropped this one, but have no idea where the image is. computers will let you work with photos, but then they hide the image that is fixed and you can only find the original image.

and there will be another exploding head envelope in a couple days.

from jean r

jean used the flip side of business envelopes. the center of the flower comes from the ad stuff that comes inside the envelopes. does anyone ever read junk mail? i suspect it is all used for art projects.

thanks, jean.

from ruth

this arrived from my penpal, ruth. she used sharpies, not one of her go-to tools. she is very accomplished with the pointy nibs. it's a fun idea - wish i had more spare time.

thank you, ruth.

re-do for lilli

the first envelope i did for lilli for the march exchange came straight back to my house - with no reason. so i put it inside this envelope and hope the address is more p.o. friendly.

quick ribbon writing with a bolder than usual marker and a wispier than usual color-in (dry pointed brush marker)

eric's birthday - presents, stamps, bears

the one in the upper left contained 10 envelopes with insufficient postage to travel to france on their own. when i arrived at the post office, natalie, the best postal worker ever, admired all the envelopes - because i left the outer envelope unsealed so she could look at them.  when i told her to just put a meter strip on the outer envelope...she said -no, we have to find some good stamps - and she chose the ones pictured below...a perfect choice. i hope eric sends me a scan with the stamps because they looked great. i'm sorry that i did not take scans of these envelopes. i thought the photos would turn out better. they were really fun envelopes.

off topic - boglarka nadi

yikes - this is some amazing scrolly-doodles. i wonder if she does them by hand or by computer. i'd love to do some by hand.

lots more to see at her behance site
scroll to the bottom to find other categories

https://www.behance.net/gallery/gvn-Fkg/6085919

in this category, she is clearly doing it all by hand
so cool

https://www.behance.net/gallery/1202479/Calligraphic-poems

eric's birthday banner

at least one other person sent eric 50 envelopes. as of march 21st, i have sent 40. these are postcards that all went in one envelope with instructions for how to make them into a banner, if he needs a banner for his big birthday bash. i did not take scans of them as i was running out of time. if eric scans all of them, i will post them to my blog. maybe. i like this idea and will probably do it again some time, when i am not so pressed for time.

from rehj

this is from november. it's too bad you can't see the really subtle shimmer that she hand painted on the vegetables. it's very pretty.
i think the addressing is a font - but it's pretty convincing.

the stamps are so perfect and big thank you to the p.o. for not scribbling on that one stamp.
the cancel looks pretty.

thanks rehj.

6 more curly exchange envelopes

 these were the last 6 envelopes for the march exchange. after doing this style on some leftover envelopes that had pink guidelines (one of them, had added flowers that i just loved) i thought i would use up some of these envelopes.

after i did the names, and chose stamps (from my use-these-up-asap pile) i did not like the idea of adding flowers so, i went with various colored dots, double lines, white lines, silver lines, and colored pencil.

i'm not sure that any one option jumps out as my favorite. this style is so versatile, i think it will go in my section of exemplars that i plan on keeping in one place called: tried and true. i'm pretty sure i could enjoy this style with any name....

smash - (march-ex)

this one was better after i added a lot more colored pencil - but ran out of time to rescan.

sorry.

if you do not have nice colored pencils - keep them on your dream list. they work.

i want to turn this into something culinary.....

miss cathy and jean r (march-ex)

more parabolas.

using up stamps.

i'll add something since this seems like same-old, same-old.

FC (i'm tired of typing out faber castell) marker with colored pencil.

white gel pen address.

using up stamps.

eduardo munez project

if you google eduardo munez, you will find a website and blog where they asked for mail art that will appear in a film.

i missed the deadline, then they extended it, and i finally had 3 minutes to kill, so i did this.

another way to get to the project is to click on the link below to envelope100.blogspot.com

and finnbadger has a link to the project. you can also see some fun envelopes that finn sent.

ooops

if you saw the post for the may exchange - it was an accident
i did not mean to post it today
it will reappear on may 2nd
sorry for the confusion

off topic - brett stenson

this lettering popped out at me. it's by brett stenson and he says it was influenced by czech and russian lettering. brett is a designer in portland and his work is rugged and out doorsy. a lot of the hand lettering is based on fonts which is one of my favorite ways to play with lettering. he has a company name of varado.

http://varado.co/index/

if i have time, i will invent my version of the rest of the alphabet to go with these 9 letters.

crunch time

there was a specific stamp in mind for this one - it was from a series - i think they were the black and white stamps about manufacturing. another project in the never-to-be-finished-morgue. although, maybe there should be a celebratory place. maybe unfinished things are just as noble/enlightened/illustrious/satisfying. maybe finishing things is completely over-rated.

your thoughts?

lilli's march exchange

written a while back:

this one will be very different when it arrives because it needs a $1.20 stamp. the new circular moon stamp will look nice. i goofed the line heading into the first l - so i will probably write a note to lilli to cover up the goof. added a ton of other stuff.

later note:

i think this envelope was returned to me and i think i put it in another envelope and remailed it

my short term memory is sketchy at best. i don't think it is clinical - just situational - seems like spring is always a time of everyone bursting forth with blossoms and chaos...after hibernating.

onward

gloria - (march-ex)

i kept thinking this needed more. i imagine i will add colored pencil but doubt i will have time to rescan before sending.

faber castell big brush marker in white and some old galaxy markers.

the address was written tiny above the horizontal lines.

florence (march-ex)

tone on tone with the faber castell big brush markers. they have a white, which is very nice. i outlined it with white gel pen.

after all the posts about how i do not fill up all the space - i have been on a fill up all the space binge....go figure.

cathy's pink rose (march-ex)

the stamp looked so pretty on the pale gray envelope. i lapsed into my parabola lettering. sorry. the whole filing system of my scans and photos is sending me over the edge. i'd ask for help, but, everyone who lives in des moines is no longer taking my calls and i rather doubt any of you out of towners want to make a house call. not to complain or anything...i think this is my only problem. 

also, the way blogger won't put the image in the top right corner. that's a problem. other than those two items, not a care in the world.

deirdre - (march-ex)

this style came from the bigunorganizedpilethat maybecomemytombstone. or it might fall on me and crush me some day.

i was looking for styles to try my new faber castell big brush markers that jan gave me, and then she borrowed, and then she gave them back along with MORE. so i was in marker intoxication for a few days. the idaho stamp is not quite right, but the other two are splendid. the part where i tidy up my drawer full of stamps is a very good thing.

welcome to the exchange, deirdre. i love saying your name. but, i must confess that every single time i write it, i have to stop and say the little jingle: i before e except after c and d and there are so many exceptions my head is going to explode.

unfinished feb exchange

it took me forever to come up with an idea for the february exchange. this started with chunky brush marker. i added some outlining. did some layering. pondered filling in the *counters* (official name of an enclosed space in a letter) this is not finished....

the street address and zip will go in orange above the blue jay.

off topic - dave foster

i know i said i was going to stop with australian artists from the jacky winter group but i saw this guy and WOW he has some of the best calligraphy and i just had to include him.

please take a moment to scan through his stuff if you are into calligraphy. if not...get back to what you are supposed to be doing.

http://www.jackywinter.com/artists/dave-foster

from lilli

there is a new stealworthy technique on this one from lilli. the letters of the name are filled in with fine lines (might be G-Tecs)  those lines are colors from the stamp. it reads as texture. then, she repeated the swoosh from the stamp - turning it in a different direction.

very nice, lilli. wilma and i love those stamps. they are year of the monkey. i love that they are square. we don't get very many square stamps.

from hemmy

this was the first time hemmy exchanged. the enclosed card mentioned that she has a new baby boy. so, i'm not sure she will have much time for exchanges for a couple years, but this was a great start.

thanks so much for participating.

from amy g

this is a fun envelope from another first time exchanger, amy g. i like the arrangement of the elements and how amy. black-white-red is always nice and the dot of green on the two stamps is just perfect. i even like how both paul and the duck are looking west...

thanks for participating amy



I want to make sure I have all the names for people who want to exchange. These people sent emails - after I posted my problem with email:

Chuck, Rachael, Cathy-O, Lynne-S, Deirdre, Carroll-D, Thomas

These people are also on the list:

Amy G, Amy S, Alison, Phillip, Florence, Susan, Jean R, Janice B

If you are not on either list - please send your info to

jmwilson411@yahoo.com

name

address

city/state/zip

country

email

5 or 10 envelopes

Today is the last day to sign up.
I will send the lists on Friday - the 8th.
Thanks