air mail envelope

here is a website with templates to print and make your own airmail envelopes

http://www.scribd.com/doc/98062148/Air-Mail-Envelope-Monarch-Plain

At the park

natalie's mail truck photo

fun day at the p.o. yesterday. i was standing in a long line and someone noticed the two envelopes that are on display. natalie pointed to me and said, "the artist is here today." everyone turned and looked. i did my very best princess wave. then i eyed the empty display case at the end of the lobby and wondered, "do you suppose they would let me put up a display of envelopes?" now i am pondering *flooding* them with mail. i suppose if all y'all want to join in the fun, you could send mail to

natalie @ the front desk
1165 2nd street
des moines, ia 50318

and when i say, yesterday - it was actually july 23rd. i am cranking out my posts ahead of time because the humidity is unbearable and i bought a one way ticket to toronto. any scribes in toronto want to meet me at the park on victoria memorial park on wellington and portland? i'll have sidewalk chalk.

house of illustration

i do not recall if i have mentioned the house of illustration and their mail art exhibit. this link goes to a twitter account and if you know how twitter works, you can probably see more.

https://twitter.com/illustrationHQ/status/597403305451593728

this is their website, but i do not see any mention of the exhibit. a while back they had many nice envelopes posted, but they seem to be gone. maybe you can find them on twitter...
the internet options are way too complicated for me.

can this one be saved?

this one has been in my stack of unfinished. i thought if i put one of my favorite stamps on it, i would suddenly like it. wrong. now i am just annoyed that i wasted such a pretty stamp. i've been making quite a few duds lately. but they are useful in that i can use them to mail uber-favorites that i have been liking too much to even mail. as long as the uber-favorite is smaller than the dud.


a few days later i added the pitcher, cut out of the edge of the joplin stamps. i also added that pencil line and will ink it if i find a 005 pen. it didn't reach favorite status, but it's not my least favorite.

pinterest link

once again, i found something on pinterest that is beyond stealworthy. if you had to mail a large envelope, you could draw a small one and then fill up the space with additional thoughts.

this seems to be something about privacy - maybe something that should concern me. but i am old. i'll be dust before any of these issues get sorted out.

here is the link to the original. hope it's ok to repost it. if anyone wants me to remove it, i will be happy to do so.

https://twitter.com/eleanorbloom/status/497938495764066304/photo/1

from me to you - smash

these markers do not scan.
original looks better than scan.
only up side to being a pen and marker hoarder is that you can easily make any envelope fun, just by using a bunch of colors.
you don't have to have pretty penmanship.

kill some hours

http://luc.devroye.org/fonts-50025.html

this is a lousy image - once again from pinterest and claims to be from luc.devroye.org - which is black hope of wonderfulness.

i'm just posting it because it gives the general idea for how to make animals into alphabets. mostly the 4 legged animals....they are not really literal, but they work

and getta-loada-this, smash...remember your kitchen utensil envelope?

you can see them better at the link

jack's zig zag

using up stamps and envelopes.
picking idea off stamp at random.
in a hurry.

public domain lettering books

https://archive.org/stream/lettering00stev#page/38/mode/2up

a mother lode of vintage alphabets. i could probably spend a month pulling ideas out of this book.

https://archive.org/details/SpeedballTextBook

the 16th edition of the speedball textbook is also available.

in addition to many fonts, it has how-to-draw-a-turkey and great vintage layouts.

if you want to surf around archive.org, you can find all kinds of great stuff. or you may go back to your envelopes.

papered thoughts blog

this was on pinterest and it led to this blog

http://paperedthoughts.blogspot.com/

the blogger, rin dawson, clearly states that she wants written permission before reposting anything from her blog, so i tried to email, but you had to go through outlook and i don't know how to do that, so, hey, rin, is it ok if i give my peeps a link to your blog? if not, i will happily delete this image.

it is a clever idea. i did not take time to look further on her blog for other ideas. if you search paperedthoughts on pinterest, you'll find a few more.

make an envelope

a while back, someone asked for instructions on how to make envelopes. here is one way, starting with a square.

if you are handy with scissors or a craft knife, you can remove the tiny triangles on either side of the top flap.

this is where i found the directions
http://www.makingfriends.com/scouts/swap_envelope.htm

it is for mini envelopes, but you can make them any size you want and add glue where you think it needs to be glued. or use narrow double face tape.

another way to make envelopes is to carefully pull an envelope apart and use it for a pattern.

smash's flower exchange

this would make the top ten list of favorites for this year.
love it!!!!

i borrowed it (along with a whole stack of exchange envelopes) from jan to scan
do you think she will miss it if i don't return it?

chuck k. and finnbadger

i like the little black borders with silver rivets on chuck k's envelope and the black edging. i always like that edging and always forget to do it.

and the bottom envelope is from finnbadger. there was a previous post with this design used on envelope for jan and jean. wilma has great letters for this style. i love how the L and M curl together.

thanks guys for participating in the exchanges.

jack and chuck exchange

another nice pair of exchange envelopes.
from guys.
bold.
nice.
thanks.

jan's two squares

jan has a nice chuckle when she laughs and i got to hear it when i was telling her all the things i liked about the top envelope...including the way she handlettered the *To*

*chuckle-chuckle* she thought i was aware that she did not do hand lettering. it is a rubber stamp.

then i picked up the other one
*duh*

jan and i were having show and tell. we really should start video taping our conversations.

ok - next post is the one that is not chatty.

carol and carroll - exchangers

i thought these two would be fun to pair because they are both summery and painterly and they are done by carol and carroll.

thanks to both of you for participating in the exchange.

please excuse the brevity of my remarks. i am trying to post 3 or 4 weeks all in one sitting and i'm running out of words. it's been a wild summer and i have some trips coming up so i have to get all the posts lined up.

please note....i am going on trips. they are not vacations and there will be nothing leisurely about them. if i ever get a vacation i'll be sure to let all y'all know. i suspect my spa time doesn't start until lucifer and st. peter are debating over who gets me...or more likely, who gets stuck with me.

ok, these remarks aren't exactly brief, but the next one will be because it is after 8 pm (that's 2am in jean-time)

cindy's peacock

cindy said she is a flannery o'connor fanatic. i enjoyed reading all about o'connor's love of peacocks on the wiki-site.

this scan shows the envelope with the flap open so you can see the stamp that is on the back. it is from thailand. and there was a gorgeous peacock feather patterned lining inside the envelope.

thanks so much for participating in the exchange - and contributing to the peacock series. 

rehj's exchange envelope

i always liked this stamp and this is a nice interpretation of the design. the scan may not show the detail enough to see that it is made with some kind of cutting machine, like a Cricuit (sp?) you can program images and fonts and the machine will cut them out. i'm not sure how you go about adhering them. maybe they will cut on adhesive paper. but, this would have been about an 8 hour envelope if someone had tried to draw those letters and then fill it all in. and it would have been beyond challenging to make the painted surface even. i suppose there are some markers that would work, but then you have the problem of the detail. markers that fill nicely are usually bleedy.

thanks for participating in the exchange, rehj.

exchange envelopes from karen

it's fun to see these two together. karen has the essential information right-reading, and the city and state sideways. on wilmas, the upsidedown apt number threw them for a loop. i like the variation in how they are arranged and where the stamp fit in. i imagine this was a fun series to do.

thanks for participating in the exchange, karen.

smash's exchange envelopes

these were for the july exchange. notice the way she stair-stepped the addresses. on jan's, the lines indent and on wilma's the lines *out*dent.

they both fit very nicely with the larger lettering. so, beginners, take note....subtle details on how you arrange the elements on the envelope are important.

of course, if you just want to fling things carelessly, i'm fine with that. i don't want anyone stressing over details. it's just nice to be aware of your options. trust me, i nitpick the envelopes...and then the rest of my life is a whole lotta careless flinging.

jill and kate exchange

i grouped these two because one fills up all the space and the other leaves a lot of open space. it's nice to see that both ends of the spectrum are good choices.

also, note the way the top one went through the  canceller and missed all the stamps - but really added nicely to the design. then a postal worker decided on fairly neat, diagonal lines.

thanks to jill and kate for participating in the exchanges.

russian mail art

this is not exactly an envelope, but, it made the blog because i love the colors and the overall design.CON-trast.
big stuff/little stuff.
a winning combination.

Homage to Ray Johnson is the title. he is the father of modern mail art. there is a film about his life called How to Draw a Bunny. this is what his bunnies looked like.

i like the postal cancellation whiskers. stealworthy.

janet's cherries

these are really pretty. janet participated in the exchange. it's fun to see the envelope both ways. one with more white space, the other with some fun rubber stamping. i like both equally. that's the fun of doing exchanges. you can experiment with variations on a theme.

thank you for participating, janet.

a blog + miss cathy's 3 birds

https://yourpostalblog.wordpress.com/
 i have been thoroughly enjoying the blog posts from the postal blog. you might want to check it out

and i thoroughly enjoyed seeing this 3 bird exchange envelope from cathy to jan. i love those stamps. the lettering is very interesting...maybe cathy will tell us where it came from.

thanks for participating in the exchange.

august exchange

jan has settled into a well organized routine of running a monthly mail art exchange. she is getting good feedback from the participants, so our plan for now is to continue with a monthly exchange. the next sign up starts today.

Sign up by August 12
Jan will send lists by August 15
Mail your envelopes by August 31

Beginners are welcome. Don't be intimidated. Calligraphy, including wonky unusual lettering is welcome,  but not required. Rubber stampers are welcome. Digital art and collage is welcome.

You do not need to enclose anything. A note is optional. If you prefer, just write *empty* on the back of the envelope.

You send to 5 people, and receive from 5 people, but maybe not the same 5. She mixes it up a little.
You may request 10 names, and if enough people sign up, you will send 10 and receive 10.

Send the following to Jan at  janhardt (at) mchsi  (dot) com

name
address
city-state-zip code- country
your email

barney google - kathy

i forgot what i called this style of writing. currently, i am just using up stamps as fast as possible. i need a grief counselor to help me when i part with stamps like this. luckily, they are going to a good home. this one, will go in a larger envelope as the stamp is insufficient.

i used a silver gel pen to mimic some of the cool tiny lines on the cartoon. dang. i wish they had gone to forever a long time ago.

smashing opportunities

on a rainy staurday in april, i was getting a lot done, then during a break i decided to surf through the new font section on dafont.com
i found
DK Dortmunder Ecke

the designer is david kerkfoff
from the netherlands and has a ton of fonts. i wrote all the characters in the pangram sentence
so, you can give them a try.
i forgot to finish the K, so it is after the word quickly.

there are a gazillion ways to finish this envelope....when i finish it, i will probably do a phone posting.

are these repeats?

 my filing system is a little hit-or-miss and i can't figure out why these are not in their folder. maybe i forgot to post them. if not, my apologies.

if anyone wants to tell me which ones are repeats, i will delete them.

thanks

well, i know the top one is scheduled to appear tomorrow. my schedule of blog posting is a complete mess. sorry. my excuses are stellar, but also boring, so i will spare you. making envelopes is my antidote to chaos, so the chaos of daily life is the inspiration. hopefully all y'all are using ideas to do your own puttering about as an antidote to either chaos or boredom.

i read a great article about how having everything in balance might sound like a good idea but you actually get better ideas when you are unbalanced. that was a comforting thought.

the next article was how being mindless was just as rewarding as being mindful. once again, i was very comforted, since i am a solid 50-50 on my mindfulness.

memory lane - outlined dubosch

i have not done any DuBosch Jubilee in a while. but, thanks to all my organizing, i know exactly where the exemplars are. this was in the stack of unfinished. it is probably the only time i have laboriously outlined jubilee. and probably the last time too. very fussy work. but, if you have way too much time on your hands, it will keep you occupied. pick a name like elizabeth wellington walsh. i don't know what her middle name is, just pick something long. now i am wondering which of my penpals has the longest name. probably stella papadopoulos. too bad she lives in canada. the extra postage puts a damper on the mail.

this just in - bonus coffeetime post

having noon coffee

saw this whilst surfing

http://www.snailmail-ideas.com/

yikes, there's a ton of stuff

then i saw this on pinterest

100 envelope template ideas

http://melstampz.blogspot.com/2008/07/5-12-inch-square-envelope-template-lots.html

and now i have to go back to a rush job i agreed to do. it is the 4th wedding for this family. they deserve a blue ribbon.

eric and lilli - exchange envelopes

eric composes his designs on the computer. jan and i agreed that we wish we had the skills to make digital designs....but, we'll be resisting the temptation to go further. we also agreed that we can't figure out how to use iPods. it is fun to have a techno-not-savy buddy.
but i digress. i included lilli's on this page because i love the adorable little dragonflies on the illustration. once again, canada has  great stamps.

thanks to eric and lilli for participating in the exchanges.

jackie's exchange landscapes

i have scans of all the envelopes jackie did
each is unique and quite lovely. i think they are watercolor...and all i know about watercolor is that i know nothing about watercolor....except that it is difficult to do good watercolor. it's a lot like brain surgery. i can never make worthwhile comments about brain surgery or watercolor...and increasingly anything else. but i sure as heck know pretty when i see it.

jackie can leave a comment and tell us if it is something other than watercolor.

thank you for participating in the exchange

dead end online

Pinterest is now sending me things. i don't have to go looking for things, they seem to have a read-your-mind function and send things to my account that they think i will like. frequently, it is mail off of my own blog. but sometimes it is something like this. it has a watermark, so i suppose you can go to artpostal.com and see what you find. i have been pretty on-the-wagon with my surfing addiction and i am not going there. :-)

i will, however, be sending some bird-on-wire mail one of these days.

bonus post and giveaway

this is the stack of mail i finished up yesterday from my 3 boxes of unfinished envelopes. today is my deadline to clear out all of the unfinished business. i will be throwing away about 50 envelopes unless there is someone out there who wants them. some have first names, some have first and last names and some have just decorative elements. if you want an envelope full of junk, email me at jmwilson411  -at-  yahoo  -dot- com   thank you for helping me tidy up and launch my new improved version of the blog. THANK YOU, i have my volunteers to adopt the orphan envelopes.

don't miss today's post which is gorgeous and appears right below this one.

finn's exchange trees

finnbadger was inspired to make some trees. these are wonderful. thanks for participating in the exchange.

he made good use of the 2-ounce stamps. you need extra postage when you address envelopes in the portrait orientation.

once again, i am proud of my grasshopper who stumbled across my blog and had no idea that he would become an international mail artist.

and thanks to chuck for sending this font a while back.

Sorry, Karen

I just found these buried in my stacks and had not even opened them. They are so pretty. Thank you.

fun fact + most viewed

Most Subterranean Facility — Stamp Fulfillment Services, located in Kansas City, MO, is located in a limestone cave 150 feet under-ground. It is the Postal Service’s only facility located in such an under-ground environment. The consistent, year-round temperatures and humidity levels in the caves allow the stamps to be maintained in mint-quality condition. The underground facility also keeps the inventory and employees safe from snow, flooding, winds and tornadic activity common in the Midwest.

http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-facts/fun-facts.htm

here is the envelope that is the [most viewed] of all the envelopes on my blog. there are a ton of stats when you go to the inner sanctum of the blog.

 i can't imagine why this is such a popular envelope. i see it on Pinterest all the time. it's cute. but i wouldn't exactly call it brilliant. drawing white lines across darker strokes is still one of my go-to techniques.

Alan Blackman Exhibit - opens today

http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=1020507701

i have blogged about Alan Blackman previously. if you will be in San Francisco July 26 - Oct 11
you might want to see an exhibit of his letters to himself. 40 years of sending mail to himself. I first saw his envelopes 20 years ago and they were a huge inspiration.

http://alanblackman.com/pages/letters.html
or you can view them on his website.
there is a lot to look at besides envelopes. just backtrack to the home page and surf around.

another article about the exhibit
that leads to a blog that looks very interesting...
http://www.socialcorrespondence.com/letters/letters-to-myself-alan-blackman/
thanks to elizabeth for sending this link.

i'm not kidding, if i just followed all the links i find, i would be busy 14/7 (it takes 10 hours to sleep and eat).
dang.
onward.

uncial annoys scarlet

uncial annoy sscarlet. so i will be tossing out non-traditional versions. it would have been fun to do a detailed rendering of the pattern on the stamp and add some gold tassels.

pickle pie from elizabeth

elizabeth was surfing and ran across a font called picklepie. she made her version on an envelope to me. my first thought was to cross polinate it with the parabolas

i had no stamps in mind for the one to alex and it is a challenge to find $1.20 in stamps that look good together.

thanks for the inspiration, elizabeth. while this is just showing up on the blog today, i wrote this on june 7th which was at the height of the peacock binge. or depth, depending on how you feel about that particular binge.