March from Paula and Jean to Caroline - Paper sculpture

 

Following my suggestion to send flowery designs to Caroline, Paula came up with a good idea. My idea was to copy one of my favorite envelopes from someone who sent me a Royal Copenhagen inspired envelope. My version did not please me - but it was a one off - so I'm sure I could do better if I took the time. I think Caroline has Royal Copenhagen dishes. As I list off all of her aesthetic skills, I must include anything relating to food, plating, table setting, flower arranging - from tea time to a grand event. 

***

Since giant cardboard sculpture is not going to happen for me - here is something that is totally within my realm.... paper sculpture. So many sizes - so many different directions - so intriguing. Trust me, if you like paper - and have a few minutes to surf - this is a fun one.

LINK to Ann Weber sculpture

It was hard to choose just one image. This one shows the detail as well as the scale. This could inspire anything from jewelry to a bas-relief that covered an entire wall.....

March to Caroline from Patty - Cardboard

 

Lovely blue and white design from Patty - and it goes nicely with the stamp. I think this might be a riff on an idea from The Postman's Knock. Lindsey has a ton of fun ideas. I did not take time to go look at the idea that I think I'd find on her site - but I think Patty did her own interpretation - which is what I often recommend - and now I am tempted to do my version.

***

Making things out of cardboard has come up a few times on the blog. Recently a friend of mine mentioned that her grandson in Minneapolis goes to Cardboard Camp. I Googled it and was awestruck at how cool it is. It leans towards boys building castles and armor and weapons - and that's a hard lean. I can see how and why it leans that way - and it's too bad that there is not an equivalent genre of *play* for the girls. I've been wracking my brain for what kind of cardboard construction would be welcoming to girls - and the only thing I could think of was for girls to build replicas of the Barbie Houses - which is not a bad idea at all. But - if anyone is going to launch Barbie Camp - it's going to have to be Mattel - and I doubt they'd be interested.

LINK to Cardboard camp IG

LINK to website

Interesting to note that in addition to Minneapolis, there are camps in New Orleans and Helena, Montana. It appears that the one in Helena is affiliated with their art museum.

March to Caroline from Grace - Fashion report

 

Grace is a professional envelope addresser. Is there a more official name? If not, there should be. Seems odd that this is the first time I have wondered about a job title considering the number of years I addressed envelopes for hire. I guess we call ourselves calligraphers. Sometimes I would write *scribe* when filling out forms that asked for an occupation. 

The card is steal-worthy. 

***

From time to time I do fashion reports which is absurd coming from me because my two favorite pairs of pants (no - make that three) are hand-me-ups from my boys. I did see an article that deck shoes (Sperry topsiders) are going to be hot this season. I have two pair that I have been saving for special occasions. That is also absurd, since deck shoes are clearly not special occasion shoes.

I first met Caroline when I was engaged to MrWilson and our paths crossed at prenuptial parties for many of MrWilson's friends. Des Moines is small townish in that a lot of families are 3rd and 4th generation in the older part of town. I always enjoyed seeing what Caroline was wearing and one time she wore a white T-shirt with a jean skirt to a prenuptial party. It was an unexpected choice. The t-shirt had a grid of 9 hearts on the front - so that made it appropriate - plus it was outside in the summertime. I think she could get away with pushing the envelope because she was stylish. Even at 97 I've noticed how cute her clothes are.

March to Caroline from Leslie - POV

 

Leslie's envelope for Caroline is a perfect sentiment. Caroline has been one of those people who provided a lot of sunshine and rainbows to many people. She was gifted at so many aesthetic things. With her close friends, she had a polite way of suggesting alternative room arrangements - and her close friends were happy to have Caroline rearrange the furniture. Her suggestions were always improvements. As word got around - and more people were calling her to come look at their rooms and make suggestions, she ended up turning it into a business. It wasn't full service interior design - she just offered suggestions to people who preferred to execute the ideas on their own. To me, it was a unique idea for a business - and it certainly spread sunshine - because there are plenty of people who don't have a big budget for interior design - but they need some help pulling things together and choosing colors.

***

Back on April 20th I was jabbering about POV and wondering if it meant *point of view* and also wondering if it was a trendy term - and wondered if I was up on that trend if it was a trend - and then I thought that as *we* get older it gets harder to keep track of trends.

I've been re-watching some of the old Project Runway programs and they talk about point of view quite often. I always enjoyed the program because it involved an assignment (design challenge) and the conversation included all the things I remembered from design classes. I've been surprised that while I recall some of the people, I had completely forgotten the challenges and what they made. 

***

This just in - from Clover - a new online magazine for stamp collectors.

LINK to StampED magazine

March to Caroline from Christy and Sharon - penmanship

 

Christy bounced the eggs out of the basket - which is a fun way to pull a design element off the stamp. I especially like the way she wrote Caroline in script over the top of the block lettered Caroline. I shall be appropriating this idea (hopefully I'll r.e.m.e.m.b.e.r.) I know how to stack two names - the part I never thought about was stacking the same name.

Sharon went with the Easter egg theme as well - the little chicks on the envelope are checking out the crane on the stamp.

***

The USPS has *Informed Delivery* where they will send you an email with scans of the mail that is arriving. On April 10, I was anticipating maybe one or two exchange envelopes - since there are usually a few that arrive before the middle of the month. Instead I found this:

I cropped it - to make the image larger. I also did a search for the Elliotts at 420 49th - which is 5 blocks west of me. This is perplexing penmanship. Clearly, the person has an interest in *flair* which we see on the T. That *th* thing after the 49 is not really anything - just a squiggle - but it relates to the flair at the beginning.

Obviously - the way the *th* touches the 9 - the scanner thought it was a 4. Perhaps the carrier will notice it and not deliver it to my house. My son who did some delivering when he first *went postal* says that they are supposed to flip through the stack of mail as they walk from house to house and confirm that the sorting has been done correctly. But, I can't imagine someone double checking every piece of mail.

Am I tempted to sit on the front steps all day to make sure I greet my carrier and see whether it makes it all the way to my house. Yes - tempted - but will not actually do that.

Why is the S in Elliotts so large? Why is the i so small? The dot is larger than the stroke. And the i in Moines is just the dot. And look at the 2s - odd little squiggle in the 420 and a mutant symbol on the zip - as if that urge to flourish or add some flair kicks in at the end.

They used script on the The and the rest is manuscript printing. I'm guessing it was written by a women who learned cursive in the 90s. 

Perhaps there will be more clues on the flip side of the envelope when it arrives. Perhaps I will rein myself in and get something accomplished today. The weeds are taunting me.

March to Caroline from Irene - Mochii Donut

 Here we have two bluebirds of happiness. Ironically, the morning Far Side cartoon this morning was the one where a person was just waking up and was finding the Chicken of Depression on his windowsill. Does anyone even mention the bluebird of happiness anymore. Lucky for all of us I am not going to do a search. I do not have an add-on today and I do not want to fill this up with idle chit-chat - so we will keep it short and sweet.

Full disclosure - my *system* for pre-writing these posts is glitchy. 

***

Real time add-on - I have temporarily relocated to Chicago for the last week of school and then I will fly back to Iowa with the grandkids for our fifth year of *NannaCamp.* I was somewhat concerned when I flew in and landed at O'Hare and had forgotten to bring a snack for the Uber portion of the trip. All of the food options are now self checkout with screens - and you have to know how to interface with machines and while they look like machines/computers/touchscreens - they are actually aliens from other planets and they are here to weed out the old people - because no matter what buttons we push - things don't work. It started with the gas pumps and now they are everywhere - aliens that look like machines with buttons and nothing works. Each one works at confusing the transaction so that the old person will just go home and stay there. So, I quieted my stomach with a big drink of water and forged ahead.

Day two. Granddaughter and Nanna decide to stay home instead of going to grandson's baseball game. Then we decided to go to the new shop just around the corner, Mochii Donut. They have beverages with something called boba - I think. You guessed it - DIY ordering. Oh, no, says Nanna. Alex (age 10) assures me that it is easy - and we'll be fine. She wants a smoothie without milk. Well - that's not computing. Nanna finally looks up on the big board - instead of following Alex as she randomly punches all the options on the alien/ordering device. Nanna spots something called a non-alcoholic mojito. That looks like a smoothie without milk. 

Good news - it is exactly what Alex has been looking for - bad news - it is literally around the corner from her house and now her parents will have to manage requests for trips to Mochi Donut. Good news - Alex and Nanna figured out how to pay at the DIY alien-posing-as-an-ordering-and-paying-device. The alien saw a young person and knew how to lure her into *the future.* 

March to Caroline from Christina - Spontaneous vs planning

 

Christina went with the blue+flowers theme - which looks nice on the kraft paper envelope. I like the cancels in the two corners, although that double-cancel over the owl is unfortunate. She did a very good job of adhering everything to the envelope. Nothing was coming undone.

***

I spotted this on John Steven's IG - calligraphile is his name on IG:

I kind of surprised myself. I was testing this new brush (not released yet), and wrote this Roman alphabet w/o any lines or layout. I know, sounds like a brag, but I think there is a freedom to this and with calligraphy, risk is necessary; to feel letters. In my whole career, I have experimented with spontaneous v. planning. Neither is better, but it keeps you awake to do things differently occasionally.

Jean's words: If you would like to see his page of awesomeness - LINK to John Stevens IG

I need to etch his words into the part of my brain that helps me with my envelope ideas:

Neither is better, but it keeps you awake to do things differently occasionally.

***

  The flip side of Christina's envelope is as much fun as the front.

Feb to Ming and Phillip - rogue post

My fool proof system is not fool proof. So we will call the random envelopes that didn't stay in their folders - rogues. I would not have noticed or found these - except Sharon asked me what the style of lettering was on the black envelope with white scroll tip. She thought it looked a little bit like foundational - which I can see.

It is no particular style - it is what I do when I feel like making consistent-ish letters with a nib but without looking at any exemplars. I use a few shapes from foundational and French Roundhand. I also have some branching that looks rather italic. The proportion of cap to lower case is a bit like italic. 

Anyone who has studied seriously or teaches would probably cringe at how mixed up the details are. Although, part of me likes the idea that it is simply how I write when I am writing and not calligraphing.

I used up my Roy Lichtenstein stamps because it was time to move on.  And Sharon's envelope is not here because I forgot to block her address and now I can't figure out where these images are located. <sigh>

 

March to Caroline from Janet - June Exchange Sign-up

This is a fun envelope from Janet to Caroline - in keeping with the flowers+blue suggestion. Janet has been following my other suggestion to make the address clear and easy for the scanners to read. Of course, when I cover up the street address it ends up looking rather odd. But, underneath is a very clear address.

Today through June 4th is the window to sign-up. 

If you participated in the May exchange - just shoot me an email that says: SIGN ME UP - 

and you will get your list on the 5th. 

Let me know if it is your [Birthday] month or if you are willing to be on [2 Lists].

This streamlined sign-up is only for people who signed up in May - as I will not dig back through old lists to find your information.

If you are an occasional exchanger - or a new exchanger - or took May off - then send the following info in this format:

Jane Doe

123 Oak Street

Ames, IA 50010

janedoe@aol.com

[Birthday]  [2 Lists]

If you are new to the exchange - CLICK HERE for exchange details
 

March to Caroline from Mia - pondering flowers

When I put Caroline on the list for March, I mentioned that she is very fond of blue and gardening - so this one is perfect for her.

Today, on the Instagram reels - Leslie posted a photo of 4 envelopes showing what a fun mail day it had been at her house on Monday. My Monday was also a fun mail day - and I received 6 envelopes. The odd thing was that there was only one in the USPS Informed Delivery email. I wonder why. I wonder if I will ever get around to making an appointment with the USPS to answer all my questions.

This envelope is from Mia in Canada. I do not have the envelopes here so we won't be guessing what medium she used. The bursts of color look like they were inspired by flowers - probably the most tried and true inspiration - which makes me wonder: Is it possible to make ugly flowers? 

A Google image search for *ugly flowers* provides quite a few photos of flowers that I would call exotic, but not ugly. If you add *line art* to your search for *ugly flowers* - there are some really nasty drawings - but the only thing that makes them nasty is that there is a human face positioned in the center of the flower. Imagine a creepy clown face in the center of a daisy. I do not recommend you waste any time looking at ugly flowers. I think we can agree that flowers are universally not-ugly.

 

March from Cathy to Caroline - Sierpinski triangle

 

It looks like Bister ink to me. That stamp looks like one from a long time ago. Did the USPS reissue some designs? Something to research. I am writing this on April 22 - adding an envelope to a post that was started a couple weeks ago. I see that I was pondering the *order of things.* I'll delete any chit chat about the *order of things* because we have freed ourselves of that burden. We are committed to the joy of dis-order IN MODERATION.

***

I'm writing this on April 7 - while I decide how to proceed with the order of things.

Something led me to the Sierpinski triangle. It's a fractal.  Some of the readers are into math - others are not. By the time I read this I might be in Chicago, collecting the grandkids for our annual trip to Iowa. They are old enough to fly alone but the 8 year old refused to do it. I had a bright idea that they could just buy tickets for *unaccompanied minors* and I would be on the same flight and we would pretend that we didn't know each other. It was a fun idea - but not $150 worth of fun. That's the charge for the airlines to take care of kids who are flying alone. It's a reasonable charge - but $150 will buy us a lot more fun once we get to Iowa.

The Sierpinski Triangle

LINK to YouTube video

and this LINK to the triangle on WIKI is a marvelous rabbit hole of fun words - like Arrowhead Construction of Sierpinski. Gasket.

I need to invent a shape named after me. How about the Jean Marie Vortex. Sorry - that's the caffeine writing.

March from Amy to Caroline - Tolstoy movie

In March, rather than have the exchange envelopes sent to me, I had them sent directly to Caroline who is 96 or 97. I first met her in 1979 and have also become friends with her daughter, Tracy, who is my age. Last year I put Tracy on the list and she was thrilled with the envelopes that arrived. I put her name on the list at my address and then gave her the whole stack of mail at once. For Caroline, I thought it would be more fun for the mail to arrive at her home. It was a big hit. 

Amy had a clever tie-in with the shamrock on the stamp and the nod to St. Patrick's Day. She had a nod to Easter on the inside - which I did not get photographed. Tracy brought the mail over to my house to photograph and I learned that I'm not good at photographing mail while I am talking about it with someone.

***

Something different with the add ons. I found a movie on Kanopy that looks interesting. I have not watched it and will use it for an add on. If I do watch it, I'll add on again and report whether or not it was to my liking. UPDATE: I started watching and it was painfully slow - I do not recommend it unless you are a fan of just looking at scenery and watching a woman look at scenery while hearing a voice-over of her reading the letters she has written to her husband.

This is the blurb that caught my eye: A Couple: Un Couple is a film about a long term relationship between Leo Tolstoy and is his wife, Sophia. They were married for 36 years, had 13 children, nine of whom survived. Each kept a diary. Although they lived together, in the same house, they wrote letters frequently to each other.

People who wrote letters to each other whilst living together. Reminds me of my house - but, the *letters* are my brief notes asking for signatures to confirm that the person has read the note. These started when the kids were teenagers. People were forever insisting that they had not been informed of things like date and time of family gatherings for holidays. I had to post a notice and put lines for people to sign that they had received the information about what the schedule was. I hesitate to report what the current *geriatric* version of this has become. At what age does one become geriatric? I guess that will be a topic for future discussion.

APR to Sharen, JeanR and Sharon (Jordan and Wes)

This one was not looking good at all - until I noticed the fun lettering along the edges of the sheet of stamps. I'm not sure I like the stamp overlapping a bit. Here is where I am very torn about planning vs poor planning. Sometimes the problems created by poor planning end up looking better than if it was all planned out. 

I tried to come up with some other ways to put grid designs over the Wes Wilson lettering and these are OK. I probably have 10 more stamps - so maybe I'll have another burst of ideas. I discovered that Wes Wilson lettering required planning - although, if I did 100 names - I bet I'd get to the point where I didn't need much planning. 

This looks like it might be one of his originals - just Google * Wes Wilson lettering * if you would like to see more.

 

APR to Irene -Bike video

 

The envelopes are getting redundant - but I can't stop myself from doing everybody's name in this style. On this one, I did not go around each stroke and smooth it because I used a broad edge marker and I rather liked the texture. I did sharpen up the corners. Maybe if I figure out a good stamp to go with this style there will be more variation.

***

I posted this one before I added that darker shade of whatever that color is. It's OK. 

***

Sorry. I've lapsed into something silly. It's only 3 minutes. 

REAL TIME COMMENT: There's something wrong with this link. I'll see if I can fix it

Silly video - Nope, I can't fix it - it just begins at the end - so, if you'd like, you can grab the slider thing and move it back to the beginning - sometimes technology tells us to just close our computers and go do something else.....

APR to Patty (Jordan) - Just like Christmas

Somehow, I forgot to put Patty on the list - so I had to scramble at the last minute. This was so bad, I used it to write a *deep regret* memo to put inside the one below which is actually worse. I should have put DORN under the PATTY and then ACKER in the third line - 5-4-5 would have been so much better.

I requested Patty's maiden name (which she sent) so we'll see if I can do some better envelopes using her maiden name which I am happy to report is not Schwartzentruber.  I actually knew someone with that last name. 

At least there was that one time that I did a beautiful Patty - it was the one with the flowers in the Y of the Y. 

***

I have a fairly large folder of fan mail - and some saved emails. This came in an email and it needs to be shared with my readers:

I love when it’s the 1^st of the month because it means it’s time to sign up for the envelope exchange!  And it’s like Christmas morning on the 5^th because then I get my list for the month!! 😊

Yes -- that's the kind of email that just makes my day. I went through a terrible slump after that 6 week ordeal with the Martian Death Cough. I didn't do extensive whining on the blog since I was aware of several other ordeals that were going on at the time - all things that were far worse than my little cough.

So, here we are with our ups and downs - and our mail. Feel free to shoot me an email with any whining or venting. I won't post it on the blog. Glowing fan mail, however, will be shared once in a while.

APR to Kate and Leslie - Wes Wilson

Another Wes Wilson inspired envelopes. It's similar to Maggie's with the penciled in notes - but it is not written cryptically. When I do more of these I will feature other ways to fill in the letters. I enjoyed writing about what was wrong with each of the letters. I must have two lavender markers because this one matches better. Maybe it is because it is on a different paper.

Kate received two envelopes because the first one was such a monstrosity that I wanted to throw it away. (That vocabulary list from yesterday is coming in handy) I'll post the sad one even though it is not resolved. 

That's weird - I took the photo before I put the polka dot celebration stamp on it....  Some BIG DOTS might have helped - but the rectangle of her name is awkward in that position.

My first envelope to Leslie did not please me. I inserted a consolation postcard which I did not photograph. I mailed it on a Thursday. The memory of the envelope continued to haunt me. By Monday morning, I had this one ready to go. Inside is a collection of all the rough drafts I went through. Not that this one is 100% pleasing - but - it might be headed in a good direction.

Here is the one that haunted me. I have digitally altered it by putting a copy of the stamp inside the N. That was the part that was haunting me. I have also thought of a way to embolden the lines that would have helped a lot.

APR to Janet

 

I came very close to being 100% happy with Janet's - until I couldn't find the stamp that I had intended to use. I also made a deeply regrettable IA on the address - and what you see is not how I patched it. That is just a digital cover-up. I actually like it - and maybe I'll do something similar. 

The solution to this whole thing would have been to just go ahead and draw one more flower that would be mostly covered by the stamp. It's fine that I tried some alternatives.

When I left the comment about the doozie of a list we found for alternatives to the word mutant - did anyone wonder if I was going to look for alternatives to *doozie*? 

Here you go---  it's a nice list. 

I'd use it on a greeting card to someone who was worthy of such praise. Although I might leave sockdolager off the list.

APR (and May) to Mary - Mutant lettering

I hardly ever delete a post - but the red envelope to Mary was so bad, I had to do something. I did a better envelope for her in May which is this one.

It is still not very good. I should have done two ice cream cones for the M - where they were *splat* up-side-down - then a party hat for the A - and I could have done a much better R with 2 or 3 feathers - or maybe Band-Aids -- and why is there a Band-Aid on a party stamp?

Below is the April envelope to Mary which is an atrocity. I'm only including it because it was a series of problems that did not resolve on this envelope but it did offer some ideas that I ended up liking.

In theory, this could have been a happy hybrid of Wes Wilson and Jordan - instead it is a nasty mutant. I wish I had used a lighter pink marker for those little envelopes. I love the idea of the little envelopes with that stamp so much that 20 people will be getting something like this. I'll experiment with different fonts.

This new system where I write the blog posts before I send the envelopes might be the best thing that has happened in 2024. Of course - the superstitious lizard that is living in my head will not allow me to celebrate lest a celebration of something good sets off the inevitable balance-maker-of-bad-stuff.

For those of you who thought I could have come up with something better than *mutant* to describe the lettering, you are correct. I went on a mission to find a better word - and I found so many I just had to share the list. That's a doozie of a list.

APR to Maggie - Jordan-style

I had fun trying the Jordan-style with a color - not because it looks good - but because I enjoyed writing a cryptic message to Maggie. I drew some light pencil lines and ended up leaving them in. As I wrote the message, I skipped each square using the lavender marker. Then I went back and used the open square and wrote the words in gray.

I hope Maggie lets me know if she could read it. Or perhaps I will ask her to let me know - in a note on the back of the envelope. This is the very first time that I have ever photographed and written the blog entries before I mailed the envelopes. Usually they are gone -- and I have to whine about what I wish I had written or done.

Is this a whole new level of organization? 

My only wish is that I had a marker that was closer to the stamp - bluer. But - we are still honoring our guru, Mediocrates - the god of good-enuf.

I promise something other than Jordan-style tomorrow - but, I do hope that some of you give it a try. Especially if you are not a calligrapher - since you do not need any calligraphic skills whatsoever. Does anyone want an exemplar? Would that help?

 

APR to Lynne - Jordan-style

It would have been fun to send this one with just this stamp. Instead I had to find an acceptable co-orphan and the teddy bear fit nicely into the Y. I do not have a photo of how this one looked before I squared it off. The LY is nicely wonky and then the NNE does not have enough *wonk* - but - I do like the white space and I found my chart where I was keeping track of which style each person had received - so new-improved-organized-Jean will be sending one of these to e.v.e.r.y..o.n.e (maybe). I've learned that bold statements about what I am going to do - is a pretty good way to make sure those things don't happen.

And speaking of the things I say I will do that I forget to do. HEADS UP!

If I have said I will do something - please don't sit around waiting for it to happen

and please do not hesitate to send me a reminder.

I never was very good at remembering to do stuff I said I would do - and it has only gotten worse.

 

APR to Christy - Jordan style

When I did the envelopes for the Hudson USPS clerks - there was one to Jordan that had this style. I have no idea where it came from. I think the point of it is to just chunk out a name and then put corners on all the strokes. Then fill it in with doo-dads from the stamps. Jordan's had doo-dads from the Day of the Dead stamps. 

I'm so close to using up all the orphans - and the hockey player taking shots at the priceless Pueblo art is a bit of silliness. 

I did have the foresight to take a photo of the chunky first step to what we are calling the Jordan-style. Is Jordan honored to be a *named* style?

You can see how I penciled to get the width of the letters reasonably balanced. There is no trick to squaring off all the strokes. It does take some time - and it is inevitable that some strokes will be wider than others - so at the end - go back and add random thick strokes here and there.

That is very good design lesson. If you have something a little off - exaggerate the *off-ness* and repeat it at least 3 times and then it is a cool design element.

 

APR to Rachael and Juliana - Wes-style [May to Lynne]

This is a May envelope - inserted at 5 am this morning - because I just realized that I already posted Rachael's envelope - although it was not quite finished - here is the finished one - with all the deep regrets.

That blind spot in my planning is alive and well. It's 2-pronged. I either forget to plan for a stamp or I plan for a stamp and then forget the plan or misplace the stamp or stick it on the wrong envelope. 

The Deep Regrets:

1 - forgot which stamp I intended.

2 - decided that a solid black back ground was better than another flower - so I layered some white selvedge off the sheet of stamps

3 - discovering that the stamp paper is thin enough that the background shows through

I tried another name on a smaller envelope. It's clear that the number of letters and the proportion of the name is a big part of the success or deep regrets.

After I tried a few of these with colors instead of black - I returned to black - 

The Deep Regrets:

1 - those yellow dots

2 - not having a stamp in mind

3 - using a neon envelope

No regrets:

Trying something that was fun at the time - even though the results were 50-50

If you go back to the top - you'll see that I realized that I could fit in more letters if I tapered the wavy band. It helps - although -it would still take many versions to get it right. Lynne's N's are too narrow and the O at the end is too wide. In spite of all the deep regrets, I did [do] keep coming back to Wes Wilson.

 

APR to Kristine

One more in this series. I named this style *Rachael's outline. I'll add something else to today's post because everyone might be really tired of this style and we can't let our readers get bored and restless. Not that I'm all that caught up in the amount of views I get. I hardly ever check. But I do check - from time to time - and it's been pretty consistent - but the last time I looked - I had hit crazy numbers - something went *viral*

Here is the chart:

There was that peak in 2017 - but other than that - things were pretty consistent at 25,000 views per month - until recently  -- when there are spikes up to 80-90,000 - that's just crazy. 

I'm still glad I never got into monetizing - with monetizing comes trolls - and we don't need that.

Here's a fun Mickey Mouse stamp from France. I like how it's just close ups. Mickey has been on a couple USPS stamps - but never a full page of Mickey.

When the French postal system wants to use Mickey on a stamp - I wonder who they call. I think there is a Disney theme park in France -- so Disney must have a relationship with France.

 

APR to Grace, Amy and Cathy - The Last Shower

Grace, Amy and Cathy received this style which was inspired by a set of 20 envelopes I did for a shower. I might end up doing more of them for the rest of the April exchange.

As mentioned on numerous occasions, I am retired. I did that one volunteer job a couple weeks ago that was only first names and vowed that it was enough of a learning experience that it would be easy to turn down anyone who found me and wanted to hire me to address envelopes. You know where this is going....

Yup, I had a phone call from someone who started in with a sincere amount of gushing - about the holiday envelope that she gets every year - and how she asked that person for my name - and how much she loves her yearly envelope - and she was wondering if I would be willing to address 20 invitations for a shower.

It was nice that I found a style that I had already worked out - and then it turned out to be fun to use it on exchange envelopes.