When Mail Art Friends Meet

I've been fortunate to make new friends through blogs, swaps, flickr and emails. Most times there is a photo posted somewhere so I know what my new acquaintances look like...but I often wonder what their voices sound like (I saw a video Lenna narrated so that mystery was solved LOL). When I found out my Mail Art friend Beth was coming to town (to take in my Guild's Annual Quilt Show even) I jumped at the chance to meet her and her sister Joyce. We had a great time gabbing about artsy things at the show and going for a nice lunch...

Leslie! Here's proof we got together - Beth on left and me on the right - fun....

The Quilt Show was awesome to - though my photos hardly do it justice. 

We had close to 600 people attend over the weekend - a record for us.

And our popular bazaar table almost emptied out again (we shake our heads every year when we see this happen).

Just a sampling

For you to enjoy...

This was one of my favorites - a King size bedspread made for a son and daughter in law (I believe the DIL is a biologist and the son a surfer).

I shouldn't be surprised at the quality of the entries every year - all of my friends in the Guild are wonderful quilters. Enjoy. Jewels

Paparazzi - They Know Where You Live

April Mail Art theme was "You Oughta be in Pictures". Several ideas went through my head until I found a collection of vintage Hollywood postcards over at Elizabeth's blog (check out her "sale" this weekend!).

What fun!

Buried in my pile of old magazines (not the ones I got recently) I found an old British movie magazine called Picture Show.

Appropriate text I could use...

And then in an old 1940's Montgomery Ward catalogue (also from Elizabeth) were great ads for cameras..

..I can just imagine that big flash as Errol or Hedy walked out their respective front doors (LOL). Will post Beth and Leslie's art soon - next month Architecture ( I plan to do something "out of the box for me"). Enjoy. Jewels (p.s. I HATE BLOGGER - somehow my settings got screwed up - any suggestions ???)

Monthly ATC Invite - April Garden Calendar

My monthly ATC for Penny's invite. Continuing with my images from an old Gardening Encyclopedia.

The Daffodils background is from an old Better Homes and Gardens book. Added some decorative paper on the edge. Enjoy. Jewels

Give Away and Mail Art

First - check out my pal Beth's give away! She is one of my Mail Art peeps and I am happy to do a little advertising for her (at the risk of lucking out myself, LOL). For March (yeah I'm just getting around to posting - blame it on a little postal hiccup (my bad) that Leslie and I had...) our theme was the Ocean - as usual whatever you wanted to do. Of course being three creative spirits (if I do say so myself) we each came up with something different.

I was not sure when I received Beth's if I could actually open or not - the mail truly was the art! You can't really tell from the picture but the top layer has a clear "peep hole" to Mr Octopus in the background - wonderful.

Leslie said she was in a "fantasy mood" when she made hers. Quote " I made zetti-ish fish rooster creatures" LOL. Very fun.

I was a little more dramatic. The whole time I was thinking about this theme I kept hearing the lyrics for the old ELO (Electric Light Orchestra for the uneducated) song Can't Get it Out of My Head. So that's what I played with - and kept to our agreement to try something new (I've not done much with white ink pens and a little sewing as well). So there you have it - April is "You Oughta Be In Pictures". I've already recieved Beth's and it is a hoot - but that can wait till next time. Enjoy! Jewels

Tag Tuesday - Spring Flowers

The inspiration for this weeks Tag came from some old cards (60's-70's) that I recieved when I was younger (won't say how young though, LOL). All my relatives are British and they always sent (I thought) the most wonderful greeting cards.

Many were from Gordon Fraser - which I think still prints cards - that had cool designs and colours.

I love this one - and don't plan to use the originals any time soon in my artsy stuff.

Another card maker was Kaye - Whimsy cards. I particularly like the bluebird.

So fitting with this week's theme I made this tag using fabric, paper and embellishments. The quote "The Earth Laughs in Flowers" Ralph Waldo Emerson seems quite appropriate, don't you think? Enjoy, Jewels (p.s. this tag may look familiar to some of you - I made one like it over a year ago that went MIA in the mail to the intended recipient - I decided to recreate so I would have one for myself)

Oh My Goodness, OMG, OMG

So what does one do when they recieve an email like this...


Julie
We have 7 boxes full of ladies magazines from the 50's and 60's here at the recycling center.
Come and check them out when you get a chance....


CRAP you get in the car and hightail it right over! Though that was kinda difficult as I was on vacation at the time. You can imagine my patience being tested as I had to wait till we got back home...

When I finally did get over, there were indeed 7 Banker Boxes of magazines from the 40's - 70's...

When I sorted through them these are the ones from the 40's - 50's. I think some how good karma came my way for a change, LOL.

Mostly Better Homes...

But some other ones as well. Are they not wonderful? Of course I made a small donation (if I was greedy I could make a killing on Etsy, but I'm not)

I will be in collage heaven for some time to come! Enjoy, Jewels

Shakespeare Mail Art

I'm sitting here typing and watching Jeopardy and guess what the topic is for the final clue - Shakespeare's Plays (name the 2 plays whose title repeats a word - answer below). How funny! My friend Fiddlesnips Jo and I exchange Mail Art from time to time and we just completed a swap on the theme of Shakespeare!

I came back from vacation and Jo's was in the stack of mail that had been held for us. I would have been happy with the envelope on its own - its just lovely.

But her postcard was exceptional as well - wonderful treatment of Hamlet. She writes about how she made it on her blog here.

I also had fun with this theme - here is my envelope front (with the play give away)...

...and back.

I wanted to use a quote from Julius Ceasar and some how fit in a retro image - so this is my "contemporary" Goddess stating "It was all Greek to me !"). I think I was influenced by the current Euro crisis. Paper collage enhanced with inks and colour markers (for that Mediterranean feel).


Enjoy, Jewels.


(Answer: Measure for Measure, Alls Well that Ends Well)

Tag Tuesday and Other Stuff

Hello everyone - I have so much posting to catch up with. I actually made a list of all the "stories" I have to share with you! But first things first - its time for Tag Tuesday again and this week's theme is Spring Cleaning.

I decided to do a little "tongue in cheek" with this ad that I found.

The "snooty friends" are making comments...

And you can fill in the blank as to her response ("Eat my knickers Mary Gibson" or maybe "None of your Bees Wax - now Scram!" - you get the idea LOL)

And while I'm posting thought I'd share 2 more acrylic paint transfers I did while on vacation.

Both were black and white photos from a Toni hair product ad. I have to say I have had mixed luck with this technique. Your paint can't be too dry when you put both pieces together. The ink from your image needs to be "right" for the transfer. AND you absolutely have to be patient with the drying process. I left these for 3 hours - in direct sunlight on a windowsill - so they had a good opportunity to "stick".

Finally, this was a quicky I threw together quite accidently - all the pieces were left overs from other projects that just seemed to match! Enjoy. Jewels (its good to be back )