Great Mail Days!

On Friday, as my family and I drove away in the pouring rain to run errands, I told my husband, “I bet you anything I’ll get postcards from the swap today, and they’re going to get all wet!” Well, good news all around: I got my third swap postcard, and it stayed dry!

This beauty came to me from Mindy in Florida. It is made with paper cloth decorated with acrylics, water soluble oil pastels, hand-carved stamps, glitter and free-motion stitching (according to her own description on her Flickr account). The paper cloth looks amazing close up, and the stitching is fantastic, too—something to aspire to with my new sewing machine! You can see more of her work at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sunnyland_girl/.

On Saturday, I got a kind of “bonus” postcard from a fellow swap participant, Donna, also from Florida. She had a recent giveaway at her blog, Red Apple Junction, and I was the lucky winner!

Donna alters vintage Railway Express cards with ink, buttons, rhinestones, pictures, text, thread, ribbon—it’s quite a complex piece! As an added bonus, she tucked in a selection of papers for me to use in my art. How nice was that?!

Back on Friday, a very fabulous package awaited me, wrapped in a plastic bag to protect it from the rain. I had taken matters into my own hands for my birthday, and ordered four new books for myself:

I am now the excited, proud, and inspired owner of Zentangle 2 by Suzanne McNeill, Water Paper Paint by Heather Smith Jones, Art at the Speed of Life by Pam Carriker, and The Art Journal Workshop by Traci Bunkers.

I set to making new Zentangles in my journal on Saturday, flipped through Pam and Suzanne's books throughout the weekend, and dug into Traci’s book today. She had me playing with gesso, baby wipes, bubble wrap, and watercolors this evening. So much fun! The results will be showing up in my Friday Art Journal Every Day posts.

Since the postcards for Hanna’s swap were due out on Friday, I am counting on some more great mail days this week.  I have seven more cards coming to me, and I can’t wait to see them!