Saturday, April 20, 2013

Treasures and Findings

Look what I found in a package in the mail recently from Mary, of uncustomary
Are these storybooks?  Cards?  Postcards?  Mail art?  You be the judge!

These mailers fold out to six panels to tell a story.  Then they have a space at the end where you can add your own message to the recipient.
Finally, you can fold them back up again, seal them with the provided sticker, and mail them directly, without an envelope.  How clever is that!  (And the fact that it calls for a 25 cent stamp, I'm pretty sure dates them if I had more postage history knowledge!)
They are now my girls' favorite bedtime stories, especially Little Red Riding Hood, Rumpelstilskin, and Hansel and Gretel.

That's not the only treasure that has come to me through the mail, though.  Mary, of Joyful Ploys, sent me this wonderful, personalized envelope notebook as a thank-you for contributing to her art journal.
She just blogged about it today, as well, so you can see additional photos here.
The binding is stitched with thread, and the notebook has an enclosure made from brads and thread--ingenious!
The pages are a delightful combination of found imagery, Mary's drawings, and the features of the envelopes, such as glassine windows and stamps.
She also tucks other paper goodies in each of the envelope pockets at the top!  And there was additional ephemera in her package as well!
Now this makes going to the mailbox worthwhile!

Many thanks to Mary and Mary for making my days Great Mail Days!

I've also had the pleasure of attending two of my local libraries' twice-a-year book sales.  While I still have bins full of books purchased from previous sales that I have yet to read, that didn't stop me from some pretty enthusiastic shopping.

My loot from the Springfield Township library sale is almost exclusively chick-lit novels to read, though there is a Bible translation, a book of Sherlock Holmes, and a book entitled Freeing the Creative Spirit for a little variety:
My loot from today's Media-Upper Providence Township library sale includes even greater variety.  I like the premise of the book title, 40 Things To Do When You Turn 40, though I haven't really looked closely to see if it's of any value.  (I still don't feel 40, people!)   I found books on religion, decorating, printmaking, organizing, cooking, self-help.  I even found the book Where Women Create, which must have been the precursor of the Stampington & Company publication.  There is a lot of fun stuff to look through here!
I also purchased a whole stack of books intended for my artwork:
I ran into a woman from my church in the Special Collections room, and she said, "You're going to cut these up, aren't you??"  Guilty as charged!  The imagery in them is really wonderful.

From a book on ancient Rome:
From a book on Galileo and Newton:
From a book on Marco Polo:
From a strange and lovely book called An Enchantment of Elephants by Emily Gwathmey:
Expect to see some elephant imagery in my upcoming work!
From a book called Symbols of America:  A Lavish Celebration of America's Best-Loved Trademarks and the Products They Symbolize--Their History, Folklore, and Enduring Mystique by Hal Morgan:

Ah, memories of Big Boy from family road trips when I was a kid!
From Margot Lister's Costume:  An Illustrated Survey From Ancient Times to the 20th Century:
And, because I can never have too many maps, yet another atlas: Hammond's New Supreme World Atlas, whose colors I really love but could not capture in a photograph:
And, finally, a stack of recent Yoga magazines, not because I practice, but because I thought I could benefit from any healthy-living, stress-busting articles they might include.
Some of my reading goals for 2013 might be out the window, because I now have a whole new library of titles that I would like to get to!  I do this every spring and every fall--bring WAY more books into my home than I could ever hope to read across the years of my life.  But I guess I'll die trying!



11 comments:

Karen Isaacson said...

what a glorious bunch of treasures! I'm the same way at my library book sale. I've got one coming up next month - time to find room on my book shelves!

uncustomary said...

I'm glad you liked them! Merry Marys makin your mailbox... marvelous. :-)

Shopgirl said...

This is a wonderful post..so much to look at. I love the little story books, what great little treasures. Happy Spring, Mary

Adriann said...

Wonderful mail and library treasures you've found! I've recently donated my paperback books to make room for some thrifted hardbacks. I'm a bookworm too and just love having books around even if I don't get around to reading them.

Joyfulploys said...

Hi Andria...looks like you have gotten lots of mail art lately.
And you scored at the book sale...our local library should be having one here very soon.
I have never seen anything like those story cards...good idea for doing your own fold up mail art :)
Mary

Janet said...

Such a beautiful assortment of goodies! All those wonderful books and most especially the envelope book. I love mine!

VivJM said...

What a great collection of books! Jealous? Me?!
I love those story cards. Rumpelstiltksin and Hansel & Gretel were both favourite stories of mine when I was a little girl.

Caatje said...

Aah, lovely, all that book wealth! You make me itch to sit down with some of my own (can't though right now, at the office, taking a little tea break). I love all the stuff you get in the mail. I wish I had time to trade and collaborate more, but I'm so busy with my own things already. I would love to exchange more things, but to exchange you need to have stuff to send out. The woman who called you on cutting up those books knows you very well indeed, haha.
And as for too many books...you know there's no such thing, a total myth, that's what that is! ;-)

Parabolic Muse said...

I read this post days ago, and got interrupted before commenting. Oh, well. That's what happens a lot. Sometimes I put off my blog reading until I know I won't get interrupted, and by then I've missed everything.

Am I still whining?

Anyway, as I noticed the FIRST time I read this, you have inspired me to share my goodies in a much more thorough way than I usually do. I recently got some library wonders, myself, but I didn't share the wonderful pages, as you have. Aren't those illustrations fabulous? I have one that has some great blocks in it, and I'm going to try to remember to share those in my next post. Or the one after that. Or the next one.

rock on, sister friend!

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