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!