Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Show and Tell

I have been receiving so many fun things in the mail, and have kind of let them spread out around the house.  As I've been tidying up, I put them all in one place, and here is the delicious pile of artiness:
I have already featured some of these treasures, including a fun clip from April and three colorful Rolodex cards from Chris.  Many others, I haven't shared with you yet.

First, my fabulous Pay It Forward gift arrived from Roni, of Bad Jones Rising.  In preparing her gift, she said that she asked herself, "What would I myself like to receive?"  That's the best question to ask when working on a gift, I think!  And this is what she came up with:
She created a handmade accordian-fold book for me, with an envelope of goodies for creating my own journal.  She also included an envelope to decorate and hold the book, and a beautiful watercolored card to use any way I wish.  She created a brief video showing the contents of the gift, and even featured the one she sent to ME in the video.  Check it out!

I've also been receiving postcards from Shannon's postcard swap:
Teresa, in Texas, sent me this photograph, embellished with glitter and a sticker.  It is a photo of the sunset from "The Oasis" in Austin, Texas, "sprinkled with pixie dust so all your dreams will come true!"  How sweet is that?!
Next came this collaged and stitched card from Chantel in British Columbia, Canada.  Love those colors!
Then, I received this artful postcard from Jeanne, wishing me a happy spring.  Her background is a beautiful, almost iridescent, deep red.  She used an awesome "Winged Post" stamp on the back, which I would love to get my hands on! 
Finally, I received this little piece of the natural world from Melissa, from right here in Pennsylvania.  The back reads, "May you always walk in beauty."  Lovely!

I already blogged about the first three cards I received in the swap; you can see that post right here.
In February, April Cole sent me an unexpected Valentine treat:  this pretty heart-adorned altered Rolodex card.  What fun!
Side one of Karenann's Rolodex card
And another unexpected treat arrived from Karenann:  a gorgeously altered Rolodex card in a style I just love!
Side two of Karenann's Rolodex card
Finally, Chris of Parabolic Muse wrote the nicest post in response to mail art I sent her way recently.  If you would like to read her post, you can check it out here!

Have you shared any creative love by mail lately?  Let's keep the creativity flowing!

9 comments:

scrapwordsmom said...

You always receive the coolest stuff!!

Janet said...

Mail art is always fun. It looks like your mailbox has been overflowing recently!

Joyfulploys said...

Andria....you received some cool mail art. Also, in the post below: seeing the emvelopes made me remember that I used to do that...have you tried some out of brown paper bags yet?
Mary

Andria said...

Ooh, Mary, I haven't, but the envelopes would look great made from paper bags. I was in AC Moore today, eyeballing the kraft paper cards and envelopes...must be a sign!

Parabolic Muse said...

Andria, aren't the postcards fun?!

I finally got the 10th one yesterday, and have been planning my own post to show all of them. I was sorry that a few left no contact information and don't seem to have websites, but I will be able to give credit to the rest. I always like to learn about what other people make and their artistic sensibilities.

I've also been eager to make three more rolodex cards and send them off. I still have Hanna's postcard swap to do and more Artfest trades to prepare, but rolodexes are small, cute, and even functional! I love the idea of adding to your file!

Thanks for the shout out about my site. I'm having great fun making things and seeing what otehrs are making. I think spring is my most productive art time of year. What's yours?

Carin Winkelman said...

Wow, that is just mail generosity overload! ;-)

Bad Jones Rising said...

Oh, my goodness! I have to admit this was quite a surprise. I got here and was like "OMG SO MUCH MAIL ART!" doesn't it feel good!?

You are most welcome for you card and being featured in my video. I can't wait until you get it done so we can do a follow-up post. It was really fun making that gift and I hope you enjoy finishing it up. Thanks for linking me back and being so kind with your words.b Happy art making bloggin' buddy.

Andria said...

Chris, it's pretty awesome that you received all ten cards! I don't know if I will end up with all of mine or not. Most productive season? Probably winter, when we have the most "hunkering down" indoors due to cold weather. My kind of art-making is tough out of doors!

Roni--SURPRISE! I didn't tell you yet that I was featuring your PiF in my post, so I'm glad you stopped by and saw it! I haven't had much chance to play with my new goodies yet, because I've been working on an upcoming craft show and also my lettering class. But you can bet, I wilL!

Parabolic Muse said...

Okay.
Can we talk?

You have 102 followers!!

And if I know you, you respond to each one and you are gracious and nice! How do you do it?!

But that's not why I'm here. I'm here to say that I'm catching up again, because I have been working on a project. I can't surf blogs while I'm working on a project and I don't know why. There are two blogs I must check into every other day or so, because they have *issues* that are time-sensitive, but otherwise, I miss out on fantastic things like what you have, here. And it makes me sad.

The reason I'm saying all this is that you need to slow down so that we under-achievers don't feel bad.

xo
Chris

p.s. just kidding!!