Mail-Art Mandala Mom

Whenever my mother comes to visit, we love "comparing notes" about our art-making pursuits, and we usually do some sort of crafting activity, like the envelopes we made this past month.

We decided that it would be fun to send each other art-full mail in between our face-to-face visits.  Check out the first bit of mail art fun I got from Mom just this afternoon:

I love the illustrations she used for our addresses:  Her return address was written on a rubber-stamped note paper carried in a bird's beak, and my address was written in old-fashioned billboard she drew next to a road filled with old-fashioned rubber stamped cars...so clever!

Inside, I found a truly awesome mandala:

In her letter, packaged in its own embellished envelope (see below), she explained that she created a blessing wheel for me.  You know how when you try to keep a gratitude journal, you end up thinking about the same old (albeit wonderful) things:  family, friends, house, etc.  With the blessing wheel, I can focus my gratitude by pointing my finger and spending the day mindfully appreciating whatever it lands on.  Isn't that brilliant?!

I am so amazed by my mom's artistic pursuits.  I wrote about her mandalas already, but she is also creating a Griffin and Sabine-style book, following the Postcard Challenge on the Art and Sole blog.  She has also started maintaining an art journal, along with journals for her travels and the books she has read.  She has even started her own version of altered Rolodex cards!  I told her that she needs to start sending me photos of all of her work, because it's going to get a little unwieldy for her to bring all of her projects in her suitcase to show me the next time she visits!

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6 Weeks:  Mind. Body. Soul.

An e-Course with Leslie of {Words of Me Project}

Starting on Monday, Leslie of the Words of Me Project, is offering a free eCourse called 6 Weeks:  Mind. Body. Soul. 

Leslie is going to offer art journaling prompts, recipe ideas, quotations, techniques, and special guest posts.  Her goal is to uplift and inspire us to live our best life.  Each week will revolve around a theme, word, or idea with the goal of incorporating positive energy into our lives.  

I have been reading Leslie's blog for about a year now, and she has so much kindness, encouragement, and art to offer!  She is a loving and generous spirit, and I am excited to share this journey of her first eCourse with her.  If you would like to join in, visit her blog for the prompts, and you can also take part in the course Facebook page.  I hope to "see" you there!

Artful Grid Lines

I took a little hiatus from working on Joanne Sharpe's Letter Love eCourse, but have jumped back into it to make sure that I don't lose my momentum.  I enjoy every lesson I do, and I walk away with projects each time that I'm pleased with.  I think that's a great testament to the quality of Joanne's instruction and assignments!

In one lesson, she has us creating artful, or "groovy," grid lines to use as a backdrop for our lettering.  She encourages using all different media, especially watercolor paints.  I kept it easy and tidy, and stuck with my markers for creating my lines.  In the future, I will try paints, but I was really pleased with my results using markers alone.

I created thick lines across the page with two different colors of markers, and then added additional lines with a thin black pen.  The black pen lines were the guides for my letters.  I used a Marc Chagall quotation:  "If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing."

Before I filled in the open spaces of my letters with blue, I took some pictures of the page, because I was afraid the blue might ruin it!

Do you like it better with or without the letter spaces filled in with blue?

Here are a few more close ups:

For my second page, I chose different colors and a different quotation.  Here it is without the open spaces of the letters filled in:

I used the e.e.cummings quotation:  "It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are."  Love that!  And here is the final product, as well as a close-up:

Finally, I did a third page, with a different color scheme:

This is a Ralph Waldo Emerson quotation:  "Do not go where the path may lead.  Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."  When I went to my mailbox this afternoon, I found another postcard from Shannon's swap, and it had this very same quotation on it!  (I will feature the postcard in a future post!)

These projects were great fun, and I am generally pleased with how the pages turned out.  One thing I love about Joanne's writing is the freedom and spontaneity of her letters.  My lettering still looks very labored and forced.  I think that is fairly obviously because I am so new to it, and with additional practice, it will look more natural.  It's always good to have goals, right?

At first, I was really loving the portability of this class, because all I needed with me was my notebook and my little zipper case of pens.  But as my pen collection expanded during the course, and as I decided to keep all of my old pens together with my new purchases, things have gotten a little bulkier:

But, oh, it is delicious to keep all those colorful pens and markers together in one place!

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I got some very fun news via email the other day!  I entered a giveaway on Regina's web site, Creative Kismet.  She was offering a spot in a new online course running in April called the ART*FULL Sketchbook with Dana Barbieri, and I WON IT!  Now, I probably need a new online course like a need a hole in my head, but I just cannot resist the opportunity to learn new techniques, receive new inspiration, and meet new online friends with similar interests to mine, so I'm very excited to be a part of this class!  If you would like to learn more about it, check it out here!

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!