Why yes, I HAVE been busy this weekend.

Lately I've been using up a lot of discarded paper goodies that were destined for the garbage can at work.  They make GREAT mail art!!  This time, however, I got my trash art supplies from other sources.  When I see promising bits and pieces, my eyes light up and my pulse speeds up and it's as if I had just seen a big plate of hot gooey cinnamon buns, not some junk paper.  But hey, whatever rings your bell, right?  

I have a few penpals that I just love writing to (and receiving letters from) and this is a blank booklet that I made up on Friday night.  I've already filled it up and it's going in the mailbox tomorrow morning. 

And if you're planning on making booklets like this, I really recommend picking up one of those loooooooong staplers so you can easily put them together.  I use mine all the time, and I think it was only around twenty-five bucks.  My kids love making their own books too, so it gets a lot of mileage.  

Anyway, here is the envelope that that little booklet ended up in:

 

(front) 

(and back).

That one... is sideways.  (I'm saying that in my very best Horatio Crane voice, where he says one line and then they cut to a commercial.)  (THIS is where I should have mentioned the looooooooong stapler!) 

Um.  Where was I?  Oh yeah!  I think I may have overdone it with the spots on the back of the envelope, because it looks a little chicken-poxy, if chicken pox ever showed up in a uniform sort of way.  It's just that I was having so much fun with the ink and I might have gotten a little carried away.

Also, you should know that I didn't intend to end up with this colour scheme again, but I guess I haven't worked it all out of my system yet.  Will there be more?  Yep, probably.  I still really like it.  I just have to remember who I've sent these ones to so that people don't end up getting repeats! 

But no worries, my little chickadees - I still remember how to use colour.  Here are two more envelopes that I worked on today while my kids were out bowling with their Nana.  I think I might send her flowers tomorrow... 

And now, since Blogger is acting so weird and I don't want to lose all this stuff that I just typed up, and plus because it's getting really late, I'm going to wrap this up.  It's time for a bowl of cereal and then bed.  

Goodnight everyone,

Love Shelley!

Just a little snail mail

Well, this started off as just a manila envelope, and I decided to draw a little birdie on it.  Of course, once I drew the little dude, then decided that he needed a proper tuft of hair, which was soon followed by the scallops at the top, and soon it got completely out of hand.  So much for a simple bird doodle!

This pic looks a little washed-out; it's a bit more vibrant in real life. 

I'm a bit behind on my mail so I'm trying to get caught up.  I'll show you all the outgoing stuff as it's completed.

Love Shelley!

The moose's name is probably Harold

 

 

  

I found, quite by (lucky, eye-poppingly amazing) accident, a how-to video by Roben-Marie Smith, showing how she makes envelopes out of old file folders.  Guess who has old file folders (I DO) so I thought I would try a couple of these.  They were so much fun that now I want to make about 25 more.  The only snag I ran into is that my file folders are pretty cheap ones - I don't remember where I got them from but they're at least   years old; and although at first glance they look perfect for this project... well, they're not square.  So I had to do some fancy folding and cutting to get the edges to all line up.  At first I thought I must be doing something wrong, but I guess my only mistake was buying el cheapo folders in the first place.  (The $20 sewing machine is a whole other story...)

Anyway, who needs files?  These are way more fun, don't you agree?

Love Shelley!