Mail Art

lookit, lookit, lookit!
look at the cool stuff that has come in the mail for my June postcard swap!

What?  You don't know about my June postcard swap? 
Where have you been?

You've got until Friday to make and mail one.  
Head on over to "Mail Me Some Art" to find out more, and to see close ups of those yummy post cards.
Too bad I have to mail them all back out!

But not these things - THESE I get to keep.
Here's one of the coolest things to ever grace my mailbox:

A giant puzzle piece - 
my first from mail artist extraordinaire, Kelly P. 

Inside that little plastic pouch is a folded piece of paper.

When you open it, it looks like this:

It says "everyone carries with them at least one piece of someone else's puzzle."

How cool is that?  My post office guys, Hector and Ike really liked that one.

I also got this nice envelope from Julie;

Hector said "that one is really cool - you guys should design tattoos"

Hear that, Julie?  

I got the BEST coffee themed package from Pamela:

First this envelope, made from some kind of old homemakers guide giving tips for perfect coffee.

("want to be elected president of your coffee club?")

and inside????  a cool postcard and COFFEE FLAVORED GUM. 

 I know.  

I'd never heard of it either.

But somebody combined my two favorite things into a 3 inch package, and then Pamela discovered it and mailed it to ME.  

(I'm not sure I've talked about just how much I love gum.  Love it.   I think I came out of the womb with a piece of gum in my mouth.  When my dad would tease me that I can't walk and chew gum at the same time, I'd say "dad, I can do ANYTHING and chew gum at the same time.")

part two from Pamela came a few days later.  A CD, not wrapped, just closed with some pretty tape and addressed to me.

with a note that said "Music to drink coffee by...or make art by... or chew gum by..."
thanks, Pamela!

I've been part of so many swaps and groups lately, sometimes I get mail and I'm not sure why I get it. 

(mind you, this is not a bad problem to have)

This beautiful envelope came from Stanislav in Russia.
After some detective work, I think this is an IUOMA connection. 

Barbara was kind enough to mention she found my address on the Good Mail Day list, so I didn't have to guess.
(it's soooo helpful to tell your first-time recipient why you are sending them something)

I'm not sure how Beth got my address - Inspiration Ave swap?  Shannon's international post card swap? Hard to say

Mariza answered my "mail call" via this blog.  Great mail, inside and out, all the way from the Netherlands. 
Let's hear it for reader mail!

Then there's this one.  Absolutely no idea how Dion found me, but this card is amazing. 

 love love love it.

it says "lick me" on the back

Joanna sent me this card "just because" after meeting me in the now-defunct Flutterbye swap group.

And here are some highlights from my favorite and faithful mail friends:

two from Terrie - the zentangled one came wrapped in baker's twine and both the twine and card got a little mangled in transit, but still made it to my mailbox!  

Two from Mad Madge, who makes these lovely large painted/collaged/stitched beauties.  I put the paintbrush there for scale so you wouldn't go thinking these were your average 4"x6" postcards.  They're wonderfully big.

Another big one from Corinne, which I am thinking of hanging on the upstairs bathroom door (since that's the bathroom predominantly used by the males of the house and which I use as little as possible.)

from Amy D:

Carlene:

Millicent:

Tina:

Steph:

and speaking of Steph, we did a scrap swap and I got this box jam packed with goodies.

so much fun to get different collage fodder.

I started making big collages to cut up for postcards:



(but I'll save the outgoing mail for a different post.)


Moral of the story:
Want good mail?  Send good mail!
Go here or here or here to find some good people.