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Wednesday, April 16, 2014

"Use my stuff" week - part 3

As the hostess of "Mail Me Some Art" I get a lot of mail every week. 
Many of the envelopes people use to send their swap items are works of art themselves.  Sometimes I reuse them, but since most of my own mail art takes the post card form, I don't use that many envelopes.  Some are just too beautiful to recycle, so they've been piling up in a basket.

I finally had a great idea for using them.
I turned them into pages in a hand-bound journal!


 I folded each envelope in half, and used three envelopes per signature.

There are 8 signatures, and I used a long-stitch binding.
 

It's pretty fat, so I incorporated a stretchy band into the back cover so I can hold it closed.


 The front and back covers came from a cardboard envelope sent to me by Valerie.  The spine is duct tape.



I'm not sure what I'll use it for, but I'm in love with this book.

Here's a shaky one-handed flip-through if you want to see a little more.


22 comments:

  1. I think it is pretty all on its own, kind of a signature piece. And I love how you bound it together. Nice!!
    ~Dawn

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  2. Bookbinding is so much fun. What a great idea, too, to use those beautiful envelopes.

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  3. Such a great idea! Having so many different styles represented makes the book quite interesting..

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  4. What a fab idea, Karen! Great way to do something with the mail art envies from my pen pals! Thanks.

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  5. love it! This is similar to what I did with all of mine from Swapbot, though I altered a book with mine, I think the next one I do will be more like your format (then I can add as many as i'd like)

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  6. Good idea - so fun to see one of my envelopes in there!

    Mine have been piling up too so will follow your lead and bind them up. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  7. Karen -- FABULOUS idea (as usual) and I may have to steal the book....er...idea...myself. I have so many envelopes -- what a terrific way to use them. I love the book.

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  8. Such a great idea! I loved seeing your mail art at the SFCB this week!
    I'll mail you some art!

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  9. How cool is this! I have used some envelopes as tip ins for journal pages, but a whole book--how amazing!

    I thing I even saw a bit of one of mine wobbling by...

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  10. We all agree - you're a genius! While I don't have many envelopes, I do have boxes of postcards and binding them sounds PERFECT!

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    1. Oooh Terry, that would be one more nice way to store my MailArt PCs - thanks for the idea!!

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  11. This is really gorgeous, and I love the idea!

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  12. You have every right to love that book! Fabulous!! Great colors! YUM-my!!

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  13. I love that even the cover is an envelope. Beautiful book!

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  14. Gorgeous! You could use it as a coffee table book.

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  15. oh BEautimous BEautimous wise Karen!! you inspire!!

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  16. I have been saving my received envies just for something like this. Wasn't sure how to pull it all together, but I am now! Karen, this is so awesome! I hope you don't mind me "borrowing" this idea! :)

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