Spacecat: The Case of the Empty Envelope

I recently received this phenomenal handmade envelope from Allison Anne, a mail enthusiast with whom I connected via Twitter. We'd exchanged a couple of postcards, and she sent me a letter... but alas, I only received the envelope! It appears the letter fell out en route somehow.

The envelope is so spectacular that I had to share it with you. She tells the full story on her blog, and we both blame the tape used to seal the edges. It wasn't too sticky, and on one edge the tape had come unstuck, giving the letter an escape route as it was squeezed through the mail sorting machines... or so we surmise. (I had to secure it with transparent tape for this photo.)



I'm sure it was a spectacular letter - how could it not be, transported by such a space cat? - and I'm so sorry to miss it, but nevertheless, I am delighted by this excellent envelope.

Mail art call: What's Your View?

Since many of my blog readers are also mail artists, I'm sharing with you a Mail Art Call from Mary of Uncustomary Art for her upcoming exhibit, "What's Your View?" All the guidelines are on her blog post, but I'll tip you off that the deadline is coming up pretty soon (January 24, 2015) so make sure not to delay!

I met Mary this fall at the Mail Social Club at the National Postal Museum, and she is one of the most awesome mail enthusiasts around. She and a friend are curating this exhibit that will be on display in Baltimore, and it sounds pretty exciting. Since Baltimore is only an hour(ish) away from where I live, I'm going to try to both participate in the mail art call and check out the exhibit when it opens. (Anyone else interested in going? :-) Mail trip!)

And mail art aside, if you haven't visited Mary's blog, Uncustomary Art, I highly recommend you check it out. She blogs about more than just mail, and a lot about life and her wonderful and inspiring art projects, but more than that, Mary has an incredibly positive and uplifting view of life and her way of living it. I always feel inspired, and often a little more warm-fuzzy about humanity in general, after I visit her blog. So go check it out and uplift yourself, and maybe make some mail art, too.

Here's that link one more time:
"What's Your View?" Mail Art Call

Any questions about the project, please direct to Mary on her blog, as I can't answer 'em.

And finally... Happy New Year 2015! As I type this post, I'm waiting for the first mail of 2015 to arrive. New Year's Day is fun, but as a holiday and no-mail day, I'm eager to see what my mailbox brings today!

Legal Tender Sender

I recently went to a party hosted by a new friend, who mentioned he's into letter writing and mail art. So of course I sent him a pretty fancy thank-you for the evening's fun (and I'm kicking myself that I didn't photograph it, because it was my first fine piece of my own mail art in 2014, but oh well), and he wrote back immediately with this creative offering. It's a letter on a two-dollar bill! I got one heck of a kick out of that fun idea. I've received a lot of letters on lots of different items, but this is my first time getting a letter written on currency. Cool.



He decorated the envelope quite nicely as well, with random little cut-out quotes. This was a literary sort of party, you see...



... and he included this lovely postcard. It looks to be original artwork, hand-drawn and painted, and I wonder if he did it himself. I'll have to ask him, in my response.

Fabulous mail to kick off 2014

Already 2014 is a fine mail year. I've spent a good chunk of my free time writing, and have received some spectacular mail in return.

Above, a handmade gocco postcard from the fabulous Carroll, whose mail art and artwork always just astounds me. This postcard is going up on my bulletin board right above my writing desk! Have a look at her own photo of this artwork, which she sketched from her ink storage shelf.



Next up, brilliant bat mail from Donovan of the Letter Writers Alliance. Wow, does she ever know me, and is she generous, or what? It's a light wooden bat ornament, which is probably also going to somehow fly from my writing desk bulletin board. It came beautifully and soundly packaged, and I was able to preserve that loveliness with some fancy fingerwork with my special craft knife, which I had to use to open it. I love mail challenges!



Finally, I have acquired a new pen pal. Normally my pen pal roster is closed, but the 3-year-old 4-and-a-half-year-old son of my dear first cousin wrote to me. He actually wrote me FIRST, out of the blue, and I haven't even seen this fine young fellow in more than a year. So of course I wrote back, and he's now written me a couple of times, most speedily - and he always mentions cats (which just wins me over even further). Here is one of his annotated illustrations from his latest missive.

And now... off to write some letters!

Bats cheer me up

This week I got a lovely letter from S., a pen pal in Germany, and she drew this fantastic bat on the back of the envelope! I love how the bat is holding her return address label (which also has a bat on it). What a treat! This really cheered me up. S., I still need to write you back...

Thank you all for the good wishes on my broken thumb. I wish I could bring good news, but in fact it is healing very badly, so I am having surgery on it tomorrow in hopes that I can regain mobility in the joint. I had hoped the healing process would be well underway, but now with the upcoming surgery, I am looking at another two months in some kind of cast or splint, and a lot more fresh pain tomorrow. So please forgive me if I continue to lay low here, and on Twitter... I've got my hands full just trying to deal with this injury. Thank you all for your good wishes.

Meanwhile, everyone enjoy autumn (at least those of us in the northern hemisphere), and may you all get wonderful mail in general, and especially Halloween mail.

Green, gold, and gorgeous: Lunar New Year Snake from Carroll

I can hardly thing of a lovelier harbinger of the Lunar New Year (aka Chinese New Year) than a fabulous block print postcard from Carroll. She has sent me countless gorgeous things over the years, and I haven't even blogged about them all. She does hand-carved stamps, block prints, paintings, drawings, collages - and what else? Probably everything.

I admit I don't understand the detailed process of block printing, not really, but you can take a look at a great photo of her process on her Flickr. The scan doesn't do justice to the golden snake in the green, green grass.



It's not only the front that's fabulous, of course - she used a delightful older Year of the Snake rainbow 34-cent stamp, and her own hand-carved 2013 Year of the Snake stamp (I assume she carved it, she's such a fine stamp carver). Carroll, you could sell this stuff! In a comment on my photo, she noted "The skinny snake carving is made on a scrap from the soft block I used for the big snake on the front. Rubber stamps by Design in Squares and Kodomo say 'Having Plenty' and 'Long Life'."

And, she's headed to the L.A. Pen show soon. Who's envious? ME!

Send a postcard, help save a post office

We've all heard about countless post office closures across the country... thanks to the fabulous PostMuse (and her excellent tweets) I've just discovered a way to help save one little post office from possible closure! It doesn't hurt that said post office, above, is quite tiny and adorable.

Do read the full saga of the post office in Rupert, VT. All the details are there. The skinny, though, is that this post office has had its hours cut and may face closure soon. There are two things that can help: revenue, which can only be generated on site at the post office, and VOLUME. So Jave Davies, the woman behind this postcard idea, decided that she'd increase the volume by sending out a plea for postcards to her P.O. box there -- AND she'l send 200 original art postcards in response to the first 200 postcards she receives.

Here's the info, from her blog post:

YOU send her an art postcard. It can be original handmade, or a photocopy of something you've made. Print your name and address clearly on the card.

Mail to: Jane Davies, PO Box 45, Rupert, VT 05768

She will send YOU a postcard, handmade. "I don't promise it will be something you want to frame, but it will be original." She will send postcards to the first 200 respondents.

She will post ALL the postcards she receives on her blog. On each card she will indicate the name of its creator and the place from whence it came. If the volume is overwhelming, she'll open a separate blog just for the cards. "If nobody sends me a card, I will be sad and our post mistress will be out of a good time, and eventually a job."

Here's my little postcard offering, heading out in tomorrow's mail. I had fun edging it with gold washi tape.

I don't post every mail art call that comes my way, but I think the idea of saving a post office through a flood of postcards is a pretty exciting one, and I hope that you'll consider sending one. Also, if you've ever wanted to see your postcard on a blog, she's promised to post them all, so that's pretty cool, too!

And how cool is it to know that you're helping to save a post office, one postcard at a time?

Last mail art of 2012

A postcrosser who received one of my postcards asked me if I did any mail art. It occurred to me that I haven't posted about anything I've sent in absolute ages. It's long overdue! I had a tough fall for letter-writing, and my sent stats have been fairly paltry until December, when I really tried to plunge in again as best I could.

I wrote and decorated this letter on December 31, 2012. I had so much fun breaking out my washi tape, stickers, rubber stamps, postage stamps, and all the fixings... they had sat gathering dust for quite a while. My cats Soda and Memo (of blessed memory) adorn the photo stamps, and in fact that stamp of Memo with the fur wig is the last one I had.



The back of the envelope isn't quite so busy, just some red and black and of course a fine Red Tango cat sticker.



Happy New Year! My best wishes to all blog readers and postal enthusiasts for a fantastic mail year in 2013.

The shark-infested mailbox continues

EGADS, I spoke too soon! Or rather, I posted too soon. Earlier today, I posted about the shark mail saga. Check it out. It's fun. Then, in today's mail, I got more shark mail! This fine collage came from Laura of PleaseDeliverTo -- the one who started the whole lovely shark mail affair. She said it's her first handmade postcard -- what fine work, Laura!



"A wine cork, some duct tape, and a ruler" --?? That sounds like quite a shark-capture story! Seriously, though, how perfect is that wonderful Titanic stamp for the shark mail theme?

Now, an unrelated tip. For my newer blog readers (how many months or years has it been since I shared this tip?), did you know you can click on the photos to see a larger version of them? They're all in Flickr and you can embiggen them there.

Shark Mail!

A while back I had a little conversation on Twitter about shark mail. It turns out that Laura of PleaseDeliverTo had blog visitors from the search term "shark letters," and so did I. We both thought this was very odd. PostMuse of the Orphaned Postcard Project also rang in.

If you are thinking what we were thinking, this seemed a perfect opportunity for a little whimsical mail art. So, I sent Laura some shark mail. Front of postcard with teeth (dripping blood - hey, folks, for freehand drawing, this is pretty darn good for me) shown above. Since my artwork may not be the clearest, I had to designate it shark mail on the side.



On the back, my theme was "let's give 'em something for their search!" So here is some real shark mail. (See the sparkly sticker? That's an orca, or a killer whale. It's not a shark, but it's the closest sort of sticker I had. This is the first time in my life I was wishing for some shark stickers.)

I was counting on my own blog post for this occasion, and possibly more - and indeed, Laura noted the postcard in one of her blog posts. (And indeed, I've received word that more sharks may be on the way. Sharks ahoy!)



But it doesn't end there! PostMuse sent me a Shark Mail postcard, too - and wow, can she draw a creepy/comical shark well, or what? Look out, mail carriers - shark infested mailboxes!

On the back of her card, she reminisced about the old Saturday Night Live skit with a shark knocking on doors. I remember that one. Ha.

Anyhoo, this exchange embodies the fun and whimsical spirit of my favorite sort of mail art. And whoever was googling shark letters can now find fruit for their labors.

The Elevated Envelope: a mail art exchange project

Blog reader Rosemary recently tipped me off to a new mail blog, The elevated envelope. Not only a blog to show and encourage pretty mail, it also seems to be a mail art exchange project: "a project where creative strangers from all over the world send each other artistic snail mail." It runs "every 6-8 weeks or so" and full details, including sign-ups, are on the elevated envelope blog. I'm not a participant myself, just passing along a tip about the site. If nothing else, it's worth a look for all the great mail photos!

Silver Halloween letter

Yes yes, I am terribly behind in blog posts. I'm working my way through October letter photos now. So, here we have one of my more decorative and exciting Halloween letters! I do hope the metallic silver envelope went through with no problems, along with the day-glo green gel pen ink for the address. (That ink isn't totally waterproof, so I covered it with tape.) The envelope features some of my favorite Halloween stickers, and is being modeled by a cute bendy skeleton I got from one of the Letter Writers Alliance RSVP Halloween packages.



Naturally, Soda had to get in on the photographic action. I took a bunch of her with this letter - she seemed really to like this one especially - but in an effort not to barrage you with a million Soda pictures, I just picked my favorite.



And ta-daa! - the back. I love those stickers that make a play on words with favorite alcoholic beverages and spooky imagery... skin and tonic! Eyeball highball! HA!

More spooky Halloween letters and postcards to come in future posts... because I know a lot of you readers, just like me, love Halloween year 'round.

The amazing cat pouch letter

The fabulous Donovan of the Letter Writers Alliance has outdone herself again with breathtakingly cool mail. She sent one of her latest letters to me in this sweet little cat pouch!



I can't believe it arrived so unblemished, postally perfect. Even the postmarks are carefully done.



She knows her mailing rules; to avoid any issues with a dangling zipper, she sewed the zipper pull into the zipper itself! It was very easy to open with one snip of the scissors.



Inside, the letter awaits...



...and even the inner presentation is awesome, with the letter tied up with red and white string.

Lest I focus too much on the packaging, I must say the contents were up to her usual stellar standards, with it being one of the loveliest letters I've received this season. Some people think this blog is only about mail art and the way mail looks, but I just keep the contents of letters private. Our postal conversation is between us, but let's just say Donovan's letters read just as beautifully as they look.

I received this quite a while ago, and I had to follow my own rule of not blogging about the letter until I had responded... but I finally put a long letter of my own in the mail to Donovan, so I'm excited to share this pulchritudinous postal tidbit with you all. Surely this kitty pouch is an honorary member of the Feline Postal Brigade!

Catwrangler's fabulous stamps

Fellow cat-loving mail enthusiast Catwrangler has the most amazing collection of rubber stamps, and she's not afraid to use them! She is also generous with her mail, sending me lots and lots when I still haven't responded to her, and sending other random goodies. I think I love every single one of the stamps she used on this all-stamp handmade postcard.



And so many of them are meta! I heart meta mail. Yay letter stamps. And look, that's her own kitty on the Zazzle postage stamp, too.

Dark on Red

This offbeat and exquisite blog reader letter came from Lithuania, a country from which I don't receive mail too often. I wish I had taken a photo of the letter, because the sender has excellent and interesting typewriter-like handwriting, and she drew a couple of illustrations on the letter as well.



This artwork on the envelope was the most detailed and eye-catching. Can you tell that the background in the window is "dark" repeated many, many times? I like that use of words as texture in the drawing.



And here's a closer look at that Tall Ships stamp. I really appreciate that the sender included the continued panel next to it, for the full picture! What lovely postage, and other than a tiny rip at the top, it survived the journey well.

Dutch-themed mail art from Sirpa

The artistic, talented Sirpa is at it again! She and I both went to the Netherlands recently, and she used one of the very cute Delftware-themed gift bags to make a wonderful envelope. It also features photo stamps of her adorable kitty, Killi! As I told her in my response, this was the first time I had seen photo stamps from any country other than the USA. As always, leave it to Finland to make amazing stamps... I think her photo stamps are prettier, and the photo printing resolution is great. Ah, Finnish stamp envy...



Then, inside the letter, Sirpa really put her talent to use! That's a hand-painted cover to a letter book she wrote, showing a watercolor bouquet. Wow! Sirpa also blogged about this letter booklet; have a look at her post on it, too. Of course she beat me to it by a long shot... and she's already blogged about my response to that letter, which I'm pretty sure I didn't even photograph from my end.

Mail art from Egypt

Remember my post about my first postcard from Egypt? I wrote her back, of course, and she has sent me some fantastic mail art!



I am totally enamored of the skull theme, which she carried on to both sides. I am so taken with envelopes that people draw on so much like this... I decorate envelopes with stamps and stickers and washi tape, but I don't do so much with my own hand drawing. I have said many times I wish I drew more, and I think I need to let envelopes like this inspire me! It is really a gift to know that someone took the time to illustrate something like this all by hand.



Here's a closer look at those excellent stamps, too - she even enclosed a couple of new, uncanceled ones. So cool! I know it's almost cliche for Americans to have Egyptology crushes, but I admit to having a fascination that stems back to childhood... so these stamps were an extra treat.

Surely all this is not without meaning

This amazing envelope came to me from Liz, a very talented mail artist. I forgot to take a photo of the back or the contents - she included some weird and wonderful postcards, and vintage NKOTB trading cards with gum. Wow.

I love how she uses a variety of stamps, both legal U.S. stamps and artistamps and stamps from foreign countries. How awesome are those sleepy cat stamps from Japan?? And I can't quite tell where it's from, but is that a cat writing below the flag stamps?

Airmail awesome from Catwrangler

Here is another stamp-tastic envelope from Catwrangler. Man, does she have some amazing rubber stamps. How 'bout that PUG? YAY!! Also, I'm totally coveting the stamp in the bottom left corner that shows the envelopes/letters. Yay meta mail.



Par avion! Cats in boxes! Airmail deco tape! Mail happy. Oh, she writes some mighty fine letters, too. :-)

Rainbow envelope from chewy tulip

Another one of my very favorite etsy shops is Chewy tulip. Her tag line is "pickles, postcards, puppets" - what's not to love? I first discovered her shop when I did a search for "Narwhal postcard" on etsy, and her narwhals are not magical postcard is my favorite one ever. My latest order from her - because I have vowed never to be without some of her postcards - came in this wonderful rainbow-decorated envelope.



I highly recommend her pick 5 postcards/make your own custom set offering (which inspired my own, to be honest), to get a nice taste of her designs. The two horn unicorn, hey ladies turtle, and Hey! kitten designs are a few more of my favorites, along with the aforementioned narwhal, but to each her own. Go browse. Her stuff is really fun. (She has lettersets and notecards, too.) I should have photos of the actual postcards but I am blogging from my couch and it's hot and I'm lazy. Someday, I am sure you will see more of them on this blog...



Not only did this order include a sweet little note from her - and we've been exchanging postcards, too - I got this hand-drawn unicorn! Gaaah! This whole set of envelope/unicorn is now hanging above my writing desk, providing daily rainbow-unicorn letter-writing inspiration.