Mail Bombed

I've been getting

Mail Bombed

single handedly by my friend, Carol 

 

We have both been bitten by the mail art bug and specifically decorative envelopes. 

While Carol has been bombing my mailbox with fun envelopes, I've only managed to get one envelope to her.

Carol has been really busy creating cool envelope art. 

 

This one was to kick off my birthday month.  I love starting early and this birdie envie got things going.  Carol took ballet at one point in her life, so she knows what a ballerina looks like!  Adorable, huh.

 

Isn't this one fun!  It's Spring!





This one's patriotic.

These next two have been written with some kind of pen that leaves the ink looking shiny after it's dry.  And a slight puffy look to it also.

The shiny confetti is absolute fun!  I know the shiny can't be seen here, but it really is shiny.

And then this dear friend of mine (Carol) got Jean Wilson, Pushing the Envelope to send me an envelope created by her.  What a beauty!

 

And inside this beauty was a bonus envelope...

 

On the back of this bonus envelope, Jean wrote that she hadn't enough time to finish it.  It seems her intent was to fill in more spaces with color.

 

How I've been loving going out to my mailbox lately!  Thank you so much Carol and Jean!

 

A Good Mail Day is hard to beat. 

Ask me how I know that!  LOL
 

xxx

Annie 

ATCs

A new experience in the small world of

 ..... ATCs ..... 
Artist Trading Card
 

A bitty little piece of art no larger than
2-1/2" X 3-1/2". 

I was asked to trade ATCs for a Poe theme.  Debbie has a Poe collection of ATCs and liked one of my Raven postcards.  She wanted it to be fabric.  So I made this one.

That is such a small space to work in.  My 4X6 postcards are looking quite large now!  I really did not enjoy trying to be creative with fabric in such a small space.

 

And, without going into details, I was not a very cooperative ATC trader.  Having not traded them before, I wasn't familiar with the procedure.  And not liking making the fabric one, had not made matters any easier for Debbie.  She is a saint for sure.  

 

I wanted to see how making an ATC with paper would go.  I don't know whether this falls into a Poe theme, but it is my interpretation in a paper ATC.

 

 

This paper ATC I quite enjoyed making.  I included it with the fabric Poe Raven for Debbie to make up for being such a shit about this trade.

 

Then of course I wanted to send it all in a decorated envelope.  After going the extra mile to be so difficult, I really had some sucking up to do! 

 

 

These craft envelopes have proven to be challenging to decorate.  It's hard to add bright color to them.  But I thought the darkishness would go well with the kind of Nevermore theme I had going.

 

And here's the beautiful ATCs I received from Debbie.

 

A Silk Fusion (what gorgeous color) and a tri-fold Raven.  How clever his wings fold in and out.

 

It seems Debbie wasn't disappointed in the end,  but it must have been frustrating for her trying to work with ornery ole me.  And I've learned my lesson in trading ATCs... like, not to do it anymore.  LOL 

 

xxx

Annie  

  

Altered Dictionary - W

Our new letter for the Alpha Challenge is

W

with the twist to add circles in the background.

 

I've chosen the word write.

My style for altering my dictionary doesn't have painted or inked backgrounds, so I had to find a way to work a circle into my word illustration.

 

 

 

I wish I had drawn the circle with a finer pen tip.  But once it's drawn, there's no going back.

 

I discovered I like using tracing paper for the images.  I like the transparency of it and it keeps the addition of bulk down to a minimum.  On the other hand, for an image with lots of cuts, like the written word "write", it was difficult to keep it under control once it had glue added to the back.

 

More Alpha Challenge and altered dictionaries for the letter W can be seen here at The Craft Barn

 

xxx

Annie

Altered Dictionary - R

This fortnight's letter for the Alpha Challenge is R

and my word to illustrate in my altered dictionary is

 

Rouge

 

 

I stamped the face stamp and added rouge to her cheeks and all was good.  Then I tried to do something with the word and definition and turned the whole thing into a disappointing mess.  I really wanted to rip the page out and make it disappear.  But, I wasn't going to do that, so I set out to fix it.  It's better.  That's the best I can say about it.

 

xxx

Annie



Art Calendar Journal - April

No foolin'...my
Art Calendar Journal for

APRIL 2013

is ready for marking what's fun in each day. 

 

I'm glad I made the decision to switch from traditional monthly themes to FUN monthly themes. (This isn't really a theme is it?  But it was fun!)  This was even more fun than the first 3 months. 

 

I love this little bad girl.  I see her as me...not at her age...I was 23 before I became her.

 



And these are the wannabe bad girls...

 

I'm so excited to fill in these blocks.  I do hope some worthy fun happens! 

 

March started as a bit of a struggle to squeeze fun into a few of the days.  Those are the days I practiced making inchies.  And some days had a bit too much fun packed in.

 

 

May there be many FUN days in April!

xxx

Annie