Air Mail

I have been following this Mail Art Projects blog.  I began to wonder why as most mail calls are either not very clear to me as to what they want, what they will do with it, etc.  However, I have now participated twice.  The first time was sending a mail art envelope to a woman celebrating her 55th birthday and was hoping to receive 55 pieces of mail art.  She sent in return a mass produced postcard art.  It was very cool.

Now the request is for mail art on the subject of the History of Mail Art.  I had no clue and could think of nothing that portrayed the history of mail art.  So I just did a little history of mail with some art.  I've no clue whether it will be accepted.  I only know the theme and that it had to be a 4X6 postcard mailed naked.  Right up my alley.

I hate that I didn't notice that I should have lined the letter in his mouth so that his body couldn't be seen through it!

I love this fat carrier pigeon.  I'm sure I stole the bird shape from some talented artist.  Then I looked up aviator caps and drew one on the bird, then added goggles to guard his little eyes from the wind during flight.  As I am not a drawing artist, I was darn pleased with his cap and goggles!  This drawing has been sitting around here for more than a year.  (But, you might remember him as a birthday party bird a while back, wearing a birthday party hat.)

I really struggled with sending him off to no one I know.  But I've done it for one single reason.  Simply to see if he sells.  He's flown to a for profit exhibit where all received mail art (on the history of mail art) will be for sale to the public.  Half the sale price goes to the artist, the other half to the gallery.  

Back to the part about not knowing enough specifics on the projects, I had no clue if I should price the postcard or if they do.  I left it to them.  Now I wait and see what happens.  Either way, my curiosity will be satisfied sometime shortly after October 2015, which is when this project opens to the public.

Good Mail Day to all!

xxx

Annie

Classy...but

The tag challenge this time is 

GREEN and a QUOTE.

Yes, it's true.

It's not a famous quote.  I saw it on a T-Shirt.  And I figured I'm "quoting" what someone else said.  That makes it a quote.  Right?  

I had to laugh at myself as I painted her dress the "dreaded purple".  (Quoting myself)  I didn't want to make it red or orange, so dreaded purple it must be.  

I haven't decided what to add to the back, so it might be finished or might only temporarily be finished.  It could take me months to decide.

You can check out the tag challenge at DragonsDream Tag It On

Go forth and be classy.

xxx

Annie

A Fiber Grounded Birdie

Now why didn't I think of that?!  My friend, Inky and Quirky, Donna commented on my paper Grounded Birdies thinking they were fabric.  That they were stitched to their background must have led her to believe they were fabric.  A fabric grounded birdie...why didn't I think of that?  So I immediately had to make him in fabric and mail him off to Donna.

I thought what a cute eye that button would make.  With his Route 66 eye, he couldn't help but be a good traveler.

I pressed freezer paper to the back of the background fabric and rolled it into my typewriter and typed "lovely day" right on the fabric.  I loved how nicely that worked!  This fabric is magic fabric that I printed a scrapbook paper to.  It is quite tightly woven which is most likely why I could type on it so nicely.

On the back.....

*** I had to crop off the top as I forgot to cover my own address ***

.....I wanted to write just a wee bit more than the postcard space allowed.  So I made a tiny/ envelope and glued it tightly to the space, putting my little note inside.  

Happy Mail Day to you,

xxx

Annie

The Dreaded Purple

Purple!  It's my least favorite color.  And it's the challenge color this time at the DragonsDream Tag It On along with circles.  I do have a few purple supplies though.  So here is my purple and circles collage tag.

I usually have a name for my tags, but not this one.  Maybe I would call it thoughtful.  I think she looks thoughtful.  Wait, maybe she looks annoyed.  I guess this is why no tag name.  I had no idea for the back, so I just used the scrapbook paper background and stamped a circles stamp.

Hugs,

Annie

Touring Red Bird

My tinyest scrap play yet has taken the form of a wild red bird postcard who has flown off to Scotland to be friends with a tame pheasant and keep company with Maureen.

Oh, the sites he will see on his journey.

I really do try not to bind every postcard with this black and white stripe.  But more times than not it comes to be the best choice in the end.  And that doesn't bother me in the least...obviously.  

And here is one last bottle wrap...I promise. 

I like these B&J Malt Coolers and I needed a custom wrap for them. I didn't think my plan would work out so I kept putting it off. 

But now it was time to clean up my play space because someone is going to see it pretty soon. But I wanted this wrap done OR over with before cleaning up. I didn't want to be thinking about it anymore. 

It pretty much worked like a dream. But I don't want to make any more. So only my Marg cooler will have a wrap around it. 

I really tried not to add a swirl. But I just couldn't resist. 

CHEERS!

xxx

Annie

Rapid Transit Tag

This fortnight tag challenge from DragonsDream Tag It On is to have TEXTURE and use the color YELLOW and as always, to use one rubber stamp.

I don't use texture paste, so I had to figure out another way to add texture.  The bee is embossed with black and I added stitches all around.  I hope those count for texture.

The background on the front and back is scrapbook paper.

I was really stumped for an idea for this challenge. 

Here's what I have done with my tags.

Do you see that old skate key hanging there too?  Yes, from my actual steel wheel skates from my youth.  For the youngens, you needed that key to tighten the skate clamps to your shoe soles.  We didn't realise it at the time, but skating was a lot work.  Those wheels weren't made for coasting very far.  

It hasn't taken long to fill that dowel.  So I went looking for more display places.

I love these two old suitcases and the new Hobby Lobby trunks where I keep my precious received mail art.

Have a happy day.

Hugs,

Annie

Grounded Birdie

The Sunday Postcard Art this week is hosting the theme "UNIQUE"

I can't help but think these birds would have to be grounded.  

Then I had to try one larger...

They were quick and fun to create.  I found this bird on Pinterest and this blog: http://nicety.livejournal.com/910645.html  What cute things made in this paper and stitched technique.  Quite unique.

Please let me know if you'd like to find one of these grounded birdies in your letter box.  They'd be happy to fly in an airplane to get to you, or ride in the postal truck.

Happy Mail Day

Hugs

Annie

Happy Mothers Day

Wishing all who act in the role of a mother in any way, a very 

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

xxx

Annie

Sisters By Choice

I feel we're more like sisters than friends.

This fortnights tag challenge is to use the color black and stencils.  And of course, one real stamp.

Donna of Inky & Quirky sent me a few tags on which she created some background starts on one side of the tags.  This is one of those tags.  She painted the glistening green and stenciled black squares.  I first adhered her tag to mat board.  I then stenciled some darker black squares over the originals and I stenciled the while letters and numbers.  I added washi tape, stamped the girls on separate cardstock, cut them out and adhered them to the tag with pop dots.  

The back is inked, stamped and washi taped.

Thanks Donna for the great tag start!  

DragonsDream Tag It On hosts this tag challenge every two weeks.

xxx

Annie

Scrap Busting

My scrap busting projects are so small, they aren't busting anything.  But I'm busting with delight.

There is absolutely no noticeable dent in my scrap boxes.  Oh, who cares!  The fun is all in the fun of creating.  If I really wanted the scraps to disappear I'd toss them out on their ear.

The season for many refreshing cold drinks is nearly upon us and I'm getting ready for it.

After the wild orange keeper, came the wild red bottle/can wrap.

These little gems are such fun to make!  They practically design themselves with little effort from me.

Following is a tutorial for my process.  

Get your scraps together and some batting, a lining fabric choice and velcro.

Cutting measurements:

Body:

Batting - 8-1/4" x 4"

Lining - 8-1/4" x 4"

Tab:

Batting - 3" x 1-1/2"

Lining - 3-1/2 x 2-1/4"

Binding:

1-1/4" x 30"

Rubber Grip Strip:

7-1/4" x 3/4"

Velcro strips:

3/4" x 2-1/2" 

Glue the grip strip to the right side of the lining 1/2" from the top edge.  (It will get sewn down while you stitch the scraps on the front.)

For the body, layer lining piece right side down.  Place batting over lining.  Begin placing fabric scraps randomly on the batting.  Move the pieces around until your design looks pleasing.

For the tab, the batting is cut just inside the seam allowance so as not to add bulk after turning right side out.  Use the lining piece as a guide for placing the fabric scraps.  Allow 1/4" seam allowance on three sides and 1/2" seam allowance to the remaining long edge.

Here's my layout for both pieces.  Before pressing and sewing, I remove the spiral from the body piece and the bunting from the tab.  Also remove the lining from the tab (it gets sewn on later).  

Press the pieces to the batting.  I also use a glue stick to tack a few pieces down to help keep the scraps together while in the process of stitching them down.

After stitching the bases of the body and tab, I fused and stitched the spiral and the bunting.  You will have guessed by now what a marvelous time I'm having with fabric spirals.  They are a fun added element to the design.

The backsides look like this.  

For the tab, lay the lining piece right side down over the scrapy side.  Stitch the 1/4" seam allowance around the three edges leaving the 1/2" edge open.

Trim off the corners and turn the tab right side out and press.

Layer the tab right side up centered on the backside of the body piece (unstitched edge to the outside) I use a glue stick to hold it in place.

From the right side of the body piece, stitch the binding on all the way around.  Press the binding away from the body.  This is how it looks from the backside.

I stitch the binding to the backside by hand.  This is how it looks at this point.

Fold the tab piece out over the binding.  Press.

From the right side, stitch the tab in place by top stitching on the binding.  The photo below shows how that looks from the backside.

Add the velcro hook piece to the backside of the tab and the velcro loop piece to the front of the wrap as shown.

All done.

Now put that fun wrap to good use.

CHEERS!

xxx

Annie