Calendar Journal and Mail Art

January 2016 was a month of lettering play.  I also found something to write about every single day.  No filler blocks used.  I had a very playful month that I am very grateful for.

Much of my playful month was filled with mail art play.

My vbff (virtual best friend forever), Sheila, is having a birthday soon.

Some very late mail art went to Abby.  I have not heard whether this card and envelope arrived.  I do hope so.

And this postcard was some best fun to make.  Gina's father is celebrating his 88th birthday soon and she has plans to present him with at least 88 birthday greetings from around the world.  Her Papa loves mail art.

And lastly is a Valentine card.

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!

xxx

Annie

Altered Dictionary Challenge - F

This fortnight for the Craft Barn's altered dictionary challenge the letter to illustrate is F. And this time with the twist to include a heart.

My word is frippery.

I think she's being showy.

I inked the backside of tracing paper with a mix of distress inks.  On the reverse side I stamped the image with Black Soot distress ink, stamped a tiny heart with Barn Door distress ink and used color pencils to add hints of color.  I cut out the image and spray glued it to the page.  I used a dauber to highlight with Spiced Marmalade distress ink over the word and definition.

I did not know this word before I found it in this dictionary.  I always look for fun new words for this challenge.

xxx

Annie

I don't know what happens to the photos when they transfer to the blog.  When I take them they are clear, but by the time they get here, they look blurry.

Mail Art LOVE

It's the month of Love.  And a bit of a different take on the subject from me this week.  This time I got out my neutrals bin of scraps for my postcard background collage.  Chopped and stitched.  Then a heart stitched on.  Then an envelope charm tied on.  And there you have it...my love of mail art.

I must give credit to the Sunday Postcard Art.  This card started out as just another Valentine card.  But SPA challenged us to create a postcard and add a charm to it.  I had no ideas for a charm.  But after the heart was stitched on and I looked at the card, I decided it needed something more.  The SPA must have planted this charm idea into my subconscious and I remembered that I had a tiny stash of envelope and postcard charms....somewhere in this mess.  Of course they were in the last place I looked and literally hiding right out in the open.  Always the best place to hide something from yourself, or anyone else for that matter.  

"Just another Valentine" transformed into my love of mail art.  Especially for fabric postcards.  This one is in the mail on Monday.

Happy Mail Day!

xxx

Annie

Orange Collage Butterfly

There was a butterfly in my mind wanting to be stitched.  But what color did it want to be?  The Sunday Postcard Art challenge made a delightful decision for me.  Orange.  Yes.  Perfect.

I have made well over 100 fabric postcards.  Yes, most of them have been mailed out.  114 of those can be seen in my Fabric Postcard Flickr Album.

In the beginning the ideas for them came in masses.  Now I struggle for new ideas for stitched postcards.  The recipient of this one has waited quite a long time.  My waiting list is now complete.  Now I'm just waiting on new and more ideas for stitching more postcards.  

Happy Mail Day!

xxx

Annie

Alpha Dictionary Challenge Q

My favorite Challenge is back!

The Alpha Altered Dictionary Challenge

with The Craft Barn

My most favorite ever challenge and I almost missed it.  I did miss getting the first challenge letter into the list of players, but that's no-never-mind for me.  I shall play from here and I'm already caught up.  This is the only year-long Challenge that I ever finished.

The letter this fortnight is Q

My chosen word is questionnaire.

Last time I chose queen and now this page spread is done.  Only like 500 more to go.  LoL

To start the challenge off last fortnight was the letter B.

I chose the word bookish.

I'm up-to-date and current now and so excited to be playing this fun altered dictionary challenge again.

My pages aren't much for artsy, but I am getting the look I want for this altered dictionary.  I think it's a form of art, just not the way others think of this challenge. 

xxx

Annie

Man In The Moon Postcard

It's been awhile since I've participated in the Sunday Postcard Art challenge.  When this week's theme came up for art with the Man In The Moon, I had to make a postcard and participate.  I recently came across this altered envelope on Pinterest, which is what was inspiring me.  I worked with thoughts of space and mail.  I actually found a couple of postage stamps to work into the design as well as using scrapbook paper, some Washi tape and rubber stamps.

You know the correspondence side is ready to go also.

Good Mail Day!

xxx

Annie

Number Tags

The tag challenge blog up and ended before the numbers were complete.  I went ahead and completed the number series on my own.

First up is #6.  Just a chosen date that reflected the beginning of school and picture day. Vintage style with coffee stain and all.

The back of #6

And the final number, #7.  Our house number in Wisconsin.

The back of #7

Looking back I notice #0 never made it's way into the series.  Oh well.  It will NOT bother me.  At least not enough to go back to this number series...at the moment.

I gathered all the tags together.  While I wasn't happen with some of them, I was very happy with others.  It makes no never mind.  The playing is what's important.

Count your blessings.

xxx

Annie

Small Creations

This month's challenge at A Monthly Challenge is to think small.  Our little creations are not to be larger than 4"x4".  That's a fun size to play with.  I made coin envelopes.  They measure 4"X3".

The one on the left is made with a scrapbook paper then decorated with torn tracing paper and a bit /of Washi tape.  The one on the right is made with a craft paper and decorated with Washi tapes.

Reverse sides

They are such fun little envelopes to make.

Recently I found a new blog to check in on called The Lost Art of Letter Writing...Revived.  In November Pemela had challenged her readers to make an Autumn Matchbox.  After reading a few of Pam's posts, I felt strongly compelled to write a letter to her.  That must mean her blog is working.  It can't just be that I like mail art.  I didn't want to make a matchbox and I certainly didn't want to deal with mail it to arrive not crushed.  So I made little envelopes for her in the theme of postal/letter writing.  

I put the two tiny envelopes inside the coin envelope.  The smallest envelope measures 1-7/8" X 1-1/4".  Pretty tiny and so adorable.  I also made her card using a Jane Austen library card and a clip art of a writer with a fun ink well hat with her quills handy and note paper streamers.  

Then I wrote the letter.  While working on the envelopes and card, I kept wondering what to write to someone I don't know.  Well, surprisingly, I didn't have any problem finding some words to write.  With email so handy and instant these days, I don't have any "real" stationery on hand.  So I took sheets from note pads and just kept Washi taping them together.  This was a really fun project.

NOTE:

The library card is from a boxed set I found at Barnes & Noble.  They are copies of real library cards from the Library of Congress.

xxx

Annie

Journaling Craze

My December 2015 Calendar Journal was a fun month to document and attempt some more creative looking day blocks.

A creative lettering style that always catches my attention is now being practiced by me ..... a lot.  Along with other styles.  Drawing letters/words is a painstakingly slow process ..... for me.  I bravely even practice it on mail art envelopes too.  I'm not so good at it.  I'm not even going to say 'yet'.  But if you view it from, say, ten feet away, not too shabby looking.  LoL

On Pinterest I see loads of something new to me.  Bullet Journals.  From what I can figure about them is that they are just lists.  Daily lists.  And people go to a lot of work making these daily lists.

My mind is not what it used to be and it never is spending much time thinking about what I 'should' be doing.  It's always thinking about PLAYING.  This means it's necessary that I make myself lists.  On-going lists.  But I just keep a spiral journal on my desk always with the on-going list of things I need to remember to do, and dates of events that I need to remember are approaching.

The pages get flipped back and forth until 'stuff' gets crossed off.  It also contains ideas and drawing illustrations of ideas for PLAYING.  I even tape things into it that I don't want to loose.  And bits of trimmed off Washi Tapes.  All kinds of stuff really.  It's just what comes to mind at the moment that I don't want to forget.  Or a lot of things that I keep forgetting until I get it written down.  It keeps me on track and on time.

My conclusion to Bullet Journals is that I already have one in a more relaxed format.

Make your day creative!

xxx

Annie

Making Cards

Happy New Year

cards

Now that traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas are past, I am free to make Annie-style cards to send to my daughter and my friends.  The people who don't look at these cards as if I were out of my mind.   

So I had a play with postage people.  It's been a while.  Adolph S. Ochs has been patiently waiting in my stash for a body.  The man's body is a Tim Holtz Found Relative card.  Adolph went on a trip to Connecticut.

Butterfly lady is still traveling.  She came about from a long awaited play time to create in my own style.

Quiet Winter also is still traveling.  This card emerged from trying a technique I found on Pinterest.

And then lastly, I needed a Thank You note.

And now for a new year to start fresh again.  May 2016 be your best new year ever!

xxx

Annie

Christmas Postcard Exchange

Last November I joined in a Christmas Postcard Exchange with other like-minded bloggers, hosted by Sheila at Sheila's Quilt World. I mailed my postcard to Lin in Paris. 

This card seems to have taken the scenic route, as it took a bit long in arriving. But finally arrived, it did.  just as I was about to start on a replacement postcard. Sometimes all we need to do is threaten our original mail art with replacement mail art. 

I did not have the long wait that Lin had. Her beautiful postcard arrived well before Christmas for my holiday enjoyment.

I love all these perfectly made hexies stitched together with such perfect and incredibly tiny, barely visible stitches. And something I've not seen before, teeny tiny beads stitched at each inside point. All finished off with a metallic thread satin stitched edge. Thank you so much Lin for this beautiful postcard. 

This day after Christmas is a great time to look back on Christmas Day and all the days leading up to it and reminisce on the beauty of this season with a smile. I hope everyone has happy hearts. 

xxx

Annie

Christmas Greetings and Gift Wrapping

It always seems that at this time of year people are friendlier and more giving.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were all like that all year long?  We all have our limits to being walked on, but other than that, it's not so hard to be kinder than we think we can be.

Wishing all my blogging friends and followers a very

Merry Christmas

I made a handful of special Christmas postcards for a handful of special people in my life.  I have said before I am hopeless with mass production.  (Two of anything is mass production!)  I made seven of these postcards.  I was already whining when I had six more to go.  But I'm glad I made them.

For the rest of my dear family and friends, I altered a commercially produced card.  I chose this Christmas collage card...no surprise there, eh.

And I added three glittery snowflakes.  The largest on a pop dot for a 3-D appearance.  

This too was mass production except that it was in such a simple form that I managed a whole stack without whining.....too much.

I mostly had small gifts and money to wrap.  And I love the "brown paper packages tied up with string" Pinterest photos.  So I took my lead from inspiration in those photos.

I hope the world has a joyous Christmas!

xxx

Annie

Blitzen Snowman

Don't faint... I've been sewing again.

And now I am enjoying this wonderful Winter guy this year.  

I found him at the Madison, WI Quilt Expo this last September.  I NEVER buy quilt kits.  NEVER.  But I loved the fabrics he was made up with.  I immediately asked if they had him in a kit.  YES!  And of course it was the last one.  They didn't need that sales pitch because I was going to buy it no matter what.  LoL

I thought he was wearing a ball cap until I gave the pattern a good look.  This is when I discovered he is a basket.  

I don't much care for the basket idea so I changed him up giving him his top hat.  I adore him!  I love that he's festive enough for Christmas and not-so-much Christmasy that he can remain hanging all through Winter.

The fabric collection is blitzen by basicgrey for Moda

The pattern is Sue's Snowman Basket by Jan Patek Quilts Inc.

He's out of storage now and all made up.  That fits right into my plan to get stuff out of storage and all made up.  

Happy Winter!

xxx

Annie

November 2015 and Where I Play

November 2015 is behind us now.  

Here's how it went for me.  

I cleaned up my play space just before Thanksgiving.  I don't do it often and I seem to always be playing in a mess.  Play time is too minimal to waste it cleaning up.  So here's a peek into my "tidy" happy place.

Look quick, it won't last long.

xxx

Annie

Happy Thanksgiving

It's about to get pretty busy around here.  I'm wishing all my awesome blogging followers, quiet and boisterous alike, a very Happy Thanksgiving!

This is my Thanksgiving card I created and mailed off to family and friends.

Safe holiday everyone!

xxx

Annie