New Mail Art

Finally the last piece of mail art I sent has reached it's destination so I can show it today. Once I mail a envelope then I worry worry worry that it'll get lost or damaged or even worse that the recipient won't like it. Wish I could just drop it in the mail and let go about it's merrily way, I had fun making it and thinking about who sees it along it's journey ( or is it just machines)?  So I should just be happy and not worry! Right? Nope, I worry. I was born a worrier and a worrier I'll always be.
And for all that worry, the birthday fairy who got the mail had an absolute wonderful reaction when she saw it! I'm very touched! The problem with these pieces of mail art is that no one knows how to open it without damaging the art. Once they settle down and really look at it, you realize you can slit it or cut it along the very top or a side. There's a card inside but it won't hurt the card. And yes, it's a envelope, a envelope has to have something inside it....it's a envelope, after all!!
 So here's the mail art for today:

I just went searching through folders to see where I got the fairy in the top picture but I can't seem to find it. If I find it later I'll come back and give credit if it needs it. And I believe the tiny fairies came from Lisa's altered art again but then again, without going in the art room to look, I could be wrong. But I'm sure they did. The front (top) was just pretty simple;  images cut and collaged with a bit of marking pens and glitter, of course! The hardest part was trimming those teeny tiny fairies! I cannot tell you how many times my stiff fingers lost grip and the fairy tumbled to the floor! Even picking it back up was a trick! After trimming that many teeny fairies I felt like I had done a much needed exercise work-out! Sheesh!

The bottom (back of envelope) is using a print of a photo taken of two dear fairy friends, one of who's birthday it was this week. The photo was of them having lunch and eating strawberries so I added the cake. This side, I used a napkin for the flowers, the images, some stamps, markers and glitter.

So that's all until I do another and send it along on it's journey!

Mail Art 3

Just have a bit more to show this morning and then I better get busy and DO something artful today. Other than the piece of mail art and playing with a bookmark, I've done nothing in about a week other than cut and trim or browse through piles of images hoping a great idea will jump out at me. It's not too many times that I don't know what to do or don't feel like doing any art; no, it's that my head is so stuffed full of ideas, all different and all different methods of art so that I don't know where to begin! What I want is a huge open loft studio with huge windows so I can have different areas for different forms of art and be able to move from one to another at will! Wouldn't that just be the greatest thing? Of course, I need to be able to have all those different needful supplies and the right lighting for old eyes, and a library to hold art books and it all has to be neat but yet delightfully decorated! And and and..... I don't want much, hey? Oh well, if dreams were dollars, I'd be so very rich!

This was sent to a sweet fairy friend who writes wonderful fantasy stories (I told you about her in a earlier post and you can see a couple of her books on the book shelf). So this bottom picture (front of envelope) is combining my version of the wonderful NITESH white dragon with fairies and maids & things Renaissance and fantastical as she also dresses and sells her wares at Ren Faires. This is all collaged images with some paint and probably watercolor pencil.

The top is the back of the envelope and again is made from all cut and collaged images along with some paint and watercolor pencil. This is because WE ALL love a man in a kilt! I liked this so much I also did the page in the Fantasy Altered Book.

This was to another friend in Tennessee. I waited until the last minute and only had a couple hours before the mailman was due so I had to work in a hurry to get it out as it held a birthday card that was going to be late! So both sides are some hasty cutting and collaging along with some paint, watercolor pencil and glitter.

She's as lovely as a dragonfly and wants to spread her wings and fly!

This one went to a friend who delves into many things! One of the things she does is to make Sea Anchors ( like parachutes) for fishermen to use on their boats. So I decided to do a fish and under the ocean fantasy theme for her. This is all cut images collaged with touches of glitter and behind the fish to represent the water are torn pieces of holographic wrapping paper. I also did another take on the under the ocean piece in the Fantasy  Folded altered book.

Mail Art 2

Decided I would show some more of the mail art this morning. I'm hoping the newest piece I just sent will arrive to the special girl today and then I can show it. Can't show it this morning because I know she'll come on and peek!

 This was sent to my sweet baby sister. This was the first envelope I tried doing mail art on. The top photo is the back of the envelope.

It was done with some water color pencils and lots of  images collaged together with some stamping added. I use mainly Mod Podge and gel medium for gluing and covering, some water color pencils for more color and shading, sometimes some glitter mediums or other paints /inks. I print, cut and trim all the images. The envelopes all get a gloss protective spray before mailing to protect them.

The bottom photo is the front of the envelope. It has a napkin in the background and the girl is from Lisa's Art collage sheets, I think the hat might be also; the wings are filiment leaves.

This is another one I sent to my baby sister. This has some paint and layers of collaged images. The image on the left is from Patty Van Dorin from some images we were given when doing her Fantasy Folded Altered Book class. I just love this image. I cannot remember where the image of the 5 children came from but I love it, too. The old house in the back, the kids and the lady all made me think of myself and siblings when we were young. I am the oldest and always looked over the younger ones. It was amazing to me that each child truly represented one of my siblings, so I labeled them. The sister who got this piece is the youngest child as represented by the baby and she understood right away what I was trying to convey!

This one was sent to a dear friend in Canada. I was sure hoping it would go through customs unharmed and it did! The top photo is the front of the envelope. It's mostly all images collaged with touches of glitter and water color pencil.

This friend has an amazing garden and yard in Ontario,Canada, full of flowers and whimsical displays, hordes of birds and other creatures, we belong to a small close group of Fairies and she likes mushrooms and fantasy. So that explains that!

The back of the envelope is the bottom photo. It is just purely whim on my part using images I really liked. it's all collaged images and then some paint or alcohol ink, can't remember now. I liked these images so much that I used them again on a page in the Fantasy Folded Altered book. I don't doubt that I'll use them again in some fashion on something else! Trimming the flower head took a while, but I like doing the cutting and trimming as I watch tv!

This one was done for a friend's son who got injured playing soccer. That's him in the bottom center and he was injured shortly after that photo was taken! Both sides are all representing things and places he likes. He's a Dallas Cowboy fan so I had to give him images from the Cowboys BUT being a PACKER fan I sure did want to throw in a Packer! I resisted though! This was all collaged using layers of  printed images. The cats did come from a purchased collage sheet but at the moment my mind is blank as to where I got them.

I'll show more later today or tomorrow.

Shameless Plug

I wasn't going to do this on MY blog but it seems I always end up doing what I say I won't. There's a hundred stories I could tell from my life on that comment but we won't go there, either. Not now anyway.

I own a small home computer business. I own it, my husband (Rocket, to me) D J to others, runs the business and does all the work. Trust me, there would be no computer business if it were left to me to do anything much concerning those lovely machines. I play on computers and use them to spend hours browsing for information and artsy things.
We are Starock Diversity, a small computer shop refurbishing mostly IBM lap tops, and also building desk top models. Besides building the computers, Rocket will also fix most problems, get rid of viruses and other bad creatures lurking on your computer, clean it to allow it to run faster and do whatever else these lovely machines need doing. Don't be afraid of the word REFURBISHED, it only means that while the whole inside works have been checked and new guts (parts) put in, there could be a scratch or scrape on the case or maybe a small mar on the screen. Any imperfections are minor and are pointed out to you before purchasing. They are built to run like new and are many times much better than new from a store. These will come already loaded with anti-virus and other bug preventing programs, they'll also be loaded with other needful programs included in the price. No need to have to go out and spend another unspeakable amount buying the programs you need. Some programs are ala carte and you tell him what you need; they are available at a discount of what purchasing a new program would be. Most of the laptops are set up as wireless and again, is already in the price quote.

The good thing about being small and having a home business is that you can usually reach him at any time, 7 days a week with questions or for help. If he's out on a house call or other errand, he will always call you back where ever you are.
DJ is just starting his own blog and learning the ropes as he goes. You can see it here:
http://starockdiversity.blogspot.com/
And he also has a web page. It's rather confusing at first, but stay on and keep scrolling and it will bring you to a wealth of needful information:
http://www.starockdiversity.com/

So if you're having computer woes or in the market for a new laptop or desk top model, need some more memory or a crashed hard drive needs digging into, just call DJ. He'll help most of the time....if he can't help you out, he'll tell you and suggest what to do, if he can. Oh, and yes, we do have a limited warranty that is better than most stores offer.
Check it out. It might be just what you looking for and in these times we all need a real deal on things we need!

So there's my shameless plug. It could save you a bundle and many headaches, too!! Oh, and obviously I cannot figure out how to do a clickable link, so just copy and paste the link. sheesh.....more to learn.

Mail Art

I couldn't show these pictures of mail art before now for a real silly reason. I really didn't know how to erase the addresses from the photo. Somehow every time I tried cropping or cutting, I'd take out the wrong part of the photo. I don't always get along with a computer too well. But today, after a friend even offered to have me send her the photos and she'd "fix them" for me, I gave it one final try and I DID IT! I have no idea why it never worked before this, I don't see that I did anything different. Such a simple task that gave me such a headache! We own a small computer business and some days I feel real SMART when I can help a customer with some simple task on the computer or show them how to do something easy. This task was not one of them, until today! Mostly I leave all the computer things to Rocket and I stay away. I'm much happier reading a thriller or trying to do some art.
So here are some of my sent cards with mail art. I always try to do something that's meaningful to the person getting the card, using a photo or other images but I don't always come up with an idea or a photo I can use.

This was made for sweet friend in PA for her birthday. The bottom picture is using photo's she took while on a cruise recently with some added ephemera befitting her. Unfortunately this is the one card that did not reach it's destination and it's probably mangled and in some P.O. trash bin. It's my fault as on the front (the top photo) I added a small metal piece. I thought it was flat enough not to do harm, even added extra postage for hand cancelling but still it never made it for some reason. I couldn't do it again because as you know, you can never get it the same twice and I used up the napkins I used for the flourish border! The top photo was using napkins, a boy from Lisa's art again and other ephemera. I really did like the way this turned out and hate that she had to settle for a picture instead of the real envelope and card; not to mention that the card had additional art to match!

This was done for my baby brother, an avid hunter and fisherman. I was in a hurry and really didn't do too well on the fishing painting (see that big pole...it comes from grabbing the wrong brush and not paying attention until the stroke was finished!). I figure he's deep sea fishing on a small lake! This was just fast simple painting with silhouettes.

This is front and back of a card sent to my middle brother. He's the only brother who "gets" my art and likes it so I can do anything for him! He is a PRINCE of a brother! The top was using a napkin background with added ephemera and again a boy from Lisa's art. The bottom (back) was done in mostly different images and some paint.

This one was made for my Daughter. The front (bottom) was using a napkin only.

The back (top) was using photo's of my Grandmother (center), my Mother (top left), myself (right) and center fairy on the bottom, and my daughter on the bottom on either side of me. I used the same napkin for background and added in some other elements.

That's it for now. I might come back later and show some more.