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.