Do Not Discard

More pages from my envelope book (it appears it will be "in progress" for years to come).  I keep digging around and finding more things.  I keep trying to organize envelopes and stamps and cool envelopes as I come across them before I drown in them.  For your amusement...

These are all partially finished.  I found a copy of an envelope I mailed where I used the Queen (love) stamp and drew a body for her on the envelope.  The last spread shows an envelope on the right that I received in an exchange.  It was a Mizzpelled Envelope Exchange - the rule was to misspell pretty much everything and see if it arrived at its destination.  I got some great and creative envelopes.  Since my postal people know me, I do believe if someone sent a decorated envelope to just my zip code, I'd probably get it.  Maybe.

The Blue Queen

 

You know your blog is growing cobwebs when your friends start demanding you put something new on there!

There are reasons why I haven't posted lately. 
It's almost Halloween and I feel like a zombie.
I'm working a lot and I feel like a zombie.
I'm missing sleep and I feel like a zombie.
Okay, enough with the zombie.
Maybe I was gathering stuff to send to Gaye, like some Stamp Cash from a vintage postal board game I forgot I had.

Maybe I was working on a Green Page in my book. 

Maybe I was working on the Blue Queen page in my book, with her security detail.

Maybe I was pondering the Mystery of the Crossed Feathers that I almost stepped on while walking near my house.

I hope to have more postal book pages soon.  Don't give up on me!

Postal Museum

You know, not too long ago I remember being obsessed with my visual journals and experimenting with texture techniques.  I must be really fickle, because I have not even touched any of that since my postal obsession.  So bear with me while that continues!

You might be interested to know that you can download some freebies from the U. S. Postal Museum website.  This is not to be confused with the U. S. Postal Service.  Case in point... when I submitted an envelope to the Graceful Envelope contest a few years ago, I accidentally left off the post office box number in the address.  Apparently, the U.S. postal service does not know where the U.S. postal museum is, and they sent the envelope back to me!

Anyway, you can visit the museum website and use their options to make stationary.  Rather than make stationary, I put several stamp designs on the page in different sizes and printed those.  I also explored all the drop down menus to see what else was there and printed some other things.  

Here are a couple more things from their website, but I can't remember where I found them.  I was exploring further and came across them somewhere. 

Lastly, my post office box rent is due this month, and my postmaster likes it when I decorate my envelope.  It's fun for me to surprise her each year.

Go forth and postalize something!

Time Warp

I think I was abducted by aliens yesterday.  I lost several hours of my day that I can't account for.  Either that, or I sat down for a simple organizing task and the next thing I knew, I had lost track of time.  I blame the postal books I've been working on.  They have me digging deep, deep into the archives of unused items for stuff to use.  So when I came across this baggie of old postage stamps, it seemed like a good idea to clean and sort them.  I don't remember where they came from.  Either I found them at a yard sale, or Gaye did and gave them to me.

How so much debris got into that bag is beyond me. But after pulling out a few stamps to use and having to clean them off, I decided to clean the bag full and sort them by colors. It was a yucky job, but I knew it would be worth it.

(FYI, the time I spent was indeed worth it, but I only got through about three-fourths of the bag before I felt like I had turned into the stamp zombie. So I'm still not finished.)

I have managed to add some more things to the pages of one book in the last week. Stamps, postcards, old envelopes, photos, anything that might be postal related. For now, they don't seem to have any rhyme or reason. But I have high hopes that it will somehow all pull together over time.
 

Postal Alert No. 2

So much for tackling that weekend to-do list.  I'm pretty sure I did nothing but work on this book cover for almost a full day yesterday.  But so worth it!  The insides will have to wait for now.  I can't stop picking up these two books and looking at them.  The part on the front with my name is a layering of multiple window envelopes, each with different wording to tell me how important the recipient of the mail is!  Turned out pretty nice.

By the way, the triple chain stitch on the book above, as well as the sewn-on-tapes on the other postal book in my previous post are both taught in Mary Ann Moss's Full Tilt Boogie class.  If you have considered taking this class, she has lowered the price through the end of this month.  Very inspiring and highly recommended if you love making books with abandon.  See more here. 

(Disclaimer:  No, I do not get a kick-back and I am not affiliated, just a satisfied student.  I like the fact that the videos and class info are up indefinitely, so no rush to finish everything in a set amount of time.) 

Boogie on.....

Mail Call

I'm still playing with security envelopes when I get a chance.  Had a really fun day when friend Chris came down from Indianapolis to Gaye's house and Gaye showed us the book she was working on.  Chris and I made one like hers, using cardboard envelopes as covers and security envelopes for pages.  In the photo, ours are the two standing in the back, and Gaye's book is in the front, showing the inside. 

 Below is Gaye's cover (slightly different than ours).  I love what she has done with her book so far.

I'm also still working on my book that I started a couple of weeks ago.  Mine uses cardboard from a priority mailing box for the cover and security envelope pages.  I finally sewed it last night, using the sewn-on-tapes method. 

I can't wait to tackle the insides of both books.  But it is incredibly time-consuming, even though it looks like all you do is just gather some envelopes and add some stuff!  I have stuff spread out everywhere, trying to figure out what to add where.  I can't wait to show these to my postmaster, as she is the one who gave me several of the legitimate postal stickers back when I was teaching mail art classes.

Check it out

I am itching to get back to my security envelope book shown in the last post, but I've been occupied with other things.  However, I have been gathering bits of stuff to put in it. 

In the process of doing that, I came across the checkbook register I showed on my blog in August 2010.  Now, some people might be shy about saying they came across a project they started over a year ago and didn't finish.  Not me!  If I start something, even if I don't finish it at the time, I at least won't forget the technique I wanted to try.  If I had never started this project, I would never ever have remembered it by this time.  If you recall, I was inspired by someone else who had taken a class with Orly Avineri and they made a book from a checkbook register.  At the time, I painted my pages and that's about it.  The last few days, I have added more and more, but it has a long way to go before it is really fattened up like I want it to be.  I love picking it up and flipping through the pages, even though I already know what's in there.  I am going to fatten it up like a Thanksgiving turkey!