Postal Passion

Like many of us, I'm such a postal geek.  I do love all things postal, whether old or new.

I made a trip to Michael's a couple of days ago, first time in months that I've been there. They had a whole rack of postal stuff, mostly in miniature.  I don't know how long they have been carrying these items, but it's long enough that they were marked down 60%.

 Yes, please, I'll have some of these, and some of these, and some of these!  They had lots more, but I already had some of the washi tape and postal twine.  As usual, my store may have it and yours may not. These things are unpredictable. But it made me a happy camper.

Reporting for Duty

Remember the tote bag I bought that was mentioned in a previous post?

I finally got around to putting my cloth patches on it.  I had planned to sew them on, in case I wanted to take them off later to use somewhere else.  But that didn't work out too well.  It was hard to sew through the heavy canvas, so I decided to go with fabric glue. 

I used a different fabric glue than what I have used in the past, so this will be going through an endurance test. 

I got some of these patches off eBay and etsy.  Sometimes it amazes me how easy it is to get things that probably should be too official for the average person to obtain (i.e., official US Post Office patches).  But that didn't stop me from buying them!

Leftover Projects

Last year, my word for the year was "Action".  For the most part, I was successful in actually doing some of the things that I was thinking about doing.  But I didn't use up my Action word, so I have rolled it over to this year too.  Lots to do still. 

One thing I didn't get around to doing last year was making a book to hold the envelopes I got in a Lunar New Year envelope swap.  I love looking at these, and want them in a book.  

In the past several years, I have cut back on swaps I used to participate in.  But getting envelopes from fellow calligraphers is quite a treat and worth the effort.  I have signed up again this year, and have my bought the 2013 stamps.  It's the year of the snake - thankfully, the snake is not predominant on this stamp, only fireworks!

Another Postal Book

What do you do when your postmaster retires?  Especially if she is a friend more than a postmaster, one who "gets" the crazy stuff you send and receive through the mail....

You make another postal book and wrap it like a package.

I am happy for her, but it's hard to break in a new postmaster....

Number Three

It's been too hot to really go out and do anything, so this weekend I've tried to catch up on some UFOs (unfinished objects).  One of them is to make another postal book, because Gaye made one a few months ago and I wanted to make one too.  I made the cover weeks ago, but finally got some pages sewn in.  It started out with a mailing box - here's before and after.

Various patterns from security envelopes were used on the covers (and I managed to use a lot of my new tapes from Target too).  I used half of an airmail envelope to make a pocket in the back, and inserted a library card. 

The library card has a place for title.  Hmm.  After careful introspection and thoughtful consideration (of about 5 seconds, because I'm nothing if not Thoughtful), I brilliantly proclaimed the title of the book to be Postal Book 3.

And I put a big old 3 on the back cover.

It now joins books 1 and 2. 

And then I had ice cream.

Traveling Post Office

It's about the size of a suitcase. It has metal latches and hardware.

It has a rope handle.  There is a number "46" by the handle, but I don't know the significance of that.

When you open it, there are over 100 cubbyholes.  There are three pieces of card with addresses on them. 

This is the case I got from Gaye's yard sale.  She said the person she got it from said it was an old post office training case.  The cards that have addresses are smaller than regular envelopes, so it is more of a mini post office.

I still don't know exactly where I'm going to put it, but I already love it.  The cubbys are pretty small, though, so at first I was trying different things to see what would fit.  One section was bigger and it was a perfect fit for my spool of postal twine.

Then I discovered that the "shelves" are mostly cardboard.  They slide right out, so I could make some bigger openings to hold bigger stamps and other things.  That changes everything!

Something else that fit really well was this origami box Gaye gave me several years ago.  Now, if I could get her to make me about 50 more of those... 

I also got these mysterious lettering pens from her.  Not sure how to use the pens, but the tiny stencil is very cool!! 

So I guess now I need to go look for little things to go in the little cubbys.

Come Fly With Me

Meanwhile, back in the postal book... (surely you didn't think I had abandoned it?)....

In all my rummaging around in my old stuff, I found some old philatelic publications I had saved.  They used newsprint type paper, and one was an oversized publication.  I remembered immediately why I saved it, in spite of the fact that it was too big to store anywhere.  When I had mailed in a subscription renewal one year, I had used a Huck Finn postage stamp, then drew a long fishing line coming from his fishing pole, and stamped the image of a fish at the end.  They evidently did not get many decorated envelopes (plain as it was), and they published it.

I cut out the article and put it in my postal book. I also cut out the title from the cover page - which to most will look like I'm just documenting the publication. Only I know where the little cat-tooth holes are. Since it used to reside on the bottom shelf of the bookcase and since it stuck way out from the other books, the cat I used to have (known as The-Cat-Who-Chews-Paper) was always chomping on stuff like that. So it has its own personal memory for me.

I also came across an article I had saved from another publication. This article mentioned small airlines that were around in the 1920s to carry mail to obscure places in Canada and Alaska. It showed a postal cancel for Patricia Airways. Hey, that's my name! Back when the article came out, there was no Google. Yes, youngsters, there was a time when there was no Google. Hard to believe it has not always been around. So, off I went on a search, and I found some postage to print out and a rate card. Perfect for my book!

And, a few more pages in progress...

November Squared

It's not unusual for me to work in more than one journal at a time, but as this year has gone along, I seem to have more journals than I can keep up with.  I'm a victim of runaway journaling.  So for November, I am going to step back and slow the pace a little.  I got the idea from an article in the recent issue of Somerset Studio, and I have started a square-a-day calendar for November.  It looks plain now, but it will perk up by the end of the month.

The article in Somerset (Nov/Dec 2011 issue) is about artist Kate Crane - see more of her work here. 

It felt good to splash some paint on my November page - but that doesn't mean I've abandoned my postal book.  No page is ever finished - I am always finding more to add!

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!