MMSA file folder swap

This was a fun one. You decorate a regular old manila file folder front and back, put some fun stuff inside, seal it shut somehow (I sewed mine), and send it off to Karen in an envelope. She's going to mail them back out. Luckily I have a wide mailbox so it'll fit no problem.

I started with a blue folder and a green one that I liberated from work. Collaged them with book text and various other old papers, then stenciled, collaged and doodled until I was happy with them. The stenciled sides are the reverse of each other cause I took my inky stencil and used it backwards on the other folder to use up the ink. Waste not, want not. Took me decades to understand what that meant. All those old expressions mystified me until I had enough life experience for them to make sense.

This is the one with the backward stencils. Used Dyelusions spray inks in blue, turq and purple.
Doodled a lot with a Scarlet Lime pen. Best pens in the world.
The solid black circles are a Bingo marker from the dollar store.

Other side of the one above. The stamp head person was a transfer failure that I couldn't bring myself to pitch, and thank goodness cause it fits the grungy feel of this project perfectly.
Gesso, gellied deli paper bits, silly bird stamp, doodles.

The original stenciled side. Bought all 3 of those in Niles last time I spent a day playing at Maria's studio.

And the back of the one just above.
Flower collaged from gelli print papers, gesso, misc bits stuck down here and there, doodles.

I finally finished a few things

Seems like I've been endlessly working on things but never finishing anything. This is partly due to having a couple ongoing projects on my work table - my Documented Life journal and another one I can't remember right now - and partly due to the fact that I do indeed start more than I finish, being a confirmed "works in progress" girl. 

But I did get a few postcards done the other day. For those of you who signed up to follow me recently and are rethinking that decision, DON'T LEAVE! I do post original art more often than not. Just not lately, it seems.

These are up for swaps so if one of them grabs you, let me know by email or in the comments and we'll do it.

This one and the one below are done on a background that I no longer remember how I did it. The surface is very smooth, like maybe it was paint on a magazine page rubbed in well with a baby wipe. (?)  But I kinda like the result. Too bad I can't replicate it...
Doodled paisley and ribbon because I was in doodle mode and had no other ideas.

Doodled flowers for same reason as above. Plus I'm trying to learn to doodle. It comes naturally to most people, I think, judging by the endlessly filled pages that people come out of boring meetings with, but I just sit there and take notes. <sigh>

Large card with collaged gelli printed background and a pic of a kid eating snow. Good advice for you folks back in the new Siberia that is the eastern 2/3 of the USA.

Another collaged gelli background and same kid in the snow. Looking at this on the screen, I really like the gelli printed phone book page. The very small type just becomes scribbles when you put some paint on it and makes great backgrounds. If you're not using your old phone books in your art, you're missing a great paper resource.

incoming, batch 3 horses

More MMSA cards. What in the world would I do for fun mail if it weren't for her great swaps??

The blue horse is cut from sparkly embossed paper and glued to the painted card and it's all just lovely. The horse is so fanciful and the color contrasts are great. Thanks, Carroll! 

The black and white image of two wind blown horses looks like it's from an old book, and the contrast against the colorful hand painted card is cool. Thanks, Dawn!

This one is very Byzantine with its gold flecked curlicue background paper, knightly stamps, and baroque horse image. The horse and the card are edged in gold, altho it doesn't show in the scan. I like the subdued palette. A very pretty card from Rose. Thanks!

incoming, batch 2 turq & org

MMSA turquoise and orange swap - my favorite color combo so I was excited to see what I'd get back in this swap. MMSA artists did not disappoint!

A gorgeous card from Carlene in Tennessee. Love the big bold patches of color that just bounce off the page. She did some sgraffito into the orange paint too - those small lighter squares are scratched into the paint. Very cool.

This one is from Dawn, also from TN. It looks like blown acrylic ink to me and I like the crazy randomness of it, especially with the fancy little LOVE stamped across the center.

From Lynn in MA, I think. (on the back of her card she wrote Go Red Sox, so I'm guessing here) It took me a few days to notice that the bird was stamped not just in black, but also in aqua beg=hind the black. Love the bright colors and bit of text.

incoming mail art, batch 1

Man, all that Olympics watching really put me behind, but it's all over for another two years so I'm back at the keyboard again. Lots of fun incoming mail art to show you, plus some of my own work. First up are misc cards sent to me for reasons other than a swap of some sort.

Terrie, another mail art pal, and I swap cards regularly, and I recently got one of her lettered cards in exchange for, um..., I guess I don't remember exactly what it was for. Maybe a stamp head ATC. I'd not heard this saying before and I quite like it. Thanks, Terrie!

When Connie posted a bunch of stamp head ATCs, I admired the Sun-Maid Raisin ones and the next thing you know, one shows up in the mail. Thanks, Connie!
I always used to think it said 'puffed seeded muscrats' when I was a kid. 

The gorgeous envelope that matches the ATC. Too fun. I'm going to tear it up and collage with it. Never used to be much of a purple person but like it much more the past several years.

A charming card sent to me by Pamela while she was at Ex Postal Facto, the mail art event held in San Francisco in the middle of Feb. Look at that ornate mail box, and his little basket of mail is too cute.

The back of Pamela's card is every bit as fun as the front. All sorts of stamps and stickers. I really enjoyed this card. Thanks, Pamela!

Sochi telethon

I love the Olympics. It's fun seeing lots of images of a place I've never been. I enjoy all the stories about how people got into their sport, raised money selling cookies to get there, had 7 knee surgeries in 2 years, etc. I even enjoy all the sports, to one degree or another. Watching someone do something they're *really* good at is neat, almost no matter what that thing is. I'm taping all the TV coverage and then zipping thru the boring parts on fast forward. So far I've logged about 60 hours of actual watching time. I'll actually be glad when it's all over so I can get back to my normal life.

I even watched about 3 hours of curling without picking up so much as a hint of what the rules were, how points were scored, whether a throw was good. Four years ago my husband and I watched a fair amount of it and were as in the dark afterwards as before. But it has quite a following, so there must be more to it than I was able to pick up.

I got a bit tired of the endless qualifying runs of snowboarding and freestyle skiing, but absolutely loved the Nordic skiing, especially the cross country men's relay. It was a long event but I was glued to the screen until Sweden zoomed across the line, kicking off his skies as he went so that he could hug his team mates in victory. Russia second (with Putin in attendance), and total surprise France in 3rd. Every time someone came across the line, they fell over like they'd been shot. One of the few sports I've seen where the finish line is littered with bodies.

But my favorite thing this year has been the figure skating announcing team of Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir. That's the best hiring move NBC has made in a long time. They're knowledgeable, funny, insightful, and well dressed. I've been following their Instagram feeds during the games and it's a hoot. And the outfits give me a chuckle.

kitchen table art

Trying to catch up on a few things, so here's some unfortunate phone pics of art I've done at the kitchen table while watching endless hours of Olympic coverage. More on that in the next post.

stamp head ATC

bird ATC that got swapped with an online art acquaintance

silly Renaissance themed post card for mail art pal Jewels

another stamp head ATC that went to art pal Connie