Mail Art: A little in and a little out...

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Hello!  Here's another bit of mail.  I think I have fallen in love...and behind!

It's been a while and these are FAR OVERDUE!  My dear pen twin...Shannah...please forgive me for my belated post.

So to start things off, check out that black and white post card!  How neat is that!  It comes from Rose Oziorny for a postcard swap from SwapBot.  It is a vintage photograph of Althea Gibson.  She was the first African American to win a major title.  She won the French Championship in 1956 and then went on to win both the U.S. Open and Wimbledon titles in 1957 and 1958 respectively.  Rose didn't know it...but I love tennis and played in high school and recreationally in college.  Mr. MCD and I always watch the tournaments every year.

Shannah'a letter was beautifully decorated.  She pasted that flower and added some paint splatters.  I personally love the Ronald Reagan stamp.

The inside was just as sweet as the outside.  I looked at the card she wrote on over and over again.  The illustration is beautiful and the overalls on the little girl are just darling.  I love that old fashioned look on babies...look at that bonnet!  Her stationary was so pretty.  I'm a sucker for flowers.

I love reading Shannah's letters.  Hop on over to her blog, Write Before Your Eyes...great name right!  She's always posting about her latest mail goodies and some of her recent stationary finds.  She is even considering creating her own stationary...and it is really good.

Here is a sample of my outgoing mail goodness.  I sent out handmade stationary and envelopes to my neice, Jazz.  You can  see the stationary HERE.  She's definitely excited to have her own paper to write on!

I sent out a thank you note to Rose for the post card and modge podged tissue paper to the envelope...I really like doing that.  It's an interesting look, almost like confetti.

Hand made envelope for Chrissy, another SwapBot project.  It's kind of funny.  It was supposed to be and International letter swap.  I got Tasha, in Spain...you can see her mail art HERE.  However, poor Chrissy got me...and she lives in Virginia.  Such a nice woman!  I'll post her letter soon...and wow!  The stationary!

You can also see my letter to Shannah at Write Before Your Eyes.  She really loved how I drew her name.

Also, a very cool looking envelope to Debbie Harmon.  I sent her the Valentine's Day ATC's.  She is a veteran in the ATC department so I wrote her a quick note telling her I was a newbie to the game and that I would love to see some of her work.

She apparently LOVED my ATC's and I'm so happy that she did.  I also loved this envelope.  It was just so simple, but very graphic with the bold red stripes and plain black lettering.  Seems strange but this is one of my favorite envelopes that I have created.

Until next time...and hopefully it won't be long!

St. Patrick's Day Bows

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Yay!  The St. Patrick's Day bows are complete and are now in the wonderful boutique, Looking Glass Designs.  I made an order of ten to start and they couldn't have turned out any more adorable.

And the bow card looked great attached to the bow.  It's light and fresh and is the perfect complement to any color bow.  I didn't want anything too showy...I wanted the bow to stand out and I really think it does.

I also took a moment in the mayhem of it all and captured a small snippet of my work area...and this is before I really got going!

Just what is the greatest trick not in the book you ask...stick a pencil, pen,
or in my case, an exacto knife (whatever fits) into your spool of thread so
that when you need to get string all you have to do is hold that piece and
pull the string.  Nice and easy.  No unraveling by hand and then misplacing
your spool because you put it in a different spot every time.  It just acts like
a roll of toilet paper.

Grace took the liberty of adding to my mess with the diaper, the goody bag and a puff flower that is usually attached to the baby Claire's swing.  However, she is such a big girl now she can just reach up and grab them.  She kept saying..."You need these momma!"

And speaking of baby Claire, here is a picture of that gooey goodness...

She just had a checkup today and she is 19 lbs...at 6 months!  27.5 inches and growing.  She's the size of a 9 month old, which I already knew because the 9mo. clothing she has been wearing is getting tight.  Just look at those cheeks!!!


Also, in the middle of all this bow goodness, and because I always forget to feed myself, Mr. MCD made me an amazing bowl of clam chowder and homemade garlic toast.  Yep, he's mine.

I'm very happy that I got the order completed and in the boutique.  The next bows to made for Looking Glass Designs are going to be for the St. Louis Cardinals.  And look out little boys....I'm making some handsome little bow ties for you!!

Until next time...

Bow Cards

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Now that my bows are going to be in a boutique (here) I decided to package them a little differently than I have been.

The image you see above is what will be on the back of a card that holds the bow and I'd love to know what you think of the design!

Here it is attached to a bow...

Until next time...

P.S.  I think I'm starting to have a fetish with the color orange...

Extra, Extra!!!

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Extra!  Extra!  Read all about it!  Shanna got her bows in a boutique and she's gonna shout all about it!!!

And yes, the over exaggerated usage of the exclamation marks are most definitely in order.

We all know that I'm a big fan of making bows.  They're a blast to make and I just can't get over how cute little girls are with a big, fat bow in their hair.

So, I decided to start spreading the love and sell the bows that I love to make...

Well, I just got an amazing opportunity to sell my bows in a gorgeous boutique right here in St. Louis!

Looking Glass Designs of Lafayette Square will be selling my bows starting tomorrow on Valentine's Day!  This boutique is so beautiful and Andrea, the owner, is such a warm individual.  Take a look at some photos of her amazing boutique...

When you walk inside, you just know you are somewhere special.  Andrea is so creative and you should have seen some of the overalls she just embellished with ruffles...*GASP*

Looking Glass Designs not only sells beautiful and unique baby clothing and accessories, but the boutique specializes in unique gifts that range from gorgeous and intricate handmade jewelry, monogrammed bags, spa apparel, serving and wine accessories and gorgeous home goods.

Thank you Andrea for now offering my bows to your customers in your amazingly beautiful boutique.

Please go to Looking Glass Designs' Facebook page and "like" them.

You can also visit Looking Glass Designs here.

Until next time...

So much Mail!!

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HELLO!!  I love it when I get to send out larger packages.  I like to make a statement you know...wink, wink!

I had a few packages to send out this week.  The top crazy painted one is another one of my little Grace's masterpieces.  She took it up to her daddy, Mr. MCD, and told him, we have to take it to the "post box!"  Little G was getting her post office and mail box mixed up.  We've been going to them both a lot lately.

The one to Autumn was a postcard that for some weird reason got sent back to me...and there was a CLEAR AS DAY to and from.  Not sure but I didn't want to make another one, so I just packaged it up.

The package addressed to Julie is actually a beautiful set of envelopes and address tags that I handmade for her.  I used a textured card stock and boy was it nice!!!  That reminds me...I have to get the pictures off of my camera so that I can post an envelope tutorial!!

The one of the far left is actually a gorgeous navy blue.

Julie has a fantastic blog called Penpal of The Week where she hosts penpal interviews, ads, mail art and custom designed stationary.  Look at her awesome button below!!  I think with all my web browsing...I love the sites with amazing buttons.

She also has this really cool series called "Top 10 Quirks."  I've actually sent her my top ten quirks and I'll let you know when they are up.  

So, for the swap, she gets the envelopes/tags and I get these:

Isn't that some fun stationary!!  I think the orange one is my favorite.  I really can't wait to get them and starting writing letters to my people!

Below is a really neat little piece of mail art.  I took the back of a magazine and made it into an envelope.  I then cut out some ransom style letters (can't wait to share the ransom style postcard I'm making) and also modge podged some Chinese fortunes...I love those things!

It's a random collaged mess of an envelope...but it leaves an impression!!!  Hope Tasha likes it.

P.S....I have a hankering to sew...

ART: Artist Trading Cards

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I don't know if I like the Title button...Let me know what you think.

I just finished a couple of ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) that I signed up to do on Swapbot.  These were Valentine's themed and I know I am already hooked.  I love the teeny tiny nature of this.

ATC's are 2.5" x 3.5" and can be made with any type of medium.  Mine were made on watercolor paper (very thick).  I used watercolors, acrylic paints, TUL permanent ultra fine black ink, red sharpie and colored pencils and a charcoal pencil.  I think they turned out pretty good...

Which one do you like the best?

Until Next time...