Mail Art

I've received some very pretty mail art recently. The first is from Joanna created for the theme "Starts with a K." Isn't it gorgeous? Jo also included a sweet gift for me...a fun Creative Expressions Mask. I know I'm going to enjoy using that in my journal. Thank you Joanna!

Here are the envelopes I sent for the swap. I decided my "starts with a K" envelopes would be all about a kitschy kitchen. I love the women in these old advertisements. On the back I chose a 50s modern kitchen for each of them.

When I got back from Santa Barbara, Sue's Christmas envelope was waiting for me. I love all the different Christmas stamps she used. Inside was lots of vintage Christmas ephemera and some Christmas stamps for my own use...what a treat! Thank you Sue!

Here are the Christmas envelopes I sent out. I can't believe this little group has been sharing mail art for a whole year now. It's always a surprise to find one of these wonderful envelopes in my mailbox. I'm looking forward to doing it all again in the coming year.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you have a wonderful day full of good food, family and friends. I'm in California spending the holiday away from home for the first time in ages! Thanksgiving in a warm climate is something different for us...palm trees are beautiful but seem out of place somehow. Inside the girls' apartment though everything is as it should be. Lots of cooking, lots of laughter, good smells wafting from the kitchen, a little crafting and lots of gratitude that we're all together. Have a lovely day!

From Me To You

I wanted to share a little of a sweet book I received recently. It's called From Me to You - A Gift of Friendly Thoughts. The cover has such a charming image...I thought you might like to use it to make something. The end pages are just as sweet. I love the flock of bluebirds flying across the pages. I found myself reading the little book straight through. I loved the simple, cheery thoughts and poems. It was a perfect antidote to this cold, rainy day. I hope you enjoy it too.

Vintage GlueBook Page Swap

I received my pages from Mary Green's Vintage Gluebook Page swap and they're all wonderful! Six big, beautiful pages! Along with the pages, Mary sent a vintage book to enclose them and a package of vintage paper. I love the cover that Mary chose for me...The Bobbsey Twins in the Great West. I used to love to read this series when I was young and here I am now living in the "great west." She couldn't have picked a more perfect cover for me! Thank you Mary for this great swap. And thank you to everyone who played in it. Here are the pages I received:

First off is a page from Linda M. I love how she's layered old text with vintage wallpaper...so pretty!


Next, is a page from Kathy M. This is my one card featuring a male image. I love how the old text and colors she chose complement the image.


This page from Kim S. has such gorgeous color and the image of the young girl is so striking!


This sweet page from Sabrina makes me smile. I love the two different images she's used of a group of children playing and how she added touches of red to the page. You know I love red!


Irene W. used one of my favorite images that Mary's shared with us. I love her wistful expression. She looks so pretty against the background Irene created for her.

Susan's page looks like it came right out of an old book. I love how she tore the focal image and added it to the background then surrounded it with flowers...lovely!



And here's my cover. I haven't put my book together yet. I'm going to add few things to fatten it up.


If you love the idea of making something lovely and vintage using only paper, glue and scissors be sure to check out Mary's new class starting next week. It's called My Christmas Gluebook. I can't wait to get started!

Trick or Treat

Image courtesy of Wired

Follow Your Heart

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Steve Jobs

Vintage GlueBook Page Swap

Mary Green announced a Vintage Gluebook Page Swap recently and as soon as I heard about it I knew I wanted to to be a part of it. I loved Mary's Vintage Gluebook Class I took last year and have spent many happy hours adding to my gluebook's pages. I've used a small moleskine journal for my gluebook so I was intrigued when Mary announced this swap would be for pages that are 5" x 7" in size. It was fun working with this bigger size and I can't wait to see my swapped pages in the book cover that Mary will choose for them. If you hurry there's still time to join in the fun...you just have to have your pages to Mary by September 30th. You can read all about the Vintage GlueBook Page Swap on Mary's blog here. Here are my pages.

Girl in the Black Hat

Isn't she lovely? I found this tucked inside an old book I bought recently. It looks like it was part of the cover to a piece of sheet music but it looks like Pearl Marie Baxter decided to only keep this bit of it. What do you suppose Pearl was going to do with it? Maybe she kept a scrapbook. Maybe she loved beautiful paper images just as much as I do!

Happy = Simple

I saw this posted on Scrapologie and just had to share it...I love it's simplicity. I know most of the time when I'm not happy the "something" I have to change is me...this is a nice reminder.

Thrift Store Finds

On our recent trip to Cannon Beach I found some wonderful old photos and greeting cards. The back of this first photo is just as lovely as the front! I hope you enjoy using them.

And don't you just love these sweet old get well cards?

Mail Art in and Mail Art out

I love how Sue staggered the mailing schedule in our mail art group. It ensures that there's something lovely appearing in my mail box on a regular basis! The latest piece to arrive is from Sue herself in Australia. Following the theme for this round, Sue decorated her enveloped with wonderful vintage images, papers and stamps. Inside was a beautiful embroidered hankie wrapped around some vintage treasures...old bus tickets, a vintage greeting card, stamps and cards and some gorgeous lace...what a treat! Thank you Sue.





I follow Sue in our mailing schedule and these are the envelopes that I sent out to the group. I love this Pink Scrap Girl image shared by Karen of The Graphics Fairy. I loved it even more when I saw the beautiful journaling card created by Hope Wallace Karney of Besottment. She made it using several images from The Graphics Fairy and offered it as a free download here on her blog. Both of these sites are wonderful sources for vintage images and inspiration.

Puzzle Piece Mailart

I simply adore receiving fun stuff in the mail so you can imagine the squeal I let out when I came home to find this! Just look what my blog pal Halle sent me...a big altered puzzle piece. Isn't it wonderful! I wonder what my mail carrier thought about it? I love it! As you can see Halle simply addressed it and mailed it and it came through perfectly. The back side of the puzzle piece has been altered and collaged with old pattern paper and stamping and has a little girl peeking over some polka dotted paper. Too cute! Halle's even included a fortune..."you will make a name for yourself." I don't know about that but I do know I love this! Thank you Halle!