Hello everyone! Did you miss me?

I had a lovely birthday and anniversary, and spent a cold but awesome week traveling around the north of Wales, England and Scotland. Maybe I’ll find time to do a little blog and share some photos with you. For now, though, I have to catch up with my Mail Art Mondays, having missed last week’s!

And it’s a MONSTER!…

OUTGOING

I owe Tarah – Miss Thundercat a lot for introducing me to IUOMA, and opening up my mailbox to a world of Mail Art, quit literally! So, the least I could do to thank her was to make her an embroidered postcard. Taking a little break from the ’Stitch Sisters Series’, I went for something a little different. He really does make me smile! …

Diane Keys and Neil Gordon, both in the US, received half each of my first attempt at Trashpo, using rubbish I found on the floor on my way to work one day.

Suus in Mokum in the Netherlands, a new member of IUOMA, received my Mail Art Monster card last week. Take a look at her monster reply later in the post.

Nancy Bell Scott received a little Gold from me because, after all, us girls need a little bling now and again!

New IUOMA member Steph Dodson, in the US, got my Tony the Tiger postcard, made from a cereal box, and a few other things I found in the recycling bin.

To Svenja Wahl in Germany I sent this postcard that ‘saw much on its travels’. One of my first ‘collage’ postcards, complete with googly eyes! This has opened up a whole new can of ‘eyebombing’ worms, so we may be seeing some more of these soon.

A decorative green postcard made its way to Lindsay Stewart in Canada…

… and some more of my Arty Slides also found their way to their new homes…

Karen Champlin in the US requested one of my Wonder Woman slides, so I made this one just for her, and teamed it up with an Australian cartoon stamp. Her reply also arrived while I was away, with two gorgeous fabric covered slides that you can see a little later in this post.

Angie & Snooky got their Arty Slides this week.

INCOMING

I received some more Arty Slides this week, this time from Katerina Nikoltsou. I owe her a lot of mail art now!

My Arty Slides collection grew even more, with there wonderful fabric covered slides arriving from Karen Champlin.

Luzia Castaneda, a recipient of one of my IUOMA welcome packages, sent a postcard full of memories of her trip to the End of the World.

Angie and Snooky (her faithful Corgi) sent this great ‘Roots’ postcard from the US, inspired by those pesky moles that are giving Snooky problems!

Christine Jones (aka Bris Chris) in Australia sent me this inspiring postcard – an altered photograph made from materials that were damaged in the January 2011 floods. This is her Mail Art #156, and Flood Art #96. It’s so full of meaning and soul.

Here’s Suus in Mokum‘s Sea Monster, who made friends with my Mail Art Monster before crossing the ocean to me.

Katerina Nikoltsou sent another postcard (I’m amassing a great little collection), this time of ‘Greek Spring Sea Breeze’. Beautiful and calming. Katerina has passed her 1001 pieces of mail art challenge, so she isn’t numbering them any more. I’m now on #59, so I have a long way to go yet!

Jeannine Saylor sent me this graphically wonderful handmade envelope all the way from Canada, filled with ephemera she found around her studio, including watercolour prints, stickers and stamps. There was also a postcard from Vancouver Island to show me what her part of Canada is like. Absolutely beautiful!

This ‘Barcodes Are Human Too’ piece arrived from Dean Marks in France – my first bit of ’3D’ mail art, and a very colourful one at that!

I’ve been following Louise Kiner’s ‘Zombie Kitty Kawaii Travels The World‘ project for a while, and am waiting for Kitty to visit me in Wales any day now. In the meantime, Louise sent me this fab ZKK postcard, decorated with pieces of barcodes that were the contents of Dean Marks’ ‘Maggie’s Phat Kat’s air sickness bag’. It’s a long story Also in there was an adorable little zine called ‘A Victorian Lady’s Guide to Anti-Zombie Weaponary’, which is sure to come in handy.

Gilberte Vermeulen sent me an incredibly generous package, inside which I found two large paintings which are just mesmerising. There was also a beautiful photograph, a tiny watercolour and a mini art card.

Absolutely lovely. The chickens, in particular, make me smile every time I look at them. These are already on the wall above my desk.

Carina Granlund sent a rather busy, large birthday postcard that’s full of so much detail I don’t think I’ve seen it all even now!

And now, the prize for most generous Mail Art Friend of the week (year?!) goes to… ARAC!

This fantabulous card from Arac arrived on the 12th April (my husband’s birthday), a twofer wishing me both a Happy Birthday (for the 14th) and a Happy Anniversary (for the 16th). Perfect timing all round, I think!

Arac had hinted that there was something else on its way to me, but I forgot all about it while I was away. So, you can probably imagine my excitement when I returned home to this amazing package…!

The envelope itself got me rather excited, but I never expected to find so much wonderful generosity inside. Along with the party decorations and ribbons were 4 amazing Arty Slides (shown here both front and back) and a lovely note accompanied by $5! The note explains that her Grandma always told her it’s unlucky to send a birthday card without money in it, and instructed me how to distribute the cash between myself and my husband. I’m still in awe of all this, and can’t thank Arac enough. Her birthday is coming up on the 1st May, so I have a lot of work to do with my reply!