I missed my Mail Art Monday post last week because things were just too manic to be able to photograph and write as well as I wanted to, so this week I have quite a few incoming and outgoing pieces to share with you, and lots more still on their way to new homes around the world.

OUTGOING

Jeannine Saylor (@saylor_made), fellow disciple of ‘Mail Art Queen’ Jessica Gowling, kindly agreed to be Mail Art friends with me after I contacted her on twitter. Her parcel took so long to reach her that I believed it to be long lost and forgotten, but thankfully it finally reached her alive and well. Well, you know what I mean.

I spent some time reading through her blog to find out more about her, so Jeannine received a decorated envelope full of things that (I hope!) she likes. There’s a newspaper clipping of the Queen (when she was much younger!), and a couple of smaller handmade envelopes hiding a foam bee sticker, vintage anchor button and my handmade ‘Secrets’ tag, which just shouted her name at me as soon as it was finished! I also slipped in a sheet of cute little reward stickers that I thought might be useful for Jeannine’s two daughters. I topped the collection off with a couple of items ‘representing’ me, I suppose – a Jack Daniels drink stirrer, a ‘Watch Rugby Here’ beer mat and a cupcake clipping. Not sure those represent me in a wonderful light, but there ya go! I also slipped in a note typed on my old typewriter, and a couple of other little bits and bobs.

I was a little concerned that the brads on the outside of the envelope might get mangled in the postal machines, and end up tearing the envelope, spilling its contents somewhere along the way, so I covered it all in a clear plastic poly envelope to keep it safe, but still share the colours with the world.

In reply to Carina Granlund‘s ‘NEW’ postcard surprise, I created a ‘postcard’ to celebrate the ‘All-Sorts’ of Mail Art that’s coming our way… see what I did there?! Cheesy, yes, but I’d love to have seen the postal workers’ faces as this emerged from the pile.

I managed to survive my cousin’s Hen Weekend a couple of weeks ago, but unfortunately the customary head-boppers didn’t. In fact they fell apart before the plain touched down in Malaga! Never mind – I have given them new life in these two postcards, together with some other printed materials I picked up while I was there. These two made their way to Alejandra Wilches Gianetta in Italy, and Katerina Nikoltsou in Greece. Katerina said that the post girl enjoyed delivering hers, which made me smile. That’s half the fun!

IAs I get more comfortable on IUOMA, I decided to start welcoming new members as they join. So I’ve begun posting BIG welcomes on their IUOMA profiles, and sending *small* welcomes in the post. These tiny envelopes are actually dinner money envelopes, so the other side have ‘Name… Amount… Class…’ printed on them, which I think adds to the charm. I actually made 10, so I don’t know where the other 2 were hiding when I took this photo, but you get the idea!

While I’m on the subject of familiarity with IUOMA, I recently announced that I am now the ‘President of the UK’ on the Arty Slides International Network, and shared my Wonder Woman slides. Since then I’ve been creating more slides (mostly Spring themed) to go alongside these WW babies, and sending them all out into the world. Two Arty Slide packages have already reached their new homes…

Above: For Janine Weiss-Vuille in Switzerland

Above: For Arac (Cara Harrison) in the USA

Looking back at my last post, I forgot to show you the package I sent to Mail Art Queen Jessica Gowling a couple of weeks back. As with Jeannine, Jessica and I trade envelopes full of stickers, stamps, clippings and other found objects and ephemera, and Jessica asked me to tell her about my favourite things. So I sent her an A4 envelope decorated with pages from an old Wonder Woman comic, and filled it with all sorts of Lego, Whiskey and tea related bits and bobs. You can see her reply a little later in this post.

INCOMING

First through my letterbox this week was this photograph turned postcard from Emily Whistlecroft in York – my first Mail Art from within the UK! Emily is an art student who is doing a Mail Art module as part of her degree (wish I’d had that!), and as part of her project is collecting ‘secrets’. Very similar to Postsecret, an ongoing project that fascinates me, Emily is asking for secrets and confessions to be posted to her, and all of the secrets will be ‘hidden somewhere secret’. I’ll be sending a little secret off to her soon.

Jim SantAmour sent me a surprise collage postcard made from a photograph taken at the old North Carolina State Capitol. I’m really taken with the idea of combining photography with other mediums to create Mail Art – there’s just something so personal about it. Definite inspiration.

One of the exciting things about being a part of the IUOMA community is getting unexpected Mail Art from strangers, then going in search of their profiles to see who they are and thank them. Jim will be receiving something from me shortly, to thank him for this lovely American themed piece.

In reply to my embroidered postcard (from my last post), Rebecca Cook sent me this fabulously tactile postcard. Rebecca likes to create large paintings/collages on foamboard, and then slices them into small postcard sized pieces before adding embellishments to make each one unique and personal. I was so excited to see the corner of it poking out from underneath some envelopes, and knew immediately who it was from.

In reply to my elusive ‘Favourites’ package to Jessica Gowling that I mentioned earlier, she sent me a favourites package of her own. A rather ‘pleased-with-himself’ looking man was looking at me as I opened the mailbox, and inside I found a whiskey themed magazine page and a lovely retro ad postcard, a rather cool little Lego jester card, and a typewriter typed message on the back of some decorative paper. Inside a sealed airmail envelope were some Jessica’s favourite things, including owls, bears, foxes, bubble baths and bicycle rides. And of course The Queen. With the jubilee coming up, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of memorabilia and Elizabeth II related things I’ll be able to send her way.

There was also a wonderful little slip of paper with quotes about friendship on either side, my favourite being ‘How rare and wonderful is that flash of a moment when we realise we have discovered a friend’. It really made me smile. Thanks you Jessica!

Jessica recently tweeted that she has 75 pen pals. I think many of those will be people she has introduced to Mail Art in the first place, like myself and Jeannine. This is why she is the Queen of Mail Art

I’d better get busy with my replies! I’ve also signed up for Mailart 365, setting myself the challenge of sending 365 pieces of Mail Art in 365 days, so expect to see a lot more it!

Do you send Mail Art? Perhaps you’re interested in a particular type of MA, like Arty Slides or Trashpo? I’d love to hear from other Mail Artists in the comments…