Letter for Minori

Minori, who lives in Japan has been one of the original players in our art group.  I have gotten to know her over the years and she is an awesome artist and friend.  The envelope that I used for her mail art was from a box that my husband found above ceiling tiles in an old building that was being renovated.  I have no idea why a box of envelopes would be placed there!  I took apart of the envelope and sewed the mailing label that I made for her and then reassembled the envelope.  

I wish I had taken a photo of the envelope after adhering the postage on the front of the envelope.  I used about four stamps that were all different.  The stamps added a lot of interest to the front of the envelope.

Just a note:  I think it is wise to block out addresses when posting to maintain the privacy of the recipients.

Minori loves her cats and when I found a postcard with the cat peering through the fish bowl, I knew at some point in time I would send this card to her.  I did cut around the fish bowl to make the collage more interesting.  The "Must be Delivered TODAY" sticker was sent to me from another art friend who scored a stash of vintage mailing labels from eBay.  Minori collects postage stamps so I added a few cancelled US postage stamps.  The tissue tape from the Tim Holtz collection is great to use to wrap the bottom of the envelope.  This prevents the postcard and rubber stamped card stock sentiment from getting caught on other stuff when going through the post office.  I used Claudine Hellmuth's gel medium to seal the tape which is important.  The tissue tape is removable unless you seal it.