Thank Shoe RSM!

Thank you Roberta Sperling, Editor in Chief and Sarah Hoban, awesome writer for RSM! Loved, loved the feature article of Sister Act. And sending you huge hugs for posting photos of my shoe on your Facebook page and in the new issue!

If you are one my blog followers you already know that I love sending a shoe in the mail. Each one is different and being sent for a different reason. Each shoe that I have altered has been a lot of fun for me making and mailing. I have been told by the recipient that there is a whole lotta joy in receiving such a piece of "mail"....very unexpected!

Merci

Paris was an easy theme for my friend Sharon. I chose her favorite color of card stock, then stamped French text.  Embossing in white was a nice contrast and added texture. Her address was written on a tiny slip of paper tucked in the typewriter. (I would have typed her address if I hadn't sold my antique typewriter at a moving sale) Thank you Susan for the red Express Special Delivery label. She scored a variety of labels on Ebay and generously sent me some! The Paris post is a rubber stamp, the train ticket is from my Paris trip and the typewriter image from Catherine Moore.

This was the photo of the backside of the postcard before mailing. I added an Eiffel Tower brad, punched the fleur de lis, and the final addition of the letters were made using Tim Holtz's alterations alpha. I cut both colors of card stock at the same time. I blessed Sharon's postcard "done" at this point and I was ready to mail.....but wait......

Then Ania brought into the office yummy chocolate treats. I couldn't resist trimming the "Merci" from the candy wrapper and adding it to the art piece...an Aha Moment. We all agreed that it was the perfect touch!  Don't you just love it when things like that happen?!

Happy Birthday Margaret!

 If you haven't already noticed, I have a thing about sending a shoe instead of a greeting card.  My sister Margaret lives in Memphis and is crazy about shoes so it was a special treat for her to receive my sentiment! 

 The rub-on's were sealed using Claudine Hellmuth's gel medium.  I have in the past hand lettered my sentiment using a permanent marker and then sealing.

 An art friend sent me a package of wooden buttons with a bird theme.  I now have one button left!  I use button-hole thread to sew the button onto the fabric flowers.

 It's hard to see inside the shoe so I will tell you that I wired pearls taken from an old necklace inside the bird's nest.  The nest rests on top of gold velvet leaves.  The inside sole paper was cut to size and then I collaged a couple of other images on top.  The bird was fussy cut from a companion paper and then I added the "fly" tag and gold crown.  I stamped the sentiment directly onto the paper.

I found tiny green trim in my stash that coordinated perfectly with the paper. I am now the talk of the neighborhood and her circle of friends!  Don't you love it when that happens!

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.

Mail Art for Judi

Judi is a "shoe horse".....so when the theme of "mail art" was selected for our art group, I penciled in my notebook "Shoe for Judi"!  Her response to me made it worth all my creative effort!!!  Thanks girlfriend for all the kudos!

It you want to send a mail art shoe, just be sure to follow the postal regulations.

The birdhouse wooden buttons were given to me by another art friend.  It was perfect for adhering all the flower layers together.

A rubber stamp quote was stamped onto paste paper than I had made in a calligraphy workshop.  It was serendipity that it matched the background paper so well.  I attached a tiny tag I made with hand lettered "fly" with a string.  I received years ago before birds were so popular from another artist in a swap where she added a tag in the bird's beak.  I loved that detail so much that I have added it to my many birds too.

Three small pearls from an old necklace was wired to a nest embellishment before it was secured using E-6000 glue.  A velvet green leaf was placed under the nest.  OMG, I am beyond thrilled that Judi loved receiving her shoe!

Butterflies for Barb

My apologies for not scanning this piece and using my digital camera!  I have yet to get all my familiar equipment playing nice with my home computer....soon....I promised myself!

This is my second mail art mailing.  I am really trying to stay within the suggested theme of the alphabet.  An earlier post shows my letter "P" which went to Pat and was decorated Parisan since she has such a strong love of Paris.

I remembered that Barb loves butterflies and in the past I made her a zentangle butterfly (older post).

This time I made a heavy duty tag from a recycled watercolor tablet back cover and applied black card stock as my base.  I then used a permanent black Sharpie marker to color the edges of the card.  I embossed "Le Papillons" in detailed gold embossing powder.  I stamped a flourished background using Ranger's Gold Dapper color directly onto my rubber stamp.  It's best to clean your stamp immediately when using paint instead of ink!  I then applied my images from Graphics 45 and other specialty papers.  I fussy cut a butterfly and adhered it to the top of the tag.

I added the scrabble tile letters last with E-6000 glue.  The US Post Office clerk asked me what I used to adhere the letters and when I told him that it was an industrial strength glue which I allowed to dry long enough to cure, he accepted the postcard.  When sending mail art, it is important that any embellishments you use will never come off during the processing of the mail.  I have had tremendous good luck in mailing the oddest things but always within the postal regulations guidelines.

This view is the back of the tag which has my return and send to addresses.  I wanted to use the butterfly postal stamp to complete my theme.

Tim Holtz tissue tape was applied on the left edge as a balance.  I applied gel medium on top to make sure that it would be permanent.

I absolutely love the Graphic 45 tag image!  I added tiny black silk ribbons and anchored this tag and it was the last thing I added before the postal stamps.

Mail Art for Pat

Book board is a great material for large book covers and boxes.  I usually would have selected mat board but I wanted something even heavier since this was going to be mailed to the UK.

You can see that it's pretty thick!

After drawing your letter and tracing it onto the book board, give yourself some patience in cutting out the form.  You'll want to make several shallow cuts using a sharp Exacto knife as you can not penetrate book board on one pass.  Also, do yourself a favor by using a new blade!

My paper selection was a sample from Stampington & Company's magazine

I choose black paper for the front so I didn't need to be concerned if areas of my collage didn't cover the book board.  It gives you more freedom of expression if you will take the time to either paint, gesso, or apply decorative paper as your first step.  You won't spend your energy being concerned with bare spots.

I like to sand all edges so that the paper meets the edges perfectly.  A smaller sanding file is best for areas where the Tim Holtz hand sander can't reach.  I painted the edges of the book board with black paint and let it dry.  Last I inked the edges of the paper. 

I assembled some rubber stamps and ephemera with the Paris theme that was a possibility.  I also like to gather materials so that I can choose what works best with my theme and/or layout.

I used an antique French document that I copied onto parchment paper as part of the background at the top and rubber stamped the Paris postmark.  I added an Eiffel Tower image on top of another collage item....and continued until the front was covered with Paris images.  It's almost complete!

I added German scrap and then I sealed the entire letter using a sparkle gel medium by Tracy Bautista - Collage Pauge.  It was introduced to me by Lisa Engelbrecht.  I love this stuff!!!You can barely see the hint of sparkles....you can click on the photo for enlargement.  The last thing was adhering a Paris clock embellishment using E-6000 glue. I apologize for not posting the back of the letter as I forgot to conceal the mailing address! I used a Paris label for the send to address for Pat. Three dragonfly postage stamps were adhered in a vertical format and I requested the post office clerk (Greg) to hand cancel the stamps. I added another Paris label at a diagonal at the bottom with my return address written in small print along the vertical side of the "P".

My letter arrived at its destination in perfect condition!  Thanks to the domestic and international postal personnel!

It's in the Mail!!!

This is the third shoe I have mailed! I think the guy at the post office is getting use to me mailing odd stuff!






One lucky young woman is getting this shoe with bling.....as she appreciates my art!




















It arrived safely and she LOVES it. The shoe was the talk of the office!