Mail Art Envelopes

Ever hear of mail art? I have read about it on several blogs but have never tried to make a mail art piece before. I came across examples online recently of mail art envelopes made from magazine pages. So here are a couple pages I started with.

Here are a couple after I painted them with acrylic paint.

And here is the first batch of finished envelopes with added embellishments.

The back side of the pages I left as is which I think is kind of neat. Here you can see what the backs and inside flaps look like. Just for the record, my daughter really enjoyed making some too. I thought this would be a great art project for schools.

Usually these are made to mail to (or swap with) other artists. I'll just be sending these to friends and family (or myself!). You must admit they are colorful!  Would be pretty fun to receive one in your mailbox.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!!

A very nice great-aunt of mine once mentioned, "There's always something to be thankful for." I think of her words often.

Comments off today-- enjoy your holiday!!!

Wacky Pack Wednesday

A popular Wacky today. I don't buy them often, but Oreos are awfully yummy. They go waaaay back to 1912, and were made as an imitation of the Hydrox cookies which came out in 1908. I didn't know that-- thought it was the other way around. Here is a Wiki link on the Oreo story.

Hmm... cookies and milk.  Sounds good!

A Four Letter Word

I left my house yesterday morning in pouring rain. I came home about an hour and a half later to snow.  Remember the lovely, pink sedum I posted on Sunday? This is what it looks like now.

Rhody in her "bun." I never thought of that when I picked this light orange color, but her coat does look a little like a hot dog bun. My sister said I should draw the Oscar Mayer logo on the sides.

Gee, we didn't even make it to Thanksgiving this year before we saw snow. And I know I'm not the only person able to say that this year.

Have a nice Tuesday!

Monday's Muster #44

Since Thanksgiving is on the horizon, I'm showing the Gurley Thanksgiving candles I have on display in my dining room.  The two turkeys below belonged to my aunt. She always brings me "stuff" when visiting and gave them to me about five years ago. She said she they been hers for years.

The tall Indian girl was an Ebay purchase about three years ago. I lucked in to a great price for some unknown reason.  The two smaller Indians were part of my grandmother's collection. I leave them out all year.

The tall Pilgrim girls were bought with the tall Indian pictured above.  The small Pilgrims were my grandmother's, and why they are so faded I have no idea. Came to me like that.

This box housed the three candles below when I bought it at a thrift store; I like it as much as the candles. Notice it was for "4 small Puritan girls" originally.

How about a holiday cross over? Kind of an odd Valentine. I keep it with the Thanksgiving decor.

Thanks for stopping by!

New Collages

I bought a book on collage making. Not scrapbooking type stuff, but old-fashioned collage (and not digital either). I like the card making and all, but would like to get more arty with my work.

Everything I used was cut from a real source such as old magazines, not scanned and copied images. I feel copying is fine in some cases, but don't you think actual pieces are more interesting and meaningful? If old magazine snippets can have meaning, that is.

These are relatively small. 4" x 4" and 3 1/2" x 5" which seem to be functional sizes for me at the moment.

Sort of fun to piece together art. There certainly is a wealth of materials out there.

Thanks for looking!

Wacky Pack Wednesday

Anyone who has owned a dog since 1908 probably knows this week's Wacky sticker. Milk-Bone biscuits have been in my life since the late 60s! I even remember these turquoise colored boxes.

This sticker is a little ironic too as today they do make doggie toothbrush and toothpaste. Do you brush your dog's teeth? I do, but I admit, I should probably do it more often.

Have a good one!

Smashing Games

You may remember my "vintage toys" Smash pages I showed a little while ago. One reader commented on board games which lit a light bulb in my little mind. My family played board games quite a bit when I was a kid. These are some of my favorites of the era.

Ever hear of Which Witch? The board was probably more fun than the game. It was 3-D and included a plastic staircase and different rooms of a creepy house. I unloaded this somewhere along the line and am sort of sorry I did.  I think my daughter would like it, and it's not cheap to buy today if you can even find it. I think a lot of families had "Clue." I have The Simpsons' version today. "Careers" was one of my favorite games-- a long one like Monopoly.

The girl, horse, and apple were scanned from an old Memory card game I bought at a thrift store several years ago. We had the same version when I was a kid. Not sure if my dad still has it or not. "The Inventors" was another favorite of mine. You bought these weird, but real, inventions and tried to end up with the most valuable ones. It also had the coolest dice roller thing on the market (see the thing in the middle of the page on the right). "The Guiness Game Of World Records" was fun. There are different stunts to try and world record questions to answer. "Masterpiece" might have been my all-time favorite. You bought photos of actual well-known paintings, trying to get the ones with the highest value. The man and woman pictured were two of the characters/players you could choose to be. Once in a while my dad would pick Millicent Friendly, just to make us kids laugh. Incidentally, I always thought Millicent Friendly would be a great name for a Beagle.

With the exceptions of Which Witch and the original Clue game, I still have all these games in pretty good condition too. What was your favorite childhood board game? Do you ever play any today?

Thanks for reading. Now, pass "GO" and collect 200 hundred dollars!!

Monday's Muster #43

This week's collection is a little ironic because I'm showing books about collections. I really don't have many considering how many are out there.

These two are small and sweet. From the old Mary Engelbreit magazine. Very nice photography.

I wish the authors of these books would create more-- after all, there are many more subjects to cover: horses, cats, flowers, furniture, just to name a few. In addition to fun finds, they also show clever displays.

Naturally I have a few about my favorite era. The hippie one in the center really hits the nail on the head with authentic hippie artifacts (hence the title).

How fun are these? The kitchen book has ton of products and old ads. The cereal book also covers a lot of ground.

I had to shoot this picture since Crispy Critters was my favorite as a child.  Wish they still made it.

These are very fun. The book on the left I bought at thrift store a few years ago for a dollar if I remember rightly.

The books below aren't so much about collecting as how culture was reflected in the stories and illustrations. They are packed with pictures however, and are interesting to read.

A robot grabbing Nancy (lower right)?? I must have missed that episode.

A lot of pictures there, and I only skimmed the surface of what these books contain. Check out your library if these type of reference books spark your interest.

Have an interesting day!

Just A Few Finds

My usual thrift haunts and one overpriced, nothing too thrilling estate sale brought an odd mix of finds this past week. Up first, a box of dominoes-- us crafters can't have too many, right? Also a wooden salad fork and spoon from Wisconsin Dells. They are marked Japan on the backs so must be pretty old.  Kind of an strange souvenir, don't you think?

I bought this for the box more than anything, but the stand is in there and complete. Plus the original price tag is on one side. Take a guess...

A kitschy set of Las Vegas coasters. Plastic, no less.

A bud vase from Pigeon Forge, TN. I knew what is was before checking the makers' mark on the bottom since I have one very similar to this that belonged to my mother-- see the following photo.

So the answer to the question of the day: the original cost of that tree stand was 84 cents!!  What ever happened to that world???

Thanks for viewing and have a nice day out there!

Painting The Dollhouse

When last we left the haunted dollhouse, I mentioned I was painting the ceilings. Well that's done and so are most of the rooms. And, I know, it doesn't look too haunted yet.

This will be the parlor/living room. I bought this wallpaper; what I used on the other rooms I already had from previous projects. I had trouble in the last dollhouse with the paper peeling off the walls. So I went a different route this time and mod podged the paper to card stock then taped that to the walls. That's not working so well either. Either I need more tape or something else.

This is the kitchen.

This is one of the attic rooms. I intended to add more coats of paint but liked the way this turned out. Could be old and haunted.

This is going to be a small, narrow bathroom (gee, just like my real bathroom!). I'm showing this because the paper I used for the flooring is actually scrapbook paper. A good alternative in some cases to dollhouse papers which cost more.

I also added a house number. My daughter wanted 1313, but I didn't want to be accused of ripping off The Munsters.

Have a nice day!