Mail Art (attempts)

My obsession with envelopes goes quite far, as you can see here. They were mostly collages and always in the back of the envelope as I was afraid the post office wouldn't allow it in the front.

Apparently you are allowed to go crazy with your envelope (so I will see when these reach their destination).  I have taken a clue from the stamps I recently got and went all out with my markers, which I haven't used in a while.

The envelopes are traveling at the moment so I'm not sure whether they made it or not.

This Chinese edition of the Japanese book E Futo O Okuro by Satoshi Kitamura and Motoko Matsuda was purchased a while back here. It is such an incredible book to look at, obviously I have no idea what it says, but I don't need to. This book is Kitamura's collection of mail art, and the book below is Flugge's.

This one was bought on my trip to NY and I got it here. All the envelopes in this book were addressed to Klaus Flugge a publisher of children's books. It is a real treat because all the envelopes are from famous illustrators of children's books that worked for Andersen's Press.

Is mail art something that interests you?? Or you much rather focus on the content inside the envelope? I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter.

Have a lovely start of the week,
Giova

Handmade Envelopes

One of the sponsors for the Alt Summit conference was Citizens of Humanity. They are a company that specializes in jeans. For the conference they brought a very beautiful magazine, and I grabbed one thinking; "Yeah, I can take this, no problem!" Well, no! It was heavy and very big, but did I mention beautiful? And the paper was just too amazing to throw away, so I did the best I could to save the nicest  pages thinking they would be perfect for envelopes, and since I'm a "snail-mailer" I'm always in need of envelopes. It is the simplest activity. Here are some instructions just for fun!

Gather the pages of your beautiful magazine, the ones you don't feel like parting with.

Take apart an envelope, in my case it is a size A6 from Paper Source and trace it.

Cut it.

Fold it and glue it 

Write your letter and adorn the envelope as you wish

Here is my collection of "new" envelopes. I'm admiring them a bit longer before sending them out!

"To get a letter, you must send a letter." It is the Letter Writers Alliance motto. If you are in need of a pen pal check them out.

Have a very crafty Sunday!
Giova