Sammy and I have had a bit of fun lately making mail art for friends. I posted about my previous adventures in mail art, doing a postcard exchange with my art friends. It’s been years since all of that, but I continue to be fascinated with mail art, especially in light of all the postal changes coming to our Canada Post services (they’re phasing out home delivery of mail… we’ll all just have community post boxes). Maybe I’m just sentimental, but it makes me really sad to think of Sam’s generation growing up without knowing the joy of receiving mail right to your front door. Although, I realize that once we move out to the farm, we will likely have a PO box anyway. Does it make me old, that I still remember the joy of sorting the mail at home as a kid & discovering a letter or postcard from one of my pen pals living on the other side of the world? Who keeps pen pals anymore, when there’s Facebook? There’s still just something really wonderful about receiving a physical letter or card from someone, instead of a digital one or an instant message.

It with some of these thoughts in mind, that I put together little postcard making kits for two of Sammy’s dearest friends. I really meant to take photos of their kits before I gifted them, but le sigh, did not (I will add the postcard kits to the list of DIY projects/tutorials I want to share with you in the near future). One of Sammy’s friends has since moved to Ontario and we (ok, it’s mostly me at this stage) have loved receiving the colourful postcards from little Miss Summerlee. Sam is just reaching the stage when he will start to enjoy receiving the cards, after all, he now understands the concept of opening presents. And these postcards are really just little present that arrive in the mail. Sam finally returned the favor and got a few postcards off to friends before Christmas.

I used to glue the front & back of the postcards together, but that’s not exactly a toddler friendly activity to do. So I’ve opted instead to tape the postcard fronts & backs together with colourful washi tape. I also tacked them together a bit with double sided tape, which isn’t visible in the finished postcard. I do the cutting and taping, but Sam’s does all the “artwork”. He’s very fond of piling up stickers on top of each other. For these postcards being sent around Christmas, I also dug out some vintage Christmas stamps that my dad used to use. That was a slight mom fail, as I used some of my stamp ink, which is meant to be archival, and therefore not easily washable from little hands. Doh! Sam was a bit festive with red hands for the day, but it eventually came off once he soaked in the bath. Mom fails are a common occurrence in our home (and I know I’m not alone on these things).

I also did a little mail art myself, with some shaped paper punches, scrap paper & the sewing machine. Simple, but cute, I think. It’s jut lacking a button. I blame all the crooked stitching on the fact that Sam insisted on sitting in my lap while I sewed. Not sure how long I’m going to be able to keep him from the sewing machine. That’s NOT another “mom fail” to come. He won’t be using it himself for years to come, but he does love to watch me & I can see the gears turning to figure out how it’s all working.

Don’t forget I keep a Pinterest board of inspirational mail art ideas. Do check it out, it you’re curious about some of the possibilities. There’s also an awesome book, which I should dig out & look through again, called A Good Mail Day by Jennie Hinchcliff. There’s also a tumblr feed to check out if you appreciate all the is associated with the “art” of real, honest-to-goodness mail. Enjoy!

I’ve been thinking about past art projects, in particular, mail art. Years ago, when hubby and I lived in B.C., we started a postcard exchange with several of our friends from art school. It was a really fun way to keep in touch with each other and I loved receiving random surprises of wonderful artwork in the mail. I kept all the postcards that we received, with the intention of displaying them somehow as a larger piece of art. Sadly, they are still just sitting in a shoebox, untouched, but not quite forgotten. One day perhaps…

Back in those days, I was horrible at documenting everything, so very few of the postcards that I made were properly scanned before I mailed them on their merry way. I thought I’d share a small sample of ones I made for an Alphabet series (you’re probably not that surprised to discover that I’m the type of person who likes to make art in a series). Each postcard was a different letter of the alphabet (and I really did manage make it through the whole alphabet, although don’t ask me what I did for the letter X). Of course there was a theme to the whole thing… fashion. The definition of each word represented was written on the back of the postcard.

All of the postcards were made on inexpensive card stock, using water colour paints, rubber stamps, and graphite pencil. The first step was to lay a light wash of water colour in a fairly random pattern. Once dry, I would make my sketches in simple pencil and then go back in with the water colour to bring out certain areas. Then I would begin creating textures and patterns with rubber stamps & ink. Finally, I would bring out particular details of the drawing and patterns by filling them in with graphite pencils. It all involved just a lot of experimenting with layers and colours.

I really don’t get much of a chance to do any mail art these days, but sometimes I get the hankering to. I started a Pinterest board quite some time ago, dedicated to inspirational mail art. With close friends moving across the country and our inevitable move out to the farm in a few years, I’m thinking that we might have to resurrect the postcard exchange real soon. Besides, think of all the great stuff that Sam could start making into postcards. Fun times and exciting mail await us…