Pretty Packages

When Jess and I agreed to do our correspondence and art project,  we decided on sending a postcard every two weeks as our goal.  A postcard wouldn't really need an envelope...but I don't think we thought we would get as fancy with our creations as we have! So once in a while, Jess needs to hold her cards in something to reach me intact.  She makes the envelopes just as pretty as her art. 

I've discovered there are MANY envelope templates available if you want to google.  But the best thing to do is peel apart any greeting card envelope and trace it onto your paper.  As you can see with these, old magazine pages make just as beautiful envelopes as patterned stationary paper you could buy. 

        

Its fun for me to think I can post one of these "packages" as artwork itself! Enjoy!

Finding your way

Lynn's card, inspired by the blog Swissmiss, beckoned me home after long work trips to Zambia, Pakistan, Egypt and Namibia. Only later did she learn how appropriate her maze reflected my heart in the spring of last year. Nothing like finding your way home to your friend. Sometime these journeys don't end as sweet as we hoped they might. Just a month after having re-found her friend, Nora Longley, Lynn lost her to cancer last May. Nora's story is documented in this article, and pushed us both to follow debates on health insurance and argue for universal coverage. What a difference a year can make.

Spring themes

A simple hand grabbing for colorful radishes out of the ground makes this weeks spring themed card. (We really had spring on the brain last year from April through May.  I don't think we'd focused so much on any one season until now.)  I like the way this card is both detailed and simple in the same drawing.  This combination makes it seem so energetic!

On her card, Jessica wrote about spending more than a month away from her art supplies and her art because of more work trips.  She wrote about both wanting to do a drawing everyday and feeling like there wouldn't be enough hours in the day (until retirement) for that kind of thing. 

A year later, I'm feeling swamped at work and also thinking there aren't enough hours in the day to do the things I need to and the things that keep me sane! Well said pal :)

Green- all the rage!

I just read about this card company called Regreet. They make a greeting card you can use and then re-use. You may have thought re-using a card was tacky (if found out!) but actually its now hip! It makes you green...

Check it out. Regreet is a card that you send someone along with a packet of labels/stickers that let them cover up your signature and such. That way they can save (time and) the earth while still getting the points for mailing the card to someone else for their birthday. But actually I think the coolest part is that if you start the chain you can see where your original card travels. Somehow, being able to login and see where my card ventures in the world makes me smile.

Blue brilliance

Lynn used a kit I gave to her the summer before to make this cyanotype. We both used to play with such kits when we were kids. It brings back a lot of memories and makes me want to experiment with this technique now. I certainly have enough sun. Lynn wrote in the card that it would be neat to expose cyanotype paper with the cut paper designs like the ones I like to make. Sounds like a great idea. Now if only I had the necessary supplies!

This card arrived as school was winding down. Lynn said said she was feeling full of creative ideas and ready for the summer so she would have time to do them all. First on her to-do list was to pick up a sewing machine at her pa's so that she start sewing as soon as the kids were released.

Mapping the unknown

I have been thinking a lot about maps since I read this article in Slate a couple of days ago. Julie Turner uses maps submitted by Slate readers to illustrate commonalities between hand drawn maps and to point out why they are often superior to the 'accurate' maps printed for the masses. Definitely worth a read. Julie Turner points out that hand drawn maps only include information necessary for the reader and this simplicity makes them more user friendly and personal. They also become more detailed as we get further from home - we dont need a guide to what is known. Also check out the comments section where this great link is posted. Wonderful inspiration for a pair of artistic travelers.