Dolls & Mail Art

Dolls & Mail Art

The envelope is another mail art swap. The sun is a favorite image that I like to paint. She looks so wise and warm - like a mama. The girl in the black dress went inside the envelope. She had an Irish Blessing written on her. The other doll - pardon the poor scan - was a card for my son's end of the year teacher gift. I'm bummed that I didn't look at the scan better before I sent it off to school with him.

I have been going crazy now with art envelopes. Nothing I mail out goes naked - no matter what the size envie. I have used oil pastels, water color crayons, colored pencils, crayons, sharpies on my envelopes. I try not to spend more than 15 minutes per envelope. Having the time constraint forces me to make a quick, simple image - more drawing whatever comes to mind rather than pondering over it trying to make it perfect. The results have been some good looking envies! I had another positive remark from a postal worker. She didn't want to put my delivery confirmation sticker on the envelope because she didn't want to "mess it up." I assured her that it was o-k and that it was meant to be used as well as looked at. I love that such a simple thing can make people happy.

Junk Mail into Mail Art

Junk Mail into Mail Art

How many pieces of junk mail do you get that come with a return envelope? I counted - six in one week. What do you do with the return envie? Probably recycle it. Well, how about taking the recycling one step further and actually reusing the envelope? The photo above is an envie I did in about ten minutes. Ten minutes from throw-away to super cute with minimal effort. And you only need some simple supplies that you probably have around already. I covered the envelope with a piece of scrap book paper. I added butterfly images from a magazine, a few flowers cut from scrap book paper and a "butterfly" definition from an old dictionary that I picked up at the thrift store. Slap everything on with a glue stick and WOW you have a good looking envelope that will bring a smile to the receiver's face!

Mail Art

MAIL ART
Everyday you get your mail. Most times it is full of boring bills, ads and occasional letter - yes some people still write letters! Now image opening your box and seeing these envelopes. Much more exciting! These two envies are for a mail art swap. The fronts and backs are shown. The mermaid/fish is painted with a crayon backbround. The owls, a favorite of my daughter, is done in sharpie.

Yes, people do actually take the time to art up an envelope. I am hooked. After doing these for the swap, I painted a large padded one for my art journal round robin and started doodling on some business size ones. This is very portable and something I can work on whenever I get a few minutes. I doodle on napkins and paper, why not envelopes. Maybe your day will be brightened by one of these or try your own! I figure it at least may make a postal worker smile.