A second MMSA envelope from Honi

Honi sent her envelopes in two envelopes. I like the collage on this one - check out the Cyrillic on the collaged part!

MMSA envelope from Honi

Another nice outer envelope from the MMSA exchange submissions. This one is from Honi, who currently organizes the whole gig. Always fun when she takes part in an exchange.

Maps

Envelopes 893, 895, 896, 898, 899, 900, 901, 902, 903, 905, 906, 912, 913, 904, 907 and 914 made from a central Ohio cycle route map, as well as from a central Florida real estate map.

Inkblot Mondays part 3

It's time for another inkblot.

What do you see?

I'll be back in a week to share my thoughts.

A link to last week's ink blot.

Bonus - the envelope in which I sent my inkblots to the host, Honi:

Mail Me Some Art

Mail Me Some Art (MMSA) is a group that swaps (mostly) postcard art. All submissions are sent to a central host along with postage and address labels, and she (or he) then swaps the cards and sends them out. This resolves the issues that sometimes occur in direct swaps when somebody doesn't hold up their end of the bargain for whatever reason.

The other great part about MMSA, is that all levels and kinds of art are welcomed and appreciated.

Each challenge set has a theme. Here are two I participated in recently. I send in 4 cards for the swap, and as a thank you to the host, a 5th bonus one for them.

1. Repetition and variation

Here are the cards I sent out - I was inspired by Naomi's triangles (which I learned about from Eva). I painted them using inktense pencils, I think hers turned out better than mine, although they did look a lot brighter in person compared to the scans.

And here are the ones I received from Esther, Lois & Iryna.

2. Paper strips

This is one of my favorite challenges to date. The top 4 (Face Off I-IV) went into the exchange, the 5th one (The Twins) was for the host, Honi.

And here are the interesting cards that arrived in my mailbox from Barb, Cheryl, Penny & Wanda.

If you've been paying attention to how MMSA works, you'll have noticed that I only received 3 back for the repetition & variation challenge. The fourth one had a misadventure, and will be featured under another letter of the alphabet.

Have you ever participated in a swap of any kind? How did it work out? Did you have fun?

Homemade envelopes

Making my own envelopes started over twenty years ago. I use a template that I made from a commercial envelope, and number them sequentially. Some of the early ones sent back then are in this blog post. I don't remember why I started making them in 1992, or why I stopped (in 1993), but I found some of them a few years ago, and, uninvited, sent the one numbered 100 to Jean. That's the origin of the title of the blog.

Originally I planned for the blog to be dedicated to these envelopes, however I got sucked in to all the aspects of mail art, so they often take a bit of a back seat.

Currently I'm up to number 890. This is what (part of) my box of homemade envelopes looks like right now, with envelopes waiting for the perfect stamp, or occasion:

And here are some recently sent ones.

Number 352 to Patricia (slightly shiny paper from a magazine)

Number 436 to Honi (matte paper from an arts flier)

Number 792 to Eva (thick paper from an old calendar)

And number 846 to Eric (from butcher's paper)

Have you ever made your own envelopes? 

What materials would you choose, and what do you think would make a good envelope?

MMSA sticker mania

This challenge required creating art using predominantly stickers - birds from Charley Harper, and insects from Christopher Morley.

The ones I sent in for the swap, plus one for the host.

And the ones that came in from Ellen, Faith, Honi and Constance.

Collage and blots from Honi C

Great envelope and cards from Honi. I think the 'inkblot' style piece looks like a vertebral column.

National Botanical Garden

An envelope made from a map of the National Botanical Garden sent to Honi C with a collage inside.

Ides of Postcards

A print of an acrylic, with added wash tape, from Honi C.

A great card from Eric with the weather in London on a recent trip.

More words from Amalgamated confusion.

Summer (Harvest) Solstice

I sent these two out to Keith and Honi a month ago on the solstice (you remember, the one with the full moon - something that won't happen again until 2062).

Ides of postcards

Another postcard from Keith.

And one from Honi, thanking me for sending chicken-related MMSA postcards.

The statement on the back made me smile.

A cigar box graphic on a postcard from Kathie, with vintage postage stamps added.

And another postcard from Keith - happy Dada.

The chickens are here

MMSA 'All things chicken' postcards arrived...

From Ellen and Dorothea

From Joyce and Honi.

Joyce's card was one of the post office's pre-stamped tree cards. And I enjoyed the chicken on the address label Honi printed.

Update:

As Eva commented below, I also thought this was a great topic for creating art postcards - quirky enough to get some interesting art submitted, and broad enough to give anyone a lot of options. I thought people unfamiliar with MMSA might like to see the rest of the chickens. So here they are:

My submissions, with theme-related envelope.

Chickens part 1

Chickens part 2

Chickens part 3