write on in April

I made an honest woman out of myself, and actually purchased a write_on kit from Egg Press and Hello Lucky this year. 

It is pretty fabulous, but I am a sucker for letterpress and designs about postage and designs involving hands. So. I might be biased. ;)

I didn't quite manage to mail 30 letters in the 30 days of April, but I got close (high twenties?), and I've been in a bit of a mail art slump, so even that was impressive, to me.

Here you can judge for yourself the beautiful write_on cards from their kit.

My mail art has been a little lazy lately - I've just been making the addresses big and bold, and then doing some lettering on the back.

I got into this weird-for-me color palette of blush, goldenrod, hint of umber, and lime peel. 

And turquoise goes with everything, right? I use it like a neutral. Since it is basically the color of the sky, and nobody says, "hey, you really clash with the sky today." 

Or maybe they do say that. I've never met anybody that mean. :p

I'm also enjoying pairing postage stamps with envelope colors. Or....maybe I just like yellow. ;)

more twisted business replies

Looks like I've been busier than I can recall!

mailbox mystery!

I have a real, true mailbox mystery on my hands!
I found this cute little note, folded and torn up in my mailbox this morning. There was no envelope, no postage, no address. The outside simply says, in blue crayon, "To Steph."
It wasn't even sitting on top of the regular mail, but just in front of it, like a quickly tossed afterthought. Having seen the mail truck go by today, I know she barely paused at the box...the whole transaction took less than a second.
(Not that I wait for the mail truck every day...but I do know the sound of the engine!)
I don't know who Stephanie is...but I'm glad to see she was so good to Miss Unknown.
Do you think the mail lady thought I would enjoy it, since there are so many weird things leaving and arriving from this mailbox? Or did the young sender hand deliver it to the wrong house? There really aren't that many young kids in the neighborhood.

I am enjoying the mystery. I wonder what Stephanie did!

See no evil birds... Prison Library Project

OK, so this is what I sent to Postmarked 2011, which I found out about through a swap on Swap-bot...not that it's my primary source for information...just a really good one!
(They wanted donations of mail art to auction off in order to fund raise for prison libraries.)

Sometimes I wonder if the postcards I send out get to their destination. I'm not entirely sure if these guys got there, but I'll always have the pictures.

gigantic postcard

It's a smidge bigger than 6" by 10" ...and I only remember that much because I had to consult the post office guidelines.
I made it for a swap-bot swap, back in April, as you can see by my scribblings at the bottom of the photo!

a big pile of outgoing mail

The green one is a block print that I did for a swap-bot swap.
The silvery one was for a friend. Guess why it's silvery? Yeah. DUCT TAPE!

business reply envelope

a geometric postcard

warning on the back of an envelope

outgoing postcard & letter

Dear Capital One,
You may have noticed by now that I've replied to your offers of credit THREE times, without managing to fill out the application even once. How long can we play these little games? As long as you continue to send me offers, I will continue to utilize your business reply envelopes.
Much love & little credit,
Cara

racing postcards

These are two postcards that I sent out through swap-bot...
I block printed them and colored in with markers to add some more color.

gutwrench postcard subscription

I really love this subscription.
This month, it became an interactive subscription.
Basically, her question was this: How do you get through tough times?
Your answer is supposed to go on the flip side of the folded-over bit from her postcard.

So here's what I did...and I promise I'll send it back, too!

I bet you want your own subscription from gutwrench, now, right?
Go here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/62653580/keep-writing-postcards-gift

Or, if you're looking to subscribe to my own art cards, go here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/62591588/postcard-of-the-month-club-3-months