Artisphere Workshop Wrap-Up

The mail art workshop at Artisphere was a success! There was a roomful of people making awesome mail to send out to friends and loved ones.

I just wanted to share some of the fun pieces that participants were willing to share with my crappy cell phone camera.

I finally got to meet @melydia, who made these two pieces among others; the envelope was to our mutual friend and fellow mail artist, Mary.

A lovely woman named Mame made short work of the above pieces. She built up quite the stationery hoard for herself in just a couple hours!

Melissa (not me) made these envelopes and cards with very precise lines before our classroom time was up.

Dan surprised me by being able to attend when I wasn't expecting him. He and Beth of Tigerflight mostly just sat in the back and made fun of each other, so I was not surprised to see that these seem to be addressed as primarily in-jokes with her. I was also not surprised to see a naked form on there.

Many thanks to the lovely folks at Artisphere, especially Katherine, who helped move the event when its first location was overrun by people from the neighboring space, and who were kind and gracious enough to have us there.

Mail Art Workshop at Artisphere this Thursday!

Check out the fancy flyer that Artisphere made for the series of upcycled art classes that Beth Baldwin has organized! I'll be hosting a workshop this Thursday to share my love of mail art. Can you come?

Details:
What: A mail art workshop led by me! I'll have examples of upcycled stationery and be glad to answer questions about what will successfully make it through mail sorting machines and how to make envelopes from reclaimed papers.  I'll also provide tons of fun ephemera to use in your project.

Where: Artisphere, 1101 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia 22209.  It is two blocks from the Rosslyn Metro and its urban location has plenty of bicycle parking. There is also free parking with validation.

When: Thursday, May 9, from 6-8pm. There will also be a cash bar from 5:30 to 8:30pm in case you want to get liquored up before crafting, you lush.

Cost: $12, which includes all crafting materials, (or $11 if you're a student, member of the military, or a senior citizen).  Buy tickets online, or pay cash at the door. If you have your own materials you want to bring, feel free!

I hope to see you there!

Stacks and stacks

Why are stacks so satisfying?

This one is especially satisfying, as it took a few days to finish. First, I cut each envelope individually; you can see that some of the pages from which they were cut are visible at the bottom of the stack. Each one is then folded up to make it functional, and then I seal the sides to the bottom flap. I then make a crapton of secret-recipe peel-off strips. Finally, I apply each strip to the top of each envelope flap and organize them into countable stacks. Voila!

Here are 300 envelopes organized into sections of 25. Later this week I will organize them into groups of three and work to make sure each set gets envelopes from three different maps. This will be enough for 100 packs of Recycled Stationery Sets, available to you at Crafty Bastards or through craftgasm.

I can't believe that there are only four days left to work until Crafty Bastards!

50+ and counting!

I was so happy to watch my hearts climb upward last night, reaching 50 shortly after midnight (Eastern time, that is). I went to bed super-excited.

So imagine how thrilled I was to wake up and see that people had continued adding me to their faves even after the goal was reached! I'm currently at 52 -- and of course, always welcome more hearts! Thank you so much for your support.

As promised, to celebrate I'm going to host a giveaway of a handmade product of mine. I have been getting feedback about the Recycled Stationery Letter Sets --people love the maps and want more of them in the package. The map envelopes are time consuming to cut, so to keep costs down for customers, I had only included one map envelope in each packet, and used reclaimed envelopes for the rest of the set. But so many people have found the letter sets while searching for maps that I am going to split the product line. There will be a set with all map envelopes and blank labels, and then a set with all reclaimed envelopes with handmade map stickers at a lower price point. This will more accurately reflect the skill and time that go into making each letter set.

I'll be repackaging all of the letter sets this weekend to reflect the change, and I'll post here once they're live in my Etsy shop. However, one lucky commenter will be able to get the very first revamped set! If you want to play, leave a comment here with either a) your re-use resolution for 2009, or b) why you like something in my Etsy shop, along with a bot-proof email address to reach you. (While not required, you are more than welcome to pimp my giveaway on your own blog, linking back to this post.) To celebrate the United States' new beginning along with the new beginning of the Recycled Stationery Letter Sets, comments will have to be received by 11:59pm EST on Tuesday, January 20th. I'll use the scientific method of putting the entries in a box on Wednesday and pull one out. The winner will be posted here (maybe along with some pictures I take at Inauguration?), so tune in!

And, of course, if you want to heart craftgasm you are still more than welcome to do so. ;)

The Moment You've All Been Waiting For

I'm sure that folks have been constantly refreshing their browsers, anxiously awaiting the official blog-unveiling of my newest product line. No longer! The time has come!

After amassing a huge collection of stationery as "The Queen of Correspondence" (according to my friends), I started making my own when I couldn't find exactly what I wanted already being made. Enter the Recycled Stationery Sets. They are made entirely from reclaimed, reused, and repurposed papers. Notebooks, old ledgers, and abandoned printer papers are some of the sources of the sheets, and the envelopes are a combination of old maps and reclaimed stationery from an out-of-business company. (Their return address was on the back flap of the envelope, but it is now covered by a plain white label [also reclaimed from the trash heap] that is stamped to coordinate with the rest of the set.) Each set comes with six sheets of paper (two each in three designs), three envelopes (one map, two plain), and assorted stickers and labels made from maps. I'm thrilled with how well they've turned out!
You can see more details about them at my Etsy page, but feel free to ask any questions in the comments section!
How do you keep in touch with faraway friends? And how do you reuse any paper you find yourself swimming in?