^ If you love mail and you don't have this book, you need it!

Carolee and Jenny from Podpost did a wonderful how-to travelling mail art kit in Good Mail Day. I thought I'd show you what goes in my mail art kit when I go away (even for a day or two);


^ A reasonably sized, sturdy bag. This one was a gift from Chandlerguera, it's made by Blue Q.


^ A bunch of mail needing replies.


^ My replies book - to keep track of what letters I've written and what letters I need to write. Just in case you were wondering, '(en)' means I've made an envelope already, ha. C had no idea what this meant and said something like "Does it mean you write those ones in English?".


^ Some addressed envelopes I've already made up for my replies. I usually make an envelope up for a reply as soon as I've received a letter.


^ A couple of different sheets of writing paper and some index cards - they're good for writing short notes.


^ Date stamp, double sided tape, regular tape, glue stick, clear gum glue, letter opener, airmail stickers, stapler, some spare envelopes, two types of labels, post it notes, a few postcards, a red, blue and black pen, a marker.


^ Rubber stamps, stamp pad, scissors, stickers, fountain pen, scrap paper and some tea (I like to include some in my letters).


^ Packed neatly inside.


^ Zipped up. Big enough to fit all of my mail odds and ends inside, but small enough to fit neatly into a suitcase or my handbag.

Anything else you'd include (or exclude) in your own mail art kit?
I think it would be great fun to pick up some cheap supplies and make little mail art kits to send to friends.

Here's a link to Craftside's travelling mail art kit which I spotted via Good Mail Day's post.

Sorry for all of the posts in a short amount of time, I guess the fact that university is about to start is dawning on me and I'm trying to get in as much blogging and letter writing as possible! Today I think I'm going to post a few letters with the last of my change and watch Moulin Rouge (I've never seen it before). I hope you get some lovely mail today!

^ To Mr Cheng.

C and I have been up late watching season 2 of Breaking Bad (such a good show) and I've been dividing my time between keeping my eyes on the screen and writing words on a page and wrote three letters;


^ Made from a cut-up Oxfam brown paper bag. These detailed red pen envelopes sure take a long time, but overall I really enjoy making them. I've often been annoyed with myself that I can't seem to produce 'art for art's sake'. I can only draw up things like this when I'm making something for someone else, or if I have to submit something for a class. It feels self absorbed to want to create a piece of art for myself, I don't know how to fix this feeling. This envelope was made for the lovely Reread Design.


^ One of my last Kathie Olivas envelopes.


^ This one's a bit scary, so I hope Melody likes it. It's so full it's about to burst. I had to add extra tape. I really enjoy her letters.

Listening to: Feeling Yourself Disintegrate - The Flaming Lips
Consuming: Peanut butter off a spoon, classy.

Loosely following Paper Source's 'envaccordion' tutorial I decided to put together a multi-compartmented envelope for my reply to Missive Maven (which I am yet to write, but I wanted to show you the envelope). I anticipate that I will fill each compartment with a page from my letter, perhaps a postcard or two, some tea and other small bits and pieces (it has to be thin enough to be able to fold back up).

Quite image heavy I'm sorry!;


^ Gluing the envelopes together - I used three plain red envelopes and two shiny silver ones. An uneven amount is good. Gluing the back of the flap of one envelope to the front of another envelope, repeating.


^ Starting to decorate. Of course only the 'front' and the 'back' will be visible when it goes through the post, but as you unwrap it you can see the rest of the decoration.


^ Rigby started posing so C took a picture.


^ Colouring in.


^ Makin' it pretty.


^ Again, Rigby with her poses.


^ Sticking bits on.


^ Planning & stamping.


^ Rigby, crying out for attention.


^ Finished product (inside).



^ Finished product (outside).


^ Folding it up.


Of course the back flap will have to be secured in a way that is able to be detached easily without damaging the rest of the envelope. I'll probably just tape down the edges of the flap. Lol @ my blobby drawing of Australia.


^ All folded up, the front.

Just quietly, I may have another giveaway planned for sometime next week, stay tuned :)

^ unknown.

^ These are all of the letters I've written over the past two weeks, unposted as yet due to lack of stamp funds. Sorry if you're waiting on a letter, it'll be with you soon!

Incoming;


^ This came from the lovely Cornelius Post Office. I love their stamp!


^ I love the stationery Olivia used, it made me laugh.


^ This darling envelope came from Bree in South Australia. Isn't it beautifully decorated?



^ A lovely first letter from Passion.



^ Last but not least, this unassuming little package from Meg brought me a huge bundle of wonderful paper ephemera, some of which I've already made use of and I only received it this morning. Lots of great stickers, little vintage cards and miscellanea.

Outgoing;


^ To the lovely lady behind Moazyia.


^ I don't think it really shows, but this envelope took about two hours from start to finish! I'm sending it off for a Decorated Envelope swap, probably my last Swapbot swap for a while as my mail funds are already meagre. Here it is before I addressed it;



Last night C and I made our weekly trip to the pub at the end of our street (the Hamilton Station Hotel) to watch the Jets on the big screen, who were entirely disappointing and had a sad 3-0 loss. The Super Bowl was on another screen behind us and I watched on for a few minutes trying to work out how the game worked, but it never happened. American football is still a total mystery to me. Inadvertently we were also present for the pub's Monday night open mic, which one guy was running to a very sparing audience. He played a few of his songs, begging the crowd for any takers, and eventually I just got up and asked him if I could play a song ('New Romantic' by Laura Marling). I am very unaccustomed to playing to people I don't know and that's the only time that I feel nervous about singing. Singing in front of 1000 people I know personally at my high school felt very different to singing in front of five strangers at an open mic. Of course the beauty of open mic nights is that the audience have no expectations of you. When I got home I sent Manneh a message and told him when he moves in we'll have to infiltrate this open mic night more often. The fact that this experience made me so nervous made me decide my only option is to force myself to do it more. When was the last time you sang in public?

Listening to: Experimental Film - They Might Be Giants, Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie, Alison - Elvis Costello.
Making: Choc-chip mint cookies.

NB. I just had to add that after reading this post C informed me that he has actually never received a letter from me and it made me laugh but also feel a little sad. He's written me several letters and eighteen postcards, one for every day he was in Tasmania away from me. I guess I should probably write him a letter sometime :P