Imagine This

Heaven Sent

Another Mail Art Envelope Arrives!!

Mail art by Audrey Hernandez.

Yippee!! I got the envelope that my mail art friend, Audrey Hernandez, sent to me. Isn't it luscious? And I should show you the back, too. I love the background.

Audrey is a master at using rubber stamps and color. I wrote all about her art in the post about the envelope I sent her. Check out that post called "The Third Mail Art Envelope." Be sure to check out Audrey's blog, SMALL CREATIONS. It is chuck full of awesome art goodies.

One more envelope to go. I'll post it as soon as it gets here. I love knowing another incredible gift is coming my way!

The Hiatus That Wasn't

Eighters Camp a.k.a. Sex Camp!

KitKats group at Eighters Camp Disciples Oak Retreat Center (DORC) Gonzales TX, June 16-23, 2007

Yes, I've been gone for a while but I wasn't on a real hiatus -- no no. I was at SEX CAMP! This picture was taken the last day just as parents were arriving to pick up their campers. Do we look tired? OH, we are beyond tired! I have on the DORC t-shirt because all our sex camp t-shirts were dirty! But here is a scan of the logo from my t-shirt:

Eighter's Camp 2007 T-shirt logo I think the logo for this year's t-shirts is quite clever. The designers said as they were working on the design, they overlapped the symbols for the male and female and recognized the emergence of the Christian FISH symbol. (See it in white?)

Yes, I know, I know -- I AM too old for this kind of camp foolishness. And if it were totally and only camp foolishness, I would not have agreed to go! However, I believe this camp can be a very important part of a Christian child's growing up and certainly hope my grandchildren can attend when they are about to go into high school (or earlier!).

At the eighter's camp, students who have just finished the eighth grade attend a Biblically-based human sexuality camping program called Just Say Know: Created to Be Me . . . Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. At this camp, youth are provided factual and spiritual sexuality information that helps them view sexual intamacy as a gift from God intended for the marriage relationship. The youth are enlighten to the dangers, risks, and consequences that can occur when God's gift of sexual intimacy is used outside of marriage. We recognize that schools are sometimes providing sex education but no one seems to be giving these little Christians the spiritual point of view on the subject. For that reason, I think this camp is important. It also happens to be lots of fun and the favorite camp experience among our youth.

Jerry and I both went this time as small group leaders. We were in two different small groups and because it was our first time, we had co-leaders who were experienced with the curriculum. Every morning there were keynote talks followed by small group meetings where the campers could think through and ask questions about sexuality issues, abstinence, dating and love relationships, in an atmosphere of love and acceptance. There were also lots of praise and worship, singing, devotional sessions for students and for adults, and the usual fun craft, swimming, and free time sessions. It was a powerful camp experience for them and for us. We got close to the 10 or 12 campers in our small group that we were with 24-7 as well as the 8 to ten campers we each stayed with in the dorms and they got close to each other.

We were terrified going into this experience and wondered how we got outsleves into it! I don't know how we survived the grueling 7AM to Midnight or later schedule every day! When it was all said and done, though, we recognized the importance of the camp for the children and the impact on them. I'm sure we will return next year. Besides, 14 year olds are a kick! Sometimes children, sometiems adults -- you never know from moment to moment!

Here is a picture of the whole camp - 63 students and 16 adults.

Envelope Background Technique - by request

Yes, I'd love to elaborate (elaborating is one of my favorite things! LOL>) I seem to always do the same thing for backgrounds on my envelopes 'cuz it always look good on white or manilla or whatever -- I call it brayered ink. It is soooo easy -- you simply gotta try it! Here's how:

1. Pick out a rainbow ink pad. I use Kaleidascope pads 'cuz the colors are just yummy and you don't have to worry with which ink colors use together. You know, the Kaleidascope pads have the individual colors separated and you are supposed to push them closed up against each other to ink up a rubber stamp. Well I DON'T push them together. I leave them open  (with a space between the individual color pads) so the colors will stay pretty much separate while I'm loading them onto a brayer.

2. Ink up a rubber brayer on the rainbow pad _ Be careful! Try to stay on the same spots when you  roll the brayer over the pad colors because you don't want to get one color rolled over another color on your pads or on your roller... it would contaminate the colors and make a muddy result! Now I ink it up by rolling the brayer over and over one the same spot about 10 to twenty times. I want a lot of ink on there.

3.  (Here comes the secret) After the ink is on the brayer, spritz the brayer with water using a spray bottle -- fine mist is best.  Use your finger to turn the roller on the brayer around until you have spritzed all the ink one time. (Takes me about three turns to get the whole brayer roller sprinkled.) The water mist will cause the colors to bleed together on the roller and when they are put to the paper. That's the idea! And it will be messay and probably drip so watch your floor or table.

4. Roll the brayer onto the envelope with LIGHT STROKES at first -- and turning it every which way. I try to get it to go in lots of different directions without going over the same places on the envy too many times before I run out of ink on the brayer.  It will take two or three applications - maybe four even -- to get he whole envy done on the front 'cuz the brayer runs out of ink pretty much on the first complete roll. With all the sloppy spritzed ink flowing, you'll get some paint drips , etc on the envy. That makes it look like watercolor. I love it when that happens so I use a lot of water. Then don't forget to do the back also.

5. Sometimes I use a different Kaleidascope rainbow pad and go over the first colors again. Or sometimes, I go over the first application with a single color of ink -- like yellow or pink or ?? - just to get a different look.  (I didn't do this with the envys for this swap.)Just let the layers dry in between applications.

6. Let the ink dry thoroughly. The colors will look a little different when they dry (usually better). If you want to reapply the same colors or different colors -- just let the first layer dry and then go for it. Just be careful not to overdo it and make a muddy color because too many colors are mixed together or applied on top of each other. Experiment - you'll soon get the idea and find how you like to do it.

7. I don't seal it with anything but I guess you could.

Once you get all that beautiful watercolor background on the envelope - the decorating comes easily! Just the background is pretty enough to send -- and easy enough to do that you never have to send a plain envelope again!

The Third Mail Art Envelope

(Click image for larger scan.)

This is the envelope I made and sent to my mail art friend, the awesome Audrey Hernandez. When I took it to the post office, I didn't have enough postage on it so I had to add a stamp. Below is a scan Audrey sent me of the envy after she got it. You can see where I added the stamp (pretending that the juggler boy dropped one!) You can also see how the post office canceled the stamps. They did a great job in this case. I hope my other mail art is treated so kindly.

Audrey is a member of the design teams for Oxford Impressions and Paperbag Studios. She is a very creative and talented artist. she also participates in Wednesday Stamper and Green Pepper Press Street Team. Her art is fantastic and there is lots of it. You simply must visit her blog, SMALL CREATIONS. She is currently taking a break from her blog but that is a good thing for you -- because if you haven't been there before, you will need the time to see everything. For sure you want to see everything. Don't miss her entries about her darling little boy, Montana (isn't that a fantastic name for a boy?). Sometimes on Mondays, she blogs about him and calls it "Montana Monday."

One reason I loved this swap was because there is no deadline. I still get to look forward to two more pieces of mail art. I know that Audrey has gone back to work so that, along with taking care of her son and all that art she has to do -- yikes! When I get her envy I promise to post it. Meanwhile, check out her prolific blog and tell her Sally sent ya!

Another Mail Art Piece

(click on image to see larger scan.)

This is a decorated envelope I did for my mail art friend, Belinda Schneider from Luxembourg. I did it as if it were going to be mailed in the U.S.A. complete with stamps and all. However, I put it in a manilla envelope for mailing to her because Luxembourg is very specific about not adding things to envelopes or packages mailed there.

Here are scans of the front and back of the creative envelope she sent me:

If you click on the images, you can see a larger scan - notice behind the envelope are the gorgeous marbled paper she generously sent along. Belinda is a very talented artist with many varied skills --- (and an interesting life - check out her "About" page.) If you look today at her blog, Bel's Nook, she has a fantastic Frida shrine posted. Check out the other phenomenal things on her blog and don't miss the tutorial on carving stamps. There is lots to see and do there -- you'll be glad you visited.

Mail Art Again

Alrighty Then!!

(Click on the image to see a larger scan.)

This is a piece of mail art I sent to my friend, Pilar Pollock, for our mail art swap. Her address ran along the bottom where those little squiggly arrows are.

Isn't it funny how you get mental pictures and intuitive notions about how an internet friend looks and what she's like? I love Pilar's art and from what I see and what little about her I read on her blog -- I just think of her as a sophisticated aristicrat who is at the same time very down to earth and lots of fun. (Well, she *is* a California girl, ya know.) So I selected this model from Vogue or some such hoity-toity magazine -- and doctored her up to be fun and cheeky! Of course, I could have Pilar all wrong -- probably do -- I made her up in my mind, after all -- Still, I can look up to her and aggrandize her if I want to -- it's my party!

Oh, notice that I have three stamps on this envelope? . . . We-e-e-ell, I had to go home from the post office and find a place to put TWO more!! There wasn't enough postage on it. I didn't make a scan of the "after" envelope but I added one stamp to each end of the line that the existing stamps are on. Like I put one to the right of the 33-cent berry stamp... kinda turned it askew and let it fold over the right edge of the envelope ever-so-slightly. The other one went on the left side of the model--all the way over on top of that dark rectangle - very close to the left edge of the envy. Worked out ok, I guess.

Here is what the back of the envelope looks like:

(Click on the image to see a larger scan.)

I always wonder after I drop these off at the post office, if they run them through a machine and screw them up or if they hand cancel the stamps or if they cancel the stamps at all! No one has told me if they got a messed up envelope but then, things could fall off, etc. and who would know? Oh, well -- it's the process that matters, not the product. Am I right? That's what they tell me - not that I always believe it 'cuz I sometimes fall in love with the product, too. Don't you?

Mail Call

Decorated Envelope by Pilar Pollock

There is nothing more exciting than to find art pulsating in your mailbox!! I was fortunately in the right place at the right time to be invited to join in a mail art swap with a small group of phenomenal artists. My first arrival is gorgeous. Pilar Pollock sent me a heavenly package of mail art from California. This scan of the envelope is just plain dull . . . D-U-L-L . . . compared to the actual lusterous item itself. Pilar used luminlous paint for the background and it glows radiantly! Juxtaposed to the opaque white paint on top, this mix makes the envelope textural and gives it a look of uncanny depth. I wish you could all see it and touch it.

Sometimes we know our local post office well enough to know better than to actually send the arty envelope naked through the mail systems; sometimes it's the unknown post offices between us and the destination that frightens us. Whatever the case, Pilar opted to put this one in a manilla envelope for safe keeping in the mail route. Then she decorated the outer envelope a bit, too:

Decorated Envelope by Pilar Pollock

And that's not all! Inside I found a treasure trove of Pilar's art! Lucky me. I have now three glossy art cards and a fun magnet that she created.

Black Gypsy Heart . Her Black Wings . . . Die Geele . . . . . . (magnet)

Art by Pilar Pollock

I have recently received another package from this swap and I'll post the contents of it very soon. Meanwhile, if you haven't visited Pilar's PIP NOTES (her blog), her PictureTrail, or her Flickr photos, I highly recommend it. There is some heavenly eye candy awaiting you!

So, thank you, Pilar, for that big art-filled package. That is quite like you to be so generous. And btw, I think you are the queen of repetition - the secret design element of great art!!