sneak peek

For a sneak peek at Frieda Oxenham's gorgeous Vintage note cards, please visit her blog! Her cards are really spectacular and are sure to inspire you! Thank you, dear Frieda. I can't wait to receive them and will share them in full when they get here!  :  ^ ) lenna

Vintage Note card swap still open to join

You may not have had time to think about our new swap when I announced it a week or two ago with the holiday busy-ness and all . . . .

Sample - Vintage Note Card Swap

We are doing a Vintage Note card swap! For this swap you will create 3 cards and envelope sets in exchange for 3 different ones that I will send to you. The due date (in my hands) is not until February 26th, 2011, so there is plenty of time. This swap comes complete with vintage images for you to create with and step-by step instruction on 4 sample vintage note cards. Read more about it by going to the original post about the swap. 

Your $12 registration will cover return mailing anywhere in the world, documentation on this blog of your card & envelope art, 4 PDF files: instruction and image sheets, plus swap organization and handling! I am very lucky to have talented artists from all over the world participate regularly, but newbies are welcome as well. Just dive in and do your best! This is a great theme that has been warmly received and I am really excited to host this swap. As of this post we have 31 participants registered already. I will take a few more - and would love to see you join! Registration takes place on the sidebar of the blog: look for the 'Buy Now' button and follow the prompts!

Happy Creative New Year to you!!!

Vintage Note Cards - A new creative swap!!

sample card

I have a new swap to announce! We had so much fun with the Mail Art Swap that it felt natural to follow with Vintage Note Cards. For this swap you will create 3 vintage style note cards with envelopes, in exchange for 3 different ones! It will be up to you whether you decorate the envelope that goes with the card or not. As far as the inside of the card goes, my samples were all blank inside. You may add a sentiment inside if you like, or leave the card blank as a true note card. You will be making and exchanging finished, usable vintage-style note cards. All sets of envelopes and cards are due in my hands no later than February 26th, 2011. The registration fee of $12 includes four pdf files and return postage anywhere in the world . . .

sample cards for the swap

Instructions for all four sample cards are included in the 12 page lesson you will receive when registering. After your $12 payment is complete you'll receive an email with a link from the E-junkie store to download a zipped file that includes the four pdf files associated with this swap. One pdf has the basic instructions for the swap and my mailing address. The Vintage Note Card lesson is a 12 page pdf that you can print out or read online. This lesson includes a supply list, step by step photos and instructions for all of my samples. Plus, something new for me to include -- I've included 2 pdf files I created filled with vintage images that you can print out, suitable for use in this swap or other projects!

TO REGISTER: click on the BUY NOW button located in the sidebar of this blog and follow the prompts. I would love to see you in this swap! All of the cards will be showcased here on this blog for inspiration. I am very happy to say creative swaps has many wonderful, talented participants from all over the US as well as Internationally. We receive the most awesome swap art that all gets shared on this blog! Here is one testimonial from the fabulous Mail Art swap I sent home last week . . . 

"Got my mail today and was soooo joyful! Loved your  wonderful and creative envelope and amazing contents from the other swap folks! I really enjoy the holiday mail this time of year, BUT...this was even better!!! Can hardly wait to show friends! Thanks for all your work...your swaps are delightful!"

Laura Hummel

You're welcome, Laura. It's my pleasure! 

There is plenty of time -you have through February 26 to get 3 vintage style cards made and sent to me. Be good to yourself and give yourself a present of creative time. See the sidebar to register! 

creatively yours,

lenna young andrews

december 15, 2010

Mail has begun to arrive! (check comments!)

{big grin}
I am glad to hear that participants are beginning to receive their swap mail art already! I've gotten word that Sharon Walworth in Rhode Island, Susan Stewart in Florida and Marnie Blum in North Carolina have theirs in hand! Thanks so much for letting me know, this really completes the swap for me.

I'm working toward organizing the next one . ..  but right now I'm making two quiches, a big salad, and an amaretto cake for my mom's birthday! I'll be bringing her roses and a tiny present too. She had a really rough week with an infection and a pulled tooth and she sure deserves some pampering!! I'll be back though before long. Hope you find your swap mail in your letter box soon!

: ))) lenna 

extra mail art from France! (check comments: the mail art is coming in!!)

I received Nadia Breton Sergal's extra piece of mail art today and boy, did her mail have me smiling!!!! Look at what was in my mailbox:

This is a very large postcard, about 7" x 9". The snowman is so happy looking, I just could not help but grin. And I love the "mail art" stickers Nadia has placed on top of the red ornaments!

You really made my day, Nadia. I am so glad this extra piece for me came all by itself!! Cheers, Lenna 

something more in my mail??

Yes, something more! I only opened a few of the extra envelopes at the beginning of the mail art swap, Frieda's, Elaine's and Sarah's. (click on their names to view their enclosures). Then I decided to stop, because I knew it would be too much work for me if I opened all the envelopes with something inside and scanned all the insides and all the outsides, for each participant.

Well! The swap is done and sent on it's way. So, today I sat down and had fun going through all the extra mail art I received. Thank you so much!!! Some of it did have something inside the envelope. The choice was yours to include something or not and either way was fine. I will share what I found inside below! You can click on the picture for more detail.

Linda Freeman, Washington, USA - Stuff to play with  :^)

Christine Carino, California
Christine hand drew the warbler on the right and enclosed a tag.

Vicky Martindale, Michigan - A lovely postcard

Marilyn Butler, Missouri - A postcard and a link (back)

Sharon Walworth, Rhode Island - Hand made paper

Sharon Walworth, Rhode Island - Collage goodies

Leslie Sowden -California - Copies of special postcards

Sue Emmerson, Australia - Copies of Australian images & a lovely tag

Sabine Schneider, Germany - A mixed media card

Barbara DeLisle, Florida - A postcard on the same theme

Teri Calia, California - A postcard featuring her art
and some fun patterned tags

Crystal Gafa, Utah - A fabric postcard to match the envelope! 

Thank you all so much. That was an extra treat finding those goodies! Now try to be patient while your mail art swap pieces make their way to you  . . . . 

Karen Cejka: Mail Art swap!

More mail art! I received Karen's last envelope today, the extra one she made for me ; ^ ) Thank you, Karen -that was so very kind of you.

Mail ART swap has flown - watch your letter boxes!

I was collecting all of your mail art to swap in this box -- and now it is empty! 

Yes! Today I managed to swap all the envelopes and postcards out, get them tucked into envelopes, add the proper postage stamps and send them on their way! I did it in batches. Some were sent straight from my letter box this morning, perhaps 20 or 25 envelopes. I have a large mail box! Then early this afternoon I took all the International envelopes and a few others to a tiny post office we have inside an outlet department store here called Bealls. Can you imagine? But it is wonderful for me. Less than 5 minutes away and the woman did not mind figuring out if I had enough postage on or if I needed a customs form. She even complimented the envelopes and said, oooh, this one is fabric!  : ^ ) She noted any additional postage needed on the envelopes and assured me she would put postage stamps on herself -not the postage label. Wow. My new favorite post office! The last bunch of 15 more envelopes or so I took to the post office near my parent's house on the way there. The envelopes all weighed less than 13 oz, so I could drop them in the mail box without having to hand them over to a clerk. Phew! I really did not think I would achieve this in just one day because it was 50 envelopes. I am happy to have completed this wonderful swap with you and I hope if you have time you will let me know that you have received your swaps and send along any comments or suggestions. Thanks so much! p.s. no mail today related to this swap - but if and when I receive any stragglers I will share them with you here. Stay tuned for a new swap announcement - coming sometime soon! 

Marianne Baugher: Mail ART Swap (last entry)

Marianne Baugher in Maryland sent in 4 envelopes, but unfortunately only one of them arrived here in Florida during the dates of the mail art swap. You might have caught a glimpse of it early on when I showed some of it with some other envelopes as part of the creative swaps blog header.

"Nature gives to every season some beauty of it's own"

This is a beautiful envelope, Marianne! What I am going to do is this: I'll swap Marianne's envelope in exchange with someone else's and then add 2 more to her returns from my large stash of 40 extra envelopes I received as gifts in this swap!!! Amazing. I would bet that Marianne's wayward envelopes will turn up down the road.

So this is it! I am closing the swap. I may receive one more envelope each from Nadia and Karen (extras above & beyond the 3 required) and I may receive 2 or 3 more from Marianne later this week? I hope so! With just the one exception of the mail not getting delivered as it should, 51 of us completed this swap making at least 3 pieces of mail art to exchange. The total count so far is 186 pieces that came in . . . and I created 53 pieces to go out, which makes a grand total of 239 pieces of mail art!!!! I'll have a few extra envelopes because some participants had to drop, but all in all, an amazing swap! Bigger that I imaged, more fun than I imagined, and not quite as much work for me as you might imagine because I like this subject so much and also, remember this is part of what I do as full-time work. I have made a grid on paper and preliminarily swapped things out -- now I will get to the task at hand and physically swap everything out into the waiting envelopes. It's really nice that envelopes are already made - it takes the stress off, and I've created a mailing list that I will tuck in with your returns, so you can continue to send mail art to participants in this swap, if you like.

I'll be back with an update or two later! I am also working on writing up a new swap as well that I think you will really like. Don't worry - it will not be due until late February.

Nadia Breton-Sergal: mail ART swap!

I have 3 pieces out of 4 that Nadia has sent to us from France, so I am going to share them here on the blog and then go ahead and swap out what I have on hand. When the last piece of her mail art comes in, I will keep that one for myself -thank you so much, Nadia! Many more people made extra mail art for me than I expected. It was not a requirement and I know it took extra time to do, so I really appreciate it. I am going to do something with all the extra mail art, something creative, and I will share it with you later. : ^  ) But now we will feast on Nadia's mail art from France.

This envelope is small, about 5-1/2" x 3-1/2"

The postage stamp is 2" x 1-1/2"!!

There is a plastic pouch where Nadia inserted
a tag with her return address! 

love the bright colors and the birds-this one is actually a piece of foam!
Nadia enclosed it inside a plastic sleeve. 

look at all  the postage!! 

Very cool. Thanks, Nadia! 

Please visit Nadia's Blog here.

Christine Carino: Mail Art swap : )

Christine Carino from California sent in 4 really lovely envelopes for our swap. Three landed in my mailbox last Thursday and the fourth one arrived today.
I really wonder where that fourth envelope was all throughout this weekend???  : ^ )) It was the Paris themed one, the last one shown below. Did it travel to Paris??!! When I first started receiving mail for this swap I was kind of surprised when pieces of mail sent on the same day, did not arrive here on the same day. Later, I began to began to be shocked when I would receive 3 or 4 pieces all at once -wow!  Anyway, I am glad to have all of Christine's pieces here safe and sound and be able to share them with you as I wrap this swap up. Thank you for making an extra envelope for me Christine, much appreciated! I love your mail art.

click on any scan for more details.

Vicky Martindale: Mail Art Swap!

I believe this is Vicky's 10th creative swap with me, and I know she also participated before I ever started this blog, when I did this through a yahoo group - wow! Thank you Vicky for all your support. Vicky is from Michigan and has produced some beautiful mail Art for our swap. See for yourself!

I kept this one Vicky, thank you! 

Wonderful! Just the kind of mail I like to receive : ))
I will be back tomorrow hopefully to finish up the uploads . . .. I can't wait to swap these out! My son Decklin (& Tina) leave tomorrow to go back to Cambridge, Mass., so I will have time to devote to this. Seee you soon!  lenna

Siri Hauge Opdal: Mail Art Swap!

All the way from Norway, Siri's 4 fabric and paper postcards got here on time! They are all similar, but different. I am so impressed they traveled so far without any covering and still look beautiful. Thanks for sending along the extra one for me, Siri. Take a look -click on them for more detail!

Thank you, Siri!