Sunday, March 25

A Problem or Good Fortune?

Recently I have been helping organize a book drive at work.  All the books collected, I hauled to a group that sells them for scholarship money.  But they did not want 2 old sets of Encyclopedia Britannica (1950's era).  I had the option to recycle them into a dumpster bin, but when I opened it to the many pictures, I could not. 

Now, I have 2 out dated sets, any ideas on what to do? 
I suppose I will slowly strip the pages out and find uses for them or friends to send them to.  I almost hate to do anything to them as Encyclopedia Britannica announced this month that they would no longer be publishing the sets.  Since the advent of the Internet, they found the information changed too quickly and they would be outdated once published.  Another institution killed be technology.

Monday, March 19

Classroom Mail Call

Hello all,
I've been a bit out of the loop.  Now that things are settling till I really start packing, I wanted to get caught up with all my friends in mail land.  So I was blog hopping and reading the back posts when I saw this from Viva Snailmail. 
http://www.vivasnailmail.com/?p=1519

It's a postcard call for a classroom project!  Make sure to click and read and most importantly consider sending something their way! 

My Best,
Becky

Sunday, March 18

Still catching up!

hello all,
Let's not even pretend that the fervor I started the year with has lasted.  Once again life has conspired to throw my a few curve balls and I am way behind in my correspondence!  Here are a few more photos of the stacks of mail!
And at the bottom, a surprise: )
First off, some leftover Valentine's Day mail

The above and 2 below are all part of a super fun package I received from the Picadilly Post!

the pinwheel starts as a square


this is the very interior!

from LR - ever seasonal!

Another super fun piece comes from Lisa!  She participated in the recycling challenge last year and has stayed in touch since! Both the words and the mail box pop-up!  This was part of a Kleenex mailer to send people tissues.

On to some Postcrossing and other!


had made 3-D card from the Netherlands, it is a postcrossing too

one is from Derrick and one from Postcrossing

My first from Alaska!
A letter from MH


A postcrossing and an Annabell original!
And now for a surprise
I noticed this during inspection of a house that I am now under contract on!  Meant to be?  Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well!
Thank you for reading!
-B

Saturday, March 10

More of the Incoming!

Mickey with a pic of Kati's cat
Slowly but surely I will get all your incoming mail up on the blog.  Since I had a big period of not blogging, it will look like I got a lot more than what I really did.  And I also want to apologize to for any I miss.  I know I put away a few postcrossings without getting photos, (but which . . .) so it's better to just skip them.

Above and below are postcrossings! My first from Pakistan!

Above and Below are from my French connection, Malyss - she's so generous with the mail!  And my mail cat Mickey was investigating, she must smell the Mediterranean!

From the Picadilly Post - Dragon Mail!
From Tara - who is transplanting to the East Coast
A postcrossing and really cool wrapped letter from CKB!
From Juli!  Love the mailbox
Yay!  Mail from Kendall at Happy Little Mailboxes
A nice letter from Hannah
Dragon mail from KB
A wonderful bound letter from WD

Expect more mail pics soon!



Friday, March 9

Catch Up on the Incoming

This is so long overdue!  I suspect the next few posts will be long and heavily laden with pics of mail.  Glorious Mail!  I do apologize that some of the Postcrossings got shuffled before photos could be taken, but here are the rest.  So let the show begin!
First off some postcards
Postcrossing

Postcrossing
Postcrossing
Derrick and Elle Mental
Letter from Troy
LR! at Sendsomething
Nora a postcrossing friend
More postcrossing
postcrossing
Sarala and Miriam
MH from Sendsomething
From a partner in crime
I seem to be making me blog angry so I'll stop here for now!
Keep Writing my Friends,
-b

Saturday, March 3

You Asked for Free Ideas!

Hello folks,
Earlier this year I had posted on $1 finds for mail art.  Today I will put some ideas out there for free materials or at least materials that you would otherwise toss.

First is calendars!  I sure hope nobody out there tossed their pretty pictured calendars after the new year.  They are terrific for making envelopes and reusing the small pictures for other.  You can often get multiple of the old ones free from relatives and co-workers as well as recycle any that you may have purchased. 
Envelopes are cut out and ready to be folded

Second are food boxes and labels.  If you already buy these things, recycle the graphics!  The makers have spent millions on packaging and promotion, so take advantage of their hard work and recycle.  (I am self proclaimed princess of the Boca burger box!)

These are actually all ready to go in the mail and cost 65 cents to mail.

Third are security envelopes.  These are well known to many of you, but here are a few examples of how my friend at Picadilly Post has used them.  She really is a master at using the security envelopes.
Fourth are Chinese and Other Take Out Menus.  They get placed on your door or car so why not use them!  I especially like to make them into envelopes to mail things when we are celebrating Chinese New Year and use the stamps correspond so well to them!

Fifth is the recycling bin at work.  You can use shreds to quill with, packaging to make postcards, and even old stickers from boxes to add character to your outgoing mail!
If you are not familiar with quilling, please check out Elena's blog post here.
Feel free to leave comments below on anything else free that inspires you!