SendSomething.Net Update

Hello all! 
Breaking news from the SendSomething fan page on Facebook. 
The question was asked as to why some people were able to embed photos and borders into their profiles while the vast majority do not. 
The answer is their ability to do basic programming. 
The team at SendSomething has currently decided that this may cause the network to be compromised and/or crash and mentioned a stop order.  They may make changes in the future regarding adding a photo or photos.  But until then, it's a plain Jane look for all.
You are welcomed to weigh in here or join the fan page and become part of the community there to voice an opinion.

-b

UPDATE:  Laura, the administrator of the site is doing a poll over at the SendSomething Fan page on Facebook that will allow you to vote on the future of the site.  Head over to add your feedback, or don't whine if it does not turn out the way you want it to.

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween!  As as  trick or treat, I will send one person one of my bat cards from earlier this week if they can guess what the image below is.




On a side note, also make sure you check out the google icon for today.  There are different combinations to the potion that unlock different curiosities!

Have a safe and fun holiday!  I will be at work all day.
-b

Anticipation!

Hello out there!  I don't know if you all heard, but Postcrossing is about to celebrate its 20 millionth postcard sent!  Literally, it will happen tonight.  I was just over there and saw we were approaching the thousands left and at 600 cards per minute it should be very soon!  I was hoping I would have a card to register but alas, I did not check my post office box this morning - doh!
Postcrossing was running a "bet" on when the winning card would come in, but my guess is in Nov and way, way off. 

Now for anybody who does not know about postcrossing, it is a great site where a pool of senders are randomly matched and each card has a country code and its number that identify it.  Once your card is received, you are able to get sent a postcard from a random person.  I personally crossed the 500 sent and received mark earlier this year and I continue to learn so much about the world around me.

With that, I hope your mailbox is full and that you know you are not alone, because it takes a lot of crazy postcard users to reach 20 million!
 

Make Something Monday: Going Batty!

This is the final installment of my Halloween projects and one I have had floating around in my mind for awhile.  It was nice to finally sit down and put them on paper!

I hope you are ready to glimpse inside my mind which is a blend of color, weirdness, and toss in some wryness.  I think this is why I love the Ballard Street cartoon so much.
I decided to make a series of cards and postcards that answer the question, "What happens when bats decide to dress up?"  Mind you I have limited artistic talent but a huge imagination!

This is an amazingly budget friendly project!

 Grab some plain white index cards.

 A glue stick and a bat punch (this one is a Martha Stewart from last year's clearance)
Add some sentences, I used my typewriter, but you could do whatever.  Finally kick your sense of humor into wacky!

I know Sydney is misspelled, but anything goes with names.

I don't think the sparkles showed very well!

And this is one of the things that keeps me up at night!  What sentences would you add for next year?
Happy Halloween!
-b

Is the Weekend Here Yet?

Hello folks out there in cyberland!  I just wanted to post an update on my life.  I should be able to get back to blogging very soon in a more regular fashion. 
What have I been up to you might ask?  Well, there's raking, gutters to be cleaned, fall decluttering, insulating this old drafty house, car in the shop {don't ask!} and 50 hour work weeks which should be over soon? (I hope!)    Until I can get into regular posting here's a fun idea especially for Halloween and monster making.

Enjoy your weekend and be safe out there!
-b

Make Something Monday: Monsters Everywhere

Hello all!  I was mulling over my Halloween supplies the other day and I remembered these amazing stickers I found.  I did not initially associate them with Halloween which seems weird, but I bought them last November way after the holiday. 

An amazing contribution of stickers from a variety of artists.   

 Then I added in this 6x6 paper pad of cool small print scrapbook paper.

 And some scrapbook sticker embellishments.  These three things equaled the below fun.

I liked this sticker so much I did not want to clutter it up.

 The artist who created this one did a great job at creating fantasy!

 One of my favorites! 

With that, I hope this gets you in the creative mood!

-b

Where Does the Time Go?

This week has been a blur and will be a slow blog week for me as I turn my energies to other parts of my life, but I wanted to leave you with some fun fall themed creations.

Here's a promising list of projects I found floating around.  Normally I would narrow it to an individual item, but I liked 90% of this list especially the iris folds.  Something I have seen done, but never tried.

My Best,
-Becky
 

Make Something Monday - Post on Selvage

First let us define the word selvage:  "an edge (as of fabric or paper) meant to be cut off and discarded."   And that is what inspired me to try something different this time.
As I was cutting out bats I had all these beautiful abnormal pieces left and while I could have tossed them, I decided to instead glue them down and see what happens. 
Here are a few of my creations.

 

 

I did a few more, but I do not like to get ahead of myself preparing extra envelopes because I want them to be reflective of something specific for the recipient. 

 

I guess the key note to take from these images is do not be afraid to try.  The worst that could have happened is I was unsatisfied with the end results and tossed it all into the recycling.  But actually they are a bit messy, but luckily modern art can be messy and still powerful. 

 

Happy Creating!

-b

 

 

The New Types on the Block

Well one of my friends did it again.  She is a garage sale goddess and scored not 1 but 2 typewriters for me at a garage sale!  They are both travel sized but I like the one in the case a lot! 

This is the older of the 2 and has a nice hard case.  It was actually moldy in spots when I got it, but for $5 everything worked and that was amazing!

Above and below are the compact Smith Corona Skywriter complete with owners manual! 

 There was a manual of old letterheads to practice typing on stuck in the skywriter!  I look forward to using it for letters.  While I am typing I may even pretend to be a young lady from the 50's training for a secretarial job!

I took them both in to my typewriter guy for ribbons and general oiling/cleaning/ maintenance.  I figure the little bit I spent on them, they could get beautified! 
And now I am off to use the new darlings! 

My best to you all!

October 9th is World Post Day!

Hello folks out there!
I just found a tid bit on the Facebook Postcrossing fan page about World Post Day, the celebration of when the universal postal system went global.  I am not sure that I will be able to mail many letters on Oct. 9th, but I should be able to write a few that day and send them on the 10th.  I think I will pledge 5 letters for the tenth!  I will edit this and add the photos of the finished letters once they are done and I hope you will join me in making some mail of your own to celebrate the day.

Happy Writing My Friends!

Make Something- Going batty!

Hello all,
I am having issues with blogger.  Apparently I accidentally published my Make Something on Saturday this week and when I edited it, it didn't change the order of post.  In other words to see my awesome Bat Garland Letters, look back 2 posts!  I promise it's pretty darn cool.

Allentown Paper Show

Hello all!

I posted earlier this year about the Allentown Paper show which was for vintage papers and books.  I did not end up going then, but I contacted Andria from the Drawing Near blog about other things and she mentioned going to this, so plans were made and off we went.

Through the doors is another huge hall.

 There are tables and tables of this and that spread across 2 very large rooms full of ephemera, postcards, collectibles, and books. Unfortunately most of the stuff was prime and out of our budget, but we found this awesome vendor (below) who was really excited that we loved her bits of this and that. So excited in fact, she took down Andria's contact info to send her some other things, and unloaded some free extras on us - yay, free!

See the planes behind?  US Airmail, 2 postcards to make one picture.

Above is Kathy, our super exuberant supporter!  I wished we had started here instead of ended here.  I would have bought so much more from her while we chatted away!
Below is what I got for less than $20.

Mini postcard packs for a $1

Buy 1, get 5 free.

 There is a story to the above.  They are old vintage backs that people could print family pictures on but other vendors were concerned they could be used to make fake antique postcards.  The wonderful lady above decided to just give us all of them to use for collage because they posed a risk to her reputation.  So if anybody wants a few, please let me know!  But you must promise to use them appropriately or not at all.

FREE!  A set of mini postcards.

A whole lotta of virgin miscellaneous postcards to use in postcrossing.

 

A free postcard advertising the Ephemera Society

2 old magazines from the 40's to tear up.

A bunch of fun calendars to tear up for a $5

A really nice paper cutting somebody did that was sold for a buck.

misc paper dolls

the middle one from above up close.

Some airmail first day of issue that I can't wait to resend!

 

A really nice free postcard advertising an upcoming NYC postcard show.

 

This is for the Spring show!  Any takers?

 

Many smiles, friendly chats, and beautiful things which unfortunately were mostly out of my budget, but fun to look through.  Plans were tentatively made for the spring show and I am always happy to meet up with out of towners at these events.  The Allentown Farmers Market is right next door and a great place to grab a bite when you need a break.

My best,
-Becky

Make Something Monday: Bat Garland Letter

I am a utilitarian first and foremost!  If there is a way to have something beautiful and functional, then all the better.  I came across this fun how to make bat garland and when I was getting ready to make it, a thought popped into my head!  What about a letter that could be hung up as a decoration for the holiday?  And thus this project was born!

First I blew up the template I found at Yankee magazine several sources made this from felt, but being more paper oriented, I thought this would be better out of cardstock for the garland itself and thinner paper mounted on cardstock for the actual letter. 

Find some shades and patterns of black paper and trace the image from the above site.  The cut them out. 

Glue the bat pieces to the cardstock and I rounded the corners of the card stock.

Sorry about the photos, I had lighting issues. 

Punch holes and tie embroidery floss to connect the panels.

I think it's time to paint this wall and update my camera!

Viola!  you have a cute and stylish garland, I mean, letter.  Either way, your pen friend will love it!
-b