A Change in the Winds

Plans change.  They can change rather quickly if foul weather is involved.  And sometimes plans change for the better. 
What am I referring to?  This last weekend, a friend and I were set to trek to Philadelphia but Mother Nature decided to throw some lovely snow in our direction.  I love snow and had been missing it, but I did not miss the mess that it made the roads. 
I told my friend to come on over anyway but instead we headed down town and scoured the public library book sale!  Neither of us needed anything in particular, but I did find a few I could not live without.

Above are for mail art (aka doomed to destruction)

Above and Below are for reading.

I have a thing for nonfiction travel stories and classics.  When I will get the time to read these particular books is any body's guess!
And these are for using and giving away.

 I fully intend on using the Envelope book when I can and the other may be yours if I find its content to be as fun as the title.  We shall see my friends!

And the grand total costs for all of this . . . $16 + change!
Happy reading and mailing my friends!
-b

p.s. Do you ever think that we should all be advocates for literacy?  Our blogs are filled with books and letters.

Book Sale = Mail Art Opportunities

Hello all of you out there in mail land!
I first want to say that if you have not read my blog long, you may be surprised (or not) to find that I am a bit cheap.  Not about everything, but I sure like a deal.  So here is a big tip to many of you,  I rarely buy books from bookstores!  I usually try to stock up at library, yard, and charity sales.  Usually the books go for a dollar each, give or take, and are in decent shape.
Why talk about books on a mail blog?  Because they are terrific sources of inspiration!  Just look at the fun ideas!
Here are some of my finds at the final Bethlehem Public Library book sale of this year!

Nonfiction books about people's travels.  I love this genre of literature.

I like travel stories like these because they help me understand other cultures.  Usually they are written by Americans about their perspectives and experiences in other cultures.  Although Holy Cow was written by an Australian, it is one of my favorite of this genre about travels in India!

I love the cover of this book!

Not only is the above book pretty, but I am hoping to use the letters inside to liven up a letter writing slump I seem to have gotten into with one of my pals.  I have ides that should be fun!

The above 2 books are all advertisements from the 1940's - Squeal!!!!  I hate to tear up the books, so I may try to scan them or copy them and see how that works before I take scissors to them.

Pamela from Cappuchino and Art recommended a long time ago that I consider looking at as many artists works as possible to help shape my own tastes and preferences.  Therefore I am always looking for more art books and the design book seems to be some kind of college book but looks cool. 

The above contain all kinds of small projects.  The best thing is they can be adapted to fabric or paper and provide easy cut-out shapes.  My brain goes crazy with ideas on how to adapt these to mail!!!

Self- explanatory!

The above book has a whole section on ready to mail journals and accordion card!  Can't wait to try it!!!
Once I am done with my fiction and non-fiction books, I tend to pass them on.  Either back to one of the charity book sales or on to a fellow friend.  If you are a truly voracious reader, consider joining Bookcrossing.  I know little about it, but hope the Postmuse will stop by to tell us more in the comments as I know she is/was a member of that group.
Much love and MailArt!

-b