Teddy Holding Halloween Envelope Card From CJ - Photograph

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I received a wonderful surprise in the mail today. CJ, who does beautiful calligraphy work, sent me a stunning Halloween envelope and card. We both like cats, old cemeteries, Medieval topics, all things Halloween, etc. :-)

I should have realized something special was arriving in today's mail, because Teddy, who normally doesn't move when the mailman stops, knocked me over and ran outside to get the mail before I could. ;-)

Teddy is always thrilled when anyone mentions him, and says he loves CJ because she always does. ;-)

Earlier this year, I had started a Teddy Tales weekly blog post, but my creativity has not been what it was in the past. Receiving this Halloween treat brightened my day. Thank you again, CJ! And if anyone is unfamiliar with CJ's fantastic calligraphy and artwork, I encourage you to visit her blog.

Christmas Nutcracker Envelope - Photograph

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This week's Our Midweek Muse theme was "Mail Art".

I created this using GIMP 2.10.34

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Teddy and his Halloween Mail (and candy) - Photograph

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I took those photographs of the unexpected, fantastic Halloween mail art (and candy) that arrived in the mail for Teddy (and me) this past week, from CJ, who does beautiful calligraphy and artwork.

For those who remember Teddy, it will be no surprise that on one particular day, for no apparent reason, after hearing the sound of the mail truck, Teddy knocked me over, ran outside, and got the mail before I could. When he came back in, he threw all of the mail at me, except for one brown envelope, which he clutched in his paws as he scurried over to his cousin.

Later that day, Teddy deigned to allow me to photograph his letter. When I asked him how he knew it was arriving on this particular day, he said his cousin who works at the NSA told him. ;-) When I pointed out it was addressed to the both of us, he muttered something and walked away with the candy.

It was an unexpected, thoughtful, and wonderful surprise to receive this in the mail from CJ. She knows Halloween is one of our favorite Holidays. And it was a welcome positive in my life right now.

"Letters From The Past" - Postcard

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This week's Sunday Postcard Art theme was "Letters From The Past." I don't think mine is quite what that meant, but this is where my muse took me.

I created this using GIMP 2.10.30

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"Snail Mail Sun" - Postcard

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A few weeks ago, the Sunday Postcard Art challenge theme was "Snail Mail." I made two very similar pieces for it, but I preferred the red one that I made. I didn't post this one at the time, because I was unsure if I even liked it. Seeing it on its own, without being next to the red one, I decided that I do like it, so I'm posting it now.

I created this using GIMP 2.10.22.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"Snail Mail Red" - Postcard

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This week's Sunday Postcard Art challenge theme was "Snail Mail."

I'm still in a Valentine's Day state of mind, so I made an envelope back in red.

I created this using GIMP 2.10.22.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Featured in the sampler here.

Postcard and Envelope - Photograph

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I mailed a printed copy of my Red Flower Woman postcard to Iris last week, and she received it this week.

I was originally going to mail the postcard as is to her, but I was worried it might get scuffed up as it traveled through the postal systems between here (United States) and there (Germany), so I decided to send it inside an envelope.

I have an envelope template that I made a few years ago, so I used that and added a border image to it, as well as two birds. The address area is covered over with green. I didn't take a photo after I added the stamps.

"Postal Bits" - Postcard

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This week's Three Muses  challenge was "Postal Bits."

I created this using GIMP 2.10.10.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"Invitation" - Postcard

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This week's Three Muses challenge was "Hats or Crowns."

I created these using GIMP 2.10.8.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

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For your listening enjoyment, a little slice of heaven:

Salvation is Created - Pavel Chesnokov

Envelope 6" x 4" Rhinoceros - Photograph

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This week's Sunday Postcard Art challenge was "Envelope."

This is my second entry for the week.

I made an envelope template for a 6" x 4" size envelope, then created a rhinoceros theme on it. I have always loved rhinoceros, and was saddened to read a news article today that said Sudan, the last living male northern white rhino, had died. Now only two females remain alive. The species will go extinct because of mankind. In some ways, I think mankind is analogous to being cancer on our planet: we kill to the point of extinction healthy animals and plants similar to the way cancer cells multiply and kill healthy tissue and organs within our own bodies. Neither action is done for a beneficial reason.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.22.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"Art Envelope 1" - Postcard

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This week's Sunday Postcard Art challenge was "Envelope."

I used the red ball flower envelope in this art envelope tutorial as my inspiration piece.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.22.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

Envelope - Week 10 - The Book of Days

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The week10 theme for my Book of Days was Envelope.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.22.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

The master index for all of my entries is here.

"Mail Art" - Envelope and Postcard

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This week's Take a Word challenge was "Mail Art".

I made a postcard and matching envelope.

I created this using GIMP 2.8.18.

The vintage images are from an Internet search. (See the side of my blog for links.)

"Postal Mail" – Postcard Envelope 6.5 x 4.5

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This week’s Artful Times challenge #55 was "Mail Art."

This week’s Moo Mania challenge was "Mail."

I created a 6.5" wide by 4.5" high postcard envelope template that would be large enough to mail postcards in, using GIMP 2.8.10. Then I used the template to create this mail art envelope, printed it, cut it out, and glue sticked the edges.

My printer is low on ink, so the color didn't print uniformly on this. Then when I folded it, I was off a little, so the image didn't line up. Lastly, I got some of the glue on the front of the envelope, tried to wipe it off with a wet Kleenex, and ended up smearing/staining the ink.

The vintage images are from a DuckDuckGo search.

"Music" – Postcard Envelope 6.5 x 4.5

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I created a 6.5" wide by 4.5" high postcard envelope template that would be large enough to mail postcards in, using GIMP 2.8.10. Then I used the template to create this mail art envelope, printed it, cut it out, and glue sticked the edges.

I'm using this envelope to mail the postcards I recently created. They can be seen here, here, and here.

The vintage images are from a DuckDuckGo search.

"Bon Voyage" – Postcard Envelope 6.5 x 4.5

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This week’s Three Muses challenge was "Bon Voyage Mail Art."

I created a 6.5" wide by 4.5" high postcard envelope template that would be large enough to mail postcards in, using GIMP 2.8.10. Then I used the template to create this mail art envelope, printed it, cut it out, and glue sticked the edges.

The vintage transportation images are from a DuckDuckGo search.

The words are from the movie "It's a Wonderful Life."

The fonts are:

Architects Daughter
Orniste tfb
Palatino Linotype

Some or all of them can be found on dafont.

"Medieval" – Postcard Envelope 6.5 x 4.5

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I created a 6.5" wide by 4.5" high postcard envelope template that would be large enough to mail postcards in, using GIMP 2.8.10. Then I used the template to create this mail art envelope, printed it, cut it out, and glue sticked the edges.

The vintage Medieval images are from a DuckDuckGo search.

Greens Farms Station - Mail Art Envelope - Train Series

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I created a standard #6 3/4 Envelope (3 5/8" x 6 1/2") template in GIMP 2.8.10, then used it to start a "Train Series" of Mail Art Envelopes. I intend to mail each letter in my Train Series from the actual train station that is the envelope's return address. This will be the first one that I mail.

I created the 3" x 5" Greens Farms card and 2.5" x 3.5" bird ATC to mail inside the envelope. The 3" x 5" Astronomer card is one I had created awhile ago.

I printed the envelope on parchment card stock paper, cut it out, and used an Elmer's Disappearing Purple Glue Stick to seal the edges. I also used that to seal the envelope flap after I put the cards inside of it, then added a piece of Scotch Tape over the seam.

"Mail Art" – A9 Envelope

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This week’s Three Muses challenge was "Mail Art Envelope."

I created this using GIMP 2.8.8.

The images are from a tag that I created, a GIMP script, and a DuckDuckGo search.

The font is Corbel Bold.

"Mail Art" – Postcard

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This week’s Take A Word challenge was "Mail Art." This is one of my favorite themes!

The vintage images are from an Internet search. I created the red and blue stripe pattern to mimic the look of old airmail envelopes.

I am very far behind on looking at and commenting on challenge site entries. I hope to catch up sometime soon.