We have a winner!

The winner of these five fabulous books is:

Ellen!

Thanks to everyone who participated in a swap this year.

It's been so much fun getting this group off the ground and I'm looking forward to many more swaps in 2013.

Don't forget - if you want to get good mail, look no further than our "informal mail art exchange" list.

New people add their address all the time and I hear many reports that this group is an active one.  Send something fun to a few people on the list and you'll be sure to get something fun in return.

May you all have a joyful December.

See you in January!

(Ellen, your books are going out in today's mail)

gift tags - part 4

At last, the gift tags have been swapped.

I have one last set to show you.

They came from Lisa, right here in Massachusetts.

For some inexplicable reason, it took eleven days for her package to travel the 80 miles from her house to mine.  Perhaps they were delivering it on foot.

But I digress.

Here are Lisa's wonderful tags.  I photographed front and back because both sides are so lovely.

Gift tags - part 3

I have emerged from my pie-coma and can get back to the business of posting these gorgeous gift-tags for the swap.

These five are from Katie:

 

And this next bunch is from Kellie.  She used large size paint samples as the base of her tag:

Marsie made these sweet square ones that open:

 I love the beads on the cord.

 Marsie also made this batch of tags that feature a recipe on the backside.  She has asked me to send five recipients one of each of her tags.

Here are Shirley's tags:

This last batch is from Silvia.  They all have really cool baubles on them (which means they don't lay flat on the scanner so please forgive the slight blurriness.  I assure you they aren't blurry in person)

 

Gift tags - part 2

I'm going to apologize up front:  the quality of these pictures does not do justice to the awesomeness of these gift tags.  The days are so short, I feel like I'm never home in enough daylight to take a decent picture so I'm relying on the scanner.  But your tags are so wonderfully layered and textured that they don't lay flat.  So the scans might be slightly blurry, or skewed or poorly cropped.

So if you think these tags look wonderful, just wait until you hold them in your hands.

There are wonderful contributions from everyone.

So let's get started with this great bunch from Angie:

 

Here's a close-up:

 Next is a sampling of Barbara's tags.

The flowers are fabulous 3-D layers that pop right off the card.

 Here are some of the backs of Barbara's cards

Cal made a set of these beauties:

These came from Cam, who suggested this swap in the first place.

They are so pretty and yummy and kind of remind me of oreos.

I want to eat them.

These little sweeties came from Jean and are  made from vintage wrapping paper and wax tissues ("the kind you use to pick up donuts in the grocery store baking department")

Now I'm even more hungry.

Fabulous hexagons from Judith:

 Here are a few samples of Karen's fun tags:

 These last five are from Kathy, who is swapping here for the first time:

 

Stay tuned: I've got lots more to show.

Mail Art Call

Hello mail lovers,

devoted MMSA swapper and mail-art goddess Gina Visione coordinates this wonderful project.

Please consider making some art for the cause!

Thankful - part 1

Take a look at the "Thankful" postcards that have been coming.

Each person created such personal and unique cards.

As always, I love the diversity of the art that you all create.

Ellen is thankful for family:

Connie is very thankful to have sustained little damage from Hurricane Sandy.

She and her family live in areas that were in the direct path of the storm.

Gina is thankful for mail art.  Her four postcards are loaded with her original artist stamps.

Jean is thankful for the beauty of Autumn and has included real leaves on her big (5"x9"), beautiful postcard.

Karen M. is thankful for "joyful, supportive, and fun spaces: home, books, nature and MMSA"

 Katie made six postcards, each expressing thanks for different things:

this last one from Katie says she is thankful for us - all the women she's met through these swaps and the encouragement we've given her.

Me too, Katie.

Starting this group has been one of the highlights of my year.