Envelopes - part 3

Sam's envelopes for the October swap took the slow boat from England and didn't arrive until long after I'd mailed out everyone's goodies.

Luckily, many of you had sent along extra envelopes, so I was able to put together a nice selection for Sam.  

Here are her envelopes:

 Some of you generous swappers will receive one of these in your duct tape journal envelope.

And speaking of duct tape journals...

The first batch went out Tuesday the 6th, and another batch went out Thursday the 8th.

The remaining journals will be on their way by Saturday the 10th.

Watch your mailboxes!

So while we're here talking about envelopes, I have to say this group has made my mailbox so much more colorful.

You guys send your stuff in the most wonderful, amazing envelopes!

I re-purpose them as much as possible; either re-using the envelope to send something out, or cutting it up as collage fodder.  Sometimes I forget to take pictures, but here are some fun envelopes that have come through my hands in the past few weeks:

 

from Terrie:

from Mandy:

 from Dori:

from Tammy:

from Lee:

another from Tammy:

 another from Lee:

from Sherry:

 from Carroll:

from Ungala:

 

and I got a letter from Anna in this cool fabric envelope, complete with decorative stitching.

Fun, fun, fun!

Bookmarks part 2

The two bookmarks below are from Cara.  They're made of fabric (and her note explains that they are "cat proof")

 

These two are from Chris:

 

And these two are from Christine:

  

Here are both sides of Dori's first bookmark:

(text on the front says "pretty" and on the back "our little sister dressed herself"

And here are the front and back of Dori's second bookmark:

(How does your garden grow?  With cockle shells and silver bells)

 These two are from Ellen:

 

 and these three are from Jean:

 

These are the fronts of Leslie's bookmarks.  She mentions on her blog that the woman on the right with the baby pig is her mom.

 These are the backs of Leslie's cards:

 Polly is swapping with MMSA for the first time and wrote that these delicate leaf images are prints of actual leaves.

 Here are two from Steph:

 and here are two from Tina:

 

Sam's are amazing and totally unique:

 

Here's a close up of the little flower:

 

Here's how you use it in your book:

 Beautiful work everyone!
(and as always, if you have a link to your work that you'd like me to share, just send me a message and I'll add it to the post)

Sam's duct tape journal

Sam's journal has finally arrived from the UK, and let me tell you, it was worth the wait.

Look at the amazing embellishment on the cover and spine!

In her own words she says "I got completely carried away with glitter, embellishments, washi tape and even feathers!  This was so much fun!"

Many of the pages also feature her drawings.

The first page is a map that shows where she lives, and there's also a page of local news, a postcard of her part of England, and a Union Jack gift bag.

Thanks to all 28 of you who participated in this swap.  I've had the best time seeing your journals and you've completely inspired me!

Karen's duct tape journal

Karen M. sent this beautiful journal

Love that crow.

She's got some great envelopes tucked inside.

The one pictured here in the center says "An Anytime Indulgence"

 Inside, look for the page from a textbook, complete with underlining and notes in the margins.

I have now posted every journal I've received.

I'm waiting for Sam's journal to arrive from the UK.

That will make for a total of 30 journals from 27 participants!

That's the most people to join a swap to date.

If you have sent me a journal and haven't seen it posted, please let me know.

I'm going to start sending these out this week, but I will likely spread it out over the course of several days so I don't have to stand in line at the post office with 27 packages!

Katie's duct tape journal

Katie's journal is a wonderful collection of hand-painted papers bound together by maps.

 Just look at those flaps and tabs and paint and stitching.

 each page is a work of art, and there are lots of pockets and tags throughout.

(watch for the sudden appearance of black paws as Jake jumps on the table to try and help with the filming)

Barbara's duct tape journal

Here is Barbara's lovely hand-painted cover.  It's not easy to tell from the picture, but those flowers are 3-D.

It's a wonderfully big size.  The page on the right is part of a big mailing envelope.  The painted pages are wonderful

 Have a look!

Christina's duct tape journal

Can you hear that?

It's Christina's  journal, and it's calling you.

It's saying "Customize me!"

 This one's an art journalers playground.  Loads of patterned paper, with plenty of open spaces for writing and a nice mix of blank or solid color papers for adding your own patterns.

 So much fun, and so many possibilities...

Carroll's duct tape journal

The amazing detail in Carroll's journal had my mouth hanging open in wonder as I flipped through it.

See that cover?  That's not pre-printed paper, it's all hand drawn and painted.

 Inside, each and every page is enhanced with paint and doodles and stamps (and often all three in wonderful combinations).

 You really need to watch the video to see for yourself.

I'm going to have a hard time letting this one go!

Ellen's duct tape journal

Just look at the gorgeous fabric Ellen used on her journal!

Instead of a rubber band she tied a length of fabric around that cupcake duct tape.

The inside of her book started out as one of those Trader Joe's fearless flyers.
She painted, taped, and glued all kinds of wonderful things onto those pages to create this work of art.

See all the pages here:

Judith's journal

Time to take a look at Judith's journal!

 sprinkled throughout her pages are bits of text and funny collaged items.

 You won't be able to see all the details in the video, but trust me, every time I look through it there's something new to see.

You can see more of Judith's work on her wonderfully named blog, Sticky Fingers on Paper.

Gina's duct tape journal

The lucky person who gets Gina's journal gets two kinds of art in one:
Gina is a printmaker who designs a lot of original artistamps.
(You can see more of them here.)
Here's her cover:

And here's a peek at the inside.  The stamp on the envelope is one of her designs.

It's Susan B. Anthony saying "Vote, damn it"

There are more of her stamps sprinkled throughout - take a look.

(this is now the correct video!  sorry about that, Gina!)

Corinne's duct tape journal

This big juicy journal is from

Corrine at Sparkle Days Studios

To read the story of her cover, head to her blog for "How to make a duct tape journal when you can't find the duct tape and then you do..."

Inside are her signature painted papers and lots of washi.

A playground of color awaits.