They're on their WAY

Back in mid-December, Susan - of This Old Paper welcomed me to their little community of links, and what a welcome it was. She 'discovered' a billhead for Baby Ruth and Butterfingers (by the box) on another site that I also follow called Forgotten Bookmarks. The billhead had been used for a bookmark, so I contacted Forgotten Bookmarks about obtaining the paper to use for my art, just as Susan suggested. The answer was YES, he still had it and would send it to me.

As a big THANK YOU to both of them for playing my game, I sent notes to both. I haven't decided YET what kind of Baby Ruth advertising I'm going to use on the billhead, but rest assured, when I do complete it, I'll be posting it here, linking to both of their fabulous sites, and framing the results for some other chocolate lover to hang on their wall.

By way of explanation, I've left the ground addresses off of the images. I use removable labels on my mail art now so that the recipients can have the envelopes to do with as they will, and I can post the images without revealing any addresses that are better left unrevealed.

My sisters Penny & Judy gave me a wonderful book of illustrated letters called "Your Friend, C. M. Russell". With the book came a bookmark that gave the history of Charlies use of the buffalo skull as part of every piece of art that he signed after 1906. The verse on the bottom was penned by Charlie in 1917, as a sort-of tribute to wordsmiths (he wasn't bad at telling a story with a pen either) whom he felt certain would tell the story of the West as he did with his brush.

I sent the bookmark to Forgotten Bookmarks as a bonus to him, since he had sent me the billhead. Along with the bookmark came a vintage Christmas postcard which had probably also come to him as a bookmark, so I passed that on to Susan. They should each receive their Thank You Mail Art by January 4th.

Penny & Judy also received Thank You's similar to the one I sent to Forgotten Bookmarks.

I hope everyone has a Blessed and Prosperous New Year.

What They Received

Christmas is now in the past. This year I did art work for my brother, sisters and wife. A couple of pieces of mail art, two that went through the mail (under cover), and one that moved across the room.

My wife of thirty-nine years received a Parrot Confectionery box, and the Parrots (similar to a Turtle) came in a separate box because I made a shadow box of the original. I couldn't scan the box since all that I could see that wasn't in deep shadow was the top. My son, who bought himself a new Blackberry, took the photograph for me.

Judy, my youngest sister, is the quilter. She received a pattern for a tea cozy that looks like the cat on the envelope, besides the envelope that she can hang on the wall if she wants to do that.

Jenny likes Carousel Horses, so she got a piece of mail art she can put on the wall. Oh yes, and her favorite color is blue.

Dan, my brother, is the drummer and long-time collector of Drummer Boys. He also reads a lot, so he got three bookmarks that I made, laminated and added gold threaded tassels.

Penny, my oldest sister, acquired FIVE pieces of Cline Piano Company paper for me from our good friend Mary Patterson in Seattle. Since she found the paper for me, I thought I should make certain that the piano player in the family got a piece of piano paper to hang over her Wurlitzer.

I didn't get a stocking this year. ;o( But what I did get from sisters Penny and Judy was a book that contains Charley Russell's illustrated letters from the Museum collection, called Your Friend, Charley Russell. I have most of the books by or about him, but this one is special, because my folks took me to see this collection in 1953, and started me on the path of mail art that I'm still doing, even today.

Madonna & Child PFF #17

This one is special. I was asked by the American First Day Cover Society in 2006 to design the Christmas issue for them called the Court of Honor Cover. Each year the Society asks one cachetmaker to produce the Christmas issue cover, and it is sold as a fund raiser for the society.

When I was asked, I looked back at all the Court of Honor covers from the past and I realized there had never been a religious theme for the art. I decided to do a Madonna and Child, and I knew where to find a good model.

The church we will be attending on Christmas Eve, Immaculate Heart of Mary in Black Eagle, Montana, has stained glass windows that are well over a hundred years old and which came originally from a church in North Dakota. They are beautiful, and have been beautifully restored and cared for. My art is not EXACTLY what is depicted in the glass, but because I needed to fit the art work on a number six envelope, I had to move the Christ Child up a bit further. The text is my own.

Be sure to stop by Marie Reed's The French Factrice blog for more Yule memories!

Drummer Boy PFF #16

Marie is going with a Christmas theme this week, so I'm throwing this one in. I have another saved up for Christmas, but I finished this as a subscription issue a year ago and thought that I'd get everyone into the spirit by drumming up one from Christmas Past.

I'm busy working on Christmas gifts. Unfortunately, I simply can't post any images or I'd be spoiling the surprise of it all for the recipients!

I thought I might add a little to what I already said about this image after seeing the first couple of comments: I did this one especially for my younger brother Dan. He was (and still is) a drummer. He and his wife collect Drummer Boys. When the USPS announced what the subject was going to be for the Contemporary Christmas issue, I simply couldn't pass up doing this issue.

Everlasting - In A Jar

I discovered that if I post an image that I get a much better feel for how the piece is going to look, and so I put this one up for my own perusal on Saturday. Not a lot of history to relate because I haven't completed the research on the Illinois Pacific Glass Company, but I know they made some fabulous canning jars, and this is one of them. I took photographs of two Everlasting jars while I was at Larry Munson's home, and this one appealed to me for some obvious reasons. The other smooth sided jar had many more bubbles in the glass, but this many-sided piece was simply more appealing to me. I have two more pieces of this letterhead, and I'll do the other as well.

Butterflies are Free

Here's a BLOCK of butterflies (sort of) which is the theme for Marie's Postcard Friendly Friday theme this week. Well, her theme is WRITER'S block, but I've just picked up my pc after having a tune-up done, and I'm not really prepared for putting up a story to go with this one.

I do remember deciding to try using something other than peace symbols as part of the envelope design and lettering.

And where was I? About fifteen miles North of Danang, in what was then South Vietnam. It was raining today (when I wrote the letter that was inside the envelope), and I wasn't getting a lot of sleep. The only thing that was free for me was the butterflies.