Liberating, Monumental, Animated, Fat, Cool and a Happy Valentine

It's time to liberate my art. I finally got all of my postcards made via Moo.com and VistaPrint.com. I came up with 3 designs, two of which I've already posted. I think I will leave the third design as a surprise since the deadline for this project is March 15th.  Anyway, It was fun trying to create something by hand to put on postcards. I thoroughly enjoyed the process and I plan to keep doing it. Here is the envelope that is on it's way to Kat Eye Studio where the Liberate Your Art project was born.

I wish I had done something different on the envelope, but this is how it turned out.

The back of the envelope, sloppy, messy and hurried. But it's art, right?

In addition to the above envelope, I sent a couple of more postcrossings.

To: Barbara in Portugal

I write: Hello Barbara, I am a 50 year old woman living in Las Vegas, Nevada. It makes my heart happy to know that there are still young people like yourself who want to send and receive postcards & letters. I have a whole trunk full of correspondence that I have saved over the years. Every now & then I like to re-read what my friends wrote about when we were kids. Wishing you much happiness. <3 JarieLyn

To: Ameya in India

I write: Hello from Las Vegas where the sun is shining and casting a warmth which makes it feel like spring. I am dog sitting my sister's chow this week and we've already been for a walk in the park today. I love to just breathe in the air when I'm outdoors. the aroma of flowers and cherry blossoms are intoxicating and it makes my soul smile. <3 JarieLyn

My mailbox is finally starting to see some life. I recieved a big fat envelope from John in the Uk.

Inside was all kinds of mail deliciousness.  He sent me some vintage postcards as well as writing his letter on several different postcards.

7 beautiful postcards filled with a letter to me. 

Some of the other postcards that were in the envelope. Everything was so fun to look at and to read. They are all splendid, and it made my day.

Also, I received a piece of mail from my friend Deyanira.

A cute valentine card and an artsy note. She knows how much I love getting mail.

So in case you all are wondering how I spent Valentine's day here's the scoop. I'm sure you've all heard of couple's massage, right?  Well, that's not what we did, but it was similar. We had a tandem reiki session and it was the most amazing experience ever. My husband is not into the whole metaphysical, mystical, new age thing so my plan was to blindfold him and not let him know what I had in store. Well, I didn't blindfold him, but he went in blindly. He had no idea what we were doing.  I will skip over the little details but I will tell you that to my surprise he was totally feeling good and was open to doing it again sometime.  If you've never had a reiki session before, let me just say, that it is very relaxing. Some times you might experience things that make you question what happened, but it's all good. You don't need to believe in universal life force energy to reap the benefits. Anyway, my husband and I walked out feeling so peaceful and happy and we had a great rest of the day together. It was one of the best Valentine's Day I've ever had.

Mailbox Love, Finally!

Good afternoon my lovelies. It's 70' F outside but it feels hotter than that. Maybe it's because I just came back from a brisk walk. I hope all of you are enjoying the weather where you are no matter if it's hot or cold. I think we just need to accept our fate and make the most of it.  I'm excited to blurt out into the blogosphere that I am very happy that I finally got some good mail yesterday. I love it, especially because they are both from bloggers. One sent me a postcard as a participant of LetterMo, and the other comes from a lovely blogger named Claire in the UK. Check out both of their blogs and make a comment or follow them.

I really love the postcard. It is so colorful and dream like. It feels magical, like I just stepped into a fairytale. And the message written is wonderful too. For me, that's always the best part because it means the person took the time to write something just for me. Oh, and Claire's envelope is fabulous. Inside I found a wonderful ATC that she made for me and a vintage postcard from her alma mater, Oxford, and a lovely message.

what makes this so unique is the folder she created to hold the ATC. It's a puzzle.

I would have thought that I'd have a postcard from another postcrosser by now, but no such luck.

As far as LetterMo goes, I've already failed the task. I missed Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and today for mailing out. There is no making it up, but I will still try to send something daily starting tomorrow.

Letters, Swaps, and Postcrossing: Outgoing Mail

Yesterday, I busied myself with the task of completing swaps, writing letters and postcards.

 

One of these envelopes is for a notecard swap and the other one contains a postcard and some extras for the Adventures of the Traveling Postcard swap.

 

 

A pen pal letter to Jackie.

 

 

A pen pal letter headed to John.

 

 

A Postcrossing headed to Pennsylvania.

I write: Hi Jessica, I'm writing to you from my home in Las Vegas, NV. I love to read anything about the occult, metaphysical and paranormal. However, one of my favorite books has nothing to do with any of these subjects. It's called, The Instant Millionaire-A Tale of Wisdom & Wealth. It's a cute story with real life lesson. I try to read it at least once a year. :) Wishing you much happiness. <3 JarieLyn

 

 

This is a Postcrossing on the way to Taiwan.

I write: Dear Zoe, I could eat Mexican food everyday, but that would be very bad because I'd probably gain 200 lbs. My favorite Mexican food is a chile relleno. It's a mild chile pepper stuffed with cheese and fried wit an egg batter coating and then topped off with a mild sauce that can be varied in how it's cooked and how it tastes. I'm wondering if you have ever had Mexican food in your country. Wishing you much laughter. <3 JarieLyn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Feul For My Mailbox

Yay, my mailbox has finally been nourished with a couple of pen pal letters and a few postcrossings.

The above letter came to greet me all the way from France.

I love the texture of the paper the letter is written on.

I need to find some of that here.

It's kind of shiny with a linen sort of feel to it.

This one from the Netherlands.

I love hearing from my pals and what they've been up to.

Everyone has their own unique writing styles and I love them all.

Again, I forgot to photograph the incoming of my Postcrossings but one is an image of a cute puppy and it came all the way from the Czech Republic.

I also receivve a postcard from a swap. (weekly goals). I believe it traveled to me from New York but I am not positive.

I've been participating in a lot of swaps lately.

Here's three separate envies for the same swap. It's a postcard swap where I send 3 unused postcards to each recipient. Of course I threw in a few extras too.

Postcrossings

One going to China and one going to the Netherlands.

More Postcrossings:

These are headed to India, Taiwan, Belarus, Lithuania, and the UK.

A Postcard for a friend in Teas.

I haven't been to the post office yet so I'm not sure if my mailbox has anything waiting for me or not.

I am expecting two swaps so hopefully those will arrive soon.

Today is a day filled with domestic duties such as laundry, straightening up, vaccuming, grocery shopping, etc.  So far, I haven't accomplished very much.  I've done one load of laundry and that's it.

Time to get my ass in gear.

No more computer, postcrossing, facebooking until I am done with my chores.

Have a great day, everyone.

The Spirit of Christmas Travels to and Fro

Have I told you lately how much I love Christmas?

I was so excited when this Christmas present arrived from the Netherlands.

Decorative tape to add to my collection.

I love this stuff and can't get enough!

A Christmas postcard from my blogging friend and pen pal, John.

So very cute. I love it.

A few more cards from a Christmas card swap on Swap-Bot.

Another batch of cards coming in.  I just love the one on the left of the snow covered bench and tree.

Another Christmas themed postcard, this one from a Postcrosser in the Czehc Republic.

I love the scene on this card.

A Postcrossing from Russia.

I love the postal themed post cards.

I wish I could find them in the U. S.

I've been quite busy with mail lately.

Here's what I sent out within the past few days.

A couple of packages going out to a couple of really great pen pals.

My second batch of Christmas cards for the Christmas card swap.

Another batch of Christmas cards going out.

Two more out the door.

Three postcrossings headed to Poland, Netherlands and Moldova.

It's getting really super cold here, but most of the time I am inside my warm house all bundled up and comfy.

I hope you all are staying warm

Until the next blog post, I'll be somewhere around here.

Postcrossing; It's a process.

I am all caught up with my Postcrossings.

I now have eleven postcards in transit including the eight I just sent today.

I love Postcrossing but it takes me almost as long to write a postcard as it does a letter.

I'm sure most people just scribble a line or two but it's a process for me.

First, I read the profile of the recipient and then I check out his/her favorites wall.

Then I go through all of my postcards which are not organized in any way, to find the perfect one.

Then, before I even write anything at all, I must affix the postage.

That entails a process too.

There's the preview of the layout before I glue the stamps to the card.

I need to make sure they will fit and also that they will look visually appealing.

I have a leather pouch where I keep all of my stamps, most of them vintage and of lower postage rate.

(I have hundreds of dollars worth of postage in my leather pouch)

It takes awhile to get the correct postage amount.

After I affix the stamps, I address the card to the recipient.

I always do it in this order because it allows me to use all of the rest of the postcard for writing.

I used to start writing first and then address the card and then try to affix the stamps.

But after a few times with the stamps covering up my writing, I learned.

I do my best to write something personal about myself as well as a current event or something of interest about my city. 

I also write the date and current temperatures etc.

If a recipient requests something specific such as a quote or favorite movie, I'll include that as well.

These are the eight postcards I addressed this morning.

One of the recipients likes American humor so I chose this Prairie Dog Watching card for her.

The other side of the cards from this morning.

These are on their way to Ukraine, Hong Kong, Finland, Mexico, China, Singapore, UK, & Belarus.

What do you write on your postcrossing postcards?

Do you write the same thing all the time or do you write something different for each recipient?

Tell me your process or give me feedback on my own.

I would love to hear your opinions.

Thank you for stopping by.

Wonderful Wednesday

Today was an amazing mail day.

I was thrilled with the letters I received and I savored each one as I read every single word on the gorgeous pages that were written especially for me.

 

Here's what came in:

 

 

A beautiful envelope from John.

 

 

With a nice long letter inside that I thoroughy enjoyed.

 

 

And another gorgeous envelope that's just my style.

 

 

And an amazing letter that captivated me as well as these lovely ladies.

This is from a LetterMo participant and I will be sending my reply within the next day or two.

 

 

 

The label says it all.

 

 

This is what was inside the package.

I'm not sure what I'll do with purse handles since I don't really sew or make things with fabric.

 

 

4 USA touristy postcards from 4 different states Swap with an extra as a bonus.

I love that NY City postcard.

 

Here's what went out today which isn't much:

 

 

 A Postcard A Day Swap going to Wyoming.

 

 

A package for Completely Random Stuff Swap.

(the idea was to get things from the check-out)

Things that you would not ordinarily send for a swap.

 I still did my best to choose things that I think the recipient would like.

They are things that I would buy for myself so if the recipient doesn't like them then that just means we have different tastes, but at least I looked at her profile.

Just saying.