Mail art and Story Telling

I have always loved writing letters from a very young age, at one stage i was writing to over 100 penpals.....i loved that connection with people and loved the writing as much as the receiving.......as much as i love the instant reply the internet allows now there is still something special about going to the letterbox and instantly seeing someones handwriting that you recognize and the anticipation as you bring it on inside, make a coffee or tea and sit with letter in hand and read the words......the joy of a handwritten letter is the fact that you can sit down and read it anywhere, you can actually hold it in your hands, hear the paper rattle as you look at each page....sometimes it has a wonderful aroma about it.....sometimes little bits of glitter and stars may fall upon my lap.......or a dried leaf......or a business card of a must see new place.....

For several years now a friend and i have written nearly every week and we have always collaged our envelopes as per the pictures i show you.....it is always signed by The ....... Envelope Company...usually something to do with the picture on the front....the back of the letters are always collaged as well..

At one stage my husband worked in our local post office and they always got excited when one of the letters came through and would stop to have a look, we have had these letters delivered to us with messages attached from the postie telling us how receiving one of these letters in the mail room had really made their day.......my friend even in the end wrote messages on the envelopes for the posties as we knew some of them by name.....



My friends husband who built that beautiful house i showed you some time ago was a commercial artist and sometimes he sent me very ornate envelopes as the one above.......sometimes we had stories going to a theme where he would be a cowboy in jail and asked me to send a file so he could get out.....of course i made a cardboard cutout of a cake and inserted a nail file!!!........we had so much fun with our mail ..........on a trip to England he sent me a letter which was supposedly from the Queens palace and he was staying there........i wrote back in very primitive handwriting as the very poor caretaker of his estate and told him all that was going on in my child like writing.......sadly he has passed away but i treasure those envelopes and mail from him because to me they are works of art......the postie even writing that she wished she got mail like that.......much better than bills any day!!



My friend and i continue to write and yes we still do the envelopes.... it has been many years now and we feel that even if we didn't address the envelopes they would find their way to us.....i have now started writing to another lady who is housebound and she tells me that i bring the world to her door because i include in the envelope articles from all sorts of things, brochures, jokes, quotes, positive words and poems i have written for her......remember my first entry when i said they may forget what you said but they won;t forget how you made them feel......and if i can brighten someones day by finding one of these mail art letters in their mail box then it makes me feel very good indeed....


But words are things, and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions think.....
Lord Byron, Don Juan 1819