Happy May Day everyone!

Today I'm busy making fb's and journals from recycled materials...mainly cereal boxes, paper bag and scrap pieces of paper. I think they came out pretty good for my first try. I stitched the pages on to make sure everything is nice and sturdy. I didnt use any tape or contact cover, I felt it would take away from the whole organic feel. Let me know what you guys think? Also, If you would like one made for you comment below :)
Hope your all having a great May Day!

A beautiful day for a post office trip

Im excited to say I started a Facebook group called of course...viva la snail mail. Be sure to join my friends.
Ive already met a few new ladies and sent out packages to them today and some to my reg swappers.

I notice a lot of people only sent stuff to receive stuff and I don't like that. Ill send to anyone as long as they will get it moving ya know.

Well today I'm in a FB making mood and im hoping to get through a lot of labels i have. I want to try out my new stamps and paper I scored at wal-mart. Don't you just love their 97c section? I also found some really cute stickers and note cards at the Dollar tree. Being on a tight budget makes you a bit more creative in the fb, deco making process ;)

Oh yeah! I signed about 20 decos this weekend and already got them moving. Here's a few pics of what I did...I still cant figure out how to move these dang photos around lol.
Well ill see you all soon! Keep making art!

Outgoing and a question for you all....

I finally got to the post office! woo! Hopefully these packages all make it safe :)

I sent 4 homers yesterday, some with excess and the rest were excess swaps with some lovely ladies. The postal clerk that sees me on a weekly basis still likes to ask..with a big smile on his face.."Gee mam, what are in these heavy envelopes?" lol now I just say scrapbook paper, stickers and books, Ive tried explaining what all the swap stuff is but he still doesn't get it lol.
Do you guys find it difficult for some people to understand what we are all swapping? Do you get those blank faces that say..why are you doing this? lol I DO!! Sometimes I ask the same thing to myself..as my hand cramps from the 500 labels ive just cut up for lb's HA! Anyway, I have a bit more excess to get through today and then Im packaging up some goodies to give away :)
Hope you all had a great week! xoxo

Giveaway coming soon!!!

Ok, I finally got a chance to start putting aside goodies to give away yay!! :) So stay posted to make sure you don't miss out!! XOXO

Mail call today!

I feel like I haven't showed the lovely packages I've been getting so I wanted to share the 3 I got today :)
First, a thank you swap from Jenny in Sweden! and a small swap from Joyce in Taiwan :) Thanks ladies!!

Recently I sent a cute package stuffed with goodies for my friend Makiko's birthday. She loved everything so much she sent me a Thank you package because she just plain spoils me lol. This pic doesn't even show all the great goodies she sent! Thanks Makiko!!! xoxo

Im putting some big packages together for people this week and Ill send them all out on Friday. ^_^
Hope you all are having a good day! Swap soon!

Im in a funk I think..bleh. Ever have those days where you just want everyone to go away so you can rest your brain for 24 hours?? That's how I feel today.
I have a bunch of excess to send out but not being on Facebook is making it more difficult to send stuff to people. I like to check with anyone I send a package to first, to make sure they actually want excess and have the time to move them along. Sensible right? A few years back I would just send excess to my regular swappers..this was before the whole Facebook takeover. So there was a swapper (whom won't be named) that I sent a small flat rate box of excess to, well she got upset because I didn't warn her I was sending it to her. Mind you, we had only EVER swapped sm flat rate boxes back and forth so this wasn't out of the norm. Ever since then Ive always checked with someone before I sent. The point of this run on is to see if any of YOU want excess :) Let me know so I  can get it together for you.
I have a bunch of goodie bags, sticker bags, memo bags, label bags, few fb's and some decos. Plus today I got a big envie full from Charli ;) Thanks girl!

*Free Stationery*

A friend forwarded me some cool stationery pages to print out on your pc. Here's a few for ya :)

Enjoy!
p.s. I dont know the source for the stationery above but they are circulating in email.

Happy Thursday!

Hope you are all having a great Thursday, mine could be better but Ill deal.
I got a big ass package from my lovely friend in Greece Elizabeth :) I cant wait to relax tonight and go through everything. She always sends me such a nice assortment of bags. I loves it (^_^)
Plus a nice envie stuffed to the rim from Katey from NC. Thanks ladies!

I have a question for you, its a question I was asked by a few people and I'm curious to find out your replies...
What do you feel is the purpose for label bags? Esp if its only the same group of people that sign them. 

I had to think about this for a second before I answered. Let me know your guys take on this :)
 

MAIL CALL!

Today I received some lovely packages from Nga-Yee in The Netherlands, Piia in Finland, and Janice & Nancy from the US! Thanks ladies!! I loooove the stamps from other countries, do you see the awesome ones that N.Y put on her pretty envelope? Love it!!

I have to admit, not being on Facebook is hard. I want to get on to let all my swapper ladies know I got their packages and see what everyone is up to lol. Just goes to show how addicted I really am huh?
Well this week I plan on sending a bunch of packages out. Let me know if you want any excess so I can make sure I send out everything I have. Im expecting a huge swap from Elizabeth in Greece soon so I want to have a clean slate :)
TaTa for now
XOXO

B-day package for Makiko!!

I have this great friend from Japan Makiko, we've been swapping for years and she is the best (^_^)  I put together this nice package for her Birthday. She always spoils me with awesome goodies so I wanted to get her extra special stuff. I made her a pretty little bracelet, found a cute kitty book (she loves cats), found some happy ribbon spools i know she'll enjoy...stickers, pretty paper, makeup, glitter and sooo much more. Hope she likes it all! Happy Birthday Makiko!!

Giving up Facebook and Twitter for Lent!!

Yikes! Its a huge thing for me to give this up but I do realize that I spent a substantial amount of my time social networking and I could be doing other things with my day. I will still be swapping so if you guys have any excess to spare, send it my way...since I will have so much more time on my hands lol. Today I have some packages going out..BIG packages!! I should be getting more excess at the end of this week so let me know if you want any sent to you :) Take care lovies!!! xoxo

Deco- rating Sunday (^_^)

Yay! I finally got some time after church to decorate some decos! A lovely swapper send me a few really cool ones and I had to share the pages with you.

The themes were Blue, boys will be girls, playing cards, hello kitty and an Anti-deco. It feels good to get back into decos and take a little break from Fb's. Since im still in the deco mood im thinking of making a few for my lovely swapper pals. Ill let you know how they come out.
Also, let me know if you are interested in participating in any of the decos above, I would like to move them along this week. 1 per person in the US so they move along quick!
xoxo

Ch Ch Changes...

So, a while back I was added to a Facebook group that warns you about "bad swappers and pen-pals" and I have to admit I'm a bit disturbed. There are some screwed up people out there that use pen palling to be cruel and rude to each other and not only that...I didn't realize the danger of pen palling, though its small, its still there. I guess there is a way for people to "sell" your address to Prisoner Pen Pal sites without your permission! You can go to these sites and try to request that they remove you but from what I hear, the admin never answers. I cant believe that! What irritates me is a few of the names they were talking bad about in that group are people that Ive mailed back and forth with so I know they have my address. And are you ready for this...I got a freakin letter from a PRISONER today!! A real life criminal at a prison in NC, which isn't far from me. To say I'm pissed is an understatement! I didn't even open that piece of poo, I wrote "return to sender, no one by that name" and flung that sucker back in the mailbox. What nerve someone had to add me to a mail list for inmates... I don't even have any male pen pals!
So today (like an hour ago) I waltzed my butt to the post office and got a PO Box. I'm letting all the people I casually swap with know of the change but keeping my home address for my actual friends and trusted swappers. I'm also changing it in the yahoo groups databases.  I hate to have to do that, it seems so in-personal but to think a inmate had my home address makes me ill. Its not like you go to prison for stealing candy so Ill assume that man did something scary enough for me to be paranoid! Damn, I usually made it a point to just add my email address when I sign fb's or make labels, not because I ever thought this would happen, I did it because I move a lot and its easier to get a hold of me via email. So not too many people have my address but I don't even know who gave my address out ahhhh!!
Would you be mad? upset or scared? Am I over thinking this? Maybe I watch too much criminal TV lol. All I know is I feel a little safer with a PO Box so its worth the $20 every 6 months.

On a lighter note, I can start doing the mail art swaps ive been wanting to. Ill post more about that later ;)

Well I hope you are all having an awesome day, Im working on some decos so ill post pics later.
Adios!!

Insomnia = Productivity

So the past few nights I seriously can't fall asleep! I try everything (except drugs) to help me drift off to La La land and NADA!! I lay there thinking of all the ways to create art pieces and how to try new ways to hang my art and blah blah blah..last night I had it. I figured if Im going to be awake I might as well make the best of it so I plopped my butt down in my art room and went to town making envelopes and stationary and putting some swaps together. I was on a roll! Earlier in the day I had put together a few swaps and got to use my new stamps and tape..LOVE...I think it came out pretty cool. Whatcha' think? I put together a few more in my insomniac mode :)
I swear it kills me to send stuff to people and not decorate the envelope. 80% of the envelopes are recycled so it makes it that much better. Some people end up getting the same envie back that they sent to me...just a little reconstructed ^_^ Do any of you do that?
Here's a pic of all the stuff I took to the post office today. The lady that works there said that she loves looking at my envelopes teehee! Her name is Dixie, I  might make her a lil piece of art for being so nice and patient with me.

Getting back in the groove..

The end of last year drained me..I lost interest in a lot of things and sadly one was my swapping. I still wrote to my pen pals and did small swaps but full on swapping was sadly last on my priority list. (Moving from Southern California to South Carolina kind of put a pause in it as well.)
Swapping was something I found when I needed to fill up some time during the beginning part of my separation and divorce. I took comfort in the fact that I was meeting amazing new people from all over the globe and they didn't judge me at all. I found friends who enjoyed the same things as me and also had time to get to know me. I think its nice to make a connection with someone that you've never met and you can share the art of deco's, art journaling and other swapping items. Im an artist and because of the corporate job I had in California, I couldn't express myself...at all! Decorating my lil page in journals, decos and friendship books brought back the artist in me. Luckily,  I get to stay home now creating beautiful art for people and make a living off of it. So in part, swapping and pen-palling has really opened the flood gates of creativity back up for me and I love it.

This weekend I finally got my crap together and brought out all my crafting supplies. For a few weeks Ive been getting excess from people and getting labels to make things. Now I get to make my mark and send it off. ^_^
I shopped a lot! Like too much I think! I found a bunch of cute stuff at WalMart, TJ Maxx Hobby Lobby and this little store here called Tuesday Morning. Im a clearance isle pro! $ spent was under $30!! Some freakin' lady was on me like a hawk in TJ Maxx so I snatched up all the goodies I could find and let her have the rest. I usually look for neat paper and stickers to decorate with and fun stamps to create my own paper and cards. Look at all this great stuff!!

I stayed up kinda late putting together a few swaps. Nothing beats a cold rainy night than sipping yummy coffee, blaring music and crafting :)
Here's what I took to the post office today: 5 big envies (recycled of course) and 2 homers.

All in all a good day of shopping and swapping! Toodle Loo...