Winnie's Girl

Papa Mail

2012-03-03T12:10:00.001-05:00

My dad sent me this amazing letter on birch bark.

He went out and harvested the bark without hurting the tree. I love it. It is so special. Especially since I always wanted to do this myself.

He wrote some of the lyrics to a song called "Lightning Strikes the Postman" by the Flaming Lips, one of his favorite bands.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfxX1i3ef-A

In an attempt to send him back something special I made this envelope out of tickets and things from my urban life in Boston.

I made a piece of stationery by taking colored printer paper and making a rubbing of one of the plates on the side walk outside my apartment that says "Don't dump, drains to the Charles River"
Like the one in this photo. The paper was a little bit too small to get the whole thing, and it didn't work out quite as I had imagined it. Maybe I'll try it again with a different type of crayon.

Gargoyles & Penguins

2012-03-02T22:02:00.001-05:00

I am quite a messy person. I have scraps of paper that sit on my desk for ages waiting to be used on some mail. I'd been wanting to use this gargoyle looking over Paris for a long time, but I never seemed to be able to think of him before writing the address and then there wasn't enough room. Finally I cut the photo in two and had him gaze across the addy.

Want to hear a fun song about gargoyles?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N18s4YbAYQ

The video itself is meh, but I heart the Gothic Archies. :-)

The other side gets some polar bears and penguins, and a polar bear card was inside.

So you have scraps of paper living on your desk waiting for a home?
Any particular ones you remember?

LOVE MAIL - outgoing

2012-03-01T13:12:00.002-05:00

Here are the Valentine's I made. As usual I had dreams of 40+ envelopes of love to send out, but the reality was much smaller.

doilies, glitter, watercolor painting, scraps of music, and of course some love stamps!

and of course I sent out several of the postcards I made

LOVE Mail - Incoming

2012-02-23T09:41:00.001-05:00

from my librarian friend- such a cute idea! :-D

and from a anti-Valentine swapbot:

And finally I was one of the lucky 14 to get the "Will You Be Mine" zine from Jennie Hinchcliff. This was the first time I saw the new love stamp as well!

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Super Cool CUZ

2012-02-17T09:54:00.001-05:00

Have I mentioned before that I have super cool cousins?

This is a letter I got from one of them: Aaron.

He sent me a zine not too long ago too. I'll post a couple photos of that soon.
I love his illustrations.

Mattie, the Australian Cattle Dog

2012-02-12T10:56:00.000-05:00

First, some mail...

Cattle dogs come in two colors, blue heelers and red heelers.

Here's the blue,

and here's a red.

Both were sent from my parents. My dad normally gets a cattle dog calendar every year, and that's what these lovely envelopes are made of. I especially love my mom's use of the Owney stamp with the second envie.

And now, here is our ferocious beast of a dog:

Matilda,

or Mattie for short

Do you think the grass looks suspiciously green for being in the middle of winter?

Well this last photo was actually taken May 7th, 2010.

Crazy Wisconsin weather!

PENGUIN #18 Spines of the Penguin Poetry Series

2012-02-08T20:12:00.000-05:00

Adopted by Erin

Erin said "Looking over all these poetry books, I was surprised by how many snippets of verse came to my mind. If you ignore the "high school I-want-to-be-a-poet" phase, I can't say I ever gravitated to poetry in school or at the library. I've started making more of an effort to read more than just novels and I haven't been disappointed."

I too have not really gravitated towards poetry (or non-fiction). I mostly read novels. My boyfriend is normally reading one of each, plus a philosophy book. For a while he would keep his current poetry book in the bathroom because of the often shorter nature of poems. It's a good hint if you're trying to read more poetry!

Okay, well now I would like to share with you a snippet of one of my very favorite works: Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas. I think of it as poetry, although it was written in the form of a play, "a play for voices", that was meant to be on the radio. It is the only thing I've read by Dylan Thomas, but it was enough to make him one of my very favorite poets.

And I especially love this part:

        FIRST VOICE
From where you are you can hear in Cockle Row in the spring,
moonless night, Miss Price, dressmaker and sweetshop-keeper,
dream of

        SECOND VOICE
her lover, tall as the town clock tower, Samsonsyrup-gold-maned,
whacking thighed and piping hot, thunderbolt-bass'd and
barnacle-breasted, flailing up the cockles with his eyes
like blowlamps and scooping low over her lonely loving
hotwaterbottled body.

        MR EDWARDS

Myfanwy Price!

        MISS PRICE

Mr Mog Edwards!

        MR EDWARDS

I am a draper mad with love. I love you more than all the
flannelette and calico, candlewick, dimity, crash and merino,
tussore, cretonne, crepon, muslin, poplin, ticking and twill
in the whole Cloth Hall of the world. I have come to take
you away to my Emporium on the hill, where the change hums
on wires. Throw away your little bedsocks and your Welsh
wool knitted jacket, I will warm the sheets like an electric
toaster, I will lie by your side like the Sunday roast.

Thanks again to Erin for adopting this postcard!!

Postcards

2012-02-07T12:15:00.000-05:00

two horse postcards from swap-bot, an awesome celery forest from Dana, and an awe-inspiring sequoia from two of the Southern Brothers who recently visited the Redwood National Park. I'm very envious, I've always dreamed of seeing these trees.

And here is a postcard from the third Southern Brother.

So beautiful.

and here are two awesome handmade postcards from Becky the Snailmailer. She obviously knows how much I enjoy my booze.

very clever :-)

PENGUIN #17 Our Man in Havana

2012-02-06T20:20:00.000-05:00

Adopted by Johanna in Australia

Johanna read this book while on vacation in Zaire. I hope that her edition's cover had a slightly more interesting cover.

She writes: "In the early 1980s I worked in Zimbabwe. We went north to what was then Zaire for our holiday at Christmas time. We realised that we had too little reading material so we went to the US information office in Lubumbashi to see if we could borrow some. Officially we were not allowed to but the woman there said that she had just received a shipment of personal books and we could choose from them."

She chose Our Man in Havana as well as a few others.

How nice of the lady at the info office. Lending books is always a dangerous arrangement. :-)

So wonderful that she was ready to trust a stranger to return them.

And here is the pretty stamp she used:

Thanks so much Johanna for participating in my project!!

And a p.s. to Stuffelaneous, yours will be coming up soon.

I'm really quite sorry to everyone that it's taken me so long. I'm frightfully behind.

For some reason it is harder for me to write these kinds of posts, and I'm the kind of person that easily buries their head in the sand. Now I'm trying to do one of these posts every other day until I catch up! Wish me luck.

Outgoing from back in September

2012-02-06T10:30:00.000-05:00

PENGUIN #16 Aircraft Recognition

2012-02-05T10:54:00.000-05:00

Adopted by Glenn in Canada

Glenn tells me that he is often able to recognize aircraft by sight and even by sound. "Over the years aircraft recognizable by their sound include B737s and going way back to 1974, KC-135 stratotankers of the USAF."

This is the kind of skill that I personally find amazing. In a similar vein, I wish I was better at identifying birds. I do know a fair number of birds by sight, but am not able to recognize many by their calls.

Thanks again Glenn for participating in the project!

And here are the really nice Art Deco stamps he used:

By the way, my apologies to everyone for not being as diligent as I should be about posting the Penguins that have been sent back to me.

Valentine's Day Mail Art

2012-02-04T10:45:00.001-05:00

These are two V-day themed mail art envies for a V-day Swap-bot swap. I went with a Mail Love/All kinds of love theme.

Despite my snarky postcard (for sale on etsy! see the side bar to visit the shop! :-D) I really love Valentine's Day. Yes, I'm in a wonderful relationship, but Clay and I don't really do a lot for Valentine's Day (he can't even remember when it is). To me Valentines Day is a day to celebrate all kinds of love, which I will do for my faraway friends by sending them cards or postcards. I love the little Valentine's they sell for kids to give out in class. When I was in college I bought a pack of dinosaur themed ones... a pterodactyl with "You're flyin' high Valentine" and ridiculous stuff like that.

So even if you don't like the commercial (or romantic) aspect of Valentine's Day send your friends some love!!

Make it a day for ALL kinds of love!

POSTCARDS FOR SALE!

2012-02-01T15:22:00.002-05:00

So the postcards arrived yesterday!

And today I set up an etsy shop!

You can buy the postcards there for 85 cents plus shipping...
OR if you are already one of my penpals, you could just put a check in your next letter for .75 per postcard plus .45 cents shipping...
If you would like to do that you can email me at jouaient@gmail.com to send in your order so I can make sure to get the postcard to you in time for Valentine's Day.

I had to up the price on etsy because they charge fees for listing and take a percentage etc.

So what do the finished products look like?

I just hope Ghirardelli doesn't mind.

The Long Awaited Day: Beer Bottling!

2012-01-30T23:40:00.000-05:00

Faithful blog followers, do you remember this post about brewing day four months ago?

Well today was bottling day! Huzzah!!!

So we took the carboy of beer that has been sitting in the closet fermenting since October...

and managed to siphon it into the white bucket with a spout next to it

(after a lot of sanitizing of bottles and caps and tubes).

Then I (wo)manned the spout and filled the bottles while Clay capped them.

And here is the result:

and again in the cupboard...

It's an Imperial Stout and it measured at 8.9% ABV (alcohol by volume).

Becky the Snail Mailer posted a really good idea for a name on my original posting: Bête Noire, the black beast.

I'm not using that name, but it is quite similar to the name I finally arrived at.

Three Dark Mules Imperial Stout

named after the three mules you see on the sidebar,

Molly, Elmer and Livee.

This is in tribute to them because I miss them a lot. This summer my parents had to sell them because of health issues with my dad. It was a hard choice, but with another Wisconsin winter on the horizon, it would have been too much for my parents. So they were sold, all three together to a farm an hour or so away from where my parents live.

Hopefully when I go to visit my parents next I can also visit the mules. Their new owners use them to give trail rides, so perhaps I'll even be able to ride my sweet Livee again.

But, tonight is a night for celebration, and I'm doing that with a delicious cocktail, a Martinez (a precursor to the Martini), and a marvelous letter from a newish penpal.

Have a good night!

Early January Outgoing Mail

2012-01-30T10:05:00.000-05:00

I sent a children's book to my library friend to "check out". heehee

On the back I wrote:

Dana said that when she got it a postal worker had written a thank you on the back! Yay!

And this envelope I sent my cousin Aaron a letter in was actually made by Dana.

I love the combo of the monkeys and the tiger cub stamp. Go wildlife!

a hand drawn postcard sent to one of my best friends who recently moved back to Maryland

And finally, some late Christmas gifts:

and a birthday gift for my beautiful niece (using the washi tape I got for Xmas! my first roll!):

Today's lesson plan

2012-01-27T18:26:00.000-05:00

As some of you already know, I teach elementary french...

The lesson today was one particularly dear to my heart:

la communication!

and look at what is in my book!!

That's right! Emilie writes a letter!!

She even has all the necessities right there!

une feuille de papier

une enveloppe

un timbre

After this short section, the book goes on to talk to talk about internet and email, but I had a lot of fun with the letter section. I brought my extensive stamp stockpile to show them, as well as some choice examples of mailart that has been sent to me.

I also made them envelopes. They got to pick one from the pile:

(I did include some that I had acquired in swaps.)

I think it was rather a hit!

(And besides I got to make envelopes and tell myself that I was doing work.)

Cheers for things you love coming together!

Outgoing Mail

2012-01-24T20:26:00.000-05:00

horsey themed envie

This is the longest letter I've ever written on a typewriter. It was kind of hard to keep my focus. I'm definitely not used to it. I don't have eraser fluid, so I was just using the slash mark when I made mistakes too.

A valentine's day letter for a friend of a friend who is currently living in St. Vincent & the Grenadines!
I made her an origami heart to hang up somewhere. It was quite easy!

and this is rather scandalous! This is the antivalentine's day swap that I originally made the "dark and bitter" drawing for. Here's the envelope I sent it in!

and a closer look...

Anti-Valentine's Day Postcard- for sale soon!

2012-01-21T10:49:00.000-05:00

So. I joined a swap to make an Anti-Valentine's Day card for your partner. I made one.

And then I made it into a postcard and ordered a bunch.

This is my very first business venture and it's exciting and maybe a little crazy!

So I will be selling them for 75 cents each plus shipping (meaning a 45 cent stamp unless you buy a ton)...

And here it is:

The image is hand drawn by yours truly. I don't think that the lines around the card will be there.

The website I used said that they should arrive on Jan. 31st. I'm not sure it would make sense for anyone international to buy them since it would take a while to get to you before you could send it before V-day.

Would anyone like to buy one or some?

They're perfect for friends who live far away!

Please leave a comment or email me at emiliestaubs@gmail.com if you are interested!

Romare Bearden

2012-01-21T10:36:00.000-05:00

I love these Romare Bearden stamps. Before the stamps came out I had never heard of him, but I love his artwork now!

I find it interesting that they decided to place the stamps this way. This is a full sheet; there are no stamps missing. Why didn't they fit 4 more stamps on? Or why didn't they place them all evenly and shorten the sheet by an inch? I'm glad that they placed them this way because there are nice big square selvage parts already perforated that I can turn into faux postage, but when I got the sheet it surprised me.

And here's some mail I've sent with them:

"Blown Away by Blue Handmade Envies" for swap-bot going out to a place I've never sent mail to before: South Africa!

Going out to JJ All the Way who I met through MailArt 365:

I did not draw this lovely envelope; I received it in a swap. The artist sent one that was already colored in and one for me to color myself. This is the one I colored... I had so much fun! They should make coloring envelopes as well as coloring books. hmm, maybe I'll do that!

And a handcarved stamp sent to Becky as a thank you for a wonderful package of stuff she gave me:

Klimt Card

2012-01-17T11:00:00.000-05:00

I think Klimt's paintings are just phenomenal. I'm so glad my mom turned this into a card to me.

Xmas Ornaments

2012-01-16T11:30:00.000-05:00

My grandmother sent me home with some of her Christmas ornaments this year. Since we don't have a tree and it was already after the holidays I decided to display a few of them on my postcard garland above my desk.

A red bike goes next to a card made by Bianca of Goodnight Little Spoon. I believe I got this in a swap and I was so surprised and happy to get it since I had already been a lover of Bianca's blog and had thought about buying a few postcards of my own.

And a fancy kitty next to a Petits Gateaux postcard sent to me from my cousin Genevieve. I thought the fluffy cat would go well with some pink macarons. :-)

I also received two handmade ornaments from other family members, but they are more Christmasy, so they'll have to wait around until next year.

Letter and Illustrations from Cousin Aaron

2012-01-15T21:27:00.000-05:00

I have the coolest family.