Incoming Mail!

Lately I've been doing lots of trades! As I mentioned in THIS and THAT post. I made a bunch of tiny cards to trade with people. I wanted to share the neat things I got in return. Also some new zines that I've bought and traded with people! I have been so completely over joyed by the response from this little card project. I started as a way to make and share cute things and had no idea how great it would turn out! It has helped me create a lot of great connections with some wonderful creators. With all the craziness going on in the world it was so nice to escape into this projects that made me feel so uplifted! If you're a creator I highly suggest doing some art trades!

How To Properly Read Other Peoples Minds and Why Does Society Care So Much About My Body Hair by Crash Reynolds. They make amazing zines and have a huge collection you can find HERE! I Know You're Sad But.. by Morg Cunningham. This is a tiny zine to cheer you up! You can buy one HERE!

Tiny zine Fruity by Angelina Han This zine is so cute and clever with little fruit cut outs. Greif by Rachael Smith. This mini zine is beautiful and came with a little pin! They make really great illustrations and stickers you can find HERE. Last a little drawing by Beth! They are making the cutest illustration zines lately! You can find them HERE!

A Bare Bones Guide to Pronouns by Morgan Stewart. This illustrations in this one are great! Also Pupper Supper by Mossy Bee! This fold out zine is also a board game! Its is so clever!

Last but not least two zines my Kels Choo! They are one of my favorite illustrators and I have to keep myself from buying ALL the things! This Kau Kau Time zine is one of my favorites in my zine collection! Anything about Hawaiian food makes me happy!

Out Going Mail Art!

I have been sending a lot of mail these days! All my pen pals since being stuck at home have been really speedy responding! I have found such joy in connecting with my friends all over the world and hearing their stories of this new strange world we're living in. Everywhere is different but it seems like the feelings are the same. Feelings of fear and worry but also hope. Art projects and cute mail are a huge help these days. I tossed together these quick collage envelopes and enjoyed the way they turned out. I got THIS new book of cool stickers for my birthday so I'm sure you'll see lots of quirky stickers in my journals and on mail! 

If you're sitting at home wanting a new project you should pick up letter writing! I'm always looking for new pen pals or I can direct you to some other places to find them! Reach out to me at remikeahi@gmail.com

Outgoing Mail!

I have been so focused so much on what is going in the letters that I'm mailing lately that the outside is getting a bit left out. I am still making them a bit fancy, but no where near how much I normally do. Since I'm sending mostly one time letters I want to do something that'll be quick, but still stand out in the mail box!

This past month I have sent so many zines! People have traded and bought some of my zine. It takes away a bit of the heart ache of not being able to table at a zine festival this year! Now that I'm doing my tiny card project, its just more one time mail to be sending! I'll have to come up with a cute but quick way to jazzy up an envelope! 

Happy mail day!

Out Going Mail!

I've been struggling with this work from home nonsense that is going on. I mean don't get me wrong, I LOVE being home! I'm the definition of homebody! But it was such an adjustment. Not only just doing my normal work tasks but knowing how to balance my creative tasks as well. The first week I felt so much P R E S S U R E to do/create/ utilize this gift of time wisely! All that pressure zapped away all creative energy I was clinging on to. This weekend I was able to pull myself of out my head and get a better grasp on how I was feeling about the current state of it ALL. I took sometime to write letters. Which honestly helped my state of mind the most. I was finally able to express in letters/words all the feelings I was struggling with. I'm so grateful for all the pen pals I have that let me rant and rave about my emotions for two pages! I made these envelopes with a little bit of gouache and colored pencils. I did a few simple abstract patterns to fancy it up a bit! Something about abstract and repetitive patterns are always relaxing to make. I still have a bit to catch up on, but luckily I have the time!

Out Going Mail: Valentines!

I'm a wee bit late on sending out my Valentines snail mail but they turned out so cute I don't care all that much! I made these after reading THIS post on Colossal. I ended up downloading and printing off a bunch of cool flower designs from the Biodiversity Heritage Library Fickr. I then did a little collage background from scraps and added some peachy paint colors THEN topped it all off with butterflies and washi tap! I'll admit that I probably spent way too much time on these. But I was super in the zone getting caught up on my favorite podcast. So overall a really relaxing weekend project!

Outgoing Mail!

I have been sending a lot of zine lately. Which always makes me really happy to share my art bits! I made a huge batch of mail the other day to get me all caught up with responses and zine mailings. I had a lot of fun making and junking up these envelopes. My weakness is always addressing them. I've been doing this for ages it feels like and adding the address always mucks it up a little bit. I think it is in part that a) I need to practice writing numbers and b) I forget to plan ahead when I'm adding mixed media bits and leave a large enough space for the address! The main thing I do love about mail art is parting with it after its done! It is so easy to knit-pick at art work and find a million things I'd changed. BUT with snail mail, just send it off and no need to dwell! Also the feedback I get from my penpals is always wonderful. Its just fun to fill someones mailbox up with a bit of mixed media mess!

Out Going Mail!

I've been creating a lot lately and staying on top of my snail mail pile! I made a few little tags to slip into some envelopes. I got the tags from some Flow Paper Lovers books, stickers from Pipsticks and of course little scraps of paper! My "collage" stash is slowly getting outta control! I collect too many bits of paper, but sometimes you just see a junk mail envelope or receipt that you just have to save! Luckily I'm putting it to good use!

I took a ballpoint pen to some blank envelopes to practice my bubble lettering skills! They definitely look better in the photo then in real life! Overall I'll call it a success and i'll probably try again soon!

Write_On Week 3!

I'm doing my best at keeping caught up with this challenge! I'm very elated to report that I only got 2 behind BUT I did some postcards to make sure I got caught up this week! I'm sure I'm accidentally sending people the wrong things, but so it goes. Keeping things organized has never been a strong trait of mine. I do enjoy that this challenge is making me actively think about mail, art and how I can send more beautiful things though the post. The #write_on has been insanely inspiring! I've also been using up bits of random stationery that had been lost in my stash. I'm happy it winding down but excited to push myself to send more mail!

 Layered collage style will always be my favorite!

 I had these leftover red envelopes that turned out way more wintery then I thought they would.

 I've also been trying to watercolor more to build that skill up so I did a few postcards!

 This second batch was better than the first but I still have a ways to go!

Write_On Week Two!

I've had quite the busy week! I still somehow managed to keep up (kinda) with sending a letter a day! (well 7 letters a week) AND this week I only sent 6. Ok so maybe I'm not doing super but I've high hopes for the rest of the month! Just a little bit of catch up is all. I made these quick little collage envelopes and I enjoy the way they turned out. I'll be definitely be doing more of these!

Write_On Mail Week One!

I've decided to take on the Write_On challenge and send 30 letters in 30 days! Now I am cheating a little bit and making a goal of 7 a week. That way if I need to skip days I can or if I'm feeling ultra productive I can do multiple. I seem to always take on extra challenges in April for some reason? Maybe something about the spring makes me over ambitious! I'm loving how these first few turned out. I'm glad I'm getting back to creating more mail. I've been focusing on zines a lot more lately so shifting back to mail art has been a nice balance. The only thing getting left behind is my art journal. Hopefully I can find time for that too! 

Outgoing Mail!

I'm still slow to respond to my snail mail pile, but I still respond! (Thats what counts right?) I had a few more than this but after I dropped them in the box I realized that I only photographed 2 out of the 4. Oh well! I hope the recipients like them! I've still been practicing my gouache skills and it is still a bit rocky, but getting better!!

Out Going Mail!

I treated myself to a gouache set a couple weeks ago! I've never worked with this type of watercolor paint-ness before so I'm quite excited. My first go I opened the red tube and it squirted EVERYWHERE. It was like something out of horror movie! I decided to paint all these little strawberries to use up all my squished out red. I did the front and backs and near the end I was really, like r e a l l y tired of strawberries! Now thinking upon it why didn't I paint something else? I guess I just had berries on the mind! Regardless I learned a lot about what NOT to do with these lil' tube-ys. I also realized that this gouache stuff is really tricky to work with! I'm gonna have to watch some youtube videos. If this is something you've worked a lot with please give me some tips!! 

Out Going Mail!

I've been crazy on top of my mail responses lately! Overall I've just been in good creative spirits. Mail art is just one of my favorites ways to be creative! I've been sending a bunch of zines to people, which means I get to make fancy mail! If you're wanting some of my zines I'll gladly send you some fancy mail! You can email me at remikeahi@gmail.com!