I.U.O.M.A

 More than 10 years ago, while looking for pen pals on the internet, I ran across one of Ruud Jansen's websites, the TAM Rubberstamp Archive. One of several sites that Ruud had on the web at the time. That site opened a door for me into a whole new world of postal delight... Mail art.
  It was through the archive site that I learned about I.U.O.M.A. The International Union Of Mail Artists is a brain child of Ruud Jansen, a native of the Netherlands and long time mail artist. He originally started the "Union" in 1988 as a joke, but it has grown into a virtual world where more than 2000 mail artists come to interact with other mail artists. There are forums, members can post scans of their sent and received mail, join various interest groups and can even have their own blog on the site. If you haven't ever visited the site, you should give it a peek, there is a lot going on there. It is a great way to meet mail artists from around the world.

OutGoing Mail

I am such a scatter brain sometimes.I wanted to make sure that I got my letters posted in a timely fashion, so I dashed off to the P.O. with a stack, mailed them and then realised I hadn't photographed them. Sigh... I am posting a couple that I have recently worked on and did remember to photograph. I have more that I am working on and I will post them when I'm finished.

I used one of Patty's handmade envelopes, made from Laura Ashley wallpaper for this letter.

The envelope for this letter was originally sent to me by Hester in Boston. When I saw the envelope it made me think about the children's book "Where the Wild Things Are". I happened to have an old beat up copy of the book that I got from Goodwill some time ago, so I decided to use some of the elements from the book to decorate the envelope and send it on.

This is the back of the envelope. This "Wild Thing" is one of my favorites from the book.

This postcard is made from one of my original collages. I added some 3-D elements to a print of the collage and made it into a postcard.

I thought it would be fun to add my most recent artistamp and some other "Steampunky"  elements.

There are more coming... and if you are fond of chocolate, leave me a comment and I will send you an Ode to Chocolate postcard. See you in the mail!