guest artist - smash

no link to her website because i don't think she has one. i wonder if she ever considered putting all her mail on a blog.

i'll put this in the *from smash* label even though it did not come to me. i'm not sure how i managed to have the scan in my picasa album.

re-run - stealworthy ideas

 i'm guessing this is from cathy o'rear. if not, maybe someone can let me know. once again, i do not recall what i said the first time these were posted. i just thought it would be fun to show some sets where i steal an idea from someone. down the road, if you click the label stealworthy set, there might be a bunch of fun examples.

re-run series - loopy with colored counters

 my second set where i have a several from a series in one blog post. such an easy idea. once again , dots were a nice finishing touch.

re-run big fat nib

i don't remember what they call this type of nib. i just hope i complete my chores one of these days so i can get it out and use it again. i like the gel pen outlining and doodling, too.

re-run holiday white and black on kraft series

 i don't think i have ever run a whole series in one post. i wish blogger would let me arrange them on the page. it's fun to see a whole series all together. and i can now label it *series.* and maybe someday there will be others to join it.

all i have to say about kraft paper is that i love it. i could insert the story about how my brother and sister in law had a huge roll of it and they gave it away. and they did not give it to me. they didn't even know how much i lusted after their roll of paper. i still get weepy thinking about it.

re-run - thornton idea

hmmmm. this looks like something i would have written and i know peter has some nice pieces that look like this. he teaches how to create texture with overlapping lettering. this caught my eye whilst searching for things to re-run. it would be fun to find the original post and see what i said about it. really strange to come across items that are completely gone from my memory.

re-running smash's circle

so pretty. i am really enjoying this trip down memory lane. i can hop around with suggestions about really easy stuff to try and then show things that require some serious experience. like this one. note that all the more challenging designs will probably not be anything that i've done.

thank you again to all my pen pals, especially smash girl, who has been very generous with her time and talents.

off topic - tango mango

tango mango has more recipes than lettering on her blog, but the lettering is worth looking at. i couldn't find her name, just a bio that she has been a lettering artist in portland and now does food blogging.

http://tango-mango.tumblr.com/post/34587143857/halloween-envelope-for-emily

if you click the label [calligraphy] under this image, you can see about 4 pages of her calligraphy and she mentions that she does do envelopes.

re-running dots

 i should mention dots at least once a month since they are .... i don't even know what to call them. they seem like the most basic item.
[see ...  i even use them to indicate where i am thinking, but not coming up with words]

dots seem almost insignificant. and yet - they are magnificent. it's like there is some really deep meaning or philosophy here. [dot] [dot] [dot] too deep for me.

you'll just have to trust me - if you are having a creative block. try some dots. or if you have a big old mess to fix - try dots.

a pinterest fave

i see this one frequently on pinterest and i agree - it deserves to be pinned. i do not recall if there was some other image that inspired it. it doesn't look like me. but, we'll never know. once in a while i actually come up with a good idea. i rather doubt this was completely original. the eyes and teeth are so simple, but i just don't think i would have come up with them on my own.

re-run - picnic

it's picnic season here in the US. that ketchup bottle T makes me want to do an entire ketchup name. or ketchup and mustard. i wonder if there is a hamburger or hotdog stamp. i know there was a foreign hot dog stamp that i posted a while back.

if i had time, i would go back and label all the envelopes that refer to food. i think i want to open a restaurant that turns the eating into an artistic experience. i wonder if that has ever been done.

re-run - uber favorite

i had so much fun doing these. not sure how many i did. not sure if this kind of stuff inspires other to try it. i suspect it looks complicated, but it is not.

note to self - do a tutorial on how to fill in spaces with curli-cues.

re-run - parabolas

 i think i called this style parabola or something like that. it was one of my favorites and as i recall, i actually came up with it on my own. i do not recall being inspired by anything specific - except possibly nature.

i see that i have a label that already exists called -parabole-
so maybe there are more to see at that label. i probably do not have time to check it and come back to edit this post.

re-run - from kathleen

 the middle one was the inspiration. i apologize for not being able to tell you who sent it. maybe the sender will leave a comment. this is definitely a style that i would re-visit.
kathleen rea heiser left a comment on a different post - thanks, kathleen. and i forgot to mention that the border around the stamp is stealworthy, too.

there was an email from someone in the spam of my non-yahoo email - referring to the time of day that my posts pop up...i couldn't see the entire message - and then it disappeared. so, i am not ignoring you - maybe resend to the yahoo account  jmwilson411 [at] yahoo [dot] com

ice cream envelope

kate left a comment back on the pie post - wondering if there was ice cream on the peach pie. the mention of ice cream on pies turns into a big heated debate here on 44th street. some people will get in the car and drive to get ice cream when there is a pie in the house and glare at me.

the pie in the photo is a Cream-Kist Peach Pie. you pour a half a cup of cream into the peaches-sugar-flour mixture. there are sliced almonds on top. IMHO, that is enough cream. however, the brother took his home and i hear there was ice cream on top.

i think i have posted this website - but, it was fun to do a search for ice cream envelope and see what would pop up.

http://mypoppet.com.au/makes/2014/11/ice-cream-cone-envelope.html

this pie envelope was on pinterest - the link to stevie hopwood at the elevated envelope did not link. i don't have time to go surfing. i have all these dang peaches to bake into something. aaarrgghhh. who is going to eat all this stuff.....aaaarrrggghhhh

re-run peacocks

ahhhh - the peacock series. that was a fun one. i think i did a decent job of labeling them so they would all come up at once. i won't label this one so that if someone uses the label function, they won't get a duplicate. such a pretty stamp. i wonder if there are other stamps that will generate the fun and comments that we had with this one.

for anyone who is new to the blog and missed this series - you click on the [peacock] label and 15 posts will come up. here is a link to the first one....
the comment section cracked me up. my readers are hysterical. i need to find time to go back and review all the comments and post them in a [highlighting my readers section]

http://pushingtheenvelopes.blogspot.com/2015/05/new-stamp.html#comment-form

re-run

this was my version of the one i posted yesterday. i LOVED doing this style. can't wait to get back to it.

as i recall, finnbadger tried it....did anyone else?

pie payment

my husband ordered a box of peaches from georgia.
they arrived.
first pie is out of the oven.
brother has been notified.

i still want to make the lemon meringue.

re-run - note to self

i know i found the address for the guy who designed this alphabet and have every intention of writing to him to see how he feels about people being inspired to do their own versions....

note to self:
find the address - and write to him, eh?


and if you have not seen it, check the bonus post below. finnbadger made the wordle site work and sent me a very pretty wordle. it will be interesting to see if he makes more wordles - and then makes envelopes out of them.

bonus post from finnbadger

yay, finnbadger.
he made a wordle design using the words in the first post today. he said it was a pretty picky website - so thank you for your persistence.

it is a pretty cool design. the size of the word corresponds to the number of times the word is used

maybe i say maybe too much
maybe not
i'm happy to see that the readers are prominent
since it's all about the readers for me.

where y'all from?

when i announced my break and then managed to post every day and return from the break i spent some time looking at the stats on the blog. that section tells me how many visits i am getting per day and i can also check a multitude of other stats telling me things like where people live, what kind of computer or phone they are using, etc. [one person reads me on an Xbox] i usually have between 300 and 400 visits per day. and i wanted to see if that number dropped off after i said i was going to take a break. happily, it did not. so, i don't think i lost any readers. the thing that amazed me was when i get up at 5 am, there will be 130 people who have already checked the blog. so, i wondered - where do my readers live? since the posts are set to appear at 1 am, maybe all my US readers are night owls. anyhow, for the curious, here are the stats on where my readers live. and if i am on someones blog role, maybe that gets counted as a view, when my blog pops up on the other sites.

United States

	1473
Germany	99
France	54
Ukraine	39
Canada	33
Russia	28
United Kingdom	18
Australia	15
Spain	15
Ireland	12

this was made with Wordle. it used to be one of my favorite sites, but i can't get it to work any more. maybe someday. or maybe never. i literally have a file called *maybe never* which is full of ideas or projects that interest me, but i doubt i'll get around to them. i guess i could call them *the back burner*  - no envelope today - but for those of you who enjoy surfing, maybe you can make wordle work and report back to us. http://www.wordle.net/

first new scan - from miss cathy

miss cathy and i are probably close in age so we probably have fond memories of penmanship classes. i was fond of the concept and i admired grown ups who had penmanship that matched the samples - but dang---- it frustrated me to no end that i could not replicate the exemplars. in college i spent hours working on my penmanship. not palmer method. i copied the penmanship of a classmate who had very tidy penmanship.

this is so pretty. thank you miss cathy. and i like the stamp choice.

the order of my new batch of scans will be very random. i know i owe thank you envelopes to the people who sent mail in june - when i had the open call to send something. if you are annoyed that you have not received your thank you - send me an email and i will be sure to respond promptly.

re-runs - picnic season

i'm not a big fan of picnics. too many bugs and too much work to pack up everything and take it somewhere. but, during my trip down memory lane these all caught my eye.

i still love the burgers. jeri's could have been better and that shish kabob is pitiful. but i like the idea.

while we are nit-picking - they all needed some better pencil guide lines.

happy birthday skip

this went to my son one year. it's his birthday today - but he is in australia, so, i did not get around to sending him a card. i guess i could email him a link to this page.

seems like everyone observes their birthday on facebook these days.

i know this is an idea i saw on line.

i wonder if the tahoe PO misses his mail. i should send them a thank you for all the years they put his mail in the right PO box. tahoe is one of those areas that does not have house to house to delivery. you have to go to the PO to get your mail. so that saying ...neither snow or rain or whatever will stop us...should say something about...except for the locations where we don't even try, we leave it up to you to slog through the weather to get your mail.

re-run - red-white-black

yup - still a fan of red-white-black.

still a fan of pointed nib doodling over the top of black. the black is usually a waterproof marker of some kind.

tall lanky letters - love them
these are a bit like neuland. once again, if you have never done any neuland, i highly recommend them.

doing all these re-runs gives me an opportunity to do better labeling.

thank you ---the break is over

thanks to everyone who had suggestions or encouragement to keep the blog going. i have a bunch of posts scheduled and the exchanges will start up in august (i think sign up is on aug 3rd)

there will still be re-runs as needed. i have more excavating to do, but am happy to report that i can see the floor in a few areas plus i have unearthed some fun stuff to share.

i was happy to hear from a long time reader, bonnie. she used email since she was unable to leave a comment on the blog. as far as i can tell, google requires a gmail account in order to leave a comment. if anyone knows of another way, please let me know. because the blog is free, i am OK with having a gmail account - but i know some people prefer to stay clear of google. you are always welcome to contact me through email or snail mail.

the image is computer lettering from this site:
http://www.elli.com/blog/printable-chalkboard-favor-gift-tags/
i just snagged the first thank you image that popped up - and did not look at anything else on their site.

again, thanks for all the help and support.

shout out to the brother - thank you for getting the scanner up and running.
i see a pie in your future. maybe saturday?

penpals - chuck

chuck was one of the first people i met way-back-when i got into calligraphy. more than 20 years ago. and this is an envelope i have seen pinned numerous times on pinterest. it always makes me happy to see it.

i tossed it off in just a couple minutes and i am rerunning it to show that plain block letters can be fun and stylish. the secret is to put the widest part of the curves at the center or higher. look at the P-R-D bowls they are almost triangular. and the widest part of the C is in the middle. when you let the widest part fall on the lower half of the letter, they look sad and droopy.

this envelope also shows that you can condense and expand basic block letters as necessary. i've wanted more of these stamps, but have learned that they are highly sought after by stamp lovers which means you can buy them - but they are too spendy for me. i wish the too-big-to-be-aware-of-the-real-world PO would wake up and reissue the stamps everyone wants. they could even charge us more (not double - just a little more) and we would buy them. maybe we should write them actual letters with our good ideas. don't hurt yourselves when you fall off your chairs laughing.

cliffhanger continues...will the brother have mercy on me?  
sounds like he'll be arriving today.

progress or no progress?

no progress on the scanner. found this yummy envelope on pinterest. linked to a blog http://alittleloveliness.blogspot.com/search/label/Recipes

i did not surf through the blog - it didn't look like it would have many envelopes.

does the brother want his pie delivered in a pastry envelope?

i think i want to make an entire meal that is enveloped food.

anyone care to brainstorm with me?

wontons and ravioli seem like logical candidates to be envelopes. also those fish dishes that are prepared in parchment paper envelopes. any kind of flour tortilla could be folded into an envelope with filling. i love this idea. for dessert, this pastry would work - but fondant is very foldable.

uber ominous event

in theory, that might be true. someone asked me to letter those words for a retirement gift. sounds like some boss was retiring and that person had used that phrase a lot. i found the image in my picasa albums.  picasa has been discontinued, but is the only place i can get images any more.
big computer problem.

anyhow...we need to find out if it is possible for my brother who is officially retired from helping people with their computers will have mercy on me and come over and figure out why:
1
all the scans are gone from the old computer
2
there must have been a program that opened when i wanted to scan - on the old computer- and now it is gone
3
i can't get the scanner to talk to the new computer (or the old computer) - if i could, i could probably start scanning again
4
if you don't help me - this will be the end of the blog
5
i could post your address on my blog and you would be getting some mail, but i don't think it would be very friendly
6
in addition to the lemon meringue pie i owe you, i could probably find some rhubarb - and the good peaches will be in season soon



aaarrrggghhhh
maybe the blogging-gods want me stop
or maybe they are creating a daily challenge to test me and keep all y'all hanging on a tiny little cliff every day