Birthday Candles - Giant Copic marker

These may be re-runs, but I could not find them, and wanted to include them because I really liked the way they turned out.

The giant Copic marker has a broad edge nib that is 7/8-in wide. To make the candles, I just place the nib on the paper and slide it a tiny bit sideways.

I do not recall who received the other two envelopes. If you did and you see this, please let me know - as I would like to find out whether these already ran.

I have a bunch more from the same month (July) that I can't find and it will help me figure out if those have been posted.

I'm so pleased with how these turned out that I did not want them to get lost in the shuffle.

Aug 2018 PTEX to Jessica - birthday candles

This one is fairly simple. Any name with a J and a C is going to be challenging. Jessica has been a pretty regular exchanger - so I need to do a better job of finding fonts where I am happy with the J and C.

Or, I could do a search for *Jessica* on the blog and see what I have already done. Maybe I've done a bunch that I actually like...but have forgotten about.

Kathie's Birthday

An idea from Pinterest.

Below is a link to the original. The non-candle strokes on the original look like bent wire. It would be fun to do something closer to the original, but for the sake of copyrights, it is probably better to stay a little further away from the original.

And yes, all those extra crossbars on the t are because the very first one was the one that slants down, and it looked sad and droopy, so I added all the other frou-frou.

http://www.oliviaandco.com/shop/Happy-Birthday-Candles#.WIISF7GZOi4

and lots more alphabets

http://www.oliviaandco.com/shop/alphabets

Many of them look like they were inspired by other pre-existing fonts....it's hard to track the origins of designs and ideas. You can click through on each alphabet and get all the letters of the alphabet in both upper and lower case. I pondered making my own version....but probably won't get around to it.

George's Birthday Mail - 2017

Thanks again to the pen pals who sent birthday greetings to George. Top one from Maggie and bottom one from Jannie.

I'm wondering about Maggie's versals. They look a bit like Sherri Kiesel's - but different. Really nice variation. Plus - good use of dots.

The vintage feel of Jannie's is just perfect for George. I think next year, I (we) need to do a whole George Wilson themed birthday mailing. Remember in Dennis the Menace - the next door neighbor was George Wilson? And remember how much my mom loved the Wilma Flintstone mail? I'm pretty sure my Mr. Wilson will love a Mr. Wilson themed birthday. Please - don't anyone spill the beans.

Nancy's Birthday Candles

When Nancy signed up for the exchange she mentioned that her birthday was in September. So, it was a no-brainer to make some candles. This idea has been on the blog previously. The new detail is the swirly gold spirals. I was not crazy about how I did the flames. I need to do flame research. One thing to note - there is a space between a flame and the actual candle - on a real candle. It is optional to leave that space on a drawing - but I thought I would let everyone know that once in a while I learned something in a science class and then once in a while, I retained that knowledge. Not that it has been of any use. Useful knowledge seems to be both unable to enter the brain and even if it wiggles in for a second, it quickly dissolves.

eric's birthday (4&5) -

these are the other two that went in the first envelope to eric.

you have to like puzzles to fit things together like this. but if you send a lot of mail and want quick ideas, these are as quick as they get.

there are so many possibilities with these. i hope i don't do all 50 on the same idea.

eric's birthday (2&3)

these are 2 of the 4 envelopes that i put inside the birthday envelope that was on the blog two days ago. i am not going to pop for $60 to mail 50 envelopes to eric. i might switch to postcards to get more in the envelopes that i do send. sorry eric, it would have been loads of fun for you to open 50 actual pieces of mail.

my idea was to feature each of the different lines of copy on the envelope as the BIG element. the big RED ERIC was the first one i did. then the big black FRANCE was the second one.

this is a really easy way to make a fun envelope. sometimes i just guess at how it will fit. other times i do a quick pencil.

i'm using up random odd stamps. these were cancelled. people give me all kinds of stamps.

eric's birthday (1)

eric has a call for entries on his blog as he is turning 50 this year. i thought these leftover stamps would be nice. not sure i will get 50 done, but we'll see.

if anyone else has a milestone birthday coming up, let me know. i tend to do better when i work in multiples. although, i have to like the letters in your name. so, if your letters are giving me trouble, i may not complete as many as you request. but i would certainly do enough to figure out that i was not getting inspired. lucky for eric, his name is very versatile.


NOTE to exchangers:
If you are going to be more than a week late sending your March exchange envelopes, please let the other people on your list know. last month, there were quite a few mailed on the last day. So be sure to wait 7-10 days before contacting the fellow exchanger about a missing envelope. thanks

janet's cake

a stealworthy idea. this would look good with any color and in any kind of marker, gel pen, pencil, nibs&ink. i really need to get organized so that i have ideas like this in a section called - easy and fool-proof.

thank you janet
(and wilma thanks you)