Happy Mail - Jan 17/17

Any one who knows me well will tell you that my absolute most favourite crafty time of year is Halloween.  But for those who know me even better than that know that other than Abby and Halloween, my most favourite thing of all is HAPPY MAIL!  Today, I received 5 envelopes which is the most I have received all in one day in the mail for a long time!

While I do have a system for opening the mail, I wish I had kept a log book of every single swap I have played in and some details.  It would have been so interesting.  I also wish that I had put everything in to binders and protective sleeves right from the start so that I could easily show off what I have received for what I have sent.  There became so many that I just couldn't keep up with it and it all went by the wayside.  I have been collecting for almost 8 years and still going strong with it.  Look at the photo below of all of my envies opened up! Beautiful colours, right?  All of them together laid out like this remind me of a rainbow...which many of you may or may not know, that Rainbow is my favourite colour!

Now I will share images of what I got closer up so you can see why I am so taken with these ATCs (Artist Trading Cards)

I won't mention the names of the artists but this particular artist is from the USA. She is sooooooo incredibly talented! Other than the mixed media one which I LOVE the background...the other 4 are all hand painted with either acrylic or water colour...not sure which.  And I don't know how she does but every now and then she paints some of these like as though they are my own backyard here in the North.

This particular artist also is from the USA, (for the next ATC Below) and also in a Yahoo Group that I played in several years ago but stopped at one point because you had to send money for the returns to cover the cost of postage. Which I totally get, but since we have been on a fixed income, well cutting back was a necessity.  But a good friend who I have found touch with because of Facebook convinced me to go back to ATC World, as I would be welcomed with open arms, even though some negative stuff happened in another Yahoo Group previously which was why I ended up starting my own group on Facebook so I could control some of those things.)

At any rate, I was winner A for the January Winner Take All.  The next 3 ATCs are what I received for being a winner for this month.  

This ATC is from an artist from a site called Swap Bot.   I LOVE this card even though its simple, but sweet.  The artist recycled the envelope that she sent it to me in, and she wrote a sweet little note all on ATC sized coloured paper and put feux stitching on each page back and front and stamped a logo on each page so there was no mistake that it was all from the same envelope.  The same logo was also on the back of the ATC and the envelope...good thinking!

I  have been busy so far in the house today getting some domestic stuff done, that was my story yesterday too but yesterday I cooked a turkey so we could have turkey sandwiches together for supper tonight.  This morning I was doing some laundry and cleaning up house and since Abby was home we decided to go to Burks Falls this afternoon which took some time...so we were tired and a nap was much needed.  So I will see if I can get to Art Heart Week #3 tonight.