Last Sunday, I threw myself a party; my kind of party- a mail art party! It was easy and fun. How fun? Look how fun!
It was also easy. I simply set a date and time, invited some lovely people, gathered supplies and set it all up and then had a blast. I understand that you might want a little more information than that; so I have some slides and a prepared text for you.
STEP ONE: Set a Date and Time. This is the hardest part. You should see my schedule. My schedule is insane. Instead of trying to coordinate with others, I just found the first open spot in my calendar. The thing about mail art is that it's fun with others or by yourself. I knew I'd have a good time even if no one came.
STEP TWO: Invite Lovely People. I invited friends, co-workers and pen pals and most of those people are two out of the three. My house was small and the three people who could make the time that was free on my schedule were just enough.
STEP THREE: Gather Supplies & Set Up. I decided to theme my party around Halloween. It is my most favorite of holidays and one of my favorite motifs. You could pick any theme- a color, an animal, a presidental election..., but it's easier if you pick something familiar. Halloween has a fair amount of craft supplies available for it, making it easy to amass a great number of supplies with very little effort. I went through my collection and pulled out anything spooky, anything weird, anything black, grey, silver, purple, or orange. Our paper sponsor, The Curious Collection by Appleton Coated just sent over a bunch of sparkly paper which was perfect. I also picked up a pack of six glue sticks and three pairs of scissors at the trusty office supply store. From my basics I added ink pads, stencils, and blank labels.
The kitchen was the best place. I pulled in another table from my porch and put an artboard over the top of it so there was a smooth place to work. I put down a craft paper runner so that no one would have to worry about messing up my tables. (Not that they could have, but it's nice to feel free to get glue on things.) I put papers on one side and embellishments and rubber stamps on the other. Everything was going to get mixed up anyway, but it was nice to start out in an orderly manner.
BONUS STEP: Make Goodie Bags. What's a party without a goodie bag? I put together some of the best pieces of Halloween ephemera I had, plus a new Halloween card from Rifle Co., and gave them to my friends when they came in. I gave them out first instead of at the end because I wanted them to be able to use the supplies in the bag.
STEP FOUR: Have a Blast. Then my friends came over and we drank cider and ate goodies generously supplied by Kimberly. (I've been eating dark chocolate Trader Joe's peanut butter cups for breakfast ever since.) All we did was play with the paper. There wasn't any need for "instruction", but I did offer a tip or two regarding a certain thin tissue and tool use. We mail arted for about 3 hours and it was relaxing, fun and all together a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Plus, I now have a giant pile of Halloween envelopes for the rest of my mail this month.
Phew! Did you read all that? If you did, here's your prize. I have one of these goodie bags left over. If you'd like a treat on Halloween, leave a comment with your favorite Halloween postage stamp (mine are a tie between the 42 cent Edgar Allen Poe and the 10 cent Sleepy Hollow). I'll pick a winner by random chance on the 26th at 8:45AM CST. Fun and easy, just like having a mail art party!***A winner has been chosen. Commentor Bonnie, number 17, who likes the Witch Canoe stamp suggestion, won my goodie bag. Yay!***
Trick or Treat,
The 32-cent Borlaff as Frankenstein stamp from the movie monsters series. A mail art party--such bliss! Thank you!
Posted by: karenm | October 22, 2012 at 09:56 AM
I'm partial to the 32-cent Lon Chaney as the Phantom of the Opera stamp. But I also love the E. A. Poe stamp. Your mail-art party looks like fun!
Posted by: Andy | October 22, 2012 at 01:17 PM
I didn't know there were Halloween-oriented stamps. Thank you for this post. A Friend and I have been tossing around an idea to do something just like this. Looks like so much fun!
Posted by: Randi S | October 22, 2012 at 02:09 PM
Thanks for the inspiring post! Been thinking about wanting to host such a party myself.... My favorite Halloween stamp (though prob not intended to be one by our usps friends) is the 37 cent BAT Series!! They are creepy and cool!
Posted by: Cathy Stewart | October 22, 2012 at 06:15 PM
Another great inspiration from LWA! Thanks for sharing. My fav Halloween postage stamp is the .32 Alfred Hitchcock. It has a small die cut silhouette of him. This Sunday we're hosting a Hitchcock movie fest at our house - Psycho and The Birds are on the agenda.
Posted by: Barb Aschenbrenner | October 22, 2012 at 06:53 PM
What a great way to spend time with friends, technology-free! I don't know of any Halloween stamps off the top of my head, but these Roald Dahl stamps from this year would work for me. http://www.philatelicdatabase.com/topicals-thematics/roald-dahl-celebrated-on-royal-mails-stamps-10th-january-2012/
The Witches was a pretty creepy book!
Posted by: rachel | October 22, 2012 at 07:40 PM
I like the Poe stamps - I bought several sheets when they came out and I was sad when they were all gone. Though I've never seen the sleepy hollow ones - those would be awesome.
Posted by: Elizabeth J. | October 22, 2012 at 08:45 PM
So hard to decide between the bat and Poe, but animals usually win out for me. I love Halloween best too, so should be a blast to win a bag of spookiness. Thanks!
Posted by: Gini Cooper | October 22, 2012 at 09:26 PM
I just received and mailed out three hand-painted Sleepy Hollow stamps so they are my favorites. I didn't know how rare they were... clearly not a philatelist.
Posted by: ana | October 23, 2012 at 07:12 AM
Even though this stamp is probably not thought of as Halloween-related, the 65 cent Baltimore Checkerpoint has the black and orange colors of Halloween.
I loved reading about mail art party. Organizing one of those is now on my list of things to do!
Thanks for the chance to win a goodie bag!
Posted by: Donna Gabbard | October 23, 2012 at 10:50 AM
My favorite Halloween postage stamp? Hands down, it's the 10 cent Sleepy Hollow! I love the graphic design and the strong colors on that one. So. Perfect.
A close runner-up in my book is the Monsters series. Wish I had stockpiled a bunch of those!
Lastly, on an amusing note... I DID stockpile the E.Poe stamps -- but I love using those for Valentines. Somehow, that just fits, in my book. LOL!
Thanks for sharing the party with us, Donovan! Looks like a lovely time was most definitely had by all.
Posted by: CMN | October 23, 2012 at 11:19 AM
I will definitely try out the mail art party. I'm also a big fan of the 10 cent Sleepy Hollow. It seems to be popular.
Posted by: Kelsey | October 23, 2012 at 04:51 PM
Ooh! Sleepy Hollow all the way! But the American Bats are a VERY close second. Not strictly Halloween, but definitely appropriate!
Posted by: Amanda | October 23, 2012 at 05:26 PM
What a GREAT idea! i think Ill have one soon with a Christmas theme in mind. Maybe then Ill actually get the cards out on time!!!
Hmmm Halloween stamp... It would definitely be a Nightmare before Christmas stamp though I am not entirely sure if there ever has been one... Oh wait!!! I would love a classic horror film collection of stamps that pictures all of the oldie but goodie movies.
Posted by: sara jean | October 23, 2012 at 06:09 PM
What a wonderful idea, Donovan. Our SF Correspondence Co-Op meetings are kind of like that but now that you mention it I'd like to throw one at my house. Eating fall snacks and making mail art (love the "we mail arted" comment) sounds like a superb way to spend a Sunday afternoon with friends -- I"m going to do it soon.
And I have trouble picking a favorite Halloween stamp because I like just about all the stamps mentioned -- I used Sleepy Hollow and the Monsters stamps on my Halloween cards this year. A friend has been using those DOLL stamps on hers and they are pretty creepy too. Happy Halloween!
Posted by: Pamela. | October 23, 2012 at 07:07 PM
American bats and Poe are a tie for me too. I now want to have a mail art party. I already have the glue sticks...
Posted by: Carrie | October 23, 2012 at 07:29 PM
There was a really great Canadian stamp released circa 1991 entitled "The Witched Canoe" (Scott #1334) that pictured a canoe flying over the trees with a creepy devil's face in the background, complete with glowing red eyes! Love it!
This mail art party is a great idea, especially because it was small and fun. Three guests would be enough for me.
Thanks for the ideas and the chance to win a goody bag!
Posted by: Bonnie Melody | October 24, 2012 at 01:03 AM
Weird, I've been doing a ton of that lately, although a lot of is with Victorian clip art. Part of it is having time to do it because either no one is writing or I'm going to get a 20 letter dump-load soon. ^_^ *fingers crossed*
Posted by: Z | October 24, 2012 at 01:37 AM
What a fun idea. I would love to attend a letter art party. As for a favorite halloween stamp, probably the Boris Karloff Frankenstein stamp. I teach the novel to my sophomores and love showing them scenes from the old monster movies.
Posted by: Suzanne | October 24, 2012 at 11:44 AM
My favorite Halloween stamps are the Sleepy Hollow Stamps, but I would really love to see the Boris Karloff Frankenstein stamp, as I am a big fan.
Posted by: Rita | October 24, 2012 at 03:38 PM