Art Fills Snail Mail Box To The Brim

For the past two days my mail box, the one that stands outside in front of the house, you know, the one that brings the bills and junk mail, has been filled to the brim with the most awesome ART pieces; It's been like Christmas/Chanukah in May! Let me share it with you. I feel so fortunate to have these actual, I can touch them, hold them pieces of art from the artists I admire so much in blogland. And I know there are more coming as I have traded with the BEST out there! But we can start with these: Remember to click on each picture to see it's wonderful details enlarged! Marianne, from The Netherlands, (http://mandarianne.blogspot.com) sent me this beautiful card, a mandala with cacti, birds and hearts, the hearts she said are for me because she said "You have such a big heart!" Thank you, Marianne. That did warm my heart to hear. This and The next two items are part of her "Pay It Forward" challenge. And I am the lucky reciprocate of this precious little silver framed mandala. The frame is one inch by one and 1/4 inch in size, and the teeny tiny painted mandala inside is one inch around. It is all hearts and flowers. So cute. I adore it.It will have a special spot where I can see it daily. Huge Thanks Marianne, you are oh so thoughtful and kind. And as if this were not enough already, she also sent me a laminated strip of her wonderful art, a collage of her art pieces, which I can use I imagine as a book mark. so again, something to remind me of Marianne each day. Wow!!! More thanks. The next is another card from Marianne, whom by now we all know as the Mandala artist extraordinaire! This sweet card with two little fawns shines so much love to me. The card held the two ATCs we had agreed upon for our trade.The first one is called "Shine" and is pink, rose, and gold,with a layer of sparkly paint that lets it own it's name as it truly does shine brightly. The second ATC shouted out to me the first time I saw it on her blog. I was so excited to find it was up for trade when we started sharing ATCs with each other. It is a mandala containing a Star of David/Jewish Star with the word in Hebrew: Shalom which means Peace and I imagine the word under that in Arabic to be Salam? Just beautiful in blues and lavender. Sweetly Marianne's card says "So funny you picked #6, because I always had you in mind for this!" Well, I am still smiling over that. The next two are from Laurel from Studio Lolo,(http://studiololo.blogspot.com) in California. Her's did not have to travel far. The top is Laurel's ATC on wonderful heavy card stock; a painting of an orange cat on a pink over stuffed chair, which reminds me of our cat Brand we had for 14 years before his demise several years ago now. And of course a huge fat cactus with cactus wall paper in the background. I love the glow of the light coming from the purple lamp too. Such details. And then there is the card she sent with a painting she made called "Summer Meadow" I love the cat of course sitting in the meadow with I imagine Laurel surrounded by beautiful flowers and plants watching the pretty colorful sky and butterflies. Thank you Laurel. I will treasure both your wonderful card and ATC. This next is a postcard of fabric and Tyvek that came from Angela in The United Kingdom. (http://angelasquilts.blogspot.com) It is beautifully done on batik fabric, top machine sewn free motion; the Tyvek is treated using a heat gun to burn away parts leaving a beautiful copper leaf; there is either Lumiere or Angelina fibers as part of the design as well. And it's beautifully stitched around with variegated thread. Thank you Angela, you have outdone yourself! I love it. And finally I wanted to share this wonderful fish done by Mim (http://ammdh.blogspot.com) that came to me as a card with her order for my photo cards. I love his wonderfully drawn and penciled face...such expression and great colors! Thanks Mim. An extra I did not expect but greatly appreciated. Needless to say, my cup runnith over. I feel extremely fortunate to have met you all, and to be lucky enough to own your art! HUGE THANKS AND HUGS! Tomorrow: I will be posting 14 new ATCs: Fabric, Ink drawings, Watercolors, Stamped paper and fabrics...come SEE and CHOOSE, they'll be up for trading.