Tags and Mail Art

After days of barely posting, I can't seem to stop. Every time I think I'm done, there's another subject I want to share. Ah well, better feast than famine!

The goodies I have here are about mail art. Both are fantastic -- one funky, one elegant. The first one I learned about on Kelly Kilmer's inspiring blog. She mentioned the new book that has come out for Mail Me Art, a project began by Darren Di Lieto of London. He invited artists and illustrators from around the world to mail him art done on envelopes. 

The work he received was astounding. You can go HERE to his Web site and scroll through dozens of amazing works that appear in the book. If you're really lucky and live in England, you might be able to catch the show and sale of the work at the Red Gate Gallery on April 3. And if all of this has gotten your creative juices flowing, Darren will begin welcoming submissions for Mail Me Art Two in April.

If your taste runs to calligraphy and elegant illustration, then head over to the Graceful Envelope competition by the Washington Calligrapher's Guild. Their annual contest invites illustrators and calligraphers from around the world  to mail in a piece of art based on an annual theme. This year it's Address the Environment. And yes, you can enter this one, too. All you have to do is mail them your submission. The deadline is April 30.

But if you'd rather just look and drool, you can just view the winners of past contests. I have to hand it to the Graceful Envelope contestants -- they incorporate postage stamps better than the funkier crowd. But as far as which I like better, I can't decide. I love them both in different ways. Which is your favorite?

Finally, a shout out to Her Royal Highness, the Queens of Arts for tagging me in her seventh photo in the seventh folder game. I don't do tags or chain letters or that sort of thing, but it's the queen's blog-o-versary and I'm happy to do this for her.

What was the seventh photo in the seventh folder? It was this picture from my son's file -- the amazing dance team called Dynamic Edition. My Towering Teen and I watched them compete in the finale last week on America's Best Dance Crew. Dynamic Edition was amazing, they were cloggers of all things, but the top two places were taken by Quest Crew (no. 1) and Beat Freaks (no. 2). The latter group was all-female and able to compete with the guys on all levels. I was very happy that my son got to see strong women displaying their skills and not their bodies. And honestly, how many good shows are there that a mom can watch with her teenage son and both enjoy? Bravo to the young talents who made it possible and Happy Blog-o-versary again to the Queen.