6mpbox's April 39 Cent Scavenger Hunt

Ahhh, Spring.

The trees and flowers are starting bloom again, the grass is turning into a lush green...the birds are singing....the snow is almost all melted and the sun is shining again....

This month we will be doing something a bit more creative then just stuffing an envelope and mailing it off. You will be still using a regular envelope, and using one stamp to send, but in a wonderful new way.

What a better way to surprise you partner then with a wonderful piece of Spring mail art! We will be making our own envelopes and collage the insides (and outside, if you'd like) with the "Spring is here!" theme.

Here's a couple of ways you can do this:

Using an regular envelope in the size you would like to send, carefully open it up on the glued seams with a butter knife/ bone folder. Or carefully hold over some steam from a tea kettle or pot of boiling water (watch your fingers!) to loosen them up to open without ripping the paper.

Once it's all opened up, trace it onto a piece of cardboard or card-stock. You can now use this as a templet for magazine pages or speciality papers to be turned into a custom envelope.

Or:

Once the envelope is opened, just use the envelope itself to collage on.

You can use bit's of colorful papers, maybe serendipity collage with your studio's extras, inks, paint, stamps, markers, stickers, magazine photos, glitter, ect, maybe write a poem or copy one of your favorites to add to the art.....

After you are done adding the art to the new envelope, fold it back into shape and place a bit of tape to hold it together where all the folds meet to hold it together during mailing. The tricky part is to make it so when you partner gets the envelope and opens it, it will open up to show the wonderful Spring art you made inside.

And of course, if you would like to add a few little goodies too, it will make the trade that much more special. (a tag, bookmark, greeting card, etc. : ) Thanks to our New Mod. Mom Terry for this idea!!!) and might have to seal it up a bit more with some tape to keep them from slipping out.

If you are worried about the envelope not making it though the mail, you might want to trim it down alittle and put it into another envelope to send. This might take (2) 39 cent stamps to send, but mail art like this (handmade envelopes) are sent all the time as is, so it should be ok to tape up and send with one stamp.

Sign up for this swap will be until April 15th and the deadline to send will be the end of the month as usual. If you have any questions, post to the 6mpbox group and we'll help you out there.

Have fun!!!