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*Farmgirl Swap:  Archived Mail Art  |
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therusticcottage
True Blue Farmgirl
4439 Posts
Kay
Vancouver
WA
USA
4439 Posts |
 Posted - Sep 09 2005 : 2:23:52 PM
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Jp -- you're so welcome. I'm glad that it arrived safely.
"If you are lucky enough to have a garden, you are lucky enough!" |
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QuiltingQueen
True Blue Farmgirl
104 Posts
Jane
La Porte
Indiana
USA
104 Posts |
Posted - Sep 09 2005 : 2:52:45 PM
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Kay,
Well, I grabbed the mail and newspaper out of the rural mailboxes this afternoon and headed off to pick up my son from school. I had used lavender shower gel this morning, and all the way there I kept thinking, "Wow, I sure smell good!" When I finally got to the school parking lot to wait for my son to come out, I opened the mail, and imagine my surprise when I discovered it wasn't my own fragrant aroma that I had been enjoying! I had to laugh! Thanks for the beautiful surprise mail art and for the little chuckle that certainly did brighten my day! I'll treasure that pretty pink surprise always and think of you often.
Jane
"Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action." ~ Mother Teresa |
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connio
True Blue Farmgirl
535 Posts
connie
springtown
texas
USA
535 Posts |
Posted - Sep 09 2005 : 3:46:47 PM
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Hey Farm Girls!
My feelings are hurt. I have not received any mail art in weeks and have sent out at least 16 pieces recently. Instead of doing the mail art dance, I am doing the mail art slow shuffle as I go back to the house.
Connie
cozycottage |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Sep 09 2005 : 5:44:40 PM
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Connie, I'm about to "fire-up" for round two. I'll make sure to send ya some more! 
Kay, what a wuuuunnnnnndddddderfulllll sachet you made! Smells heavenly too! Thank you! (That must've been pretty time consuming, eh? .. very appreciated though!)
**** Love is the great work - though every heart is first an apprentice. - Hafiz
Set a high value on spontaneous kindness. - Samuel Johnson****
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therusticcottage
True Blue Farmgirl
4439 Posts
Kay
Vancouver
WA
USA
4439 Posts |
Posted - Sep 09 2005 : 6:07:28 PM
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Connie -- I'm preparing to do more mail art too!! I promise you'll have something special in your mailbox soon.
Jane and Clare -- I'm so glad that you like the sachets. I'm not very creative in the paper art department so decided to share my sewing art. Sorry it took me so long to get them sent out.
"If you are lucky enough to have a garden, you are lucky enough!" |
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lareyna
True Blue Farmgirl
242 Posts
Arlene
Valley Ford
Ca
USA
242 Posts |
Posted - Sep 10 2005 : 08:21:32 AM
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Connie, you are first on my list as i got my first and only from you!! I have been working on some bookmarkers, trying to perfect them and they just aren't what I want yet, but I may have to settle soon, I am confused as to how this is supposed to work, do you send to the next person on list or to those who send to you or just try to send to everybody on list, cuz that's a little overwhelming to think about lol
I was Country before Country was COOL |
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Linda Houston
True Blue Farmgirl
538 Posts
Linda
Lake Charles
Louisiana
USA
538 Posts |
Posted - Sep 10 2005 : 12:06:42 PM
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Connie, I had a good talk with myself about expecting as much mail art as I have sent....I even went so far as to think the farm girls read some of my post and didn't like me so they weren't sending me any pieces :(((( I think this came from the fact I am so excited about doing this that I think everyone has the time I do to spend on making their pieces.
Then I remembered Molly and her kindness to me about the creative side of this wonderful project. I didn' know where to start and I darn sure was not creative.Even feeling that way about myself, I signed up to be a part of this group !!!! I thought I had surely lost my mind....Then here came a precious card from Molly....I had a pattern and I went to town....Since then I have recived about 4-5 others---I have been apart of this for a couple of months.
When I read your post my heart went out to you ----You will begin receiving art and so will I. Do these farm girls dislike me----I don't think they have wasted their time thinking about me and what I write (I am self-centered !!!!) Also, I don't think they have a mean bone in their bodies to dislike any of us that make up this wonderful group of women. I am not implying that your felt the same way as I, these were my feelings.
I have some cards ready to go and I am going to mail you one. I send mine out alphbetally.
Hang in their---you are going to be slam bunked with love and cards from this site !!!!
Linda H. |
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shepherdess
True Blue Farmgirl
359 Posts
Robin
Eatonville
Washington
USA
359 Posts |
Posted - Sep 10 2005 : 12:47:39 PM
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Hello
I have received several mail art replies and I love every one of them. I don't always have time to sit down and write a thank you to each person.
I have not made any of my replies right now but try to find a specail card of something to send. I just love getting the mail so I am happy with anything people send me. I am trying to do everyone on the list so sooner or later everyone will get something from me unless I don't have their name but I have tried to keep up with the lists.
This has been so fun and I am enjoying every minute of it.
Farm Girl from Western Washington
" From sheep to handspun " |
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connio
True Blue Farmgirl
535 Posts
connie
springtown
texas
USA
535 Posts |
Posted - Sep 10 2005 : 1:49:57 PM
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Hey Farm Girls!
Arlene You should send to the person who is next on the list and then it is up to you how you proceed.
I did not mean to sound like I was whining; I guess that I was a little concerned that the project was dying out as can happen after the initial period of enthusiasm.
Want the Sisterhood of the Travelling Art to stay vibrant!!
Connie
cozycottage |
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QuiltingQueen
True Blue Farmgirl
104 Posts
Jane
La Porte
Indiana
USA
104 Posts |
Posted - Sep 10 2005 : 2:19:57 PM
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Connie,
Did you ever receive anything from me? I mailed you a card earlier in the summer...just wondering if you received it?
Jane
"Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action." ~ Mother Teresa |
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BlueEggBabe
True Blue Farmgirl
417 Posts
Susan
PA
417 Posts |
Posted - Sep 10 2005 : 2:45:03 PM
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Hi all.......
I feel so moved by these last few posts and have to share my thoughts, as well. I have wondered for weeks now, how others feel sitting on the sidelines listening to thanks and praise to those that send, and apologies and regret from others for being slow to send or "not being creative enough" or have not received anything.
I have felt pressure sometimes to "crank some out" and guilt that I can't produce faster or who I should send to next.Sometimes,I am disappointed at the stack of bills and no "fun mail"....and then somewhat embarrassed and uncomfortable with the all the praise and thank you's, including my own!But,like Linda, I've had to kick my butt out of it and remind myself to just have FUN with it.
I feel so sad for posts like Connie's and others I've read.
I think in the original "mail art" movement, one just created a tiny
card sent it off to someone and asked that it be altered, in someway, and then returned to the original sender, who then sent it off to another,etc.It was a quiet artistic sharing between one sender and one receiver.Personal.
In some strange way, our online enthusiasm and excitement has created some expectations and disappointments and even some lack of feeling "good enough". I have received several, absolutely beautiful,handmade treasures that were accompanied with a note apologizing for lack of creativity!!
Huh???? I could have cried.
I am so "jumping outa my boots" that I have a whole bunch of new friends here....I can't even tell you.I am thrilled every time I lick a stamp to put on a HAPPY envelope. But, Sisters of the Traveling Art, we have to send and receive our gifts with a light and joyful heart.
I propose someone write a "Sisterhood Code of Creative Endeavors"
that we can read and re-read when these mail art blues get us farmgirls down.
Any suggestions or ideas??
PS. I adore every mail art I have received so far and show them proudly to whoever will listen and look! This mail art stuff is all good, farmgirls, all so very good!!
"If more of us valued good food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world place."
J.J.R.Tolkien |
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Utahfarmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
1940 Posts
Portland
Oregon
USA
1940 Posts |
Posted - Sep 10 2005 : 3:05:45 PM
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Fellow Farmgirls ~ In reading these last few posts, it occurs to me that if we were men, we'd be looking at this situation a little differently. I'm no feminist and I love being a woman, artist, wife and mother, but we girls tend to think that WHATEVER we do is not good enough and Madison Avenue reinforces that every day to get us to buy products to make us look good enough, smell good enough, cook good enough, clean and launder good enough (I know I should be saying well enough, but you get the idea), make love good enough, raise our kids good enough, etc.
Let me tell you ladies, I've never met a nicer, more accomplished group of humans as I have reading these posts. I'm new, but I really look forward to seeing what everybody has to say about the subjects we've chosen. We women are the backbone of our communities and our world. Don't let ANYBODY make you think differently.
Sure, we're busy and must put our families and jobs ahead of our pleasaures like creating art and that sometimes puts us "behinder" than we'd like, but we get it done eventually and what a thrill when we do!
Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, backwards in and heels! (probably in between nursing babies and fryin' up the bacon)
As Stuart Smalley used to say, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!"
Love to all you Goddesses!
Patricia
Happy Wishes! |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Sep 10 2005 : 4:02:44 PM
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So well said, girls. When the mailart movement here at MJF connection was getting started, I delayed "joining up" because I don't consider myself to be an artsy person. Then I received a nice notecard from Eileen that really inspired me and put me in the frame of mind that "yes, I can do this!" It got my creative juices flowing. Then since joining up, each time I get a piece in the mail I am flooded with new creative ideas. You all inspire me so much! So, loaded with new ideas and the synergy of this group of wonderful girls, I'm now going to create a new version based on my personal life. But, ya know how these things go.... gotta figure out how to hook up the scanner a co-worker gave me, learn its ins and outs, work out a format for what I want to create,... yadayada. These things just mushroom in my head. I'm blooming with ideas! Who'da thought???!!! Thank you farmgirl sistas for your inspiration to explore a side of me that I would not have otherwise explored. Watch your mailboxes next month!!
**** Love is the great work - though every heart is first an apprentice. - Hafiz
Set a high value on spontaneous kindness. - Samuel Johnson****
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Linda Houston
True Blue Farmgirl
538 Posts
Linda
Lake Charles
Louisiana
USA
538 Posts |
Posted - Sep 10 2005 : 5:52:38 PM
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Thank you, Patricia and Clare.....A wonderful reminder that we are what we are and that is exactly what we are meant to be. I have said this before and I'll say it again---I can't remember ever having so much fun creating the mail art for you farmgirls....and for me that is the point. We care about each other to honor the woman we are !!!
Linda |
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jpbluesky
True Blue Farmgirl
6066 Posts
Jeannie
Florida
USA
6066 Posts |
Posted - Sep 10 2005 : 6:15:07 PM
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Hi all - I, too, have gone to the mailbox time after time, after having read about all the wonderful goodies and exchanges going on with many others on the list, and wondered if I was not sending enough and therefore not receiving. To give is to receive, right? Anyway, what I am trying to say, is I know how you all feel, and I am so glad someone brought these thoughts up!
Turns out, many of us have been having our uncertainties, and unless we talk about them they will not go away!!! Thank you, Connie, for being brave and sharing your feelings. And Linda, and Clare, and everyone. I feel better now. :)
jpbluesky |
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CelticCoyote
True Blue Farmgirl
111 Posts
Heather
Illinois
USA
111 Posts |
Posted - Sep 11 2005 : 07:50:25 AM
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Hey Farm Girls!! First of all, I want to apologize for my tardiness in thanking Lauradahlia for the GORGEOUS mail art she sent to me a couple weeks ago. The woman is an ARTIST, I tell you! And not as in a "wow that's neat" sort of way, I mean she's an honest-to-God, needs-her-own-gallery type of artist. Wow!! Just stunning!
Second, I've been sorta MIA around here lately. We went on that vacation at the end of August (and oh, what fun it was!), and the day after I got home was my birthday, and then we had the biggest country fair this past weekend, and I've just not had a chance to sit down & catch up here until now. It's nice to catch up, though...it's like coming home to a warm bunch of close friends. Anyway, I'm back now, and while I've not had much time for creating mail art lately, I do anticipate sitting down and having an artfest in the very near future. 
Something else to think about, for those of us who have had doubts & concerns while staring at an otherwise boring mailbox interior, is that this is a very busy time of year for most farmgirl types. We're in our last bits of Indian Summer here in Illinois, and while I don't have a garden to finish up, or hay to pack into the barn, or fairs to exhibit at, I do have two small boys who need to soak up every last bit of sun & warmth the summer has to offer before it gets cold & grey. I can almost guarantee that as soon as the cold temps hit & the snow starts to fly, the mail art machine will gear up in fine form. Honestly, as much as I despise winter, I'm rather looking forward to the time spent indoors so that I can work on all my inside-type creative endeavors. I love to knit, crochet, embroider, create mail art, cook, bake, etc., and those things tend to be pretty sporadic in the warmer months. Connie, you are first on my list, girl! I've got an incredibly lofty ambition of trying to get one piece out to everyone on the list...though my head may explode before I get quite that far. In the meantime, while sometimes my perfectionist nature slows me down in the creative process, I do realize that no two pieces are exactly the same, and some will be more complex than others, and some will be beautiful in their simplicity, and honestly, all will be loved simply because they are. They don't have to be great works of art, or major masterpieces. They simply have to be. Just knowing that someone thought of me long enough to write their name on a card warms me to the core. I'm sure the same goes for all of you. Embrace your creative sides, ladies, even if they don't feel all that spectacular to you. ((((Big hugs to all the farmgirls!!)))) |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Sep 11 2005 : 09:46:05 AM
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Connie, You have inspired me to get off my butt and do more art and I have been having a blast this weekend! I like what you said Heather about having an art fest! My dining room looks like someone dropped a paper and sticker bomb in it! And I revel in all this paper! The creative flow has been good this weekend so girls keep an eye on the mailbox this week for PINK mail. This is the most creative, caring, loving, fun, energetic group of women I have ever encountered. You all, including your art JUST ROCK!!!!!!!!If there were a farmgirl university founded by Mary Jane and there was one sorority on campus it would be called FGR...farmer gamma rho or farm girls rock!!!!!!! Think of the swingin good times we'd have in that house! One huge room devoted to nothing but mailart, another full of sewing machines and fabric and quilting stuff and patterns, an enormous old fashioned kitchen with old wood cookstoves and beat up pots and pans and food locker full of fresh veggies and meats to prepare from hundreds of vintage recipe books, an enormous herb/flower veg garden/...chicken coops lovingly made by frat boys down the street and installed, old but comfey slipcovered furniture in our farmgirl parlour for having tea and cakes with our guests! Here I go again, rambling.... and we'd have old fashioned pajama parties watching our fav movies giving faciels and painting each others toes coral pink!
Being is what it is. Jean Paul Sartre |
Edited by - MeadowLark on Sep 11 2005 3:26:59 PM |
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Utahfarmgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
1940 Posts
Portland
Oregon
USA
1940 Posts |
Posted - Sep 11 2005 : 1:40:29 PM
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Isn't it great to be a farmgirl? Just think in another hundred or so years, our great grandchildren will look through all this art and say, "Wow, our ancestors knew a lot of loving and talented women! Maybe we should start something like that with the farmgirls on the moon."
Love,
Patricia
Happy Wishes! |
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junebug
True Blue Farmgirl
2421 Posts
Sue
West Plains,
Mo.
USA
2421 Posts |
Posted - Sep 11 2005 : 2:16:06 PM
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Bless you all, only women can open up without fear and connect across the internet and share themselves totally. And I am gultly too of wondering why I havent' gotten any mailart in weeks and I've sent out one to everyone on the list and working on the new list of gals, but then I remember the reason behind our missioin, to make the mailboxes smile!!! So you ladies on this page who so openly expressed your feelings and wants, pat yourself on the back and be grateful you were born a farmgirl, I agree with all of you and I know I"m in good company here! No matter are speed, the mail will be delivered!!!
I'm not 40 something, I'm 39.95 plus shipping and handling! |
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BlueEggBabe
True Blue Farmgirl
417 Posts
Susan
PA
417 Posts |
Posted - Sep 11 2005 : 6:06:05 PM
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Meadowlark,
Your Farmgirl U. sorority house vision put the biggest smile on my face! I'm not sure how to bring that idea to fruition , but it sounds like a totally blissful retreat to me. Really sounds like a fantasy to bring to life. Can't forget the red wall tent in the back yard behind the flowers and herbs, right next to the firepit and then way out back, the labyrinth ! Gotta have a nice creek to dam up for
a swimmin' hole hidden back in the trees, too........ahhhhhh!
Thanks for all the great visuals!
"If more of us valued good food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world place."
J.J.R.Tolkien |
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QuiltingQueen
True Blue Farmgirl
104 Posts
Jane
La Porte
Indiana
USA
104 Posts |
Posted - Sep 11 2005 : 6:26:50 PM
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Hey, I'm wearing an apron over my PJ's and I'm making popcorn in a cast iron kettle for all my farmgirl sorority sisters!
Jane
"Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action." ~ Mother Teresa |
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lareyna
True Blue Farmgirl
242 Posts
Arlene
Valley Ford
Ca
USA
242 Posts |
Posted - Sep 11 2005 : 11:30:21 PM
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Ahhhhh Meadowlark I wanna go to your slumber party
I was Country before Country was COOL |
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BlueEggBabe
True Blue Farmgirl
417 Posts
Susan
PA
417 Posts |
Posted - Sep 12 2005 : 02:41:40 AM
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Oops, forgot the walk-in closet!!!
It would be full of overalls,t-shirts, aprons, maryjanes, and mud boots in every size and color.
"If more of us valued good food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world place."
J.J.R.Tolkien |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Sep 12 2005 : 05:24:48 AM
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Amen Sue and Jane! Have strayed off topic again, dang! Gotta blame it on the moon! Forgot one thing though...a huge clothesline strung between enormous beech trees!
Being is what it is. Jean Paul Sartre |
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sqrl
True Blue Farmgirl
605 Posts
Melissa
Northern California
USA
605 Posts |
Posted - Sep 12 2005 : 09:40:16 AM
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Meadowlark your so great, and pretty darn funny. Junebug I can't believe you have already sent to everyone. I making them as I go here and I only get about 6 done at a time. I was starting to make myself nuts over it, I'm not getting enough done. And then I stopped and thought, this is supposed to be fun, so what if it takes me a year to send to everyone on the list, this is art, it takes time. In the beginning I too thought hey I'm not getting any lovin in the mail, whats wrong. Well I had to talk myself out of that and wait my turn. I'm glad that everyone is being open about their feelings, it's really important, it makes a good friendship even better. I love all the ladies in this bunch and feel so grateful to be a part of it. I don't like to hear people apologising for their non creativness, everything I have recieved had been so creative and so fun, I know I have not thanked everyone yet for what I have recieved. This is why I wanted to make a gallery so I show off all the beautiful art that I have gotten, I hope this does not put any pressure on anyone, it was not intented to. I agree with Connie that I want the Sisterhood of the Traveling Art to continue to grow, but I think we don't have to worry about that. Well I'll just keep ticking away at the mail art and I'll reach ya'll eventually.
Blessed Be
www.sqrlbee.com www.sisterhood.sqrlbee.com
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*Farmgirl Swap: Archived Mail Art |
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Archived Mail Art
