Tips on Tuesday #003 - Collage Stuff: Security Envelopes

Greetings and Welcome to our 3rd installment of ToTs,
our ongoing series designed to spark your imagination
for your entry in our
International Mail Art: Celebration of Sapphire

Did you miss weeks 1 or 2?
No worries, You can find each of them by
clicking the link below their respective photos below.

This time out, I’m breaking out my stash of security envelopes (it’s not hoarding if you use them, right?) to explore the icy aspects of blue. It seems that they can be had in virtually any color; far and away, the most common coloration is either black or blue (me thinks that works quite nicely for our purposes, eh?). I find them a lovely way to incorporate texture and pattern in collage work. I started by selecting an assortment of blue-patterned security envelopes from the aforementioned “stash.” After cutting strips from my chosen envelopes, I cut those strips into various “shards” (i.e. imprecise, long-ish triangles).

You may recall my substrate (a perfectly trimmed panel from a Labatt Blue beer carton) from Week One - I loved isolating the word “Pristine” below the main line of type - pristine/crystalline/pure/reflective - these were my thoughts when I decided to marry the “Blue” substrate with bits and pieces of the security envelopes. After a bit of fiddling about, I found a rhythm to the different patterns and hues that I rather liked and set about gluing them down (a Craft Bond glue stick was perfect for this job).

I like where this is headed, but it seems a bit “flat,” don’t you think? I decided more blue was in order and turned to the acrylic markers. Giving some contrast and relief to the “Blue” was a great start. I then added some smoky blue dots, white gel pen lines, and silver gel pen highlights to the spiky shards around the perimeter of my postcard. Almost there….

…yep, Yep, YEP! I like it - a whole bunch! A few more little tweaks - a bit of doubling up on some shimmery highlights (OMG - who AM I!?) - and we have ourselves a fine piece of mail art, my friends! Seriously, when I was finished I could hear Idina Menzel - I could see Elsa in her tower of ice - I’m ready to stick some postage on this baby and LET IT GO!

So…. That’s it for this weeks ToTs. I hope you are picking up on the pattern here: you have everything you need! Not a hoarder of envelopes? I bet if you set aside your “junk mail” for a week, separated any and all blue bits therein, and let those gleanings marinate you would have the stuff for more than 1 postcard. You could send one to us and the others to friends and family. Then, not only will you have participated in an International Mail Art event, you will have brought joy to others with your creativity! That’s some next-level Good Stuff right there.

Michelle will be back, week after next, with our next installment of ToTs. Keep an eye out, as postcards are arriving almost daily - we post them here first and look forward to sharing yours here (and on our Social Media outlets), soon.

Creatively yours,
~ PLW

Tips on Tuesdays #002- Contour Lettering

As you know, our International Mail Art Call for the Celebration of Sapphire is underway, and we hope you’re beginning to think about what your postcard will feature—will yours be the first one we receive?
We hope so.

For this, our second installment of “Tips on Tuesdays” (affectionately known to us as ToTs*), I bring you one possible solution for the question:
“I want to use words on my postcard, but how can I make them look interesting?”
If you’d like to feature words, here’s a fun and easy way to do it. (without having to be an expert calligrapher to achieve a really cool looking design).

Step One: on your 4”x 6” (or 10.16 x 15.24 cm) postcard, draw some contoured lines across the full width, separated by enough space to insert letters into the sections (when I teach a project using this technique, I call it the ‘wavy line way’):

I’m using plain, white, smooth card stock, and regular lead pencil lines. Because I’m going to use colored pencils and water-based markers, I don’t need to do anything special to the substrate. (Note my pencil in lovely shades of blue!)

Step Two: figure out what you want to write—actually, you probably should be thinking about this before you draw your wavy lines! In this case, I knew I wanted to use fairly large letters, but you’ll see in the examples below that you can use letters of various sizes.
Step Three: following the contours of the wavy lines you drew, fit your letters into the sections. The cool part happens when letters in the same word occur in very different-sized parts of the waves:

You can pencil in your letters to figure out the spacing first, or just “go for it” with marker!

Step Four: time to decide about color. As you can see, I chose to use a different shade of blue colored pencil for the background of each section, and used a metallic sapphire Sharpie marker for the word ‘sapphire’. You can do this, or you could begin with a colored paper background (blue, perhaps?), or you could start with a watercolor paper painted postcard, or color the postcard with colored pencils before you draw the wavy lines (with muted shades of blue, so your letters will show up)—the possibilities are almost endless here. For mine, after applying the colored pencil, I bumped up the wavy lines and put in a bit of detail onto the word ‘celebration’ for some added visual interest, and to make each stand out.

Step Five: finishing up; I might increase the weight of the wavy lines (or not), add more details to the letters of the other words, or even add an illustration of a sapphire to the right of the word connection—it’ll be up to you to decide how much embellishment you want to do!
Below are some examples of how other artists have used contour lettering and color:

Contour lettering two ways; at left, the white letters really pop out of the 4-color background. At right, the artist has used the spaces between the block letters to add different colors with either marker or watercolor.

And lastly, another example of using contoured lettering around an illustration:

I drew the flowers in and colored them first, then fit the words around them. I will confess to have done this one while chatting on the phone with a dear friend…do I have blue on the brain these days? Yes, INDEED!

I hope this has sparked ideas for simple ways to incorporate words into your mail art if that’s your jam (blueberry, of course—more evidence of the aforementioned blue on the brain!).
Stay tuned for more ToTs* next week from Penny.
Until then, happy creating!

Welcome to Tips on Tuesdays #001 - Substrates

Greetings, creative adventurers! Welcome to the inaugural episode of “Tips on Tuesdays” (affectionately known by no one but me as ToTs) * For the duration of our International Mail Call for The Celebration of Sapphire, Michelle and I will be posting Tips on Tuesdays to highlight the ease with which one can take part in this fun, collaborative, creative exchange.

This week, I want to show you how to use what you have vs. purchasing something you may not need. We are going to look at the myriad was to create a base for your Mail Art: i.e. the substrate. If you have a pad of watercolor postcards, they are great; however, if you don’t there is no need to purchase them…. You can easily make your own by cutting a larger sheet of watercolor paper to the proper size. For our purposes, the proper size = 4 x 6 inches (or 10.16 x 15.24 cm).

Newly born watercolor postcards, cut from a 9x12 inch sheet of 140 lb paper.

Let’s say you are fresh out of watercolor paper and just don’t want to go buy any…. Have you recently finished a box of crackers? …or used a cake mix? …cookies? Essentially, any stiff food packaging that allows you to trim it to size will work.

A cracker box yields a perfect surface for a lovely postcard.

The printed side of the cracker box was covered with gesso - now it’s ready to take on any number of mediums (paint, markers, colored pencils, etc.). The Labatt Blue box, cut to size, provides a background that perfectly compliments the theme of our Mail Art Call and presents a great substrate for collage - no gesso required.

Not feeling like food boxes are your jam? No worries, how about repurposing a rigid mailer (such as a book or magazine mailer)? Perhaps a no-longer-needed-file folder? Any number of options are available to an intrepid creative adventurer - take a look around. You are guaranteed to have “the perfect thing” already!

Postcards four ways. Clockwise from top left: manilla file folder, cracker box (with and without gesso), 140 lb watercolor paper, and rigid mailer (with and without gesso).

There you have it! Many ways to do a thing. Which will you choose? We can hardly wait to see.

Just a few things to keep in mind as you create your Mail Art Masterpiece:
- the thicker the substrate, the heavier your postcard will be.
- be sure to use the proper amount of postage for your postcard.
- remember: no dimensional elements
- your postcard needs to be flat to avoid damage and ensure its safe arrival.

That’s a wrap on this weeks ToTs! Are there other materials that you think would make great postcards? Drop us a comment - you may inspire a fellow creative. We’ll see you back here next week for more Tips on Tuesdays.

Announcing the Celebration of Sapphire International Call for Mail Art

You are cordially invited to join the
Your Creative Connection
Celebration of Sapphire
To commemorate our 5th Seaside Sessions Retreat
in 2026, we are hosting an
International Call for Mail Art

The sapphire birthstone honors those born in September, though it was historically a birthstone for April (bonus points to anyone who can guess why we thought this was notable!). The stone is also a fifth, forty fifth, and sixty fifth anniversary gem (no bonus points available here!).

In the same way each facet of a precious gemstone reflects different hues of brilliance, our mail art will feature the myriad shades of blue. We welcome creative explorers from all over the world to participate in this International Mail Art Call. All ages and skill levels are encouraged to join us on this adventure! For more information about who we are and what we do, you can see loads of photos from previous events as you enjoy a ramble around our website.

What rules there are are very straightforward:

  • Create: a postcard sized piece (15x10 cm or 4”x6”) on the theme “Celebration of Sapphire” and mail it! Note: no loose or dimensional elements - postcards must be flat to ensure safe delivery.
    No jury. No fees. No return of the postcards. One entry per artist.

  • Postage: post it like you would a regular postcard, no envelopes, please. Ensure that you use the correct postage to reach the United States.

  • Deadline: Entries must be postmarked by December 31, 2025.

  • Labeling: Please include your name, postal address, and email address on the back of the postcard. If your work has a title, please include that as well.

  • Exhibition: Your mail art will be featured here, on the Your Creative Connection blog, as well as on our Facebook pages: Your Creative Connection and Your Creative Connection Virtual Circle.

Please send your completed postcard to:
Your Creative Connection
Celebration of Sapphire
428 King Road
Fayetteville, NC 28306

This is a supreme instance of “the more, the merrier!” We would love for you to spread this creative news far and wide. Please share this post with your creative cohorts: foreign and domestic, young and old, professionals and dabblers. We can hardly wait to see how you respond to our call for the myriad hues of blue!