Letters for Japan

We Care Act is hosting a letter writing campaign of sorts (for I do not know how to else to describe it) to help children who suffered in the earthquakes in Japan.

Here are the Who's, What's, and How's:

Who: We Care Act
What: letters for Japanese children affected by the earthquake.
When: The earthquake was March 11th, 2011 and from the look of the website, there does not appear to be any deadline.
Where: letters can be mailed to:

We Care Act
2722 Garden Falls Dr.
Manvel, TX 77578
USA

How: They are working with the Japanese consulate in Texas to get the letters to students aged kindergarten through highschool. Most middle and high schoolers are able to read English but elementary students will appreciate cards more.

Please take the time to write a letter to a child who might really need it. Actual hand-written letters are better but you can also submit your message online.

For more information, go to http://www.wecareact.org/?q=letterstojapan

Japanese Junk and More!

It feels like it's been awhile since I posted mail pictures. Maybe that's because I had to load like 19 or so... O_o Anyways, lots of mail candy:

INCOMING:

From Anjelia! Which I still need to reply to... I am working on it.

A postcard from Node Pajomo. Which, if you are interested, his next mail zine is coming out April 1st. I got his last mail zine and it was pretty awesome!!
Details:

WHO: PJM (no one knows his real name...)
WHAT: Node Pajomo, a zine about mail, full of mail art calls, addresses, etc.
WHEN: It comes out quarterly
WHERE: Node Pajomo, PO Box 2632, Bellingham WA 98227-2632, USA.
WHY: Because it's awesome!
HOW: Send a dollar (cash or stamps)  International is $2 USD per issue.

It's pretty cool and he's a neat guy. But moving on.

Mail from RUSSIA!!! This is from Annie. She's a neat gal. Sadly, it takes a month (to my estimates) for mail to go to/from Russia but it's worth it.

A closer look at the stampage!

THEN:

I got TWO packages in the same day! (This was on Monday) And that's also a pc from Nicole and a letter from Fatima.

The big package on the bottom was from Stephanie and she sent me a bunch of Japanese Junk!!! Hooray!!

This might sound silly, but I asked her to send it to me. For mail art!! So she sent me a bunch of newspapers and ads and little fliers that, if you lived in Japan, you would probably throw away. The saying, "one man's trash is another man's treasure" seems to really fit the description.

Four Fabulous Newspapers. (Or maybe it's just one; who knows?) The newspapers, when you unfold them are actually really really big. O_o I was so thrilled when I opened this package... You have no idea.

Stephanie was studying abroad in Japan for a year but due to the earthquakes, she was recently sent home to the States for spring quarter.


Then the other package was smaller:

But JUST as awesome!!! This was from Larry Angelo in NY, NY. He got my address from PJM and sent me a bunch of neat stuff. There were pictures of artwork and a few little things and that yellow Crabe Gazette thing right there on top?? That (I think) is a mail art documentation!!!!

I was so excited to actually see one!! It was in French though so I had to type everything into Google Translate to understand it. The main thing holding me back from starting my own mail art call was not knowing how to document it so this was awesome. Yay! So I have to send him something truly fantabulous back. For sure.

now, the OUTGOING:

PC/Thank you note for Stephanie

Which I had to take a picture of the back because I thought it was cool...

pc reply for PJM. Look! I used the Japanese newspaper!!! And yes, that is a photocopy of my hand. :)

More Japanese stuff!! For Mattea this time.

More Japanese art (not with authentic stuff from Stephanie..) This letter was for Lauren in CO. I wrote the haiku that is on the envelope. (It took forever to write since Japanese syllables are different from English ones and I don't speak Japanese..)

postcard for Christian. Watercolor pencils and sharpie.

squirrel post for Nicole. I have been experimenting with Rubber stamp carving!! And I made that squirrel stamp!! (It's kinda hard to see but it's there.)

Letter for Bethany

And a birthday card for her.

Pink mail art. I wrote the address in after. I think this went to Nicole.

More pink mail for Annie.

And some tropical mail for Megs!!

And that concludes my barrage of mail pictures.

I've noticed that I've been very into Japan and pink lately. I don't know why... I mean, Japan is understandable but even before the quakes, I was on a Japan kick. And the pink... I don't know what's up with that. I think my brain might still be stuck on Valentine's day since I didn't send enough pink mail then... Shrug. Who knows?

Over and Out,
Misha

Desperate Times=Desperate Measures

To begin, I apologize for my absence and you may rest assured that these "desperate measures" do not involve the use of illegal postage. ☺

But they do involve the mailbox shown at left.








Since I had school, I missed the mail man and wasn't able to send this:

This is a fabulous birthday envelope that I sent to Christian, three days earlier than necessary (because I'm mean like that. ^-^) So, I walked to a blue mailbox (shown above) just so I could mail this letter. It was about 15 minutes there and 15 back- not such a long walk but still. I felt really awkward because it was right in front of a law office? (I don't remember what exactly it was..) But so I'm standing in front of this mail box and I have my camera out and I'm taking a picture of it! I so would've posed with it if there had been some one to take the picture and if it wasn't on a major street...

INCOMING:

 THIS- was the most AMAZING letter ever!!! I got it a while back (a week or so ago? or three? I don't remember.) But I squealed when I saw it. I actually squealed. I held the envelope in my hands and I pranced and jumped around my parents saying, "It has monkeys and squirrels and pigeons and cheetoes and mountain dew!!!!" I was in a state of fabulous ecstasy. It. Was. Amazing. And she included a recipe for mountain dew cake! Which was awesome!

 Finally got a reply from Martina. It was loveley!! I'll admit, I kind of overlooked the mail art (being more interested in hearing what she had to say on my comments regarding happiness.) but when I realized that the newspaper was written in German? Oh yeah. It was far-out cool.

 A lovely letter from the lady at A Year of Letters Her name is Angelia and she is very nice!!

 Letter from Tara She gave me a mix CD!! It was so awesome!!! No one has ever sent me a mix CD! :) It was VERY exciting.

OUTGOING:

 Reply for Tara! She said the flower held up surprisingly well. Probably because I wrote "fragile" and "do not bend" all over the thing.

 This is the Mix CD I sent her! I'm really proud of how it turned out.

 This is my reply for Kim (who sent me the awesome squirrel mail..)

 Reply for Martina. Continuing the commentary on happiness. Her English is actually very good! We've been discussing the feeling of happiness and whether or not it is an illusion of the mind... it's been very interesting!

For Bethany.

This is a postcard I sent to a friend from NaNoWriMo. Check it out if you enjoy writing. The madness starts Monday!!! Yeehaw!! So I sent this girl, Anna, a postcard describing my favorite methods of staying awake for late nights of noveling: massive amounts of Mountain Dew and Flaming Hot Cheetoes!!!!!

Into the Wild Blue Yonder

Have you ever been...nervous to send out your mail into the world?

This went out to my friend Stephanie in Japan yesterday. I was so paranoid about it getting there, I didn't do anything too crazy with it. (But since it  so obviously lacked something--oomph, I arranged the stamps differently than I usually do.) And I am anxious for this letter to reach its destination since there are actually two letters inside!! (That's what happens when I'm deprived of an address for a month and a half or so..) Because I don't understand Japanese addresses, I wasn't sure which part to cover up when I took the picture so hopefully there aren't any Japanese creepers around. If anyone could enlighten me on the Japanese postal system, that would be awesome!!! I think it'd be interesting to see how postal systems work in other countries... hmm.

Happy Mail!!

Was not quite as busy this weekend as I might have been but no matter.

Outgoing:

A letter for my friend Nicole. (that is recycled wrapping paper that you see!!!)

A quick fold and mail to an eight-year-old in Colorado. Via Sendsomething. (I send to people from there a lot..)

Incoming:

This beautiful piece arrived in my mailbox today and I was absolutely thrilled!!! it was amazing!! Tara sent me this amazing envelope!!

The backside. It was so pretty and happy. I just stared at it at my desk for a few minutes before I opened it. In my previous letter, I mentioned that I was a little jealous of all my friends' awesome stationery (because I hadn't been much of a stationery person before as I wrote sometimes ridiculously long letters..) so Tara sent me some really cute stationery (thank you so much!!). You will be seeing it in the near future. It has some super cute owls and elephants. And I think I am asking for stationery this Christmas!!

Incoming Mail!!!

Got the loveliest, longest, most amazing TWELVE page letter from Kerri today!!!!! It was a lovely surprise!! Sadly, the mail has been a little on the slow side of late. Kerri writes some of the nicest letters! I love her!