Sometimes I feel as if I need an art journal for everything I do! Well, at least everything I want to remember or keepsake.

Over the last year or so, as I received more and more happy mail, in the form of envelopes stuffed with ephemera goodness, it became increasingly apparent I needed some organization. So, as I shuffled my treasures from basket to box to larger box, I began feeling a bit like a hoarder! Also, I realized that these were gifted  to me to use and have fun with, and that they have a very special meaning to me. The only idea I could come up with was to use them in my mail art, but that would mean sending them off. So, when I had my Aha! moment the other day to use them in a mail art journal, I couldn’t wait to get started. As you will see…

…you may remember this photo from the other day. I chose the one with the owl on it to start.

This is the first page I did. I worked on it later that day. Being Valentine’s Day, I ran with it. It’s a bit on the busy side, but I was a little excited!

There were a few pages done in this journal, so I just restructured them a bit, added my gifted ephemera, and ink stamped here and there.

This journal is filled with lots of wonderful illustrations and images that I would prefer not to cover, so there’s the occasional scrapbook paper work around.

Another page re-do. I’m getting a “retro vacay” feeling from this one. Although, I rarely dress to the nines anymore, let alone on vacation!

I had put together some pages with places to journal on. This page has enough to say, so I just decorated over it.

Again, I rarely dress to the nines when cleaning my bathroom anymore!

One of my favorite pages right now! This is an envelope I received from my dear friend Iryna quite a while ago. It is perfect for storing handwritten letters in, it has kind of a vacation travel feel to it that I love! (Hmmm…that vacation word again!)

Last year, I had put together some small binders to keep my artist post cards and some of my gifted ephemera in, I can’t tell you how much I love having a permanent place for my letters too!

I hope to write about my happy mail ephemera organization sometime soon. I’m afraid it’s not too terribly exciting, but you may find it useful.

Till then,

Thanks for the visit,

Have a great week,

~Patty