Craft Barn's Penultimate Letter: M

Here we are at the next to the last, or as I prefer to say, penultimate fortnight, of the Craft Barn alpha dictionary letters.  This letter is M and there is no twist.  I'm hoping there's no twist next time, because I already have my final letter planned.

I had so many things I wanted to include this time, I needed both pages.  Of course, with the book larger (both wider and longer) than my scanner, I got the essentials only in the full spread scan.

Here is the complete left side.



Since it's all in the details, here is the required dictionary definition.  Wimpy, but to the point!

This little guy was so cute, I had to include this envelope and all its stars.   And because the stars matched the air mail gummed stickers I had that we in the states haven't used since forever (I got these in a trade), I had to use them.

Of course, all good mailmen make sure the stamps have post marks before they are delivered.

I think when this image, found in an old book, was popular, postal carriers were probably called mail carriers, or chauvinistically "mailmen."  But today, there are as many female carriers as there are male carriers.  And my carriers don't use whistles, either.

I tried to turn this into a tape transfer, but I got a bit too carried away in places like his face and cap, and not enough in his lower half.  Of course, the fact I chose a white background for part of the image didn't help, either.

This envelope was in with my Christmas envelopes and cards, so I used it.  The stars above the Christmas envelope are on the back flap of the cute dog envelope, and I just had to use it, along with one of the US star stamps.

For the right side of the page,

I tried to find as many international stamps as I could to show this girl and dove had been around the world.  Of course, I have all my wonderful international mixed media friends who send envelopes with stamps instead of metered mail to thank for these beauties.

I received this darling little envelope (and card seen on the left side) from a dear friend.  It was the perfect size for the bit of space I needed to cover the book background and paid homage to my dear friend.  It also holds the alpha letter, which, although apparently NOT mandatory, I've used throughout.

I had to find a way to save the flap on this envelope, so grabbed some washi tape that uses both airplanes and postage stamps.

One final look at my chosen word, MAILMAN.

Thanks a million for joining me today.  In case we get wrapped up in saying good-bye next time, I want to thank both Jane and Mickie at the Craft Barn for their support this year.  I've met many new artists and renewed several old friendships from when I played in 2014 (quotes and/or lyrics).  I've really, really enjoyed this challenge, and the twice monthly timetable was the perfect amount of time I needed to find the alpha word and illustrate it.  Again, I'm grateful to any and everyone who visits.