Hugabugga

This year everyone seems so stressed or depressed, I decided to do something little I could tuck into an envelope and send to my friends here in the States. Because I had all the raw materials, including some truly fabulously strange anthropomorphic animal stickers, it was easy to decide on bookmarks. And away into craft-land I went, a wonderful escape from the wider world around. I love the world, but man, politics has been a lot. Having it fade away while I washi-taped my way into bliss was lovely. I like how when I do a project like this, I’ll end up thinking about the people its for as I go… its like an active meditation of love and friendship, a gift to myself, in the end, as much as anyone else.

Right now, in this current climate, with all the horrors that are happening, it is easy to feel selfish in joy, or something “frivolous” (who decides what that is, on what authority, hmmm?) — like, because the world is suffering, we have to, too— we cannot have joy, instead we must do penance, or something. But I’d like to remind you, gentle reader, that your misery won’t make others misery lessen, it will only eat at your heart and make it harder to help others who need it. When you engage in joy, when you cultivate it in your heart, you can later draw strength in it, or give it to someone else. A smile is a powerful gift, and that comes from the heart. Taking time for joy is more needed now than ever—

So in this manner, with these musings on love and action, joy and the wider world running through my head, my people coming to mind as I messed about with stickers and sharpies, the evening moved along and I ended up with a nice pile of bookmarks. Over the next few days I wrote brief notes to people I love, stuck them in envelopes, and off to the world they went, via the trusty USPS. I do love our postal system-having lived overseas without one, I can tell you, we’ve got it good. And— bonus: I had a bunch of the Keith Haring love stamps! Which just so happened to match my bookmarks perfectly. I wasn’t trying to channel Haring- but you know, he’s really just got the corner of the market on hearts with little lines around them, they’re iconic for his work, it’s a fact. What’s a girl to do?

So, of course I had to include The Crew in the bounty!

Although I rarely get anything out on time, I‘ll often center little packets for The Crew around a holiday or theme. I’ll get the idea, start collecting art and photos, have those printed, collect stickers, maybe a post card will be involved, a hair ribbon, a friendship bracelet, a themed notebook… the choices are many. I try to make them visually interesting, cheerful, varied. I usually like to do a Valentine’s Day Packet because I like the holiday. It may be true that our holidays are commercialized to hell and back, but having a holiday just for love, to remind us to tell the people around us that they are cared for, thats right up my alley. Bring it on.

Heres some pics of what was sent- no two book marks were the same. I wasn’t feeling the frilly love, so the photos in the girls packets were not super themed, just a vibe. I did get lucky with some puffy stickers for super cheap, though. They really rounded out the packet. Sadly Compassion International has ended ALL physical mail, so I couldn’t send my Compassion Buddies anything, but of course I emailed them and included the artwork/prints I’d sent to my art chic crew.

Interestingly enough, when I went hunting for an image of the Keith Haring stamp, I found some super cool pics of artwork people had done for a contest the USPS had. How fun!

It was good to do this little project. People enjoyed getting them, and a few didn’t respond which prompted me to check in, never a bad idea. In about 6 weeks I’ll start getting the first photos back from the packets for The Crew— we’ll see how it goes! I think the art envelope contest is a great starting place to introduce my art chics to Harings work, so that’ll happen eventually as well. Time to start printing out those pics!