Elevated Envelope Project

First of all – a proud announcement – this is the 100th post here at the Little Green Box! I’m far for being the most dedicated blogger (though I should be), yet, I’m quite happy and proud of getting this far and wanting more! Thank you all so much for the support in your comments and e-mails, I’ve learned a lot about the blogging world and about myself – all thanks to you.

This week I want to present a most amazing project I took part in – The Elevated Envelope. You can read all about it here, at the Ephemera blog, by Tara Bliven.
Basically, it means you receive a list of creative people from around the world, and you mail them. REAL mail, with stamps and all ;). The main focus is actually the envelope itself, not the contents. You can make anything at all, and basically “bring it”, getting your creative juices going. You’ll be receiving envelopes from the rest of the people in your group, that way you all get to exchange artsy gifts, on a small scale.
In my list I had some new pen-pals from the US, Canada, Greece, Japan, Germany and the UK. I can’t tell you how exciting it is to open the mailbox and find a hand-painted envelope inside, addressed to you!

After much thought I decided to illustrate my envelopes. I haven’t been drawing for a long time now, it seemed like a wonderful excuse :).
The topic we all got as an inspiration for the summer exchange was the word “Sweet”. The first thing that came to my mind was “summer popsicles”. Israel is SOOOO sticky and steamy this time of year, so what’s more appropriate than a cool popsicle?
This was a chance for me to give my pen-pals a tiny peek of Israel, so for each envelope I chose a different location around the city of Tel Aviv, and illustrated a scene showing someone eating a dripping popsicle. Inside the envelopes I placed small notes on which I wrote a few words about that specific location and added a little gift from me – a popsicle-themed paper bookmark.

Here’s a look at the illustrations, before I folded them into envelopes:

And here they all are, addressed and ready to be sent:

These are the orange cards I made for writing the descriptions of the chosen locations, and the cute popsicle bookmarks.

Have a great week!

ShirA