envelope for AJ

It's weird: my technique for decorating envelopes has not evolved one iota since making envelopes for my pen pals when I was a little kid. Just as chaotic, just as nonsensical. The only thing that's changed is I have more rubber stamps than I did then—more stamps period!

The leaves are from an exuberant Japanese (laceleaf) maple out front of our house: when lit by the sun, they're such a vivid wine red, they practically glow. It amazes me the leaves are that color all year long, but then my husband is the botanist, not me.

The map is of the North Polar regions: you can see the North Pole just over AJ's name on the front of the envelope. The beige-colored stars and other shapes are actually metallic gold, with a tiny texture—courtesy of Danielle, who didn't warn me about how hard that thin foil is to work with once you've removed it from the backing! =laugh=