Lord of the Rings Mail Art

My mouth completely dropped when my friend Sumi Senthi said she was going to do me a Lord of the Rings  themed mail art. I am one of the biggest Lord of the Rings fans ever!! I was so overwhelmed by how much thought went into this package and it brought a tear to my eye. I truly have been treated.

The envelope is AMAZING, depicting a map of Middle earth. Look at the wonderful stamp below, showing an illustration based on the book 'The Hobbit'.

The letter which had been stamped with a wax seal also had my name on it written in the Dwarf Runes language. Seriously cool!

Couldn't believe what I found inside the letter, not only such beautiful and elegant hand writing, but an illustration of the hidden door to the Moria Mines (you know the bit in the first film where Gandalf is trying to remember the password to open a door). I think I'm going to frame this letter.

I can't wait to have a read through this little magazine called 'Torn', which Sumi is part owner of. Look at her amazing ship illustration on the front. 

Sumi showed me a while back this amazing Nazgul origami and she has very kindly printed off the whole instructions for me. There over 100 instructions to make it, so I shall brave it one day, it looks so complicated.

Below are three hand made film stickers showing Frodo, Gandalf and Tree Beard. There also some Dwarf Runes language cut-outs, a very old film advertisement, dated 1978 and a postcard of the Franz Josef Glacier and the Alps on the Southern Island of New Zealand. I am so jealous that Sumi got to have a holiday there this year. Its my dream to visit New Zealand one day.

The Weta Workshops did everything on the film, from animation, miniature work, costumes you name it they did it. For the Torn magazine issue, Sumi illustrated wildlife from New Zealand and I got the original Weta Beetle illustration, hence which is what the workshops are named after.

 I got this super cute miniature paper gift bag, which is made from a piece of the first Lord of the Rings book and finally this AWESOME pendant with the J. R. R. Tolkien logo placed inside. Sumi is so so talented!! Thank you so much for the most EPIC mail art EVER!!!

Goodies from the last week

Book £2.60 / Map £3.60

As I said on twitter I bought a couple of things from my trip to Barter books. I still had some store credit to use so I got this beautiful book called 'The Naval Side of British History' dated 1924. There is everything mentioned from Sir Francis Drake, Henry VIII to the Spanish Armada and Nelson. I shall enjoy reading this one. I also got a lovely ordnance survey map dated 1947 of 'Raasay and Applecross' which is part of Western Scotland. 

Cigarette Silks (from my charity shop) 40p each

Tumbled Kyanite £1 / Tumbled Green Dalmatian Jasper £1

I quickly went back to the gem show on the last day (which I mentioned in this blog post here) to get some supplier details and came across these beauties.

Below you will see a giveaway I won by 'Nature's My Friend' aka Jessica Gowling, which was hosted by this lovely blog called 'A Beautiful Life' run by a lady called Liv. I am pleased to have won as I am a massive fan of Jessica's beautiful illustrations. There is a hand-print of a moose, postcard, ram hand-printed notebook, owl badges and two large stickers. Thank you so much again lovely ladies I love everything :)