INSPIRATION: the elevated envelope

By now everyone has received their "elevated envelope" from Tulaloo, so I can finally share it with you! The theme for the project was "summer", and we were instructed to get off the computer and work with our hands as much as possible. I spent quite awhile thinking about what summer means to me. It means warmth and sunshine and growth and a slower pace. For a long while I considered doing something about camping and hiking (a favorite summer activity for my family) or Maine (our most favorite vacation spot). But ultimately I chose to center the design around live music.

Summer has long meant live music for me. My dad is a musician, and when I was little we spent many summer weekends at bluegrass festivals while he played. Since then I have always tried to fit in shows and festivals as often as possible. Live music is always a nice experience, but there is something wonderful about an outdoor concert in the summer - even if it is just the weekly community concerts on the town green. I tried to capture a bit of that feeling in my envelope design.

Now technically, all the envelopes were supposed to be exactly the same, but I cheated a bit. I started each with a line drawing of an instrument, but after the first four mandolins I was itching for something different. So there are a couple of banjos and guitars as well. After penciling in the addresses, I indulged in some themed doodling. Again, none of the envelopes are the same, but they follow the same general concept. They each have vines and flowers climbing all over the place, most have some sort of sunburst in the background and they all have bright, happy summery colors.

Each of the envelopes is lined with a bright color, and holds a CD with a sampling of some of the music I've been lucky enought to hear live in the past 12 months. I fashioned a protective pocket out of scrap cardboard and wrapped it with a green vellum band printed with an explanation of my design. Hopefully at least some of my recipients will find a few tracks on the CD they like, and discover a new artist to listen to. The track list, for those interested:

The Elevated Envelope ~ The Soundtrack (corny, I know)

"Heart in a Cage" ~ Chris Thile

"Barton Hollow" ~ The Civil Wars

"For Good Again" ~ The Devil Makes Three

"Apothecary Love" ~ The Low Anthem

"Dirty Dishes" ~ Deer Tick

"Victory" ~ Trampled By Turtles

"Love is All I Am" ~ Dawes

"Paper Airplane" ~ Alison Krauss and Union Station

"Lover of the Light" ~ Mumford and Sons

"Why Don't You Do Right" ~ Carolina Chocolate Drops

"November Blues" ~ The Avett Brothers *

"Run Chicken Run" ~ The Felice Brothers

"Yes, Maria Yes" ~ David Wax Museum

"Lost In My Mind" ~ The Head and the Heart

"Whisky River" ~ Willie Nelson

*I actually haven't seen Avett Bros live. Yet. But I have big plans to go see them in September so I jumped the gun and included them on the CD.