Mailable Meat, Grilled to Postal Perfection

Tell dad "WELL DONE" this Father's Day with a (fake) t-bone steak in the mail. All you need are a few simple craft supplies and less than $3.00 in stamps to create a "RARE" but memorable surprise.

For the simple, step-by-step, mailable steak tutorial, head over to SheKnows.com.

Gingerbread Man Postcard

Dear Santa Claus -
I've been a very good girl this year. Please bring me some new cookie cutters for Christmas.

Love - Sandra

Deliver an extra-sweet holiday "hello" by making and mailing a gingerbread man (or woman) postcard. It looks so realistic, your mail carrier might even try to take a bite out of this creative Christmas card cookie.

You'll find the complete, how-to-holiday tutorial at SheKnows.

Postal Pecha Kucha

I'm doing my 3rd Pecha Kucha presentation on Friday at the Wichita Art Museum's ongoing series: Art Chatter. 

Whattheheck is Pecha Kucha you ask? It's a presentation methodology in which 20 slides are shown for 20 seconds each - allowing the speaker 6 minutes and 40 seconds to present their topic.

My topic this time: Crazy Stuff I've Mailed

The cash bar opens at 6:00 p.m. (I'll be there, getting my liquid-courage on.) I believe the "chatter" starts around 6:45. I'm one of six other presenters, so come join us. Admission is free, and it should be a good time. 

Mailbox Burrito

Last year, I made a fake slice of cheesecake and mailed it to my youngest brother, Kurt, for his birthday. It turned out so awesome, I didn't think I could come up with anything nearly as cool for his birthday "card" this year.

But then I remembered how much he loves Chipotle burritos. 

Hummm... could I do it? Could I make a fake Chipotle burrito and mail it?

Yep. Turns out, I can. 

I took it to the post office and they told me it would cost $2.90 to mail, so I put three $1.00 stamps on it. My brother said it arrived "$1.00 Postage Due." Dang. Sorry 'bout that, Kurt. I think one of the stamps must have fallen off in transport.

Here's a list of my "ingredients" and a few step-by-step photos. (I'm not an expert, folks. I'm sure there's probably a better way to make one of these. But for this experiment, it worked fine.) 

Upholstery foam (hot-glued into a burrito shape)

Color printout of a tortilla shell (spray-glued onto the upholstery foam)

Aluminum sheet metal tape (wraps around the burrito to be "tin foil")

Dry black beans

Dry risotto rice (it's whiter than normal, uncooked rice)

Corn nuts (I painted mine yellow to look more like real corn)

Green paint (for the "guacamole")

Tan-colored Model Magic (sculpted to look like pieces of cooked chicken)

Red and orange foam pool noodles (cut up to look like salsa chunks)

Clear silicon (to cover all the ingredients and keep them secured in place)

Roll up a thin sheet of foam.

Hot glue it into a burrito shape and round the corners with scissors.

Print out an image of a flour tortilla shell and spray glue it to the foam.

Cut, shape and gather your dry ingredients.

Hot glue dry ingredients to the top of the burrito. (I used a cup to hold mine upright.)

Seal dry ingredients with clear silicon glue. Let it dry upright for a few days.

Wrap burrito with aluminum sheet metal tape.

Saying "Hi" with Pie

I mailed 85 slices of fake pumpkin pie this week to family & friends. The annual Denneler Family letter took the form of mailable pie this year. Sometimes, when I get an idea for a project, I become completely obsessed with it until I've executed it. That would be the case here. I started on them in early August and completed them a few weeks ago. 

Carpel tunnel be damned! I was going to mail pumpkin pie if it killed me. 

I hear they've been a hit with many mail carriers. One of my friends even pranked his wife by putting their slice on a plate, covering it with Saran Wrap, and leaving it in the fridge for her to find. (Imagine her disappointment when she discovered it was made of upholstery foam, cardboard and wall caulking.)

Happy Fall y'all.... Hope you enjoy every last bite of 2012!

p.s.
Wanna make one (or 85) for yourself? Here's my simple tutorial on SheKnows.com. 

I love mailing weird stuff.

Looks real, doesn't it?

Lots of pie drying on our spare bed in the basement.

Piles of pie on my kitchen table, ready to mail.

Cherry Cheesefake

My youngest brother, Kurt, has a birthday on September 11th. So I mailed him a fake slice of his favorite dessert: cherry cheesecake.

Ingredients include: cardboard, upholstery foam, ivory paint, tan caulk, red Crayola Model Magic, clear silicone glue and some red food coloring.

I'm happy to report that it only took the post office 2 days to deliver this slice (compared to the 5 days it took my brother, Ken, to get his apple pie.)

Hope your birthday is deliciously fun, Kurt!

A Mailable Mum for Mom

Forty years later, and I'm still hand-making gifts for my mom on Mother's Day. (I bet she wishes I'd quit already. Ha.)


A few weeks ago I saw a tutorial for these awesome, felt, flower brooches, and I thought to myself "I bet you could just make those really big and mail them like a postcard."


Sure enough. You can. And it only took five stamps to mail it. 


I made two of them - one for my mom and one for my mother-in-law. Originally, I was just going to write a message on the postcard side. But then I decided I wanted to send them both a gift card for flowers too. So I attached these tiny envelopes to the back and put my message and gift card inside for safe delivery.


I'd like to get something like this in the mail, wouldn't you?


Moms like flowers - even mailable ones. 

I cut the petals slightly different on the pink one. They're rounder. More like a dahlia. The blue one looks kinda like a sunflower, I think.

I found some cool scrapbook papers for the back/postcard side.

I attached a small envelope to the back so I could send my mom a gift card.