INCOMING: B is for Batman

About a month ago, Ingrid and I started our ABC-snailmail project. I sent Ingrid a strawberry themed package, and a couple of days ago it was my turn to find this envelope in my very happy mailbox!

Yup, that's right! I received this super cool Batman snailmail! Such an original theme, and I just LOVE the combination of black, white and yellow.

When you follow Ingrid's blog, you will know she is the uncrowned queen of homemade stationery. Her blog bursts with great tips for making your own stationery. For this snailmail, she printed her own Batman paper for the gift envelope, and I am guessing the cool Batman sticker is homemade to. And confetti is always a good idea.

Speaking of homemade stationery and cute paper gifts, these Batman quote labels are super cool! She packed three of them in the snailmail package.

I am already contemplating my C-theme, I have got some big (Batman) shoes to fill!

Love,
Anne

FRIENDSHIP BLANKET: The start of something new

In my OUTGOING: August blogpost, I mentioned sending Louisette a granny square for her friendship blanket. I was so charmed by the idea of a friendship blanket, that I immediately felt my hands itching to start working on a friendship blanket myself. Well, 'working'...because you guys do all the work and I have an awesome puzzle once I collected enough grannies for a blanket.

So two weeks ago I posted a picture on Instagram of the gorgeous granny square Louisette sent me back as a thank you, asking people for participating in my very own friendship blanket. And seriously you guys: I have been overwhelmed by the response of people I don't actually know in real life, but just through letters or the internet. It's just heartwarming, I have no other words for it.

A combination of crochet and snailmail: what is not to love? I am going to post about my friendship blanket progress on my blog every now and then, and I decided to post a small granny square request here as well: 

Dear, dear reader of my blog, are you a lover of crochet and snailmail, and would you like to contribute to my friendship blanket? Please contact me at 365daysofsnailmail [at] gmail.com or through Instagram. I prefer cotton grannies (this will make it easier to join them eventually), but other than that I have no special wishes. Go crazy with colors and patterns, I am looking forward to receive your creative outbursts in my mailbox!

And obviously, you will receive a granny square back :-)

Love,

Anne

INSPIRATION: 3x flipbook

The past few weeks were all about flipbooks! I have actually made three of them, all very different but all very (if I might say so) lovable. Prepare for a picture overload...

These cute booklets are the best for using up scraps from other crafty projects, for these three booklets just to sum up a few I have used scraps of cardboard, patterned paper, doilies, wallpaper samples, yarn and plastic bags from stickers and postcards. One might think my craft desk is one crazily cleaned up place right now, but unfortunately nothing is less true.

Anyway, the first booklet I made went to Mariska. Probably the most colorful one, I have used so many different kinds of patterns!

And some pictures of the inside, a booklet filled with small cards and bags, paper goodies and of course my letter to Mariska.

The booklet I sent to Vikkie in Norway was kind of vintage/brocante style. Not really my 'signature style' but I loved to play with it for a bit.

A peek inside: lots of different flower patterns, shades of pink and gold.

My booklet for Rinske is a mix of this snailmail folder I made last year, and a flipbook. Bright pink and mint green, always a winning combination (and my favorite!), paired with some bright hints of yellow and gold.

As you can see, by making a folder I could stick my letter and some paper goodies inside the booklet, and for the 'flip effect' I simply used a small patterned paper bag and some washi.

Bonus: on my Instagram you will find the flipbooks in 'live action'. Please do tag me in your pictures if you decide to make a booklet like this yourself, I would love to see all of your creations!

Love,
Anne

OUTGOING: August

August was a good month for snailmail. First of all, I started writing with four new penpals, which is so much fun! I love getting to know some new awesome people from across the globe (some close, some very very far away) through letter writing. Secondly: SUMMERTIME! I wrote a lot of letters outside (preferably sipping some Sauvignon Blanc, just because). Every now and then I received some curious stares from our neighbours, still not sure if those were about the amounts of washi or the amounts of white wine. And, best of all: I started blogging again. I have absolutely no idea how often I will start posting, but fact is I missed blogging and taking pictures of the beautiful letters I receive. My intention is to at least try to post a recap of incoming and outgoing mail every month, and the post you are reading right now is a good start!

Vikkie

Ok, to be honest: this one was sent on July 27th :-) My first letter to my new penpal Vikkie from Norway! I went a little crazy with the washi tape and used some nice patterned Flying Tiger paper, always a winner.

Strawberries

My new penpal Ingrid received the first letter of our abc-snailmail project: A for Aardbeien (the dutch word for strawberries). If you'd like to have a closer look, check the whole thing out here. I am looking forward to her B-themed letter already!

Friendship blanket
One of my Instagramfriends Louisette (check out her Instagram, her pictures are adorable!) is making a friendship blanket. She is collecting granny squares people send her, and I decided to join in. Such a fun and creative project! I am considering to start making a friendship blanket myself, I absolutely love the idea! If you would like to send me a granny square, please let me know!

Could not send this without a nice note obviously, so I made her a simple card as well. I am already looking forward to see Louisette's finished blanket!

What did you send last month?

Love,
Anne

OUTGOING: Strawberries

Last month I started writing with Ingrid, whose awesome blog I have been following for ages. We decided to start an abc-snailmail project, which basically means we send eachother themed snailmail following the letters of the alphabet. So, I kicked off the project with the letter A, then Ingrid sends something back with a theme that starts with a B, etcetera. Such an easy idea, but it boosts your creativity like crazy!

Picking a theme with the letter A was easypeasy: the dutch word for strawberries is "aardbeien", my fav summer fruit, so strawberries it was! I was looking forward to trying some new things and materials, let me take you through some pictures of the mini-package I sent her.

Let's start with an overview of my strawberry mail. I like making my own writing sheets, using various kinds of decoration. For this snailmail, I kept it simple with some red and green watercolor and a black fineliner: hello strawberry stationery. Tied together with my all time favorite baker's twine. I also made Ingrid a blank strawberry postcard. I used some scraps of kraft paper and small dots of glue to create a 'weave'-pattern, and on top of that I glued some mini strawberries cut from paper. And then for the red mystery package at the bottom...

...this strawberry garland was inside! These days most of my letters seem to include some kind of crochet project, I can't emphasize how much I love crochet. I cut some strawberries from red paper. Well, at first they looked like a three-year-old's attempt of cutting hearts, but once I drew tiny seeds on them and crocheted the garland and crowns the red shapes started to look like strawberries ;-)

My masterpiece! I made a felt strawberry envelope! I was super excited about this, since it pretty much turned out like the picture in my head. Take into account this was my first time using felt, I gave myself a small pat on the back. It took quite some time to stitch it all together (how do other people make this seem so easy?), but I discovered two major benefits of felt as an envelope: 1) it's super light! So no worries about sending heavy creative snailmail. This whole package, including letter and bits and pieces weighed 42 grams. And 2) it survived its journey very well. Ingrid already wrote a blogpost about it, the envelope made it in one piece.

Now let's all dig into the last strawberries of this summer, enjoy!

Love,
Anne