INCOMING MAIL: The cutest package in the history of snailmail

The past week I have been a bit under the weather, something I thought was 'just a cold' turned out to be a jaw sinus infection, I was not feeling well at all. I suck at being sick, I can't stand just lying around and not having the energy to do anything at all. So when this FAT envelope fell into my mailbox, I was soooo incredibly happy! It was such a joy to unpack everything, every page held a little surprise. 

This snailmail folder my dear Philippine penpal Joeylyn sent me has everything I love: pink, kraft, polkadots, lace, a button, it's just gorgeous isn't it? The envelope was also super pretty!

But the best was yet to come! Look at this beauty. Can't put into words how happy this made me. Look at all the work and love that went into it. This is exactly the reason I love snailmail so much: someone on the other side of the world puts love, effort and time into creating something beautiful for someone else, selflessly! Who needs social media when you can have a hobby like this? Sorry for being so melodramatic, must be the last flu symptoms speaking ;-)

Moving on! Let me show you the pretty surprises every page held. On the first page I found a, Captain Obvious alert, cute earphone holder. Oh and take a look at the neat stitching!

The second page held some Philippine recipes, because in my previous letter to Joeylyn I mentioned cooking to be a huge hobby of mine. These dishes all sound yum, will give them a try soon! I love receiving recipes from my penpals, and I send some of my own favorites around every now and then as well. It's an easy and fun personal touch to a letter I think.

On the third page I found a nice long letter, which kept me busy during my time on the sofa sipping tea and blubbering away kilos of tissues. Love the washi and all the cute decorations.

And then the last pages held some cute stationery and goodies, I especially like the wreath stickers! I already have a little project in mind I am going to use these for.

Bonus: a closer look at the cute charm bracelet Joeylyn made me! I loved the charms she chose, I guess the most fitting was the one on the left: "Made with love". 

Well, this whole post basically is a huge THANK YOU to Joeylyn, your package definitely made my day!

Love,

Anne

OUTGOING MAIL: Handmade with love

Next to snailmail, I am a huge fan of crochet. I crocheted some larger projects, like blankets and bags, but (as many crocheters will recognize) I also have TONS of unfinished projects, piles and piles of granny squares and tiny bits and pieces I found on Pinterest and wanted to give a try. So I thought to myself, why not combine those two granny hobbies of mine and send some crochet around the world?

Oh yes, I do admit: no crochet in the picture above. But, when I was going to send some yarn in an envelope, the writing paper had to match, right? Probably the most lazy form of cross stitch in the history of embroidery, because I guess even my friend's 3-year-old could poke holes in a piece of paper and pull some colored thread through, but still! I like the effect of brightly colored thread on kraft paper.

As you can see, I did a simple cross stitch in pink, and an arrow 'pattern' in lime. I also used one of my favorite hot pink pens, it's a Pilot Choose in color 07. Go get one of these, they write like a charm and come in yummy colors.

Back to the main topic of this post: crochet. I glued a pink crochet flower to a kraft label to send as a tiny gift. Granny squares also make great envelope gifts; they're light in weight, and I have seriously never seen a granny square that didn't look cute. For this one, I used this pattern I found on Ravelry once, it looks harder than it actually is. Don't let the long text with sl st's, dc's and sc's scare you! Oh, and I made an envelope out of light blue "Made with love" paper, thought this went pretty well with the 'theme' of my letter.

And that's it! A light-weight letter with pretty accents, hope you like it! I sent this one off to my new penpal Jane, I am looking forward to her response!

Love,

Anne

OUTGOING MAIL: I'm an open book

My dear penpal Rinske loves reading, so I decided to send her a letter using scraps from an old book. It somehow physically hurts to tear pages from a book (and I don't mean paper cuts, although they hurt too, and by the way, have you ever cut your tongue licking an envelop? Ouch.), but this book is very old and by one of my least favorite dutch writers (Simon Carmiggelt), so I did sleep at night.

I think decorating writing sheets is one of my favorite parts of snailmail. I rarely buy stationery in the store anymore (unless I accidentally step into Paperchase, but I protect myself from this happening very very often). For these writing sheets, I used two sheets of plain white A4 paper, which I cut in half. I tore bits and pieces from my book, and made some fringes. And cute yellow heart stickers from one of my new favorite shops Sostrene Grene (it's a good thing this store is a three-hour drive from Rotterdam!).

Again, bits and pieces and a hole-puncher do the trick! And the yellow cuties ofcourse.

And then for some goodies to send with my letter. I cut two pieces of about 9x5 cm from old bookpages and with double-sided tape I stuck them to white cardstock. I decorated the cards with a quote about reading. For obvious reasons (instant happiness) I made a garland from bookpage scraps, using baker's twine, glue and a flower-hole puncher.

I'm back to experimenting with handlettering again, so I wrote Rinske's name in huge polkadot letters on the envelope. Also pictured: some other snailmail gifts. A sheet of the cute yellow stickers, and decorated white labels (used that flower puncher again).

It went out like this, baker's twine always does the trick doesn't it? I have a thing for bundling up everything I send before putting it in the envie.

That's it, hope you gained some inspiration! Lesson of the day: don't be afraid to tear up an old book every now and then. Oh, and stick yellow hearts everywhere. Just because.

Love,
Anne

OUTGOING MAIL: I just love my typewriter

As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently bought a typewriter. It cost me a whopping three euros, plus a new ink ribbon (which will probably last a lifetime). I decided to give my 'new' gadget a try in my letter to Mariska, and I can honestly say typewriters are addictive!

Still in love with all of the pretty patterned paper from Flying Tiger, I chose an orange sheet with cute pink hearts to type my letter on. The paper is also quite thin, which works great in a typewriter. I still have to figure some things out (especially the spacing), and I definitely need to get used to not having a backspace! Let's just say I am happy I bought correction fluid a couple of days ago.

Oh, I just love how letters written on a typewriter instantly have this retro charm about them. Finally getting the hang of it, I wanted to get a little more creative. I 'decorated' two kraft labels, which was quite a challenge. It's close to impossible to put tiny pieces of paper into a typewriter, so I used some washi to stick the labels to plain A4 paper. With a little patience (not my best quality) I managed to get this into the typewriter. I typed 'hello' repeatedly (how inspirational, right?) on one label, and the alphabet on the other. I quite like the result!

So far so good. For an extra retro feel, I selected a small postcard from the Flow Book for Paper Lovers. It physically hurts everytime I tear something out of this book. Seriously. Who else experiences this? I used the Postfabriek tutorial on how to make an envelope with a front pocket to make a pink envelope. I found out my spatial ability is not developed that well, it took my quite some time (and paper) to get it right. But I figured it out eventually, so I patted myself on the back for that afterwards. I put my letter and the decorated labels in the envelope, and the postcard in the front pocket.

Last but not least, I put the envelope in a transparent cellophane bag. The bag was a bit oversized, so I used another sheet of the pretty Flying Tiger paper as a background. Sealed the bag, put a stamp and an address label on it, and sent it off to Deventer!

Love,
Anne