Regular Mail

Two colorful birthday cards, a sympathy card and a thank you note.

Hi

Just wanted to say I have not left town nor disappeared. My baby girl Luna died last night. She'd been declining so I was focusing on her care and haven't done much with mail.  I'll be back at it shortly.

I am now without either of my Gray Dogs.

Thank you for your patience.

Valentine Weekend

I spent my weekend lazing around.  I feel like I'm coming down with something. I've been slowly working on my mail mess.  I thought this would be a good weekend to get some mail backed up for the week ahead as part of LetterMo. I also thought it would be a good weekend to write out my Valentine's. Two years ago or so I stocked up on them and then never sent them out. Aside from just generally not writing for all the reasons I mentioned earlier, I find that one of my biggest problems is I'm too precious about my mail stock. For one reason or another I'm "saving" things that I love for some other person or some other time. Just like they say about fancy clothing being saved for a "special occasion". Every day is a special day. Wear the darn dress. So I'm using my postage and sending my stock.

I got an entire sheet of this dino postage that I never broke in to when the postcard rate was .32.  I was going to use them for my Toy Story postcards. Sadly, I'm not sending mail to that person any more, so I'm using the stamps anyway.

Also went through and used all of my old postcard stamps, I had 2 polar bears left and several apples. I wasn't saving them for anything, I was just not consistent about using up sheets. 

A few years ago I got these from Emilie over here now but formally Winnie's Girl. I forget if she had an Etsy shop or not, but I loved these and she was selling them so I bought 20. She did that drawing herself. 

And these things are super retro-cute, are they not? They have three different designs that have this perforated edge, I think they only had one when I bought these. You can check this design out here and then poke around. They are $10 and totally worth it. Now I wish I had all three :-) I even put the stamp off to the side so the recipients could see the little sketch of where the stamp goes.

This cupcake is a little Hallmark 8 pack I had picked up, I don't even remember where. Possibly the Target dollar bins a few years ago.

Some more old postage. That PS Write Soon set came from the one and only Missive Maven and her Etsy Shop. I used them all up finally, been sitting on those since 2012. Shameful.

Can we talk about how much I love these weathervane stamps? I only have about 4 or so left now, and I'm sad about it. There are surprisingly few on eBay. The problem I ran in to was that I only had three 10 cent makeup stamps. I need more makeup postage. I'll also need to buy more of these weathervane stamps.

Also finally using my cloud series of stamps. This was the other card, they go in the white envelope. Another Hallmark 8 pack I bought along with the cupcakes.

LetterMo 2015

I saw this going around on Twitter and I thought "That's a good goal! I should do it!" So I got something in the mail today and you know what happened? The mailman did not come! But the postcard is still in the box so I am hoping that counts. I hope the mailman comes tomorrow. We had some more snow today but I had cleared the walk so I don't know what happened.

Are you all participating? Anyone want mail from me?

My assistant...

She sleeps on the job but I don't mind, I like the company. Right at my feet under the desk.

My 2nd Wooden Postcard

Sent out my second wooden postcard on January 28th to a friend in the Fall River area. He's not expecting any mail, which always makes it more fun. He had moved, so I didn't have his new address but then he sent me a Christmas card.

I only have one wooden postcard left, who will be the lucky recipient?!

Touchnote App

Hi Everyone! Have you heard of this app? I didn't realize they had more than an app until I tried to find a link or information to post, but they have a real website, too. Website is here.

I can't take credit for finding it, boyfriend found it and used it while he was on vacation to send some postcards. You use your own photos, from your cell phone or your computer, upload them along with a note or an address and then voila, a postcard arrives to the recipient.

If you've not received one, or seen one that you've sent, the are nice, heavy duty cards. They come laminated and are very sturdy. It costs $1.99 to send a postcard, which is all I've ever sent. I buy a package of 6 credits for $9.95 which brings the price per card down to $1.66.

Front of a card I received, I didn't realize the border was optional (see below).

This is what the back of a card looks like. When you send it directly from your phone, it adds in a location and date stamp, which I love.

Home screen of the app. I actually sent a postcard with my face on it. 

This is what is looks like when you start a postcard. You can pick from some pre-fab things, they list those first. You can scroll down for your most recent photos or use the arrow to head to your phone albums.

Once you pick an image you can change the layout or add a caption to the front of the card.

This is where I learned that the white border is optional. These are all of the designs. I love that you can make a collage.

This is where you add the message and the address. You can make an address book in the app so you can just tap a name.

Then it keeps a log of all of the cards you've sent. When you tap on a card it will flip over so you can see the back. You can also re-send any postcard you've ever made, which is awesome. You can update the message and send the same card you designed to more than one person.

My Favorite Post Card

You guys! Check out what came in the mail for me on January 15th.

From PostCrossing user Fairy11 (a very active PostCrosser!) Can I just tell you, my face hurt from smiling at it. This made me so very, very happy. When I joined PostCrossing two years ago I hoped and hoped that I would be able to get some postcards from Germany with weimaraners on them. This is the first one. It's the first postcard I've ever seen, much less received, with a weimaraner on it. It says on the back "frame me or mail me". Here is the link to it.

I love it. I have it staring at me at my desk.

Latest Postcrossing Outgoing & NO MAIL DAY

Hi Everyone! These are the cards I've sent out recently.  I still have one out there traveling 21 days now... not sure what the delay is. Basically as one outgoing is registered I send out another.  Slow going! Is that what you all do? I'm wondering if I should wait until more get registered and then I can feel like I'm sending a chunk. I'm currently capped at 8 outgoing. 4 more cards registered and I'll be up to 9.

My little melodrama about what kind of postcards was resolved courtesy of Tara aka Taradactyl. She can be found here and here (her whole website is awesome). She used to live in Rhode Island, which makes her extra awesome.

Anyway, she said I was overthinking it. Then she offered to send me all of her Rhode Island leftover postcards. Um, yes! So my new PostCrossing motto is "you get what you get and you don't get upset". Like a 1950's kitchen.

Finally, we had a blizzard today, starting last night, and mail was canceled for today! My brother said they would have been fine, but I think it was nice for the men & women of the postal service to get to stay home if they could.

Letter Writing in the News

In the spirit of getting back into letter writing and more consistent blogging, I'm going to try to keep up with the Quotes on Letter Writing and Letter Writing in the News.

On January 11th, the Huffington Post put up an article called "9 Reasons Not To Abandon The Art Of The Handwritten Letter".

This was my favorite part: "Long after they are written and sent (and even after their senders and receivers are gone), letters and postcards remain to be read, appreciated and preserved. Whether displayed on museum shelves honoring famous historical figures or saved in a scrapbook between two old friends, letters protect the memories of lives lived in a way that technological communication cannot. They are tangible, personal and real, in every sense of the word." 

Check out the article in its entirety here.

Latest Postcrossing Cards & A New Place to Shop

I don't know if y'all are aware, but it is pretty difficult to find Rhode Island postcards outside of Newport, especially the Stephanie Izzo ones that I like. I used to be able to get a big selection of them at my local Borders Books, but that is obviously gone now. Then I was finding them at a souvenir shop near me but the hours are terrible and if the business owner has a slow day, they shut the store down prior to the posted closing. But they have a pretty good selection. I found some cartoon-y postcards at another shop that sells all kinds of RI miniatures. Fortunately a new, larger and nicer souvenir shop has opened up not two minutes past the other shop.  I had a nice chat with the owner and I'm hoping they will bring in some more variety of post cards (they only had six out. SIX!). You know, for me and my Postcrossing friends :-)

My 1st Wooden Postcard

In September Boyfriend went to the Night Sky Festival at Acadia National Park.  We were supposed to go together but canine and work circumstances canceled my vacation plans.

Anyway, I do love this place, and I especially love the popovers at Jordan Pond House.  I enjoyed them several times at our camping trip to Acadia in the summer of 2013.  Since then, Jordan Pond House has changed hands with a lot of controversy.  I don't know if they will be the same or not, but I'm glad I got to enjoy them as the originals they were.

Some of the souvenirs that Boyfriend brought me were a trio of these wooden postcards.  I didn't think I'd send them but then I realized I shouldn't be so precious about my mail.  Mail is meant to be sent. Stationery not stationary, as the saying goes.  So Jessica said she liked to get mail (I sent her a card a week or so ago that I did not photograph with some vintage postage courtesy of Missive Maven and her Etsy Shop). So I thought Jessica would be the perfect 1st recipient of a Wooden Postcard, the 1st I've ever sent. Birch Postcards need a 1st Class Mail Stamp.

I just spent how much?

I went to Target tonight to pick up some birthday cards for some coworkers.  I almost exclusively buy Papyrus cards but I forget how much they cost in quantity.  There used to be a Papyrus store near me, but it closed.  Now the closest one is in the Providence Place Mall and I hate going to that mall, so I buy at Target.  Tonight's total for 5 cards was $41.  OUCH.

I tried to get fancy with my addressing, but my calligraphy skills are now officially classifiable as heinous.  I used some calligraphy markers that I had picked up a few weeks back for my Santa Mail project.  They did not like the Papyrus envelopes at all.

Anyway, these are the fancy cards. One card not shown because it's for my coworkers to sign as a group for the boss.  The ones below will all be mailed.

Let's Talk Postcards, Shall We?

I have way too many postcards.  I have The Art of Toy Story (box of 100), The Art of Pixar (box of 100) and last but not least I have the Pantone postcards (box of 100).

The only set I've really put a dent in is the Pantone box, I'm maybe 1/3 of the way through it.

For Postcrossing, I always try to send "local" cards (sent gallery here). I don't have a varied enough collection to meet what people on Postcrossing ask for and honestly I feel bad sending children's postcards to adults.

Lastly, I just bought these stunning beauties.  The Secret Garden book of 20 Postcards by Johanna Basford. 

I don't know what y'all do in your non-mailing time, but apparently "coloring for adults" is a thing. A friend of mine, whom I met taking a photography class, started posting photos of something she was coloring on Facebook.  I asked her what the heck it was and it was this book: Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book. Well, then I was off and running. I drove to Barnes & Noble.  They were all out.  I checked Amazon, they were all out. I researched and then purchased "artist grade" coloring pencils. And when I was buying the colored pencils and I saw this lady made postcards, I bought them, obviously.

Specifically I thought my Aunt would love them because she is such a fan of gardening. I don't know that I would send them to strangers after coloring them, and I don't know if they would count as "home made postcards" on Postcrossing.

How do you all decide what to send to whom? Am I just over-thinking it?

And who wants to color with me?