Saturday Special: Blizzard Post Card Party

Saturday, February 9th, 2013, after spending the majority of the day shoveling out my house, I collapsed into bed and felt guilty.  I could do more laundry, I could clean my room, or I could work on some more mail.  I decided to get to the post cards I had been meaning to mail and put everything else off, since the mail didn't require me to be vertical.

This card went to my virtual friend Sara, of Box of Joy fame.  I bought all of the wolf post cards at the Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center during my visit to Auntie Pat in September.

This awesome card is going to my cousin Sam, who lives in Hawaii.  I got this at the Letter Writing Social I went to and I have been saving it specifically for her.  This is from HI: 30 Postcards from Chronicle Books.

This post card is going to Hailey and is one of two Grand Canyon cars that Boyfriend brought back from his trip to California.

Two of these went out, one for Hailey and one for Preston.  I bought this on my trip to Acadia National Park.  Saw those Porcupine Islands myself.

Sent Hailey and Preston each one of these as well.

This one went to Hailey.

Preston got the second Grand Canyon card.

This is another post card I scored at the Letter Writing Social.  I sent this to my Auntie Pat, who lives there.  I thought she would be amused.

This one went to Kathy.

This went to Preston.

Another card from the Social, I sent this to my Aunt Michelle.

I sent this to my friend Nick.

And below are some photos of the postage I used for the cards.

Letters from Santa

This will be the last post on Christmas anything for 2012, I promise.  I wanted to post some more detailed photos of the Santa Mail and I also have some pics of my Christmas Card Envelopes.

This is one of the letters from my future-sister-in-law's students.  Jen was kind enough to decode them for me.

The top half.

This letter was mailed to me from Hailey. She thought she was sending it to Santa and she included her address on the bottom, just in case!

This weekend I did eight letters from Santa.  I did three for my family and 5 for my friends.  I wasn't satisfied with just making them for my family so I pestered people on Facebook until some people took me up on my offer.

This is the display with undecorated envelopes.  As I mentioned in a previous post, the paper is a shimmering gold from Staples called Buttercream and the a shimmering silver also from Staples.  The envelopes are white and cream resume envelopes I already had. 

This is the decorated array.

I put the white envelopes with the silver paper and used it for the girls.  The trim is silver and red, stamped twice.

I use the buttercream and ivory for the boys, stamped in gold and green trim.

I feel like I should know this, but I think the waves of the postmark should be going the other way, right?

This is the very first letter from Santa to Trevor, who was born on Monday, 12/10/12.  This letter is more for Preston's benefit, who is his big brother.  I thought it would only be appropriate for them to both be receiving mail from Santa.

This is a silver letter for Sylvia, who is the daughter of my favorite masseuse.  I don't get to see her {my masseuse} very often, but she is the only person I will see when I want a massage!  She sent me an email with what Sylvia asked for for Christmas and included that she always has Santa encourage her to eat new foods.

I don't think I mentioned it before, but the font in the letters and on the envelopes is called the King & Queen font.

The back of the envelopes from Santa.

Lastly, to feel like I am getting my money's worth out of the stamp sets, I used them to decorate my Christmas Card envelopes.  I printed the addresses on with my computer using a font called 1942 Report.

This is the stack of outgoing cards.  There are a few addressed to my pen pals in there!

Santa Mail 2

This is what the Santa Mail looks like. These are the first two letters to Hailey.

Santa Mail

OK mail friends, I am geeking out!

We all love mail, right?  Right.  So as a mail fan, I promote that among the littlest in my family by sending them mail {see Preston & Hailey}.

Last year, the LWA posted some Santa Letterhead.  It's awesome and it's here.  I immediately thought to myself "What if that creepy Elf on the Shelf person delivered mail from Santa?!"

So last year Preston received one or two letters that magically appeared overnight from Santa's personal Postal Worker.

Now that it's December, I wanted to get started on the Santa Mail so they can both get several letters, so I text Preston's mom and Hailey's mom and I ask for notables from the year / recent good behavior to mention in the mail from Santa (because you know that little Elf is a damn spy).

Yesterday, I went to Staples and picked up some nice paper.  I ended up with two packs of beautiful paper, which I cannot locate on their website so I apologize.  One is a soft silver shimmer and one is a soft golden shimmer they call "buttercream".  Fifty sheets per pack, paper not cardstock, no matching envelopes that I could see.  They were $9.99 each.

I whip up a letter for Preston on the Buttercream paper and I feel pretty proud of myself.  The shimmer makes it look awesome, very Christmas, and the Santa Letterhead from the LWA is just fantastic on it.

I get home from work last night after dropping off Preston's first letter and I was messing around on the internet, looking for some type of Santa frame decor that I could put on the envelopes (I am using left over 32# resume envelopes in ivory because I have lots).  And changing the font up on the letter, trying to make it look as grand as possible. 

So I Google "Santa Envelope".  Bad idea.  What I found last night cost me $60 this morning.

Feast your eyes on THIS:

I went into a catatonic state immediately and mumbled something to the effect of "I MUST HAVE THIS".

This stunning paper crafting was done by Danielle Flanders, and this is the post she did about the Santa Mail.  Those are her photos above.

Her post links to other amazing paper-crafting people who, in September, all did projects with this stamp set.  These are links directly to them:  One, This Person Made Post Cards TO Santa, Stamped Santa Letterhead & Envelopes, Full-on suite with clipboard, And another, And another, This is totally over the top, Check out the stunning certificate.

So what did I buy?  I bought the Santa Stamp Set here, and the Postmarks Stamp Set here, along with a set of three acrylic stamping blocks.  I'm not a "stamper" so I needed the blocks to get the stamps to work.  I literally just purchased these this morning so I hope it comes in quick, because I want to make envelopes!  I will most likely still use the LWA letterhead, because I want to be able to print with my printer, but I want to make fancy envelopes with those stamps and a "nice" certificate for each of the kids.

You actual mail artists will obviously be using the Postmarks Stamp Set all the time so that is easy to justify.  The Santa stamps are just awesome.

Enjoy!

Mailing Plates

Miss Hailey and her Pink Plate

A few weeks ago I stumbled across yet another very cool mail blog:  Epistles - Minor and Major by M. Howard.  One of the very first posts I read was this one, where Ms. Howard mailed a neon green plate, as is.


"Epic!" I thought. "I am totally doing that!"  So I made my very first visit to Dollar Tree, where I discovered that the plates come in both green and pink.  They each come in a four-pack, so $.25 per plate and $1.95 to mail in the US.  It was the first time I had ever mailed anything not in a box or envelope.  The mail clerk at my local post office was shocked when I handed him the plate, but he took it anyway.


I sent a pink one to Miss Hailey and a green one to Mr. Preston, each asking them all kinds of questions about their favorite summer foods.  


I sent a green one to Auntie Pat telling her about my favorite memories of her food and how I strive to be as good in the kitchen as she is.  It was more a green plate food love letter :-)


A pink one went to Alison and to her I wrote my very favorite summer recipe.  Her mailman won't deliver anything that won't fit in her mailbox so she had to make a trip to the post office to pick it up.  I knew that when I wrote it so I apologized on the plate to her for having to make the trip.  Apparently as her kids were bringing it to the car Alison thought it was a frisbee :-)  


Another pink one went to Christine, who I met at a job interview.  I told her about the plate I sent to Alison and she wanted one.  Since we both laughed until we cried during my job interview, she sent me her home address so I could stalk her by mail.  


One green one ended up at the fire station near my house as part of a bribe (long story).


So I have one pink plate and one green plate left just waiting for owners!


I had so much fun doing it that I sent Ms. Howard a thank you post card for the inspiration and the fun.


So now I am dying to get my hands on one of these pigeons so I can have some more unusual mail fun!  I think one of them wants to make a trip to Hawaii.

Good Mail Weekend

I had a good mail weekend, on top of making a wedding cake, which was a nice distraction.  Below is the front and back of a note I received from my cousin Hailey, who is going to be 4 in about a month.  I've been sending her mail for the last few weeks, which she has been saving at my request.  This is my very first mail from her.

Her Mom, my cousin Charlene, translated the below message for me.  If you're wondering, I regret that I do not own a blue princess dress.

I received this postcard via PostCrossing from the Netherlands.









And I received this postcard from Minsk, of all places!  Olga included a lovely quote for me: "A miracle happened: another day of life." from Veronica Decides to Die by P. Coelho.

I received all of the below envelopes from the lovely Anna Lorton, from The Lettering.  You should really check out her blog.  The first envelope contained my correspondant card (more on that in a separate post).  Anna is my new pen pal and we have quite a few things in common so far.  Also, she makes the most beautiful envelopes.

This envelope contained the last letter (the second) she mailed to me, which I am still in the process of responding to (I got this over a week ago).  Wedding cake delay, sorry Anna!

Note how she put a little #2 on the back of the envelope, to keep track.  Love it!