Wisteria

I couldn't think of a blog title, so I just named what is in front of me. A vase of beautiful purple wisteria! My mail days are a little less quiet. :) My boyfriend is recovering slowly but surely from his surgery. I've been playing nurse and caring for him. It's tough work, but worth it. He's sitting beside me, playing Borderlands 2 and listening to The Mountain Goats. Every once in a while he casts a smile my way. It's a lovely Sunday morning and it's calm and rose scented in my little home. :) It's a good writing atmosphere!

I realized I never say much about ME in this blog, just my mail. I should do an entry where I say a bit about myself, so people following me know me a little. Yes/no? Hmm..maybe later! :p

INCOMING:

Letters from Saskia in Germany, Lucy in CA, Ashley in TX and one intro from a friendship book (haven't gotten one of those in a long time!)

Letters from Martha in FL (we've been writing for the past..my goodness..15 years or so now!), Amy Beth in MI, Natalia in Mexico and Yeska in NM. Amy Beth sent me a clear envie in response to the clear envie I sent her, which you'll see below!

No a whole ton of incoming, but that's ok! Not pictured is a letter from Kerrie in the UK who sent me the CUTEST puppy mini letter set (I have a thing for mini envies) and a letter from Eileen in Malaysia who has the most PERFECT tiny handwriting I have ever seen in my life. ^__^

OUTGOING:

Long reply full of ranting and rambling to Lucy in CA.

Outgoing to Jackie in OH, Tracey in AZ and Ashley in TX.

Outgoing to Martha in FL, Annie in PA, and Jenn in AZ.

Outgoing to JJ in OK, Mariko in Japan, Amy in Canada and Amy Beth in MI.

Outgoing tiny package of awesome filled with stickers, deco tape and long rambling mail to my bestie Sarah in WI. She LOVED it all.

Closeup of the outgoing to Mariko. I LOVE those weird fat plaid letter stickers. They set me back a whopping ONE DOLLAR. lol

I love getting pictures of my letters being received. This is JJ's letter all safe and sound.

This is a closeup of Amy Beth's letter. Aren't those the best envelopes ever? I love making them. It gives letters character and they look amazing going through the mail.

And here it is safe and sound in he hands of Amy Beth! Proof my handmade envelopes survive the USPS! ;) I'm tempted to mail myself one just because they look so amazing all filled up...so colorful and happy. I'm a dork I know.. lol

Randomness time now..

 This is an AWESOME stamp I got on my letter from Megan in Australia. I'm a fantasy geek so this appealed to my inner geek. :D I would have photographed her letter, but it got to me pretty mangled. Thankfully nothing fell out and this awesome stamp survived. :)

One thing I love and think is cute about Asian stationery is the nonsense sentences that you sometimes find on the paper itself. Take this for example. My boyfriend read it and was like "Wait..WAT? Gutlessnesses?"

This is what the backs of my letters tend to look like. I can't stand not writing on the backs of my letter papers. Sure it makes the letter seem longer, but it feels wasteful..all that blank space to be created and written upon. Plus it gives letters personality, adding your own touch like that. :)

...and this is what I have left to reply to! It'll get done this week for sure. ^^

That's all for now~ I'll be lurking again until I've gotten enough mail to share...lol

Lovely Mail~

Hello blogosphere! :D How has life been treating my few lovely readers? I've been getting a dose of real life these past few weeks. My boyfriend had a tough operation late last week and is still recovering. He's in a lot of pain and I admit, most of my focus has been on spending time with him and taking care of him until he recovers, which will hopefully be soon. It's hard seeing someone you care about in so much pain.

I've been keeping busy by crafting! I've made 2 necklaces and listed them up on my Etsy shop. I love to make jewelry..it's relaxing and fun! Do you folks out there have a craft you do in down time to relax??

 Here's the first, a blue star bottle on a blue ball chain. :)

 ...and the second! A flower bottle on an orange ball chain.

I've also been on a small Friendship book making kick. I LOVE FBs, especially high quality booklets. I hate FBs that are just 2 post-it's stapled together. For me they are sloppy and just..not for me. Not to knock anyone who makes those, I just prefer the super elaborate ones. :)

These are some of the HQ FBs I've made in the last week. My favorite is the black and white voodoo girl FB. :)

I've also been a busy bee making punch out paper flowers, envelopes for a trade and even tried my hand at mail art. It was a very minimalist effort on the mail art..I'm just not very good at it. I wish I had someone to teach me techniques and come over for mail art sessions! lol

 Hand punched paper flowers I made with scraps of paper from envie making! My friend loved them so I am very pleased. I was worried she wouldn't like the paper. I'm odd, I know..lol

 Some envelopes I made for a trade. I tell you, envelope making is very therapeutic! It relaxes me!

My weak little attempt at mail art. You'll see the whole finished thing below. :)

It's still been a quiet few weeks for mail! I'm proud and sad at the same time to say my mail pile is less than 10 letters! I wonder if all my pals are ok?? I did get a few letters this week though. I've been thinking of doing a pen pal ad, but I am resisting! I need to finish my remaining 7 letters before I even consider taking anyone else. :)

OUTGOING:

The top letter with the pretty text envelope got lost in the mail. I was SO upset to hear that..it was for my dear Amy Beth. :(

 The finished mail art envie for Nga Yee, who asked me to use my Disney stamps! I used 2 of my favorites. ^^

 Outgoing to the lovely Megan is Australia!

 Outgoing to Liz, Yeska and Tracey all in the USA.

 Outgoing to Jamie! I used one of my new favorite letter sets in the world. I wish I had like 3 packs of it, I love it so much!

 One of the most adorable and cool letter sets ever. Love Sentimental Circus!

This a letter I sent to my new pal Ashley. I forgot to take a picture so I snagged one from her Instagram. :)

(Again, I used that awesome letter set! :D)

INCOMING:

 The most wonderful of wonderful letters from my dear pal Torill. I was SO happy when I opened her letter and saw all this inside. I was having a rough day and it was a huge pick me up! I adore everything she sent me, esp. her wonderful touching letter. :)

My current letter pile, sort of. I've replied to 3 of the letters pictured already and have gotten 3 to replace them from Torill, Amy Beth and Jenn..goofy me didn't get pictures of those. ;p

One of the above letters came with this package of awesome goodies from my best friend Sarah, who I adore more than words. She is my bestie and my sister, though we've never met in person. She always knows just what to send to make me smile and man do I love reading those 20 page letters. :) I am so lucky to have found my twin in the pen pal world. I'm endlessly grateful to have her. <3

Also not photographed is a surprise birthday card and stickers to my friend Kate. Shh! She's not supposed to know. ;) I hope she wil like them and that they brighten her day a little.

See? Quiet mailbox! Hopefully once I get everyone replied to things will start to speed up and my mailbox will be happy again. T_T Otherwise, I have to hoard pictures for a few weeks until I have enough to make a nice, beefy picture post..lol

Until next time~

Quiet Mail Days!

I haven't posted in a while! So sorry!I've been in such a funk. My boyfriend needs some pretty drastic surgery and it has me stressed and feeling unmotivated and sad. I keep my chin up though, because I know things will get better. You ever have one of those days where you just don't want to be a grown up anymore? That's how I feel lately! I want to be 17 again! Haha~

Strangely enough, my mailbox has been very very quiet. I had a mile pile of 20 or so letters to write. I've since replied to all but 7 of them, but yet..mail has barely been trickling in. I've gotten maybe 4 letters in the past month or so, which is a little worrisome! I've been a little discouraged with some new friends I had made..they were so excited to be pals and talked about how much we have in common, then..silence. No longer writing after one letter or 2. It's hard not to get your feelings hurt a little, but what can you do? Your truest friends will stick around no matter what! I've been pals with 3 ladies since 1997 and they are lovely. ^_^ To all my pals who don't stop writing -- thank you! You're all wonderful and kind!

That aside...here we go!

Outgoing:

 

This is a letter to my dear friend JJ. All in all her letter totaled about 17 or 18 pages..x_x

 

 

 This is a letter for my friend Ann. I included some memos, stickers, letter sets.. another 10+ page letter. :D

 Lots of outgoing letters~! There are 3 or 4 others, but I didn't get their pictures. :(

This is a letter to my very best friend Sarah, who is like a sister to me. I have yet to meet her in person, but I don't think that matters. We are very close and I love her like family. Her letter was about 20 pages. W e talk about EVERYTHING! She sent me an amazing package in reply with 6 rolls of tape, Halloween stickers, heart stickers, a LONG letter.. I felt so loved and spoiled. Her letters make me SO happy..we never run out of things to talk about.

The little picture next to it is an idea of how I decorate the backs of my letters. It seems like a waste of paper to just write on the fronts of these sheets, so I put my stickers and supplies to use and make the backs cute too. ^_^

Lately I've gone on an envelope making spree. I've got 3 different templates, so I've been experimenting. I've found making envelopes with vellum is really fun too. It looks amazing when you pack everything inside nicely.

Awesome, eh? :D

That's all for now..

Cuteness in my Mailbox!

I got some of the CUTEST letters from my dear friend Amy! Her envie art is wonderfully cute..I love it! I also got a wonderfully kind letter from my friend Kate. I'm a little behind on my mail, but I'm trying to get caught up!!

Incoming:

My birthday was July 28th and she sent me this adorable handmade card. Delicious cuppycakes! :D

Monday I got this absolutely precious envie and letter from her. This is SO cute in person, I could not get enough of it. ^^

 This is Kate's wonderful letter. I've been going through some tough times and she was amazing and sent me stamps so I could keep writing. Kate is such a kind and wonderful person. I am so happy to have her as a friend. Her letters are always a joy to find in my box.

Outgoing:

Letter to my awesome friend Susie. I am more than slightly addicted to using alphabet stickers for names on my letters. I love Susie's mail. She's witty and funny and we have so much in common. I sent her some memos and a small letter set mix. :D

Letter to my friend Jessica. She got some mini memos and cute Mamegoma letter set!

This was one of the pictures from an August Snail Mail Photo Challenge I'm doing on Instagram. This is a tiny section of one of my letter set drawers. There are 3 total, plus another box full. I have way too many. x_x I also keep a constant supply of birthday cards in cute styles to send pals when birthdays roll around. :D

Some more of my handmade envelopes. They're so fun to make, it's relaxing and therapeutic to me. I have a few other template sizes, but so far the A6 size is my favorite. It's big enough to send 4x6 memos to pals and great for my 6-12 page letters to my closest friends. :D

Do you have any paper crafts you like to make? ^-^

First Post! Aka Happy Mail Instagram Dump

Hello, blogging world! I've had this little blog for a while and was never sure exactly how to start it. That's always the hardest part, I guess..actually starting on a path? Well, here we go!

I'm M. I've been pen palling since I was about 16 years old, so it's been a healthy and happy 16 years since I decided to pen pal. I've always been obsessed with sending and getting mail. As a child, I wrote little letters to my cousin, even though she lived right across town. It was thrilling to get a cute letter in the mail. I've taken that joy with me over the years and met so many amazing people because of it. I  wouldn't trade my pen pals for the world. I love you all dearly!

That said, have some pictures! This is a bit of my day to day mailings. They're Instagrams, because that's where I hide all my mail pictures. :) It will be glaringly obvious that I am a complete and total kawaii addict! Kamio, Crux, Q-Lia, San-X, Sanrio... I LOVE IT ALL!!!

I'm a crafty girl and love to make things. These are some of my homemade envelopes. I'm actually selling 2 sets on My Etsy Shop, since pals have mentioned loving them!

I'm a total addict when it comes to brads. I use them  to "staple" my letter pages. I hate staples. I think they are tacky. Brads add a finer and more colorful touch. They're just cute and the selections are pretty limitless. I tend to stick to hearts and stars..they're just my thing. :)

I love to swap on Swap Bot as well! This is one page of a Kawaii Mini Zine I exchanged. It was really tedious work, since each zine was hand colored, decorated and painted, as opposed to mailing color copies. I may never do this again, just because it was SO tedious. x_x

I'm a deco and washi tape addict. These lovely tapes were given to me by my best friend Sarah, who is basically my sister. They were a lovely cheer up gift for my birthday. As the background envie shows, they add some nice accent to mail! ^_^

Some of the kawaii letters I mail out on a daily basis...

...and some more! I have more letter sets, letter pads and stickers than I know what to do with sometimes! I try to use a different set with every letter, but repeats happen often..lol

And that's all for now! XD