Snailmail Collective September

Mail to Leia and Michelle is on the go! Personally posted by my son! Two packages going to Australia and the USA for this months Snailmail collective.
Check out what i have sent Leia and Michelle over here
And here you can check out mail from Michelle and Leia.

Birthdayboy

It was my husbands birthday yesterday, and a few cards came his way. A real ugly one (drawn football shoes), a funny one (picture taken at a funny moment at work) and a real pretty one (from me and the kids). Birthday cards always tend to appear on our piano for some reason. Our piano who is very very out of tune, but we sort of got used to it just being there and never being used anymore. Well we use it to stack toys that are in the way and for birthdaycards. And for our vintage recordplayer which we still use when we are in a vintage mood! We still own lots of albums from our teens we never got rid off. Just because the feeling of vinyl is so much better than a glossy cd. And the feeling of putting a record on it, turn back the arm thing and the record starts spinning, and then at the right moment and the right place you have to put the needle on the spinning record, and then you sigh from relief when you managed it without a scratch on the record. Well, that feeling.

I really like this card, the intricate cutting of the paper, I would never manage that with a pen knife, I wish I could though. I would make such great and wonderful papercutting pictures, but I'm a bit to impatient for that though. My husband thought it was a cool card anyway. And that's why I love him, he appreciates I got it specifically for him and likes the picture.

Since my husband is not to keen on celebrating his birthday we went out to town! Since we live in a small village in the countryside we've been to shops we never seem to have in our neighbor towns. And I got some craft stuff for myself! Also a real cutting knife, still dreaming that one day I will make something like that card. Untill now I always used an old scalpel from my old job in the hospital, sharp as hell, but very wobbly. Time to use a "real" one. Hopefully it will work.

Flower snailmail

I've received a snailmail from Mischa! Even the envelope is totally handmade with paint and washi tape.

This is what I've found inside the envelope. First thing what struck me was the scent of lavender coming out the envelope!

Turns out it's a fold out hanger! I've had it hanging in my kitchen now for a couple of days, to peek a glance at it when I walk past and catch a hint of smell of lavender (on the other side)

Turns out it's two sided! Like all the different kind of papers Mischa has used.

Inside: a long letter in a funky handmade envelope, a hanger for my bag (although it's now on my daughter's bag), a handcarved stamp (like!), holly hock seeds (totally cool, because our holly hock never came up this year), a bag with lavender from her garden (love the smell of lavender!) and last but not least, a fridge magnet made of a vintage memory game.

Snailmail from Belgique

Another snailmail from Inge all the way from Belgique!

Inside the envelope a bag. Check out the washi tape! Like!

Inside this pretty bag another surprise, a folder which contains the actual mail.

An autumn feel is what Inge wanted to send me. A postcard, a handmade card with a butterfly, a tiny bag with sparkles in it, three small opaque bags with a cool tag/label, postage stamps and a butterfly card, and a page from a colouring book.

I really appreciate the effort she put in to this. She clearly had some sort of plan. It looks attractive and its all stuff I can use for my picture diary/notebook!

A funky happy sort of vintage style card in a kraft envelope! Would be almost a shame to send to someone! Rather keep it myself. Well, I could always send it to myself :-)

Comfort pictures

After yet another difficult day at work I needed some cheering up. My car sort of took itself to the tiny, but ever so cute shop in a small cute old town nearby. The owner sells stuff I never seem to find somewhere else. And a lot of great postcards! Nothing makes my day more than beautiful pictures! We got chatting about mail. How some people don't appreciate handwritten beautiful cards and even throw them away! And the sheer pleasure when good mail arrives and how different that feeling is from email or Facebook. This was just what I needed!

Mail from Andi (the snailmail collective)

Mail from Andi arrived! Andi was my partner from the snailmail collective in august. Check out these amazing hawaii stamps! Love them!

Inside the envelope a perfectly wrapped package. And hardly no wrinkles from the trip overseas!

Unwrapping is still exciting! Just like a birthday! Well sort of the exciting feeling you get when you don't know what's inside.

Inside: a photocollage of surroundings from Andis life, stationary, a card (with beautiful handwriting), a heart shaped pebble from the beach, post it notes, chocolate (!), a Hawaiian stamp and a bookmark. She also send me the story of andis people (not on picture).

I love this pebble! My imagination is running overtime with this! She probably found it somewhere on or near a beach. Maybe she found it and thought of this snailmail thing, or maybe it was lying on her desk for ages and suddenly it hit her, this was the right thing to send! Although my daughter has set her eyes in this pebble, I'm gonna keep it for myself! I'm going to put it on a shelf in my studio (when it's ready that is).

And how cool is this! My own stationary!

The color purple

I've send out a snailmail via TJP (Tante Jannies Postkamer). You register and receive an adress to send some creative mail, when the recipient registers it on the site, you will receive a mail from someone else. Sort of like postcrossing, but then for creative mail. Well, it's my first time, so we'll see.

It sort of turned out to be a purple mail. I've made an envie from coloured paper, which was really easy by the way.
I've put a lot of purple stuff inside it!

A peace of lavender from our garden (i love the smell of lavender!), a purple lollipop, a Post-it, a shoppinglist, some pictures and stickers, buttons and sewingthread, a card, a flower with a tassel, ribbons and purple stamps!

Airmail

In my local shop, where they sell almost everything on 10 square meters, I found this tucked away in a corner which I have always overlooked! Vintage airmal stationary! Original price was in Guldens, our currency before the Euro arrived. Guess this was lying in this shop like forever, by the looks of the package. Only at home, I realised I was charged in Euros in what was the original Gulden price. One Euro was 2,25 Gulden......oh well, wanted it anyway.

Sweet and sad postcards

My sweet colleague sent me a smile! I'm experiencing a bit of a difficult time at work, but my sweet colleague was very thoughtful! Isn't that just sweet! It definitely made me smile.

Sad news from a colleague, she suffered from breastcancer a long time ago. And now it has returned. Very sad. And what to write on a postcard? Words don't seem enough. And what kind of card to choose, I decided on this flower in the end.

Snailmail to Marja

This week my snailmail for Marja went on it's way. I've wrapped it all together in some red see through paper. Unwrapping is part of the fun!

In the package a postcard, two vintage traintickets, vintage buttons, a label, a picture, a piece of lace ribbon, four tiny envelopes, word chewinggum (!) and ofcourse a letter!

Since Marja is a teacher who teaches dutch, I made some chewing gum, well, without real chewing gum, but with interesting words from a dutch dictionary. I've called it: interesting wordgum. This was very easy to make by the way! A finished package of chewing gum, aluminum foil and some words!

Sometimes a picture is like poetry. On the back of the picture I've written a small poem. Well, to be honest, I've made the poem up! I used a page of a book where I've highlighted some words to make a poem. A great way to look at language by the way!

Some tiny envelopes with stamps (she's a stampcollector), some seeds from our aquilegia, stickers and a few tiny pictures of angels!

Happy mail!

My favourite magazine Flow arrived with a new issue! And a package I ordered from Postpapier enzo!

I ordered something a really wanted for some time! A Motex tape writer embossing machine! In a funky colour! Ofcourse I have ordered some more colours tape :-)

The Snailmail Collective

Last week my snailmail to Andi went on it's way. Hopefully it will arrive some time soon.
It's an initiative from the blog http://thenectarcollective.com/
You sign up at http://thenectarcollective.com/the-snail-mail-collective/ for a month and get assigned a partner which whom you have some email contact before making your package. Each month has a theme, in august it was "under the sea". Well, I've used a bit of creative freedom, but can't reveal yet what I've made......
I was signed up with Andi from http://andispeople.com/ She designs her own stationary, how cool is that! Well, she's also a yoga teacher, teacher and aquarobic teacher and mum of three kids! A busy lady!

Wow! My mail arrived! I've made Andi a sort of vintage beach theme snailmail. She likes the beach and vintagepostcards! She also let me read a personal story she wrote. With al that in mind and a lot if places I've been to this summer, this mail just sort of happened. I actually made her a sort of vintage summer story. Trouble is, I'm better at pictures than I am with words :-) Well anyhow, I've made a picturebook. So this is what I've sent!

This is what was inside the book: quite a lot! Several postcards, vintage traintickets, stickers, a little garland of the dutch flag, seaweed and seashells I've collected with the kids, a shell on a necklace, a little notebook and tiny pencils, and a typical dutch souvenir!

This is a page from the story I've written for Andi. All the stuff I've put in this mail I've mentioned in this story.

Funky snailmail

I have received a funky snailmail from Bianca! The envelope, (well actually it wasn't an envelope, it was a package in clear plastic!) in all black and white tissue paper!

Inside the package the same theme continued, little black and white handmade envelopes, a vintage postcard (like!), a bookmark, a tiny clothespin and a handmade holder for paper handkerchiefs.

Inside the little envelopes some funky colourful stuff! Ribbon, cardboard numbers and sparkly dots!

A funky twist to the paper handkerchief holder, it's a two-ways inside-out folder! For now I'm gonna stick to the red and white version, funky!