Mail from Marieke

Isn't this such a sweet envelope from Marieke? It took the mailman a while to deliver, but when he did, it brought a bit of sunshine to my mailbox in this grey winter weather.

Inside such a sweet card and two small cards. So nice, really cool! Mail from Marieke is always really cheerful and really cheers my up. Really happy mail does really make your day seem brighter!

Wonderful mail from Yves

This is the kind of mail as how it just should be. Simple, elegant, classy and vintage. Just how I like it. Yves is just the guy that does all this mail stuff I'm totally jealous of. He writes with beautiful swirls where as I can only dream of writing this way with an old fashioned ink pen. He collects vintage stationary and ephemera, so cool! And a bit shy I asked if maybe, just maybe, he would write a letter to me. And he did! So amazing! And a really cool stamp by the way.

This is what was inside, a beautiful written letter and a handmade map envelope stuffed with vintage ephemera! Just wonderful!

This handwriting is so beautiful! I think he could even rewrite the phone book or something, and it would still be amazing! And the little details of the curly swirls, so beautiful! Why don't we write like this any more nowadays. I think I'm going to frame it and hang it in my studio when it's finished.

The ephemera is just so great! these lovely flower cards are so beautiful! Okay, I'm going to stop now with saying this is so wonderful, but this is definitely going to be in my top 10 mail of 2013! (Did  I already mention that I really loved it?)

Sintmail!!!

For the Sinterklaas swap thing I got sent these two envelopes! They arrived on different days as well!

Inside the packages were another two envelopes which said: do not open until the 5th of December! In case I would forget and "by accident" open it earlier :-)
This what was inside the two envelopes, a handmade Sinterklaas book, some presents, and a vintage card. The book of Sinterklaas was full of colouring pages and stuff for the kids. Well I do hope it was for the kids anyway.
Inside a small package were these three geisha beads. Kinda cool!

This was what was in the other presents and some stuff that came from the Sinterklaas book. Some Sinterklaas napkins, a puzzle, some stickers, a tin and two cards.

I thought the tin and the beads were colourful! Tins can be used for loads of stuff! Kinda have a thing for small tins, can't help it. The (self printed) vintage card got a bit wrinkled through the mail, but vintage is cool anyway. Inside the tin were a few instructions for Sinterklaas craft stuff. Some crochet (a "must try" for 2014) and a origami manual I couldn't  read since the resolution of the image was to low.

And then this unexpected parcel arrived! It really must be Sinterklaas!

It was from a snailmail swapsite i've joined in the summer. I had sent someone something, but that person never registered it. So that was the end of it for me. But somehow my name showed up on the mailing list and a Janet send me this! An unexpected surprise! Inside this mailbox was a letter, a recipe (I'm going to try that next year!), chocolate coins and some small wrapped things. I liked this one, lucky hangers from Sinterklaas en Zwarte Piet! And Amerigo (the white horse of Sinterklaas) and his staff!

You gotta love the old Sinterklaas! These are prints of real stamps by the way.

Unexpected but really good fun! There was also a block of sticky notes inside and dress up dolls, the kids loved it!

Good mail envelope

Last week I have received this beautiful mail from Leuke Post! A simple but very elegant mail I thought. Isn't this a cute envelope? Well I think it is! An envelope made from a page of an old book. A vintage book with a page about paper and what to do with it. Well, Janien definitely had some ideas what to do with it!

Inside the envelope was a brown envelope. Inside that one a white one, than an blue, another blue, a brown one, and finally a small white envelope (a seventies envelope by the feel of it). What a unpacking surprise that was! I loved it!! And the colours of the envelopes were stunning! Probably by accident, or intended, I don't know really, but the blue, brown and white, they all match so beautifully!

Inside this tiny envelope was this ever so cute litte artwork! Stamped (but maybe it is a linocut come to think of it). Also a small piece of paper with old fashioned handwriting on it. Wish I could write like that, but my handwriting is almost unreadable. The card is made of the same paper as the tiny envelope by the way. It's a small detail, but I love details, it's all in the detail in the end.

Just to see how small the little artwork is, here are all the envelopes in a row. Have I mentioned already that I adore these colours? Well, I do. So there's that. The idea of this mail is actually so simple, but so nice, that I wished I thought of this, but I haven't. All credit to Leuke Post!

Swapbot

The final envelope from my Swapbot adventure arrived. Not quite sure if I will enter another Swapbot swapthing though. There is this special lingo I don't quite grasp. I have seemed to understand everything wrong, even after three years in the UK and a college degree. Well anyway, after I ticked the box I never received my mail, I got a curious respond. I should have asked for a resend instead of ticking the box. And even more curious is, the date I ticked that boxthing was just a few weeks ago, and turned out the envelope was already turned back to sender at that time........ US postoffice uses cool stamps though to make that quite clear! Postage rate was also curious to me. Did the sender really think local rates applied in sending an envelope to the Netherlands from the US? Well, it's all a mystery to me. But then again, now I received two envelopes, since she has put her returned envelope just in another envelope. Even more mail this way :-)

Inside the envelope: two Hello Kitty playing cards, a used stamp, a tiny picture and two post-it papers.

Real sweet!

This summer we looked after two cute guinea pigs from Marieke. The kids just loved having them around. Two cuddly little creatures! Marieke and her boyfriend decided that guinea pigs were just not the right pets for them, and decided to go for a posh grey pussycat. So she sent a funky envelope with a message.....

in this funky envelope a funky card that said: real sweet! In the card a message: the guinea pigs needed a new home, and the kids were overexcited that that new home was here, with us! Real sweet!

So we decided to sent some mail back to Marieke. A while ago my daughter made her own postcard, how cool is that! On the other postcard it says: you deserve a big hug! Well, since the kids are overjoyed with the cuddly guinea pigs, that deserves a hug I think.

This is what my daughter wrote (it's in dutch by the way).

Snailmail

The envelope I received from Bianca yesterday was full of fun and creativity! Happy wrappingpaper, handmade envelopes and some craft material. I'm really pleased with my little crocheted garland of traditional dutch canalhouses. I'm gonna put that on the window of my studio (when it's ready).

Decorated envelopes

On two envelopes I decorated the outside like an old herbarium. I've bought a book the other day about medicinal plants that inspired me for this project. It's my first swap-bot.com attempt :-) Was quite satisfied with the outcome!

No mail on Sunday!

Because it's the mailman's day off, no mail on sunday. I received a packet though on saturday (yesterday) from one of my favourite webshops. A webshop full of paper, stamps, envelopes, and everything that makes me smile! www.postpapierenzo.nl
I'm a paperlover, just can't help myself.

Snailmail

This is what I've received yesterday. Such a sweet little packet via the Dream Make Share project. Some lovely labels, little crochetflowers and a tutorial to try it my self, and some sweet crafted envelopes.
Love the packet. It puts such a big grin on my face whilst opening the envelope. Like a birthday!