As much as I love using the web to correspond with my family and friends, sending a handmade letter, or receiving one is such a joy. Especially, when it’s unexpected. This guest post is from my sister in-law, and I love how she finds cool and unusual things to make some special and one-of-a-kind letters. My personal favorite: the vintage stamps. Emilie actually helped me develop my wedding invitations (which consisted of some sweet flower postcards she found). She also developed the envelopes for my wedding thank you notes (she handmade them from a book!). She is so talented, and here is her guest post. Enjoy, and happy Friday readers!
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Sending mail through the postal service is unusual nowadays. Most people very rarely get personal mail in their mail boxes, perhaps a wedding invitation or a postcard now and then. But think about how awesome it would be if every day of the week (save Sunday) held a hope for a letter from a friend, or a drawing from your nephew, or a postcard from someone halfway around the world.
I love getting mail and I love sending it, and this last part is very important.
How do you get mail? Send some!
It’s a great way to be creative and within the USA it only costs 45¢ to send a regular letter.
Letter writing can be very simple. You can start with an envelope and a piece of paper. This was how it began for me. Soon I began decorating my letters with stickers… and then a revelation: I received my first handmade envelope.
You can make your own envelopes by carefully undoing an envelope you already have and tracing it onto a fun piece of paper, perhaps from a magazine or an old calendar. To make a sturdier template, trace it onto cardboard from a cereal box and cut it out. Then you can use it many times. Congratulations, you’ve started your journey into the wonderful world of mail art!
You can also decorate a plain envelope with scraps from magazines, drawings, or rubber stamps.
Recycle junk mail by turning security envelopes inside out for a patterned envelope.
Send mail to your relatives, friends or join free websites like http://www.swap-bot.com/ or http://www.sendsomething.net/.
Writing letters and making mail art has brought a lot of joy into my life and has also sparked my interest in stamps, typewriters and fountain pens. There’s a lot to experiment with in the world of snail mail!
You can check out my mail blog at www.winniesgirl.blogspot.com and if you have trouble finding someone who will write you back, just send me something! I promise I’ll reply.
