Sunday, January 29, 2012

Embroidered Missive Maven

Soda with Carla's gift 1

My crafty and creative pen pal, Carla (of the Tiny Angry Crafter blog) is pretty darn handy with a needle and thread. Along with a recent letter, she included this fantastic embroidered gift, sewing a cute fountain pen and envelope icon, too.

Soda with Carla's gift 2

Soda and I both love it!

Sunday, January 22, 2012

New U.S. postage rates today (2012)



Today is the day when the latest round of postage rate increases take effect. Don't ask me why the new rate starts on a Sunday, when there is no mail delivery or postmarks, because I have no idea. If anyone can answer that question, please, comment away! (Pictured above is the new 2012 international rate stamp, featuring Lancaster County, PA)

The new rates are as follows:

  • Letters within USA (up to 1 oz.) – 45 cents
  • Letters additional ounces – unchanged at 20 cents
  • Postcards within USA – 32 cents
  • Letters and postcards to Canada or Mexico (up to 1 oz.) – 85 cents
  • Letters and postcards to other international destinations – $1.05

  • Source: Postal Service Adjusts Mailing Services Prices for 2012

    "Forever" stamps will reflect the current first-class rate. So, if you are using a numbered stamp, or a Zazzle-bought stamp etc and it says 44 cents, you'll need to make sure you add a 1-cent stamp. However, if you're using a Forever stamp, it becomes worth 45 cents so you don't need to add extra postage.

    All postage released at first-class rate in 2012 will be Forever, and all of the later releases in 2011 were Forever stamps. As much as I miss the numbers, and combining old/vintage stamps to provide the proper face value, I have to admit that the Forever designation is handy and a good value.

    Happy mailing!

    Friday, January 20, 2012

    Batty / Writer's Block

    Batty / Writer's Block

    This amazing postcard of Batty the cat (aptly named - look at those ears!) came to me from the venerable PostMuse, and it has to be one of my favorite postcards ever received. A black cat (named Batty) plus a typewriter - what could be better?

    It is from the series "Funny Cats Postcards" from Stewart Tabori & Chang, and this photograph is called "Writer's Block" by Joyce Ravid in 1992.

    Batty looks like she is ready to type, or berate a writer for not typing!

    Thursday, January 19, 2012

    Gilded

    Gilded 1

    I was feeling golden in my decorative mood for a recent (well, November) letter to Donovan. I combined some large plasticky deco tape with a Martha Stewart Crafts label. I think the stationery is Crane something... it's certainly cottony.

    Handle with care

    I went with a simple vintage label on the back.

    Gilded 2

    I used a couple of vintage stamps - Abigail Adams, known as a writer (corresponding with her husband, President John Adams), and that lovely rainbow-edged United Way stamp.

    Only a few more days where two 22-cent stamps = the current 1st class domestic letter rate...

    Tuesday, January 17, 2012

    Letters in the Mail: from famous authors, to you



    I have never been a fan of the "buy a letter from me" gimmick that some folks employ, though really, - to each her own. However, this new little gimmick from The Rumpus looks pretty intriguing. Their Letters in the mail subscription gets you a letter from a famous author "almost every week." No, the letters are not personalized - everyone got the same letter from Margaret Cho, for example - but it is still an interesting idea, and a great way to give quality writers a little extra income between their publications, no? (I'll give you a little secret: those of you who know me very well already know that my best beloved is a writer, with a real-live hardback novel coming out in future months... but don't worry, I'll tell you ALL ABOUT IT when it's closer to publication. So I'm pretty down with supporting writers.)

    Want to know more? I definitely did. Here's an interview with author Stephen Elliott that tells us all a little more about it.

    I might try it. I haven't decided yet. [I admit it - curiosity got the better of me and I already signed up!] If you're a reader or a literary type, you might be interested, too. Anyone who's subscribed to Letters in the mail already? I'd love to hear from you about it.

    Saturday, January 14, 2012

    Happy time handmade postcard

    us-1248400

    I got assigned a rare Postcrosser who likes handmade postcards, conveniently at a time when I could actually make a postcard - so I broke out some rubber stamps and stickers for US-1248400 to Australia. I got a kick out of making this one. The mangled English stamp reads "Happy Time: flowing of waited interval is itself time." Deep.

    Wednesday, January 4, 2012

    2011: a year in mail

    Letter logs for 2011

    I've been wanting to do this for ages now, and the start of a new year seems the perfect time to do it, so hear ye, read ye: I give you one heck of a massive blog post chock full of information on exactly how I keep my correspondence records, complete with monthly and yearly statistics at the end. (Beware, this may be a frightening glimpse into my quirky depths. But isn't that why we all read blogs anyway?)

    Every day I record my mail, both incoming and outgoing. I haven't settled on a good name for the books yet; I refer to them as letter journals, mail logs, correspondence records, letter logs, and mailbooks, depending on my mood. I have come to favor the small lined Rhodia Webnotebooks for this task, for a variety of reasons: they're the perfect size for my needs, the paper takes fountain pen ink beautifully, they travel well, I like the weight and color... I could go on and on. Sometimes I think about switching it up, but for now I like this habit. Also, the month/year labels just fit on them so darn nicely.

    I just started a new one recently, and I average about 4 months of mail per book. (I recommend Rhodia Webnotebooks from Goulet Pens and Jetpens; they do not endorse or sponsor me in any way, I am just a very satisfied customer of both fine online retailers.)

    I record incoming and outgoing mail separately. For incoming, I do all the day's mail (or multiple days, if I've been away or - gasp! - so busy I can't make it to the mailbox) in one sitting, logging it as I read it. All received mail gets recorded with a Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pen, refilled with Noodler's Heart of Darkness (black, black, very black and permanent) ink. Outgoing letters get logged as they're written, using the last color ink I used for the letter.

    Letter journal / mail log

    Here's a fair sample page with personal information blurred out. In the received section, I note the sender, location/US state or country (with Postcrossing ID if applicable; other notes, like swaps or misc info like background on the sender, I list on the facing page), postmark date or note illegible, item date or note undated, and postcards get listed first and noted as postcards.

    A while back, I started satisfying some of my own curiosity with statistics. Nothing mathematically fancy here, just plain counting. It greatly facilitates my own tallies if I designate letters and postcards numerically by month. I did this all through 2011 for sent items by month, and it made counting the entire year's output exponentially simpler. In 2012 I shall do this for received items as well. That is what the designations before each entry, such as P29 or L14, mean. On this page, P29 is the 29th postcard and L14 is the 14th letter written in November. (One little statistical note, now that my etsy shop is a year old, too: although I write a note with every etsy order, I do not tally those in statistics or log them in my mailbook. They are not personal correspondence.)

    So today I went through and counted them all manually. At times like this I wish I kept a fancier spreadsheet; it would be handy or at least interesting, for example, to find out how many things I sent domestically vs to foreign countries (that info is in my written records but I didn't tally it for this), or, perhaps more daunting, exactly how much money I spent on postage in a year. But I really enjoy the ritual of writing in a notebook filled with quality paper, using fountain pens or other fun writing instruments. It's a part of the process that I enjoy, and I would not enjoy keeping a spreadsheet nearly so much.

    4 Rhodia Webbies: correspondence journals for 2011

    Enough nattering. Here are the numbers by month. Because I noted letters and postcards separately as I sent them, but not received them, they are broken out thusly as follows:

    January 2011
    Sent: 39 letters, 48 postcards = 87
    Received: 71

    February 2011
    Sent: 37 letters, 39 postcards = 76
    Received: 69

    March 2011
    Sent: 32 letters, 56 postcards = 88
    Received: 74

    April 2011
    Sent: 39 letters, 56 postcards = 95
    Received: 83

    May 2011
    Sent: 20 letters, 46 postcards = 66
    Received: 88

    June 2011
    Sent: 48 letters, 104 postcards = 152
    Received: 120

    July 2011
    Sent: 36 letters, 83 postcards = 119
    Received: 126

    August 2011
    Sent: 32 letters, 75 postcards = 107
    Received: 147

    September 2011
    Sent: 18 letters, 45 postcards = 63
    Received: 92

    October 2011
    Sent: 12 letters, 50 postcards = 62
    Received: 89

    November 2011
    Sent: 20 letters, 51 postcards = 71
    Received: 53

    December 2011
    Sent: 44 letters, 41 postcards = 85
    Received: 69

    SENT TOTAL: 377 letters, 694 postcards / 1071 total
    RECEIVED TOTAL: 1081

    Letter journals for 2011

    Postcrossing is also great about emailing monthly and yearly stats. I am not including those numbers in the monthly totals, because Postcrossing doesn't count a postcards as "sent" until it is registered, and it could be registered a month or even two after I sent it. But the yearly totals are fun, so I'll note that of the totals listed above, 326 of the sent items and 333 of the received items were Postcrossing postcards.

    If you'll permit me some more characters (in an already lengthy post) of reflection, I have to note that I'm fairly cheered that my sent total is only slightly behind my received for the year. I am many months behind in responding to mail I've received, and I dare not even count the numbers in my current "needs response" (NR) pile, but the total of letters and postcards in that daunting NR pile always seems to hover around 100 or so, dating back for those many months. I don't stay on top of it by any means (obviously!), but I try to keep up a steady stream. And an average of nearly 3 mail items sent per day, with at least one of them a letter, is pretty respectable for me and my crazy schedule; it's what I'd hoped I'd achieved, and I'm pleased and proud that I have managed it. You can tell a lot about my schedule by the month's outgoing tallies; I'm a bit surprised, though, because I always feel the busiest in the winter months, but the lowest outgoing months were actually September, October, and May. Those are also busy months for me, and this year was especially skewed since I got very sick in October and did far less mail than usual that month.

    2011: a year in mail

    Blah, blah, blah. Numbers are fun, but I hope I can maintain some credibility, after spouting all those figures, when I attest that the spirit of my postal journey is far more about quality than quantity. Postcards do tend to be quicker than letters, but for those items contained in an envelope, I may spend 10 minutes on one or I may spend 6 hours. At the end of the day and the end of the year, I am very happy with the year in mail for 2011. I wish I weren't so behind, but I've been behind for two years now and I doubt I'll catch up anytime soon, so I've given up worrying about that too much.

    I'll also err on the side of being a little preachy and note that the months of and following my most productive send numbers were also the richest in received numbers. Here you go, folks, numerical proof: to get a letter, send a letter!

    2011: the mail logs

    This post has become more loquacious than I ever intended, but I guess some of my favorite posts end up that way. Thanks for bearing with me. It's been a great mail year, full of postal joy and fulfillment... what about you? Was 2011 a good mail year for you, too?

    Tuesday, January 3, 2012

    Handmade Halloween envelope

    Handmade Halloween envelope

    This was a combination birthday/Halloween letter for my cousin (also a sometime pen pal) whose birthday is almost on Halloween. I made the envelope out of a small file folder that came in a Letter Writers Alliance RSVP Halloween package. The black label also came with that package, so it was like a letter-making kit right there! The stamp with the kitty on the moon surrounded by bats is one I found on Zazzle.

    Handmade Halloween envelope back

    That big-eyed witch face is all kinds of creepy awesome, if you ask me.