February: a big month for mail

Clearly I have come in under par so far for my resolution to write more blog posts in 2015, but at least I have been spending my time actually writing mail. I hope that's a fair excuse for lagging behind in the practice of blogging about mail. January was a hugely productive writing month for me, and I enjoyed every letter and postcard.

And fans of mail have a fine month in February! There are two letter-a-day type challenges this month: A Month of Letters, aka "LetterMo," and International Correspondence Writing Month, aka "InCoWriMo." While I don't participate officially in either of these (I write as much as I can, all the time, and most months average more than one piece of mail per day anyway), I know lots of folks who really enjoy them, and I think they're a fine way to get anyone to engage more deeply with mail. If you tend to like shorter projects, or like to challenge yourself with daily goals, maybe one of these might be a fun thing to try. Also, if you're looking for pen pals, both of these are a great way to pick up new ones. There is even a page of addresses from letter-seekers on the InCoWriMo site.

Happy February mailing, everyone!

Letter to Crane & Co., as per their pen pal request

Remember the notice that Crane & Co. wants pen pals? Of course I did write in a letter, though we all know I don't need any more pen pals... I somehow doubt the lovely marketing lady really intends to correspond long-term with anyone, but it's a nice thought and I wanted to send a supportive gesture. And hey, the possibility of winning some goods from Crane & Co. paper was a nice incentive, too. So I had to make my letter nice and pretty, since I'm sure she's getting quite a deluge of pulchritudinous post. I used some washi tape, Japanese decorative masking tape, and my own Missive Maven-designed stamps and stickers, with white ink on a red envelope.



That's my dandy new return address sticker (a la moo.com) on the back.

I know of one person who said she'd heard back from the official pen pallers at Crane. I know a lot of us have written - anyone else heard back? I have a feeling that they didn't quite know what they were getting into when they asked for handwritten mail on the Crane blog, but I hope they are enjoying the letters that are coming their way. Read the details of their offer here.

Crane & Co. wants pen pals

The Crane Insider, the blog of the venerable Crane & Co. paper company is looking for pen pals. Check out their blog post, Pen pals wanted, for the full details. They offer to write a letter back to anyone who writes them.

I would caution them about that promise, since I do not even make it myself anymore, but I am but one gal and not a company that employs quite a lot of people, and makes paper, to boot.

Oh yes, and the icing on the cake is that "every pen pal will be entered in a contest to win an assortment of Crane & Co. paper goodies." Hmm... I certainly don't need more pen pals, but I will most likely send a letter for that entry!

Pictured at the top of this post is some of my favorite Crane stationery, Snail mail correspondence cards, made in their Kate Spade line. I did a blog review of these cards way back in 2008.

Did you ever win a giveaway you didn't even know you entered?

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that my email subscription to the Letters & Journals magazine newsletter entered me for a chance to win the monthly giveaway. But mostly I forgot. I do enjoy the newsletter (called LetterNews, which I also won a previous contest to name!) and seeing the pretty graphics with the well-done letter-writing info in my inbox every month is a joy in and of itself. But lo and behold, imagine my surprise when I won the September stationery giveaway! This isn't just any little giveaway, as the large box above shows, but quite a lot of sponsored goodies come every month to some lucky LetterNews subscriber.



Wow! What a box of letter-writing goodness!



Here are the goodies all spread out. You can find out about each item with its own link on the L&J page about this giveaway. I will note for the record that the Sakura Stardust gelly roll glitter pens are the glitteriest pens I've ever used, and I am now addicted to them and never want to be without one. I'm already a huge fan of the Quo Vadis Habana journals, and of course Crane cards are always welcome. Pennant magazine has awesome photos and info about fountain pens. Lots of this stuff is right up my alley!

A couple of things I won are items I know I will never use, but someone out there is going to love them, so I plan on doing a giveaway of those items sometime in the next month or two, in order to keep that good karma / pay-it-forward spirit going.

So you've seen all my goodies, which I just happened to win. There are different goody giveaways every month. Do check out the excellent Letters & Journals website anyway, just for fun... and I highly recommend you subscribe to their newsletter. Not only is it beautiful, informative, and interesting, but you just might win awesome stuff, too!

Vote for Memo!

This is only tangentially related to letter-writing, inasmuch as my beloved fat cat Memo does occasionally help write letters (and more frequently displays his beautiful girth on my amusing photo stamps), but I've just entered him in the Moderncat Big Kitty Photo contest, and he needs your help to win!

He is #75, listed as Memo P. Katt.

Please go here to vote for him - I'd really appreciate your help and support!

If he wins, he gets an awesome Scratch n Slumber Comfort Lounge, especially for big cats. Competition is fierce (the first round has 204 contestants!), and I don't think he has a chance without a little help. Thanks for giving a hand to my fat boy Memo!

Update: thanks for all your help and support, everyone... Memo did not make the finals. :-( I really appreciate all your comments and votes, though! We had fun.