Elvis-worthy snazz

I jazzed up this already cool envelope from the Hammerpress Notecard Book (currently out of stock at Chronicle Books) with a little bit of mail-artsyness.

The silver border was already on the brown paper envelope, but I added some bling with Stickles glitter glue and a fountain pen rubber stamp. I thought the Elvis and Okefenokee swamp stamps went nicely together, too.

Dunno why I really love brown paper envelopes, but I do... Oh, and incidentally, the little blog icon (whatsitcalled, a favicon?) for my blog is taken from the back of one of these brown paper envelopes.

Deco tape on Hammerpress envelope

I got some new deco tape lately, and I've been having fun with it. This is an envelope from the Hammerpress Correspondence Cards set from Chronicle Books.



On the back I put a very large Marie the cat (Disney) sticker over the deco tape. The Marie stickers came to me in a Swap-Bot swap, so I can't tell you from whence they came, but I do think they're kinda cute, if possibly on the border of cutesy.

November Benevolent Postcard Society offering

Here's what I sent out for my November Benevolent Postcard Society offering. It came from Hammerpress in Kansas City; my mom sent me this postcard with a packet of some other fun things in a letter sometime earlier this year.



I liked the silver ink on brown postcard so much that I drew a little kitty face. Soda is featured on the stamp.

I sent this BPS November card out so late because they had some sort of gmail glitch where people with gmail emails weren't receiving the address info, which was supposed to have been sent on or before the first of the month (so postcards could go out the first of the month).

I think the Benevolent Postcard Society is a really wonderful idea, but especially since the membership is limited, I find it really frustrating that people joined up with a commitment to send a postcard every month, and then clearly so many of them aren't following through. I have sent a postcard each month, of course, but I have only received one for September. Whoever was supposed to send to me in October, November and December either didn't, or it's gotten supremely lost in the mail. I could accept those odds with one postcard, but I'm sure at least two of them just never bothered to send one. The gal behind BPS wrote a very tactful post reminding members of their commitment to send postcards, and asking them to be honest and just withdraw their names from the pool if they couldn't really send the postcards every month.

I've found this experience to be very typical of the idea-vs-reality ratio of letter-writing and snail mail. A lot of people really love the idea, but lack the follow-through. I certainly don't mind that for my pen pals - write when you can, and drop off if you must - but it makes me doubly appreciate the ones who have been writing faithfully for years. It's just a little microcosm of life, I guess - there are those who talk about it, and those who do it.

Be a doer.

Go write a letter, or a postcard.

(And if you're a member of the Benevolent Postcard Society - send your postcards when you should, or gracefully bow out!)

To end on a positive note, though, the recipient of this postcard wrote me back a really nice postcard, which included her own artwork that was delightfully modified by her kitty. I still owe her a response - so I guess I should quit talking and start doing, and go write a letter myself!

Hammerpress card with UK Fairies stamp

So I read about the release of the fantastic UK Mythical Creatures stamps from the ever-informative and delightful Letter Writers Alliance blog. I have been in awe of these stamps since their release - even contemplating paying international shipping for the very expensive Stamp cards of these gorgeous images... and then one of my pen pals from Scotland sent me a gorgeous letter with one of them! I was so excited to see one of these up close:



But the loveliness doesn't end there. This Scottish gal often uses lovely stationery, and this letter was also my first glimpse of the Hammerpress cards from Chronicle Books. (Sorry for the general link - I'm not sure if these are the Correspondence Cards or the Notecards. Chronicle Books, if you're reading my blog posting - your descriptions and image varieties on your website leave much to be desired.)



This card included more of the silver-ink highlights of the envelope, and had a green theme with a fantastic owl.



Even the back of the envelope was lovely - I'm really charmed by the use of silver ink on the brown paper envelope.