Birds of a feather handmade card

A pen pal and blog reader sent me this lovely handmade "birds of a feather" card way back in July.



I'm very taken with the design, with the "airmail" note-carrying bird stamped in bronze, overlaid on some lovely handwriting in what looks to be Italian, plus some lovely postage stamps and a postmark.



I hope the angle on this photo captures how stylishly and subtlely the bronze bird sparkles...



...and of course I love the vintage cat stamps on the envelope! Neat use of old ledger paper for the label, too, which is burnished on the edges.



The flying-birds rubber stamp theme continues to the back of the envelope, where the stamp-birds of a feather are flocking together. It was a real mail art treat, with a lovely letter inside, too.

Want a hand-drawn letter?

Want your own hand-drawn letter by the creator of this fantastic painting? You might have time to get one.

Bop on over to yourhandwrittenletters tumblr and check out her offer. The artist will draw you a letter from the alphabet and mail it to you like the letter it is, and all you have to do is fill out her handy-dandy form.

I've admired her artwork before, and this seems like a lovely little project that will brighten people's mail days and encourage more letter-writing along the way. And yes, it's the newest blog linked among my letter blogs now. I'll be following her progress regularly.

Happy National Handwriting Day!

I've seen in bandied about the blogosphere that today is National Handwriting Day, but only just now have I found a source. (And I really need a source, people.) Find out more about National Handwriting Day on the Writing Instruments Manufacturers Association (WIMA) website, but the skinny is that it is tied to John Hancock's birthday.

Go celebrate National Handwriting Day by putting your own John Hancock on a handwritten letter!

Weekend goal

I just had to photograph this section of a great letter I received because I loved the stated weekend goal so much. I laughed out loud when I read this.

I am on board with that goal.

Decorated page numbers

One of my correspondents not only writes lovely letters with great pens and ink colors, she also fills them with artistic doodles, particularly around the page numbers. Little ladybugs!!



I just love these.



Every one is always different.

Envelope Poetry

I don't think I can even express in words what I thought when I pulled this out of my mailbox, but I will say that I couldn't even walk back to my car without stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, mouth agape in awe, to read the whole thing.

Wow.

Thank you so much, Scrybe!

I thought I wasn't a huge poetry fan, but this just blew me away -- even moreso because it was so beautifully written (in fountain pen, OF COURSE!) on the back of the large envelope.

AND she sent me paper and envelopes to try out, too.

I feel overwhelmingly rich and lucky. Poems in my mailbox from caring people -- that is wealth, richness of value.

See? I'm just kind of ruining it by babbling it. Just read the poem again.

JB's gorgeous letters

One of my correspondents makes letters that look like calligraphy throughout. She uses a flexible-nib dip pen with ink using metallic powder, which cannot be used in fountain pens because it will clog the pen.

Her letters are works of art! I won't post the text for privacy, but here is the date of her last letter. I tried in this photo to capture how this metallic powder, which she said is called "scarab," alternates from red to green based on the angle of the light. Amazing.

Best viewed large for full effect.

R&K Alt Bordeaux in Haolilai 601

The bottom of a letter, where I note the fountain pen ink color (IF the letter is to another fountain pen user who might want to know the color).

This is a pretty true representation of the R&K Alt Bordeaux, one of my favorite inks - best viewed large to see the shading and color variance properly.

The stationery is by Papyrus.

Prickly wisdom

Is it a hedgehog or a porcupine?

Whatever it is, it's adorable.

This letter came from my dear friend T., who is often very wise.



I just love this passage so very much.

Personal info removed, it's still applicable to dark moments.

Thanks, T-light.

**UPDATE: IT'S A PORCUPINE!!! Hooray!**

magic pygmy shrew

Cherysh does the best doodles. His letter wasn't at ALL boring, but I do love the magic shrew.

I gave him the juice box slug stationery. Mmmmm. Sluggy goodness.

(Found this on Nutandbee's Etsy shop.)