October 11 is National Coming Out Day

Happy National Coming Out Day, everyone! I did a much longer first official National Coming Out Day post on my blog a few years ago, so please do check that out. In case you didn't know, I"m bisexual and my husband is FTM transgender, and we both identify as queer, individually and in our marriage. (In addition to his amazing novel "Revolutionary," my beloved, Alex Myers, has written some wonderful essays on the topic of being queer, transgender, and married, and if you're interested in this topic I suggest you check out "Are you a boy or a girl?: our trans-bisexual love story on Salon.com and Multiplicity on The Rumpus.)

I believe it's important to be out for visibility, civil rights, support for questioning youth, and a whole host of other reasons. So, here I am! Happy National Coming Out Day! You can learn more about National Coming Out Day on the ubiquitous Wikipedia.

And in relation to mail, the fabulous rainbow unicorn postcard pictured above is available on etsy from Pink Toe Press.

In other news, this blog post is my 1000th post! Woo-hoo! That's a double reason to celebrate.

Vintage sparkly unicorn stickers

One of my goals for the long weekend (along with writing lots of mail and spending tons of quality time with the kittens) is to list some new items in my etsy shop that I've had for a while now. First one achieved: these Vintage sparkly unicorn stickers.



Don't these vintage sparkly unicorn, heart, and rainbow stickers just take you on a journey right back to the 1980s?

The listing includes 2 strips of stickers with 5 perforated squares each. Each square measures roughly 1.5 inches and contains 3 stickers (one unicorn with rainbow mane, one pair of red hearts, one crescent moon in a circle with rainbow stripes), for a total of 30 stickers. (Kitten not included.)



I love these stickers a little too much... I'd better sell some before I use them all up myself!

Vintage sparkly unicorn stickers on etsy

Roses and unicorns: new sticker seal designs

I'm very excited to share with you three new envelope sticker seal designs I've just listed in my etsy shop. First, as seen above, we have a magical unicorn!



Who wouldn't want to seal a letter with a unicorn? Okay, I can think of some people who wouldn't, but I am not among them.



Next up, a lovely bright seal with a single red rose in full bloom.



I love roses in real life and in artwork, and this large, lush red rose bloom in a vintage illustration is one of the loveliest I've seen.



Last but not least, there is a vase of blooming roses, overflowing with blossoms in yellow, pink, and red.



I really enjoy the colors in this old-fashioned vase of roses, which is more subtle than the single large red blossom.

These three new sticker designs - unicorn, red rose, and old-fashioned vase of roses - are the new additions to my other three sticker designs - postman, To get a letter, write a letter, and letterbird - which have been around for a while but have proved fairly popular. I hope there are other letter writers out there who may enjoy these new designs, too.

Magical Creatures Postcard swap

Do you like fairies? Dragons? Unicorns? Elves? I do! And I love fantasy artwork. I feel like I could use a little magic in my life right now, so I created the Magical Creatures Postcard Swap on Swap-bot. If you're interested in swapping a magical creature postcard, do check it out!

It's an international swap, with only one partner, so you only need one of those magical postcards on hand. The sign-up deadline is on August 13, and the send deadline is a week later on August 21. I hope to see lots of interested folks joining in the swapping of magical creatures!

Unicorn postcard swap update

Remember my Unicorn postcard swap? This is what I sent. I jazzed up the back because I know the recipient, and she really likes rainbows, too - so I tried to incorporate those on the stamps. And of course, glitter and stickers. The silver borders were made using silver washi tape.



I did indeed use this fabulous rainbow unicorn postcards by Pagey on etsy for the swap.

Hope everyone else who participated loved their unicorns! I got a really perfect unicorn postcard for the swap, myself, but of course forgot to scan or photograph it.

Rainbow envelope from chewy tulip

Another one of my very favorite etsy shops is Chewy tulip. Her tag line is "pickles, postcards, puppets" - what's not to love? I first discovered her shop when I did a search for "Narwhal postcard" on etsy, and her narwhals are not magical postcard is my favorite one ever. My latest order from her - because I have vowed never to be without some of her postcards - came in this wonderful rainbow-decorated envelope.



I highly recommend her pick 5 postcards/make your own custom set offering (which inspired my own, to be honest), to get a nice taste of her designs. The two horn unicorn, hey ladies turtle, and Hey! kitten designs are a few more of my favorites, along with the aforementioned narwhal, but to each her own. Go browse. Her stuff is really fun. (She has lettersets and notecards, too.) I should have photos of the actual postcards but I am blogging from my couch and it's hot and I'm lazy. Someday, I am sure you will see more of them on this blog...



Not only did this order include a sweet little note from her - and we've been exchanging postcards, too - I got this hand-drawn unicorn! Gaaah! This whole set of envelope/unicorn is now hanging above my writing desk, providing daily rainbow-unicorn letter-writing inspiration.

No unicorn postcards?

I've only got 5 people signed up right now for my Unicorn postcard swap and I'm wondering why. I blogged about it earlier this week and I'm really excited about it; I'm surprised there are so few people participating.

Honest feedback, anyone? Deadline too soon? Don't have unicorn postcards? Just not interested in this theme? I'd love to hear your feedback, as I'm planning on coordinating some more postcard swaps later in the summer and want to know what works and what doesn't. Thanks in advance for any comments!

Unicorn postcard swap

I have been back into swap-bot lately, but my rule is never to join swaps to "get rid" of postcards; only join swaps with postcards featured that I'd really want to receive. Since I haven't seen all that many themed swaps with postcards I'd like to swap, I figured I'd just start hosting 'em. It's summertime, and I have a little bit of extra time to do it...

So - UNICORNS!

Come join the Unicorn postcard swap I'm hosting on Swap-Bot. It's an international swap with one partner, so you send one unicorn postcard to another swapper anywhere in the world. Full details on the unicorn swap page. I got lucky, I guess, because one of the Swap-Bot administrators decided she liked the swap idea, and it's now a featured swap on the Swap-bot blog.

If this unicorn postcard makes you plotz the way it does me, you can get one of your very own from the fabulous etsy seller Pagey of Pink Toes Press. I admit, I did buy her unicorn postcards, and may be using them for this swap.

Swap deadline to join is July 2, so don't delay! (If this one is popular, I'll certainly host another.)

You know you want a unicorn postcard...

Tonight is the last night to sign up for the fabulous Unicorn postcard swap on Swap-bot. I don't know why only 5 people are signed up for it (I'm one of them!!) so I just thought I'd give it a shout-out here for any of my readers who are also swap-bot users... who see this in time to sign up... who also want a unicorn postcard...

* sigh *

Maybe I missed the boat on this. I just happen to have a slew of unicorn postcards on hand... tra la la.

On another note, we started with a new cleaning lady today. (Yes, for the first time our lives, my husband and I have hired a cleaning lady, because we are so damn busy that we can't even see each other at the same time, let alone clean the house...) She re-organized as well as cleaned. SHE REORGANIZED MY LETTER PILES. I am really freaking out about that. It is a serious problem and I'm going to have to re-sort them all.

It has been a totally strange day. And I am in a totally strange place in my life.

Is there something weird going on in the stars? Astrologically? Oy.

Crossed Tusk Narwhal-velope

A dear friend and I have some running jokes about Narwhal. (Don't ask.) So when I found this photo in a wildlife photography book, I knew I had to make him an envelope.

I highlighted the tusk tips with Stickles glitter glue, and used a sea critter stamp to continue the theme.



Narwhal are real, of course, but I thought a unicorn and a mermaid would be good company.

APAK Happy Hermits + glitter

Here's yet another Dark Horse design that I overlooked while browsing the website, but when it came in my mailbox, I kvelled over how adorable it was and wondered how I'd ever missed it. Behold, APAK Happy Hermits! These round creatures are so adorable and loving.



And, BEST OF ALL, they ride unicorns together!!

Here's another view of the paper inside from the sender before it was mailed.

I got my unicorn gmail sticker after all!

Remember when I was first excited about gmail stickers, and then when I received them I was totally disappointed? I lamented the lack of a unicorn sticker to any correspondent who could put up with it, for quite a while... because really, it was all about the unicorn.

One very kind correspondent actually GOT a unicorn sticker and didn't even want it, or she took pity on me, and she sent it to me! Hooray! I will keep her nameless for the kindness, lest she be mobbed, but it made my day. I mean, the unicorns are awesome, the rainbow is awesome - and even the little shell border for the address has a rainbow motif.



I gave it prime placement right at the front of my current letters log.

Thank you, unicorn fairy!

Unicorn wishes! + Cornify

I'm not sure how I learned about this stationery, but I found out about it before the release date and was actually eagerly anticipating its availability. Presenting Unicorn Wishes! from Chronicle Books. Unicorns + rainbows = nostalgic kitsch & happyland for me.

I confess: I did succumb to the unicorn craze when I was a little girl. I loved 'em. I still kind of get a giggle from them. (If you want a SERIOUS giggle, check out the super-kitschy Cornify.com, "the #1 unicorn and rainbow service." Go ahead - you know you want to.)



Only the little mushroom sticker on the back of the envelope came with the set; the sparkly hearts and combo unicorn/rainbow pegasus (wtf?) came from my own private collection. I think they add a whole new level of cornification here.



Again the Chronicle Books website rather fails us, because you only get to see the back of ONE of the lovely stationery sheets (shown on the Unicorn Wishes! page here). I should photograph this in more depth soon - it is full of splendid wonders. Who knows - maybe YOU'LL get a unicorn wish in your mailbox.

Raven card with Poe stamp

I got another wonderful surprise from a sendsomething stranger. I forgot to photograph her postcard, but it was of a dark and murky hippo. Quite a treat. I continued the dark and murky theme with these wonderful Raven flat cards from time2cre8 on Etsy. They come with envelopes, but I think they're pretty fun on their own, and the stock is fairly thick. A Poe stamp seemed so perfect for this combo. I used a little glitter glue to give the raven a sparkly eye, and for general bling.



I was feeling fanciful when I wrote her my response.

Send me some gmail stickers already!

This is so cool I can hardly believe it - Gmail is giving away free stickers! Quick! Check it out on the Google blog.

I am breaking my own rules of blogging (but they're my rules, so... it's kinda fun to let myself break 'em sometimes) by posting this photo and info ahead of a whole bunch of letter photos that are still waiting to be posted, because this is just so damn cool.

You have to WRITE to gmail, via old fashioned snail mail, and send a SASE. How cool is that?? I love Gmail, it is such a smart and simple email interface, and I have long thought the red M envelope logo would make a great mailing sticker. And now it IS a sticker, complete with sparkly background! I am totally salivating over the unicorn one. I promise to post photos of them once they arrive. I am not skilled enough to include the photos of the stickers that are on the gmail blog, so really, just follow the link to take a gander, it's worth it.

Above is my note I wrote to the gmail-ers, included with the SASE. The very cute notepad is from original artwork by Annette at nutandbee.com; that design is called, charmingly, "where rainbows come from."

Otay, enough babbling - go get your gmail stickers. They say the free sticker offer ends 14 Feb 2009, so you have a little more than a week to get crackin'.

I'll leave you with the back of the envelope I sent gmail, including my awful attempted doodle of the Gmail M envelope logo.