Blogger's Neglect

Hello everyone!  Or hello to those of you who still read my blog, despite how quiet it's been for the past month or two.

I was sitting at work and wondering what mail would be waiting for me when I get home this evening, which eventually reminded me that I have a blog about mail!!

My excuse: I've been busy with work and school.  And I'm working on fun Halloween-themed mail to send out later this week.  By the way, for those of you outside the US - do you have a version of Halloween?  I'm wondering if my pen pals in Canada, Germany, etc should be on my Halloween mailing list.  (Side note: it's amazing [read: embarrassing] how US-centric my world is.  Despite the fact that I listen to international news stories I really don't know nearly enough about other countries. Although I guess the fact that I want to change that means I'm ahead of lots of people, right? Maybe?)

Anyway, I'm curious to learn about fall holiday traditions in other places - feel free to leave a comment or let me know in your next letter :)

Back to work...

~ Anne

Looking for tips... making envelopes

Hello everyone,

I've been busy with work and school, but I'm also (slowly) catching up on my mail pile!  As I was responding to one of my pen pals yesterday (shout out to Meg!) I was thinking about making envelopes.  As some of you may know, I don't usually make my own envelopes.  Occasionally I use bags from Starbucks, but I've only ever made one envelope.  It arrived at its destination safely, but I covered it in tape just to be sure. 

So, the question is... what are your tips for making envelopes?  Is it just about practicing? 

I was looking online, and Paper Source has templates that look useful.. I also remember seeing a wooden one somewhere online, but I'm not sure where. 

For the one and only envelope I made, I just unfolded an envelope I already had, and traced around that.  Of course, it was sort of sloppy and then I wasn't too successful at folding the sides over.  Perhaps lesson #1 is to use a ruler? 

Any tips and tricks are appreciated.  I'm hoping to make some fun envelopes for the holidays - time to start practicing!

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend, and happy crafting!

~ Anne

Question: Mailing Preferences

Hello everyone,

I have another* mail-related question for my fellow postal enthusiasts. 

When you send a letter to a pen pal, do you usually write long or short letters?  Are you consistent?  Do you have a preference for which type you receive?

I started to wonder about this when I heard about someone feeling disappointed when a pen pal responded to their long and lovingly-written letter with a short note. 

For those of you who love mail art, do you hope to receive back mail art of equal quality?  (Is there such a thing as low-quality mail art??) I will admit to feeling intimidated by the creativity of some fellow mail artists, but for me it's more about the joy of creating something and sending out into the world, thinking about all of the systems at work that help it reach its destination. And I'm always thrilled when someone decides to write back.  Maybe I will get over that excitement, but I doubt it.

I'm curious to know what you think about this topic.  Please share! :)


*Previous mail-related questions can be found here.

~ Anne

The "G" Rate Make-up Stamp

This week I received an order of vintage stamps I ordered from ebay.  Among the other lovely stamps I received were these:

"The "G"Rate make-up stamp"... has anyone heard of this before?  I love the bird.  A quick search tells me that these stamps are worth 3 cents each.  I never knew there was such a thing as the "G"Rate!

Pictures of the other stamps I received coming soon!

~ Anne

I'm Curious!

Question for my fellow lovers of all things postal: how do you open your letters?

For example, do you have a letter opener?  Do you open the top or the side?

Before opening a beautiful envelope there is a moment of hesitation for me.  I don't want to ruin it!  But, alas, it must be opened.  Plus, I'm eager to know what's inside!

~ Anne

Postcrossing Spam?

Happy Friday, everyone!

I didn't plan to post another question, but I was puzzled by the mail that was waiting for me when I got home from work today.

I've only been doing Postcrossing for two months, and I'm hoping to hear from some of the long-term postcrossers out there about something that was sent to me.

This is part of the mail sent to me by a postcrosser from Belarus:

Postcrossing letter.

Hi, my name is Alina.  We would have to share their gifts with you, the fact that I can not buy in my country some things, so maybe you could buy me things that were drawn on the sheet.  If you agree, then I will immediately be sent to you gift from Belarus, and as soon as you make sure that he will come, you could send to me.  I already did one American, we exchanged gifts with her, she sent me a mascara from America, which I very much wanted, and I gave her a gift from Belarus.  Thanks in advance.

My address is: 

(address)

On the other side of the letter is a picture of DKNY perfume and a Louis Vuitton mirror case from Sephora.

I should mention that she did include both a card and a postcard (plus a few stickers) in the envelope:

Before I register the "postcard" I want to know if this is something I should respond to in my optional message to the sender.

Have you ever gotten anything like this through Postcrossing?

Thanks :)

~Anne

Question!

Hello dear readers,

I'm hoping to learn how you all manage to keep your mail organized.  I'm pretty sure I misplaced a letter from one of my pen pals and didn't respond (even though I remember thinking about what I was going to say!).  (Leah, I didn't forget about you!)

How do you keep track of what mail you received and when - and then whether or not you've replied?

Also, do you hold on to everything you've received?  So far I have every letter that I've received as part of this project, but they are in a big pile!


Thanks for the input!
~Anne