Origami fox mail

Right before Christmas me and some friends took a trip to the local IKEA. One of the lucky finds was this origami fox wrapping paper. Isn’t it super cute? Unfortunately I didn’t have time to do much wrapping of gifts before I flew back to Sweden, and the roll didn’t fit into my suitcase. But the almost waxy nature of the paper makes it perfect for envelopes!

I got to know Joeylyn from The Postal Society and this is the first letter I’m sending her. she’s a big fan of retro and vintage stuff, so I focused on that.

I stamped the contents onto the envelopes with some stamps I got from my sister for Christmas. I love them, I keep wanting to use them on everything!

The ephemera envelope contains the various bits of paper and the stamped bicycle stickers I made. I also had this Paris themed magnet with the Eiffel Tower on it, which I hope she’ll enjoy.

The washi samples are from some of my recent acquisitions, and went really well with the theme. Finally I wrapped it all up in string.

I brought my wax seals with me back to England and I was quite excited to put them to good use again. Some bakers twine around the envelope and a wax seal later, it ended up looking like this:

Despite the misspelled Philippines, I’m really happy with it.

May the mail man deliver ever in your favour,
Alex.

Snail Mail Circus

One of the best snail mail websites, in my humble opinion, is The Postal Society. It’s more interactive than I’ve found many others to be, and it’s quite easy to get involved with. It also has some of my favourite happy mail people. If you want to get in touch me on there, this is my profile.

Katrina is one of the people I’ve met on PS, and this is my starter for her.

Since I’ve been on a blue and red binge lately, and recently received some gold pens and glitter tape from my sister, I figured it was time for a circus themed letter with lots of stripes.

As you can see above, the inside of the letter is mostly blue/black/gold. Maybe not the most circusy thing you’ve ever seen. But when you fold up the letter, you get a little carousel horse decoration.

The tuck-ins for this one were quite fun too, I think. There’s a fortune teller fish, which is a small plastic fish which you put in your hand and depending on how it folds itself it’s supposed to say something about you. A temporary tattoo – “Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt” – in a sort of circus font. And lastly some washi tape samples, including my beloved cat tape.

Added in a mail tag envelope and wrapped it all up in bakers twine, and then it was ready to be sent of to the Philippines!

Sending some happy mail to Australia

I think it can be really important to stop and think about how great your friends are and all the stupid things that you’ve gotten up to together. I also think it’s a good idea to tell them from time to time that you think they’re proper awesome – the world needs more love, not less.

So I’ve made another little book of notes, this time for a good friend in Australia. Jane’s yet another person I met during my year in the US. I seem to be making the rounds with these booklets – what can I say, I miss their silly faces sometimes.

The theme for this one came out of the embossed typewriter card I made with my mother’s Sizzix and started out very black and white – but that came out much harsher than I wanted it to be. I found some old book pages, which helped soften the tone. After that, a few touches of green was all that was necessary to take this from strict and somber into happy mail territory. Somewhere along the line I realized the theme in my mind had transformed into ‘Vintage Flora and Fauna Encyclopedia’.

The layered effect that you get in these booklets is something I’m really fond of – it feels a little like putting together small mini-albums, but without the pictures.

I’m really happy with how this turned out in terms of both varying textures and layers – some shiny and some matte, few corners aligned anywhere. I’m also glad that it managed to maintain a vintage feel despite the bursts of bright and lime green.

Below are some page excerpts.

Happy mailing, and may the postman deliver ever in your favour!

Next stop: Poland.

I’ve been getting most of my new penpals from instagram, and I think it’s a great way to communicate and connect with the larger snail mail community – besides, there’s so much inspiration to be found there!

Since I’ve just been told that my letter has arrived safely, I can now share it with the rest of you without spoiling the surprise! This letter went out to Justyna from Poland.

It was one of those letters where I looked into my washitape box, picked one, and the rest of the theme came from that. I’d only recently got the coffee and cake washi tape, and was really excited to use it. I also shared some samples with my new penfriend.

I’ve been wrapping a lot of my recent mail in string, and I really like how it makes the whole thing feel like a little bundle of happiness. I’m probably going to need to invest in some more bakers twine…

Here’s a little zoom in on some of the letter details. The time tape note is from a smashbook tape I got a long time ago and haven’t used because I liked it so much – but no more of that! These things are meant to be enjoyed, not saved for eternity for the sake of itself.

I kept the envelope simple, but really liked the look of it in the end. More postage was obviously necessary, but I didn’t have any lying around at the time.