track 014 - lettermo. first steps.

Like I promised, I started my Lettermo once I returned to Finland. Today is day 3, and since I'm sort of lazy at the moment, I will only show you what I have sent during these 3 days. I had a pile of gorgeous, interesting mail waiting for me here, and I did take lots of pictures, but that'll have to wait until some other day! Today's theme is outgoing.

#001

A reply to Erica, who sent me a letter via sendsomething a while back.

#002

A reply to Jasmine! I got to be a part of her Lettermo, and now she got to be a part of my Lettermo. Perfect!

#003

A reply to Bee! If you've read my earlier posts, you know that her last letter arrived covered in mysterious goo. I wonder if we'll ever find out what happened?

Those of you who started Lettermo in time have a week to go! I wish you're all having a blast!

If you'd like to receive something from me during my Month of Letters, drop me a line (biograffitist@mail.com) or just go ahead and send me a letter (the address is on the left side of the blog)! Any letter that I receive in time will most definitely be replied as a part of this project. (:

track 013 - valentine

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! 

 In Finland, Valentine's day is not actually directed towards couples and lovers, as is the case in many other countries, but the actual name of the holiday is 'ystävänpäivä', or friend's day. The commercial lovey-dovey stuff is making its way over here as well, but I really like the idea of dedicating a day to your friends. This way you don't have to get depressed if you're single on Valentine's Day - just go have a girls' night out or invite a couple of friends over for a movie! Friendship is a beautiful thing, so hold on to your pals. As for myself, I can't say I have many friends. I have people I enjoy spending time with, sure. I have people to go out with, people to gossip with. But I am looking for something more, something I haven't had for years now - real friendship. It's partly what got me pen palling in the first place - someone new to talk to, to hear from, to develop a bond with. I'm happy to say that some of my pen pals have become very important for me. Every now and then I'm afraid I'm too old to make new friends, because it seems that everybody else's important relationships were forged in high school already, but then I think of all the great pen pals I've met during the last couple of years. I trust that real friendship will come when I'm ready for it, with the right person or people. 

 To me, friendship is...

   

Summer evenings that turn into nights and mornings, people coming and going as they wish, and conversation that flows on and on.

   

 Letting your hair down, enjoying and doing silly things.

   

 Impromptu coffee, sharing thoughts and the feeling of refreshment upon parting. 

 What does friendship mean to you? And how did you spend your Valentine's Day?

all images via Pinterest

P.S. Next week I'll be blogging from home again! I can't wait to see all the mail that's waiting for me!

track 012 - a small update

Hi everyone!

The days in the Netherlands have been filled with seeing people I haven't seen for over a year, cuddling with (often reluctant) cats, good food and gawking at the ridiculously low prices. All the Finns out there, how would a beer crate (24 beers) for 4.99 sound? I feel like a kid in a candy shop here. Bread for a euro a bag! Cheese for two euros! Soda for 0.40! I will most likely return a couple of kilos worth of food on my hips and a few more in my suitcase.

Our neighbours promised to keep track on the mail I receive at home - so far I have gotten a Hello Kitty - envelope and a package that needs to be picked up from the post office. Hopefully they won't send it back until I return...

Now, the radio silence will continue until further notice. Have a cat picture to comfort yourselves with!

track 011 - bits and pieces

So, I said there wouldn't be any more mail pictures unless I received something awesome... well, I did receive something awesome! I tend to order quite a lot of stuff from Etsy and eBay, and it's always lovely to see an envelope from a person whose name you recognize but don't remember what you ordered! So, today I received my sticker order from Hong Kong and an ephemera kit and lovely extra goodies (a post card and some cute stickers) from Wreckthisgirl (that was fast! I ordered it last Saturday!).

Fun fact: I was actually going to enclose a sheet or two in Satu's envelope (she's my partner in a swap at the moment), but then saw on her blog that she just received the same stickers this week... so I didn't. :D

Now, I still have a ton of stuff to so before taking off tomorrow around midday. So, packing and organizing, laundry and sending some mail awaits!

track 010 - post office accident

I believe this is going to be the last post showing my in- and outcoming mail for a while. Our flight to Amsterdam (via Stockholm) leaves on Thursday morning, so unless I receive something really interesting tomorrow, no mail pictures for at least a week! However, I'm already looking forward to returning home and seeing the pile of mail that will (hopefully) be waiting!

I got a letter from Bee - it seems that either the Irish or the Finnish post office did something really interesting with it. It arrived wrapped in plastic, which I wondered but didn't really think too much about, until opening the envelope!

I wonder what happened! Luckily all the writing was still mainly untouched. The envelope was even covered with tape to begin with, and the dirt still got inside, so I wonder what would've happened to a letter in a normal, thin paper envelope!

I'll try and answer Bee before taking off, but if I don't have the time, I might just pack the letter with me and reply from the Netherlands.

The outcoming mail for yesterday was a letter I sent to my newest pen pal to USA. I happened to have an envelope made of very good quality paper, almost like watercolour paper, so watercolour is what I did with it! I finished it off with some rubber stamps - on the left you can see I used a plain stamp (handcarved by my pen pal Mickey, who's actually in New Zealand on her honeymoon now!), my goal was to take off some colour instead of adding it. The envelope stamp I made myself (and I'm very proud of it)!

The font I used on the envelope is called BlackChancery, I really enjoy writing with that one! Does anyone else use different fonts when you address your envelopes?

track 009 - an organized mess

First, I have an announcement to make. Due to personal family reasons, me and my boyfriend are flying to the Netherlands next Thursday for an unknown amount of time - no less than a week in any case. This means that I won't be home for at least a part of the Month of Letters - however, I'm not planning to give up on it. I will start as soon as I get back home and go on for 28 days. So, all of you who wish to receive something from me, drop me a line at biograffitist@mail.com and I'll get to you eventually! I'm really bummed out, since this is my first Month of Letters, and I was really looking forward to February, but something more important has come up so I'll just have to do it my way.

On another note, I hope everyone's having a great weekend! We're having pizza, and while there was still light outside I took quite a few photos so I can finally show you all how I keep my letter-writing stuff in order (or try to) as promised.

I usually write my letters on the couch, very rarely on the proper desk we have here in the living room. I like to watch TV while I write... This is how the sofa table looks like:

As you can see, it's far from tidy... but I have a system! On the tray with candles, I also store my outgoing letters. You can see Romy's letter there, waiting to be mailed. The plastic box under the table has rolls under it for easy rolling out and in. And once you roll it out, this is what you see:

Most of my letter-writing supplies! Since it is a bit chaotic to look at like this (but let me assure you, it's all logically piled up), we'll start breaking it down from the bottom. The bottom layer has three boxes in it:

The boxes on the left store my unwritten post cards and cardboard, and pen pal letters.

We'll elaborate the rightmost one a bit more, since that's the one I use every single time I write a letter. It's a woven box with layers of stuff in it - if you were to take the box away and leave the stuff as it is, it would look like something like this.

This box works as a home for my lettersets (bottom box with flowers on it), pencil case, scissors, pens and glue. There are also two bags - one plastic one and one paper one - and a mysterious white box, all pictured below with their contents. The paper bag has my stamps and priority -stickers, the plastic bag my envelopes and loose lettersheets and the mystery box has everything random that I use fairly often - stickers, memo sheets, deco tape, extra glue, carved stamps...

Now, onto the next layer of stuff! It begins with two folders that have magazine pages and clippings in them. The black one only has a4 sized magazine pages (that could be turned into envelopes) and the red one has various sized clippings.

After that, in comes a mystery bag with random embellishments and goodies in it, and a box with paper goods. Scrapbooking paper, illustrations, ephemera etc.

Almost done! The second-last layer includes a box with small paper ephemera, and other random flat things. In addition to that, there is another mystery bag - with sticker sheets that are too big for the rightmost box, some ribbons and so on - and a sheet that shows how much postage I have to pay when I send stuff. It's covered in plastic because I have a tendency to spill things. (That's why it looks a bit strange in the picture.)

And last but not least, in goes some wrapping paper I have no better place for, and my loyal sketchbook. I use it as a writing pad, I make letter paper out of its pages, I store letters in progress inbetween it... I don't know what I would do without it!

In addition to my plastic box, I have a couple of more places left. I store my swap envelopes and notes, Christmas cards etc. in a separate box on the bottom level of the sofa table. You can see where in the very first picture (go on, scroll up!).

And I also have a corner bookshelf in the living room that holds my artsy stuff (charcoals, pastels, watercolour pencils and watercolours), a box with some more paper and cardboard and wrapping paper that will be turned into for example envelopes!

So, that is the controlled chaos known as my letter-writing and craft supplies. Let me tell you, it took a long time to find a way that works! For ages my papers etc. were just two overflowing boxes on the floor next to the desk. I still haven't rounded up everything - my watercolour papers, brushes, canvases and oil colours are scattered around the bookshelf area.

Does everyone have fun plans for the weekend? If you're bored, I would love to see how you keep your supplies in order - pictures please!

track 008 - doodles

Happy Friday!

Since I got a couple of comments on my last entry about doodling being hard, I thought I'd let you see how I do it. It's easier when you focus on small steps instead of aiming for the ready drawing right away! So, these are my steps to the vine doodles featured in the envelope in my previous post - feel free to draw along or adjust them to your needs.

1. Make some swirls by pencil. I like to start them from the corners, because then I don't have to worry about what the other end looks like - just the swirl end. Make sure they're nice and loose - there's no need to try and get them symmetrical or perfectly shaped! Draw them fast and then adjust later if need be. I always start from the biggest swirl and add smaller ones around it, making sure they curve in different direction, start in different places and are different length.

2. Ink them in! Make sure you use a pen that doesn't smudge or fade too much when you erase the pencil marks from under it. I ended up smudging with my hand, try to avoid that. ;) At this point you can make adjustments or additions - you can see I haven't followed the pencil marks 100%.

3. Erase the pencil marks. Add details! Below are some examples on what kinds of patterns you can use to fill in your doodle. Combine them, add other shapes and patterns, have fun!

After you have your details in place, have fun with your swirls. Make their thickness vary, add more branches, see what looks good to you. When you make them thicker, do it gradually - you can always add more, but it's hard to make them thinner if you accidentally go too far from the original line! This is one example on how your doodle can look after some flesh:

Finish the other side as well! After that, you can add more swirls, details and other things you deem appropriate. Remember, the most important thing is to have fun - so relax, let your creativity take over and try out things! If you're not sure how something is going to look like, sketch it with a pencil first and ink it in when you're happy with it.

Ta-dah! You have one incredible doodle - be proud of yourself and reward yourself with a nice cup of tea while admiring your handiwork!

Some detail shots below.

Happy doodling, everyone! Remember, these are just guidelines. There is no one way of doing things, so experiment and see what works out for you! This is only meant as a rough guide if you really don't have any idea where you should start - or if you want to try out something new just for fun.