track 025 - coffee and letters

It's been a while! I have been extremely busy and stressed out with school lately, and haven't written a lot of letters, or at least not ones that look pretty enough to show over here. I sometimes resort to ready-made stationery, too..! However, I have received lovely, lovely mail as demonstrated here:

I'll post some more pictures tomorrow, since the battery of my camera died, had to be charged and now there's not enough light anymore to take decent photos! But just let me tell you... it's ALL SO WONDERFUL!

The green envelope you see is from Mickey, who included something very precious, which you'll see later (yes, I'm a tease). I figured that the reply required some special stationery, so I decided to give coffee a try. Now, normally I'm a tea person through and through... but when it comes to aging paper, coffee is the way to go! There are plenty of tutorials out there on the wide web on how to do this yourself, but here's my method very briefly:

1. Brew strong instant coffee.
2. Apply on letter paper with wide brush.
3. Add blotches/splatters/lines/ whatever your heart desires.
4. Let dry, or, if you're impatient like me, blow carefully with hair dryer.

Ta-dah!

track 024 - outgoing this weekend

track 023 - perfection without words

track 022 - an abundance of mail

I'm back home and, as promised, showing what goodies I have received lately. It's not a lot, but I value quality over quantity!

Some of these were received a while ago and even replied to already, such as Mickey's letter, which was a pleasure to read as always, and a wonderfully chatty long letter from Helena, Japan:

And a couple of them were received by opening my mouth in the right place at the right time:

A wonderful Easter goodie bag from Katri, Canada. A while ago she asked for comments from people who wanted her to send them something, and obviously I was one of them. I follow her blog regularly and have seen the beautiful things she creates, how could I not want something from her?

This one came from Bubbles. One of her blogs, Make My Day, specializes in, well, making people's days by sending them various things. In addition to the gorgeous Alice in Wonderland post card, she included a bunch of funky memo sheets. I love Pingu! This definitely made my day. (:

And lastly (but definitely not leastly), I received some 'normal' correspondence as well - that is, things I didn't go begging for! Sofie from Sweden sent a beautiful tomte-postcard after I sent her something during my Month of Letters, and Caroline from France sent me a letter with some extra goodies.

That's my incoming mail in a nut shell! Now, from letters let's move on to something smaller, but equally important when it comes to snail mail... stamps! I already mentioned I got a bunch of old Finnish stamps when I spent the Easter at my parents' place, and here's some proof. (Also proof that I celebrated Easter: origami bunnies!)

This is the pile. Most of them are from the 80's, but I did manage to spot some older ones:

The dark green ones are the oldest ones: they were manufactured in 1932. The rest of the stamps in this picture date to the late 1940s or early 1950s.

In addition to the old stamps, the pile is full of otherwise interesting stamps. I really liked the visual look of these, for example! I can't wait to stick them on envelopes and make collages. (:

And finally, as promised, bunnies. Instructions from here and here.

track 020 - a week's worth of mail

Hi everyone!

It's been a week since my last post! That means I have a week's worth of mail to show you guys. I have one more day to go in my Month of Letters challenge, and this week I fell behind - but I caught up yesterday and wrote 3 letters! Also, for AGES I've thought I have to send 24 pieces of mail, when in reality it's just 20! Oh my, Monday's the last day! I think I will continue after that, too, though. I'm hoping that with all this letter-sending I'll receive something soon enough too... This week I did get some incoming mail, thank goodness! I've been worrying that all the mail to me gets lost on the way, because I haven't heard from my pen pals in forever. 

Monday's mail! Was I happy!

This postcard-looking item is actually an envelope. How fun!

And then for Lettermo letters #14 - #19:

To my newest pen pal Anna, USA.

To Mickey, The Netherlands.

To Jesse, USA, via Sendsomething. Inspired by this post, I loved making this!

To Anna in England, via Sendsomething.

This folder was so much fun to make as well. In this picture it's still without most of the items that I put in the small pockets. I'm just afraid that since the sides are open, something will fall out or it'll be ruined by dirt/moisture... let's hope that the mailmen are delicate. It went to Carissa, USA, via Sendsomething. Inspiration from here, but without the button closure system.

This mini-accordion envelope was inspired by this Martha Stewart craft. It looks super funky when closed! The backside is like the front side, but upside down and with reversed colours. It goes to Aline, also via Sendsomething. I used that site a lot this week since I haven't gotten a lot of mail that requires replying (=non-swaps).

I am quite sad that the challenge is over in one day! All of you who did Lettermo during February, how did you avoid post-partum depression?

track 018 - spring?

You'd think that March is a spring month already... well, if you live in Finland, think again! We had a snow storm in Oulu yesterday and when me and my boyfriend walked to the bus stop around 7pm to make our way to my grandmother's place, we had to do so with snow up to our ankles. But the dinner we had at my grandmother's place - spinach soup, shrimp and herb salmon and goat cheese salad, with ice cream and berries for dessert - was totally worth it.

My own personal Lettermo has reached #13 already! Since I'm planning to send 24 items, like I would've in the month of February, I'm past halfway! Now I'm just waiting to get some replies... any replies... my mailbox is so sad. I did get some envelopes I had ordered, but it's not really the same.

My Lettermo #11 was a private swap called Fancy Mail with Stefanie on Swapbot. The term 'fancy mail' only stood for mail art and a short letter... but the fancy part stuck with me and that's how it ended up like this. Very wedding invitation-esque:

My numbers 12 and 13 were replies to letters I have received. Caroline first wrote to me through Sendsomething, and Marijke did Lettermo last month! These took quite a long time for me to reply to, but hey, patience is a virtue. ;) Both envelopes are from the batch I ordered from fastrunningfox on Etsy, I really love the colours! The yellow is way more yellow in nature, but the picture I took killed it for some reason. (By the way, I love using Korean stickers because they're full of hilarious stuff... check out the flag in the France - sticker for example and then compare it to the colours on the left of it - that's how they're supposed to be! I guess the mentality for the sticker was "as long as the colours are there, it's OK." I also have a sticker that says "Go fine yourself" - I think the original was 'find'.)

track 017 - lettermo 9&10

My Lettermo letters numbers 9 and 10 are also part of the Selfmade Envies- swap on swapbot I mentioned in my last post. I'm looking forward to seeing what my partners are sending me! My mail box has been very sad lately -but today I did get a tea swap! However, tea feels so lonely without a letter, don't you think? The most perfect thing to receive is a long, rambling letter with a tea bag to accompany it. <3 A couple of my pen pals have been abroad lately, and I really miss getting their letters! (Plus I'm really jealous. Mickey just came back from New Zealand, for example, and look at those pictures! Wanderlust anyone?) I think I'll have to find a new pen pal or two, because mail-less days are making me really sad.

I hope you'll all have a week filled with mail, tea and happiness!

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 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!