More fold and mail: Wallace and Gromit

With bat stickers.



I wish these weren't so darn hard to come by. I love 'em.

Hee hee! Another letter blogged!

I sent this...


...and just saw this:

Kittens on the back

Gee whiz, this is fun! Above is what I sent, below what I received:

Ribbons and Stars and Diamonds and Hearts Too!

(I didn't get the cute bunny, but that's okay. A letter is better.)

Thanks, GirlZootZilla!

I love Jezebel

Jezebel's cards are singularly beautiful. Writing letters on them is always a special treat, especially the vellum envelopes that allow the design to show through.

Cool vintage stamps on this one, too.

Another Jezebel from this summer:

Message in a Bottle site award

Hey cool - I just won me a little award!

From Wendy's blog, A Passion for Letter Writing:
The “Message in a Bottle” Site Award is one that is given to anyone on the Web who has done something significant to promote letter writing.

Yippee!!
(Now go write a letter.)

Fun with snail stamps

I seem to be developing a fetish for snail-themed rubber stamps, to complement the snail mail idea.

I had fun last night with this one finding a few spicy vintage stamps for Donovan of LWA fame.



On the back is one of my new cat stickers from MOO. Once my new camera arrives, I will take some more photos of this nifty personalized photo sticker book.

Package from Thailand

I bought a pen (a Pilot SP-100n EF fountain pen, for anyone who's wondering) from Thailand on eBay - good deal, free shipping. Fun in any case, but I never expected it to arrive in such an adorable package!

(Dig the little elephant on the postage meter stamp.)

Also, the pen was really well packaged inside a nearly-indestructible PVC pipe.

Hooray for blogging letters!

I am terribly psyched to report one of my letters has been blogged!

Check out today's post on the awesome Snail Mail Addict.

More proof that the internet can support snail mail instead of supplant it.

Tra la la. Happy humming.

Kirsten Ulve's Snail Mail

I love this stationery, actually called Kirsten Ulve's Snail Mail. Each page has a different design. Here are 2 of the 8 that I used in a recent letter:



And the back of the envelope:


And one more envelope:


Love this stuff.

R&K Alt Bordeaux in Haolilai 601

The bottom of a letter, where I note the fountain pen ink color (IF the letter is to another fountain pen user who might want to know the color).

This is a pretty true representation of the R&K Alt Bordeaux, one of my favorite inks - best viewed large to see the shading and color variance properly.

The stationery is by Papyrus.

Best Hanukkah card ever

From my MIL.

Love it.

Prickly wisdom

Is it a hedgehog or a porcupine?

Whatever it is, it's adorable.

This letter came from my dear friend T., who is often very wise.



I just love this passage so very much.

Personal info removed, it's still applicable to dark moments.

Thanks, T-light.

**UPDATE: IT'S A PORCUPINE!!! Hooray!**

MuppetLust

I loved, loved, loved The Muppet Show as a kid, and Pigs In Space was my very favorite sketch. So when I found these on eBay, my heart lept with gladness. When another set came up, I had to snatch 'em up, too.

It's a fold and mail postalette, and requires stickers to seal - curiously, it didn't come with any. So the little glitter stickers are my own touch.

If anyone has a source of Muppet stationery, let me know. I'm all over it.

First venture with sendsomething.net

I won't say who got it. Gotta keep some privacy goin' on.

This is Rachel Williams' Miss Anne Thrope stationery, with an Edward Gorey bat rubber stamp, and a postage stamp featuring my bitchy tabby cat Magic with a jack-o-lantern.

Kate Spade Snail Mail notecards

I finally splurged and ordered these Snail Mail notecards, which I've been coveting for ages. These are so luscious. Made by Kate Spade partnered with Crane, the paper quality is extremely high. I think they're cotton. They take fountain pen ink gorgeously with no smudging - and who can resist the adorable green and gold snail??

They're pricey for me, but you gotta have a little high-end "treat" stationery around for special letters.



I got mine from Paperstyle, which has the same price as everybody else but the service is really fantastic.

Please Write: Don't Phone

I just came across this wonderful poem on LetterLover and had to share.

Please Write: Don’t Phone
By: Robert Watson

While there is mail there is hope.
After we have hung up I can’t recall
Your words, and your voice sounds strange
Whether from a distance, a bad cold, deceit
I don’t know. When you call I’m asleep
Or bathing or my mouth is full of toast

I can’t think of what to say.
“We have rain?” “We have snow?”

Let us write instead: surely our fingers spread out
With pen and paper touch more of mind’s flesh
Than the sound waves moving from throat to lips
To phone, through wire, to one ear.
I can touch the paper you touch.
I can see you undress in your calligraphy.
I can read you over and over.
I can read you day after day.
I can wait at the mailbox with my hair combed,
In my best suit.
I hang up. What did you say?
What did I say? Your phone call is gone.
I hold the envelope you addressed in my hand.
I hold the skin that covers you.

magic pygmy shrew

Cherysh does the best doodles. His letter wasn't at ALL boring, but I do love the magic shrew.

I gave him the juice box slug stationery. Mmmmm. Sluggy goodness.

(Found this on Nutandbee's Etsy shop.)

Wax seals, how I love them...

This came from a correspondent in the UK. The photo doesn't do it justice - the wax is metallic, a swirl of copper and bronze - just gorgeous! By the smell and feel, I'd say this is real wax and not the imitation plastic stuff. What fun to receive a letter sealed with wax!



One of my more creative UK correspondents has a toucan wax seal, which he has named Eric. He wrote me a letter a while back in which Eric got mangled in the post, but his second attempt to send me an Eric seal was successful.

I don't know why I've never managed to get into using wax seals myself. My husband even has a seal and some sealing wax that he's offered to let me use. I guess I feel like I already have too many addictions around letter-writing (stationery, fountain pens, ink, rubber stamps, stickers...) that I don't want to set myself up with another one.

Vintage postal goodness for the LWA

Vintage 1971 envelope from my grandfather, who used to work for the postal service. I found a stash in his house and he said take 'em.

With vintage stamps, LWA button and Sheaffer Agio F (filled with Noodler's Eternal Hunter Green). I broke out the special stamps for Donovan, one of the Letter Writers Alliance founders.

Milton fold and mail

This guy headed off to Denver today. Go, Milton, go!

Buy Milton fold and mail

Amanda Visell Don't Eat Paper stationery

This here's the alligator envelope, with some embellishments from Pilot Petit1 apricot orange ink.

Where I bought my Amanda Visell Don't Eat Paper stationery

Why letters from Cherysh make my day

He dubbed me H.R.H. The ninth Regentess of Bucklersbury.

I won't let it go to my head.

This is a photo from June, but hey, this blog is brand-new and I'm populating it with all kinds of missive-ly goodness.

And the melting sausage (it was hot) can't be beat.

Star Trek fold and mail

Warp speed ahead!

These are so deeply awesome.

I love decorative fold-and-mails in part because the envelopes end up looking so cool, but the Star Trek set is particularly kitsch-tastic.

There is one with Captain Kirk amongst the tribbles.... someday I must post a photo of that one, too.

Star Trek fold and mail

write - lick - fold- stamp - nap

Love it.

Words to live by.

(Back of the Emily the Strange Fold and Mail stationery pad.)

White Lace vintage stationery

Anyone who's corresponded with me for a while has seen my fetish for vintage stationery pop up. I seek it out on eBay, and usually there are some good finds. I'll share a couple of favorites (and I'll have to take photos of more!). This takes fountain pen ink beautifully.

Timely Correspondence Ensemble vintage stationery

More vintage stationery, a la eBay. My favorite aspect of this one is the papers with the little "paper, ink bottle, quill-pen" motif. I love stationery with icons about writing, especially any insinuation of a fountain pen. How very meta.

A 5-letter day

Tuesdays are supposed to be the slowest mail days of all, yet I got FIVE letters today - hooray! One was a Christmas card but it had a nice note so I'll let it count.