Greetings!
In the 1990s, I discovered penpaling and swaps (mainly Friendship Books, Slams, Label Bags and Sticker Sacks). It's been quite a while since I've done swaps and penpaling. I recently unearthed my vault of stickers/stationary and remembered how much fun it was to send and receive stuff in the mail. So.. I'm diving back into the world of fun written/craftable/swappable things.
I absolutely adore getting mail (post cards, letters, greeting cards, envelopes stuffed with goodies, RAKs, themed swaps, etc)! I also love to surprise others through snail mail. :) To me, the written word is such a beautiful thing and I truly do cherish the opportunity to send out each swap whether it be a letter, notecard, RAK envie, thank you note, package, etc.
I live in the Boston area with my husband and two daughters.
[ General Interests ]:
- Playing the ukulele (I play weekly in a band and go to a monthly jam session that features a bunch of other instruments. My latest obsession is learning to play Blues music on my uke.)
- Experimenting in my garden and watching things sprout (particularly flowers)
- Rescuing orphaned plants and seed saving
- Running/hiking
- Rocket Dog flip flops
- Hanging out at the beach/collecting seashells and beach glass
- Antique hunting (particuarly for cool 80s toys and other kitschy things)
- Anything Simpsons-themed (Homer and Krusty the Clown are my faves!)
- Drinking coffee
- The color magenta
- Thrifting (rummage sales, estate sales, garage sales and hunting for treasure at Savers)
- Collecting goofy/quirky t-shirts (especially vintage ones)
- Floral and botanical things, rose- and violet-scented things
- Scratch and sniff stickers, stationary and washi tape
- Kawaii anything (Sanrio, SanX, Daiso, etc)
- Finding unusual postcards (including vintage)
- Vintage Hallmark stationary
- Camping (both cabin and tent)
- Swapping tea packets (love foreign and exotic teas!)
- Finding eclectic coffee houses
- Cooking stuff over a fire in cast iron pots
- Collecting iron-on patches
- Peeping at old buildings and architecture
- Maps (I am fascinated by them and often incorporate them when I’m creating mail art)
- Sakura GellyRoll pens and watercolors (I just bought the travel case of 24 watercolors and am trying to teach myself how to paint)
- Pens! Micron, Le Pen.. I just love them!
- Traveling/spontaneous day trips
- Planning trips to DisneyWorld (I usually go every year with my sister to run one of the the races during the Disney Princess Half Marathon weekend)
- Halloween (hands down my favorite holiday since I was little)
- Blank postcards (I use them for PostCrossing)
- Doing Random Acts of Kindness (RAKs) through the mail
- ... and lots of other low-fi stuff..
[ Crafting interests ]:
- Spreading Modge Podge on things
- Creating tiny tradeable crafts for my daughter's Girl Scout troop (SWAPs, for those of you familiar with them)
- Doodling and capturing funny quotes my family says in my SmashBook
- Hand-drawing and inking my own stickers on Avery labels
- Mail Art
- Upcycling scraps of paper into something fantastic (particularly handmade postcards and envelopes)
- Making beaded jewelry
- Sewing stuff on my machine without a pattern (I’m a rebel.. ha.)
- Slapping stickers onto things (cheap stickers, fancy stickers, large vinyl ones, stickers in a foreign language, teensy ones, glittery stickers, alphabet letters, cartoon-y stickers, kawaii stickers, vintage-looking ones.. I just love stickers in general!)
“ In this era of instantaneous communication, a letter is a rare and wondrous item.”
Comments
Thanks so much for the WW September wish! I LOVE the envies you sent. Can't wait to use them!!!
Thank my WW September. I love everything and how you decorated the envelope. 💕
Thanks so much for the Sep WW washi and envelopes. Love both the gelli print and the cool bird ad. Great mix of prints of the washi too.
Thank you for the lovely notecards for my WW Sept Wish. Hope you got all your Halloween decorations up. Happy swapping, Jannine
Thank you for the September WW! I love the PC's that you sent. I also love the sticker seal with your noggin on it. =D I used to buy my sticker flakes from kawaiiya.com, but they've been shut down since the pandemic hit. They would send two or three free sticker sacks with every $25 purchase which was sweet. I also get a lot when I ask for them as wishes or in tag games. "iheartkawaii" is a shop on eBay that has reasonably priced sticker sacks and they combine shipping if you request an invoice before you pay. I hope that gives you some options.
Thank you very much for my WW Sept envelope. I love the postcard you made. The Halloween washi is great because I don't have any of those.
Stay well ♥
Thanks so much for the festive handmade H'ween PC for Sept WW. Fun stuff!
That was for WW September!!!
Alison! Thanks so much for the amazing handmade envelopes! I love the papers and the gelli printing! So nice! Thank you for thinking of me!!!!! xoxo
About Bigfoot vs bionic wo/man.... It was a multi part crossover episode and all a big misunderstanding, just like every 70 and 80s sitcom, lol. I think it's still on you tube. It really is fantastic and worth the time. I'll be sending you something soon so you can hear about weird tv episodes if you're interested let me know. I can go on for way too long😂