holidays | kimberly ah

Jan 04 2016

The First Post of 2016

Happy New Year! It always seems like December flies by without a chance to catch my breath. The first week always feels full of possibility and then I’m always rushing to finish projects and parties by the end. But in the end, the work is worth it, the parties are fun and full of laughter, and I know I have all of January to recover.

I am so looking forward to this month.

January is the introvert’s delight.

The parties are over. The shopping is over. The weather in Chicago makes going out difficult. I’m looking forward to hibernation and working on a couple of projects around the house and on my desk. I’m also looking forward to popping in here more often. I got out of the blogging habit at the end of last year…for many reasons that may deserve their own post someday. But I think I’m ready to come back…slowwwwly. Sitting here at my desk, I have a running list of things I want to share, including bits about the holidays, some great mail that’s been showing up in my mailbox, and well…more about Japan. Oh, and perhaps some resolutions?

Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to what 2016 may bring.

It’s time to take down the Christmas tree…

(Have you taken yours down yet?)

Tagged celebrations, Christmas, decorating, holidays, home

Dec 05 2015

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adventures, Christmas, Merry & Bright, snail mail

The LWA Holiday Letter Social

Tomorrow, I’ll be joining Kathy and Donovan for the LWA Holiday Virtual Letter Social. We’ll be writing out our holiday cards and chatting about postal and non-postal topics (the subject of cocktails usually comes up!) So get out your Christmas cards and a cup of tea and join in!

Have you gotten any cards yet? My Aunt Karen was the first this year, closely followed by Ryan, whose card came from the North Pole again!

Tagged adventures, Christmas, holidays, mail art, snail mail

Dec 01 2015

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celebrations, crafty adventures, Office Supplies, snail mail, Thanksgiving, thrifted, vintage

Thanksgiving Mail

I finally finished my Thanksgiving invitation…about three hours before Thanksgiving. I wasn’t feeling very inspired in November but I really wanted the invitation to include the vellum ledger paper and vintage Avery metallic tape I bought on Instagram. (Note: Vintage paper sales on Instagram are very addictive. And fun.)

I always try to add a quote to our Thanksgiving invitations. (Here’s a list of some favorites.) “Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way” is a Native America saying and I love how optimistic it is. I typed it out on a leaf that I cut from patterned paper and layered it with some other leaves from my stash. I added a strip of the vellum and a bit of the tape and a Japanese stamp. Done, right? Well, no. I had to make a mess of things and try to stamp the year on the top with my giant number stamp. But I didn’t press down hard enough and the numbers were messed up so I had to write over the numbers…anyway…I’m trying not to dwell on the numbers…or the fact that I handed the invitation to my parents when they walked in the door on Thanksgiving Day…I did send some other Thanksgiving mail. A few weeks ago I attended the LWA letter social at my library and there were some vintage books available for mail art. I had too much fun choosing images for mail art. And when I didn’t use vintage paper, I had fun using postage stamps and turkey stickers to jazz things up. (That Write More Letters postcard is from Craftgasm. I added the turkey.) And now…holiday card season begins. Once I finish decorating, that is.

Have you started your cards yet?

Tagged celebrations, crafts, holidays, mail art, office supplies, parents, rubber stamp, snail mail, Thanksgiving, thrifting, vintage, washi tape

Nov 30 2015

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celebrations, holidays, Thanksgiving, thrifted, vintage

Our Thanksgiving 2015

Another Thanksgiving is in the books. Naoto cooked a perfect turkey, his famous stuffing, and mashed potatoes. I made Kathy’s grandma’s cranberries and my mom made a veggie tray and a caramel apple cheesecake. Everything was delicious and the day was relaxing. We watched a lot of Leave It To Beaver…you can’t get more wholesome than that! The table was really simple, just some paper leaves and the usual corn and turkey. Jackie gave me that fantastic pumpkin a couple months ago and it was perfect for the table! I found the candlestick holders at Goodwill last month and I loooooove them for fall. They fade from red to a golden yellow and are groovy-good. And I sprinkled my Field Notes Shenandoah leaf buttons on the table, too. Because I already had the cognac out and lemons squeezed for the cranberries, I made us some Sidecars. I spend too much time scoping out seasonal cocktail recipes (usually on Pinterest) but I always find that those are too sugary for my tastes. I can always find a good classic cocktail that fits the bill just fine. Since even my mom enjoyed the Sidecar, I think it will become a new Thanksgiving tradition. I made new place cards with my Yellow Owl Workshop stamp and stuck a glittery turkey sticker on the plate this year. Even Presley got her own place card and plate of turkey and gravy!

Today I’m going to finish putting away the Thanksgiving decorations and start pulling out the Christmas stuff. Naoto and I bought our tree last night so I’m excited to get started on the decorating festivities. I have strict feelings about waiting until after Thanksgiving to move into the Christmas season, but once Thanksgiving is over, I’m all in.

How was your Thanksgiving? Did you try any new recipes I need to add to our list for next year?

Tagged celebrations, food, holidays, parents, Thanksgiving, thrifting, Trader Joe's, vintage

Nov 04 2015

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Halloween, In My Mailbox, snail mail

KimBOOly HAUNTSegawa’s Mailbox

My mailbox was filled with a steady stream of Halloween mail last month. Margaret sent the package above, adorned with all of the fabulous spooky stamps of the post office’s history! Inside, there was a Halloween card and a tiny wooden casket filled with candy. I LOVE the creative use of the wax seals! Margaret wrote a blog post about creating the little candy caskets. Such a fun postal treat! I’m going to use the little casket in my Halloween decorating next year and I’m hoarding the envelope too. Sarah sent this fun see-through candy corn postcard. It was laminated into the postcard size, like the corn was floating. Yuki sent this amazing Japan Post Halloween postcard. These seasonal cards are coveted by me and many other Japan Post lovers…I screamed with delight when I saw it in my mailbox! Yuki sent the postcard in an envelope, but still used vintage stamps with special postmarks on the postcard. I’m sure the postcard will make a reappearance next year in my Halloween decorating. It’s too good to file away with my other mail. And, above are the other sweet, charming, funny Halloween cards I received. Danielle, who sent me two Halloween cards, addressed them in the BEST way! KimBOOOly Adami- HAUNTSegawa and KimberlEEK! ADOOMi-HAUNTED HOUSEegawa made me laugh for days. And that Parcel Ghost sticker–so good!

Thanks to everyone for making it a great mail month! Anyone else receive anything spooky in your mailbox?

Tagged crafts, Halloween, holidays, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, snail mail, washi tape

Oct 30 2015

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crafty adventures, Halloween, Office Supplies, snail mail

Halloween Mail

I’m behind on my Halloween mail because I got sick this week and I was down for the count for a few days. But, earlier this month, I got a jump start on sending some festive mail out to a couple of cat lady pen pals. I had these glow-in-the-dark cat buttons from La Familia Green that I wanted to send in a slightly more creative way than just sticking them in a plain envelope. I was inspired by the peek I had of my Presley patch from Margaret, so I decided to use a cellophane envelope instead. I used washi tape to attach the button to the card and wrote my note. I tried to place the buttons on the middle of the card, where the machine wouldn’t be canceling the stamp or printing the bar code on the bottom. I stuck it all in the cellophane envelope with an address label and added postage. Since the envelope was lumpy, I added the extra twenty-one cents. I also used a cellophane bag to attempt to protect the googly-eye “bra” on my mail art to Kathy. Thanks to a Halloween mail art party with Donovan, I’ve have a huge stack of Halloween envelopes to work through. Now that I’m feeling better, more spooky mail will be written. Better late than never, I guess.

Tagged crafts, Halloween, holidays, mail art, office supplies, snail mail, washi tape

Oct 15 2015

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cocktails, Halloween

Cocktail Perfected: Purgatory

I am embracing the Halloween spirit this week, finally finishing decorating and reading a few spooky short stories. We are reading “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle” for book club this month. One of our book club members sent over Edith Wharton’s “Afterward” as a bonus suggestion since our stories are so short and everyone loves reading a good “ghost story” this time of year. I can’t wait to read “Afterward” and this post has some other great suggestions if you’re into Halloween reading.

I have a couple of good cocktails to share this month for Halloween. These aren’t Pinterest-y cocktails like a Witch’s Brew or Candy Corn Jello Shots, but classic cocktails that always put me in the mood for ghost stories, scary movies, and ghoulish mail art.

The first cocktail is Purgatory, a rye-based cocktail with warm, herbal, and spicy notes. It’s potent, especially considering it’s a 4 ounce pour, but there’s nothing like it on a crisp fall night.

Purgatory Cocktail

2 1/2 oz Rye Whiskey (I like Old Overholt. It’s budget-friendly!)

3/4 oz Chartreuse

3/4 oz Benedictine

Add ingredients to a mixing glass with ice. Stir until chilled and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Drink slooowwwwwwly while reading about headless horsemen, the return of the dead, or Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Tagged cocktails, Halloween, holidays

Apr 05 2015

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celebrations, holidays

Happy Easter, Happy Spring

Happy Easter, Happy Spring, Friends! Today is a perfect spring weather day in Chicago so I’m out and about mailing some letters and planting the rest of my seeds for the balcony. I hope whatever you are doing today is equally enjoyable and relaxing.

Tagged celebrations, holidays

Mar 09 2015

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adventures, Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening

Community Gardening at the Forest Park St. Patrick’s Day Parade

On Saturday, Naoto and I walked in the Forest Park St. Patrick’s Day Parade with the Forest Park Community Garden float. We haven’t been to the parade in a couple of years and I have to say, it was loads more fun walking in the parade than it was watching. Our float, pictured above, was a garden plot in full bloom…isn’t it charming? Six of us walked alongside the float and passed out little packets of sugar snap pea seeds. At first I was a little nervous about handing out non-candy treats to a bunch of drunk people and sugar-hungry kids, but it turned out most people–especially kids–were excited when they heard we were handing out seeds. People briefly shared that they had gardens or were excited to try gardening…it was really heart-warming to see so many hopeful gardeners in our community! The time passed quickly…it felt like we were rushing around handing out seeds and all of a sudden I looked up and we were at the end. Naoto was especially popular along the parade route because people always remember him from Trader Joe’s…he even got a kiss from a customer! He was such a great ambassador for the garden (and for Trader Joe’s!) By the end of the parade, we all handed out a thousand packets of seeds with little information cards about the garden and our upcoming Seed Swap (March 22, 2-4PM!) It was a bright and beautiful day…perfect for a hometown parade!

Tagged adventures, forest park, garden, gardening, holidays

Feb 25 2015

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crafty adventures, holidays, Valentine's Day, vintage

A Tiny Matchbox Valentine

At work we exchanged Valentines, grade school style with a handmade Valentine box and everything. I made a simplified version of my vintage stamp Valentine and I got a lot of great ones, too. One of my favorites was this tiny matchbox Valentine from Laura. It’s hard to see in the pictures, but it’s a plain matchbox covered with map paper–in my case, a map of Japan!Inside, there was a tiny piece of chocolate and a vintage stamp tied up with pink twine. Once I untied the twine, I saw that the stamp was actually two stamps sewn together to make a little card. There was a kind message inside.

I love that Laura used non-traditional Valentine colors and created something really special. I love working with such creative people!

P.S. Laura has a blog! And she wrote up a little tutorial about her Matchbox Valentines in case you want to make your own…for next year or another occasion! 🙂

Tagged crafts, diy, holidays