Letter Month | kimberly ah

Feb 18 2014

Letter Month, Round Up 3

I’m back from ExPostal Facto, but I spent yesterday recovering from a red-eye flight home and a very…eventful ending to my trip…hopefully I will be back tomorrow with a recap of what was an amazing weekend of mail goodness. I need to download about a thousand pictures and call my mother today.

In the meantime, please enjoy Letter Month Round Up 3. My Valentines are all sent out and I got a healthy amount of postcards written during my trip. Sadly, all of those postcards are still in my bag. I accidentally brought them home with me. (You will understand why later…) So I’m mailing them back to a postal saint in SanFrancisco just so they have that authentic postmark.

How are your Letter Months going? We are in the home stretch, and even though I haven’t thought about what I’m mailing out today, I’m feeling pretty good about a strong finish around here!

Feb 17 2014

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crafty adventures, holidays, Letter Month, Office Supplies, snail mail, vintage

A Presidential Valentine

In the US, we are celebrating Presidents Day today, which means banks, schools and post offices are closed and some lucky people have the day off. Sigh…I love a good pun.

I made an Abe themed Valentine for my dad this year. I started with another Paper Source 4-bar heart (the base for all easy homemade Valentines) and added the words with my vintage DYMO label maker. I love punching those letters…I don’t use that thing nearly enough. I decided to make a pun based on Honest Abe. If this Valentine was for Naoto, I would have gone the b(Abe) route…but it would be weird to call my dad a babe.

I topped off the Valentine with my inspiration for the Valentine–this button from La Familia Green. (They make the cutest buttons–I have my eye on the coffee and donut one for perhaps a future Valentine.) I taped it on with a little piece of washi tape. Simple and sweet.

From my land to yours…Happy Presidents Day!

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

Feb 14 2014

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crafty adventures, holidays, Letter Month, Office Supplies, snail mail

2014 “Cat Lady” Valentines

Even though I gave up making my own Christmas cards last year, I’m still going strong in the Valentine-making department. Last year, I did mostly store-bought cards with handmade garlands but this year, I made my cards again.

I love a good pun, and I wanted to use my cat template, so I came up with these cat-themed cards for my cat-fan friends. Each one ended up being a little bit different because I was spending out some Valentine papers from yesteryear. I started with a good pun–You’re the cat’s meow!–and typed it up on Paper Source 4-bar heart cards. Then I stamped on a cat and a heart. I had tiny hearts punched out of leftover paper that I glued on, along with vintage red sequins (using my favorite glue pen). Each card ended up being a little bit different (and each card had varying amounts of Presley fur and coffee spills.)

The non-cat people got the same heart cards stamped with something tea or coffee related…slightly less exciting than cat puns.

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope your day is filled with love and pink mail!

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

Feb 09 2014

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crafty adventures, Letter Month, Office Supplies, snail mail

Letter Month, Round-Up 2

Welcome to the second installment of Letter Month mailings (Monday-Saturday). Even though I’ve sent out a total of fifteen pieces, I’m a little behind on sending out all of my Valentines. I’m hoping to get them all finished today so they have a chance of getting to their destinations before the fourteenth. And because a Letter Month post wouldn’t be complete without an appearance from Presley, here she is crushing some Valentines. Between Naoto spilling coffee on my cards and Presley crushing them, working at the dining room table has turned out to be a big mistake. Apologies in advance to Cath and Melissa for the kitty imprints on your letters.

How’s Letter Month going in your mailbox?

To see last week’s round-up, go here.

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

Feb 02 2014

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crafty adventures, Letter Month, Office Supplies, snail mail

Letter Month, Round-Up 1

Letter Month started up Saturday–are you playing along?

I mentioned last week that I wanted to share each week’s mailings here every Sunday. (And I got sidetracked with a Law & Order marathon and the Super Bowl, so I’m already behind! Monday it is.) I sent out my first Valentines this weekend (shown up above, with sweet Presley). The rest should be heading on their way this week, thanks to a Valentine-themed crafternoon last Friday. I feel like I’m off to a prepared start for Letter Month…of course, that’s easy to say this early in the game!One thing I am trying to do this year is to use the Letter Month Participant stamps on each of my letters. I was pretty faithful about using them in 2012, but last year I kept forgetting. I printed out two sheets on regular paper and numbered them by hand. Then I cut them out each day (with my little Fiskars Stamp Scissors) and paste one onto each letter. The stamps usually end up on the back of the envelope (because sometimes it just doesn’t go with my mail art theme!) I’m hoping to remember to put one on each piece of mail I send out.

That’s all from the outgoing mailbox this weekend. How’s your Letter Month going so far?

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

Jan 29 2014

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Letter Month, snail mail

Letter Month III

On Saturday, Letter Month begins again. This is my third year participating, and even though I ended February last year feeling a little bit burnt out, I’m really excited to jump in again. This year, I plan to try to send at least one letter every day through the month of February, including Sundays and holidays. (To see the challenge guidelines, see the Letter Month website).

I have two things on my side again this year: 1) Valentine’s Day…I am already working on creating my Valentines so I can have them at the ready for mailing on February 1st, and 2) my trip to SanFrancisco where I will be bringing a slew of postcard stamps (even though more than half of the people I correspond with are going to be there with me). I also downloaded the Letter Month planning calendar and put it in my datebook so I can keep track of my plan and progress for the month.

In addition to sending one letter every day throughout the month, my other goals are to spend out some more of my paper/stationery/washi tape stashes, to be more creative with the ol’ mail art (I feel bored by my attempts lately) and to beat last year’s number of 41 letters mailed.

I will be posting my mail daily on Instagram (I’m @adamihasegawa over there) and I’m planning to do a mail round-up each Sunday during February to show what I’ve sent and received during the previous week.

Are you participating in Letter Month? Are you doing anything special to celebrate?

Tagged crafts, mail art, office supplies, snail mail

Feb 28 2013

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crafty adventures, Letter Month, snail mail

So Long, Letter Month…

Today is the end of February, which means the end of the Month of Letters.

The sad news is I missed one day–the day Naoto had his surgery, February 19th. I wrote a letter that day at the hospital, but I was unorganized and didn’t bring my stamp and envelope and didn’t get it sent out in time…I am super-bummed about not having a perfect record, but I’m going to try to let it go because I sent a total of 41 letters!! I’m pretty excited about that number and I hope it means I will keep on keeping on with my mail habit.

At one point in the middle of the month, my mailbox had been empty for a few days. I started panicking that I wouldn’t have someone to write to during my daily writing time. It also didn’t help that my life was particularly unexciting this month, aside from Naoto’s surgery. During the mail drought, I took time to write notes to my grandparents and to a couple of friends who are going through difficult times. Any other month, I probably would have put off sending these notes because I didn’t know what to say, or didn’t have the perfect card, or just because I let it slip my mind. This month, since letter writing was at the forefront of my mind, I made the time and I made the effort. In the end, hearing from me was more important than perfection… It was a good reminder: Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good!

One thing that kept me ahead of the game was Valentine’s Day. It helped that this sweet little holiday gave me an excuse to churn out a few easy notes (along with buntings and decorated envelopes!) I felt so good on the days when more than one letter was going out the door…most days (19 of them to be exact) it was just one letter. Some days, I wasn’t into decorating the envelope, but other days I was really into it. During Valentine week, I was really into it. I was able to use up some papers and bits that have been hanging out in my stash for a long time (like those pink “Be Heart Smart” hearts on the envelopes above that have been around since, oh, maybe second grade…)

I got some really amazing mail from my always-reliable pen friends throughout the month, too. I returned every letter I received this month (except for one I received yesterday which I plan to devote some time to tomorrow night). I also gained three new pen pals–yay for more merry mail making!

I am so glad I participated again this year, and that I beat my goal of sending 28 pieces…it’s not often I beat a goal (ahem…guest room clean-out). It’s really thanks to my regular pen friends that I was able to send out more mail…because even my grandparents (among other non-letter writers) didn’t reply to my letters or Valentines…(cue the violins!) A huge postman-sized hug for those of you who filled my mailbox this month!

I’m ready to move onto another project (after the spare room is done!) Today I’m going to put my red and pink mail things away, tidy up my desk and bring out some fresh supplies for March. Because the mail making doesn’t end with Letter Month, but there’s room for something new, too!

These were some of my favorite envelopes this month. To see the rest, you can take a peek here on Instagram.

Tagged crafts, holidays, mail art, rubber stamp, snail mail, washi tape

Jan 29 2013

13 Comments

Letter Month, snail mail

Month of Letters

For the second year, I am participating in the Month of Letters, a challenge created by Mary Robinette Kowal to mail something every day (that the mail is in operation) in February. That’s twenty-three letters, because of Sundays and President’s Day. Last year, in spite of high hopes, I just made it to the goal, thanks to a few special Leap Day mailings. This year, I’m raising the bar: I want to mail at least one thing every day for the month of February. This year, I have far more letter writing friends than last year, so it should be attainable (as long as I’m not lazy). And, I’ve embraced the postcard as a quick, thoughtful means of communication…even a few sentences can brighten someone’s mailbox (and sometimes I don’t feel like decorating an envelope). Letter Month is a perfect way for me to spend out some of my stationery stash, too! I’ll be posting my daily mailings on Instagram (adamihasegawa) if you’re interested in following along.

So far 2013 has been a good mail year, and this week I’ll be finishing the responses to these sweet missives from my mailbox this month–a fresh start for February!

In other news, today it’s sixty degrees in Chicago…which makes my SNOW! post from Friday just seem ridiculous. I’m off to take advantage of the warm weather by running some errands and breathing in the spring-like air.

*Month of Letters picture courtesy of the Month of Letters website

Tagged snail mail