mail art | kimberly ah

Nov 01 2013

adventures, Halloween, Office Supplies, snail mail

Spooky Saturday: Halloween Letter Social

Last Saturday was Halloween themed. After the Casket Races on Saturday morning, I went to a Halloween Letter Social at Pieritz Bros. The Letter Writers Alliance once again teamed up with everyone’s favorite office supply store to host letter writing and typewriter typing. I used that festive orange number up above…it typed like a dream in a lovely cursive and I was able to crank out three letters during the social. Thanks to the Halloween Mail Art Workshop, the Letter Social, and a letter writing cram session on Monday morning, I have almost caught up on my correspondence. Almost. I used some of my vintage postage, but I really loved the look of the Johnny Cash stamp on the black envelopes.

It feels good to be participating in the world of mail again.

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

Oct 21 2013

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adventures, crafty adventures, holidays, snail mail

Halloween Mail Art Party

Confession: I haven’t written a letter since the beginning of August. But when I saw that Donovan was hosting a Halloween Mail Art Workshop at Greer on Saturday, I knew that making some creative Halloween envelopes would be just the thing to jump start my letter writing again. I’m pretty excited to fill up these envelopes with responses to letters I received back in August and September. Donovan had the table stocked with orange, black and purple papers, washi tapes, envelopes and plenty of spooky ephemera, rubber stamps and labels. The four of us in attendance had great time poking through everything and sticking and pasting the bits into mail art creations. I love to watch other people create mail art. Sharing ideas and mail stories are the best parts of these events. You can tell from our completed collection that everyone had different approaches and lots of creativity.
One of my favorite pieces to use was the Frankenstein napkin. Donovan showed us that you can peel the napkin layers and use the images for mail art. They are delicate but fun to work with, and we all used “Frank” in different ways…I especially love him on the black envelope (above left, made by Emily)…the black background gives it a spookier effect! Donovan sent us each home with a goodie bag filled with labels, tickets and amazing vintage postage. I’m determined to use it all up on the rest my mail art envelopes with the exception of the Alfred Hitchcock stamp…I get a little hoard-y when it comes to this stamp. I love Hitchcock and the stamp has a tiny little cut out of his profile…so good!

I am excited to write some letters this week and get back on track with my correspondence. My mailbox has been lonely lately and the only remedy for that is to send some mail out into the world knowing it will be returned in good time. And, if I don’t catch up completely with my letters this week, the Letter Writers Alliance has a Halloween letter writing social at Pieritz on Saturday. It’s as though the universe is telling me to make time for mail again.

You can read about the 2012 Halloween Mail Art Party here.

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

Oct 09 2013

3 Comments

adventures, Japan 2013, My Love Affair with Tokyo, Office Supplies, snail mail

Good Things From The Yubinkyoku

As I mentioned in my first post about sending postcards from Japan, I couldn’t wait to pop into the post office for some postcard stamps and postcards. While I was buying those, I scoped out some of the exclusive yubinkyoku (post office) stationery. Pictured above is the classic red mailbox postcard, the classic red mailbox glue stick, the Japan post letter set (including stickers of a mail bike, a mail bag, a mail truck and a mailbox) and a letterpressed postcard. They are all part of the Posta Collect Basic stationery series presented by the post office. The papers used in the letter set and postcards are really thick and lovely. The postal clerk was adamant that the big red mailbox postcard was not for international mailing, but Naoto sent me one a few years ago during one of his solo travels to Japan and I got it…so…mail at your own risk? I also bought a sheet of these awesome constellation stamps. Japan is very on-trend with their postage…constellations are everywhere lately!It’s hard to see in the pictures, but the stars are gold foil and the pictures are holographic silver. Apparently these stamps are the third in a series of constellation stamps. (You can see the first set here and the second here, scroll down.) I’m bummed I missed this first two. And while I was at the post office one last time, I could not pass up the other Letter Writing Day stamps. I fell in love with the depictions of summer in Japan, especially the somen (bottom left), the roasted barley tea (second right) and the flowers and vegetables. And obviously the little girl writing a letter, the red mailbox and mail truck sealed the deal.

Japan really knows how to do postage stamps and merchandise…I think the USPS should take note!

Tagged adventures, I *heart* Japan, Japan, letterpress, mail art, office supplies, shopping, snail mail

Sep 30 2013

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adventures, crafty adventures, Japan 2013, My Love Affair with Tokyo, washi weekend

Wrap, Wrap, Wrapple

Wrapple was our first craft shopping stop in Japan. I’d read about it on Hello Sandwich‘s blog (and in her Tokyo Guide) and wanted to see all of the wrapping, washi tape and packaging goodness Wrapple had to offer.

The store is located inside Parco, a large boutique shopping center in the Shibuya neighborhood. Parco is kind of like a mall, except each “shop” seems to flow into the next. Wrapple is tucked into the corner on the fourth floor in between a clothing shop and a coffee shop. They have a ton of papers, rubber stamps, scrapbooking supplies, stickers, boxes and ribbons–really anything you might need for crafting projects or to package a gift sweetly. They offer workshops, too, varying from paper crafts to slipper making (with ribbons!) Wrapple had the best selection of MT tape of any store I visited in Tokyo. For those who don’t know, MT tape is the original washi tape and it is the highest quality washi tape of all. It is made in Japan and nothing tears better, removes better and re-sticks better than MT. It also stays on posted envelopes better than any other paper tapes out there. (I complete agree with this washi tape evaluation.) MT not only performs beautifully, but their line has everything from wonderfully simple patterns and solid colors to crazy-unique designs like pancake recipes, solar systems and grass-munching cows (I bought all three.) MT releases seasonal patterns as well, and we were there to see Wrapple receive some new designs. (Fun stuff!) I bought a load of washi tape from Wrapple. And we went back a second time so I could buy a few rolls of MT Casa, extra-wide washi tape designed for decorating walls and furniture. These are the ones I picked. I have zero plans in mind right now, but I picked some nice neutrals and a pool blue with high hopes that we can use them in our (some-day-freshly-painted) bedroom. The tallest one is eight inches high, the middle two are four inches and the tiny blue one is two inches. I would have killed for an air mail tape for my walls.
Sadly, it does not exist (though I think a petition is in order…)

Tagged adventures, crafts, decorating, I *heart* Japan, Japan, mail art, washi tape

Sep 16 2013

9 Comments

adventures, coffee talk, Japan 2013, My Love Affair with Tokyo, Office Supplies, snail mail

Heaven is bunbougu cafe

Stationery store + coffee shop = heaven, am I right?

Hisae (Naoto’s older sister) played tour guide for us during part of our stay in Tokyo. She mentioned that she had a “surprise” for me. Well, the surprise was bunbougu cafe and it was more amazing than I could have imagined.

(This is where I will tell you that I regret a few things about our trip to Japan. One is that I didn’t carry my “big” camera with me very often and another is that I didn’t take more pictures. Sigh. Sorry for my poor iPhone photos!)Bunbougu cafe is in Omotesando neighborhood. It is in the basement of a building and you walk down into a stationery shop and cafe. There are place mats (seen above) at each seat and pens, rubber stamps, markers, colored pencils and other art supplies are available to borrow for doodling and writing. They have a full menu available, but we came right after lunch, so we ordered drinks and doodled a bit at the table as I sat amazed at this incredible cafe concept. While we waited for our drinks, I poked around the store. Bunbougu sells stationery, cards, pens, stickers, washi tape, pen cases, boxes…pretty much anything you could imagine needing if you’re a letter writer or journaler. In addition to the obvious Japanese stationery offerings, they had a lot of my favorite American designers at bunbougu. I saw lots of Rifle Paper Co., Yellow Owl Workshop and Chicago’s own Field Notes! Field Notes were even one of the bunbougu employee’s favorite picks! I limited myself to a few purchases (which I will share in a bit!) and spent most of my time hanging out with Naoto and Hisae drawing at the table and enjoying my coffee. As if being a stationery store/cafe didn’t make bunbougu awesome enough, they have a membership option. For 700 yen (about $7) members receive a key to the stationery drawers at each table. Members have access to the “secret” pens, stationery, art supplies and other treats in the drawers. They also get invited to members-only events and seminars about stationery and other paper-y things. Isn’t this a genius concept? Now, who wants to move to Omotesando with me to join bunbougu cafe? Better yet, who wants to open one here in Chicago? For a great article and better pictures of the bunbougu cafe, go here!

Tagged adventures, coffee, I *heart* Japan, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, snail mail, washi tape

Sep 12 2013

3 Comments

adventures, Japan 2013, My Love Affair with Tokyo, snail mail

Tokyo: PO

One of my favorite parts of traveling is sending postcards. I usually take a long time choosing cheesy tourist postcards. (Naoto is very tolerant of this habit. I don’t know what he’s thinking while he stands waiting outside the tourist shops, but he certainly isn’t showing impatience!) And I like to write them out during a slow mid-vacation morning, over coffee of course. There’s less pressure that way. I also always send a postcard to Naoto and me, with a little recap of our favorite things about our trip. It is seriously like pulling teeth to get Naoto to participate, but I know someday he’s going to thank me…when we’re old and grey, he’s going to love remembering that his favorite part of Tokyo 2013 was the food (ahem…and of course seeing his family!) Unfortunately, I was rather unorganized during our trip and postcard writing had to wait until the last two days in Japan. It was difficult to find “travel-y” postcards there…but there were plenty of other pretty options to choose from. (The red post box card above is from the post office…I should have bought more of those. The bird ones were from Itoya.) Once I finally collected enough cards, I sat down at Mister Donut on two separate mornings to get the job done. One of those mornings was especially perfect because Naoto had an errand to run. So it was just me, my postcards, my coffee and donuts…a nice way to spend a solo morning.Since we found the post office right away, I bought stamps on the first day. I felt pressured to make a decision (which is silly, because Japan has the most patient and amazing customer service ever!) so I just snagged the first ones that caught my eye. They happened to be in celebration of Letter Writing Day. (Japan issues a stamp–or stamps?–for Letter Writing Day every year in July! I am disappointed that I never knew this before!) The stamps are pictured above (the 50yen ones…the 20 yens just help get those postcards across the ocean!) I originally chose them because of the old-time red mailbox stamp, but I also fell in love with the little boy writing a postcard and the others, too…I mean, isn’t that vegetable stamp wonderful?

The Letter Writing Day stamps have a lovely matte finish and they are the licking kind (technical term). It was fun to tear the perforation and lick ’em and stick ’em. I also appreciate the fact that the perforation goes all around the stamp. (I personally hate when there are only a couple of perforated sides on the stamp and the rest of the sides have straight edges. It happens on many stamps here in the US and I think it looks silly.) So, the stamps all around were quite pleasing to use. I have two other sheets of postage to share with you as soon as I am home and awake during daylight hours. (Jet lag is in full force around here!) The mailbox above was in my mother-in-law’s neighborhood. I love the red and the modern shape of the new boxes, but the traditional style will always be my favorite. This one makes sense for modern times–there is a slot for international mail and small packages and a slot for regular domestic mail–but really…who doesn’t love the old one? (Picture from our 2011 trip to Japan.)

Tagged adventures, mail art, snail mail

Sep 03 2013

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adventures, Office Supplies, snail mail

Packing for Japan: The Important Stuff

Packing my mail supply bag for Japan was probably the most simple thing on my to-do list. There was no need to bring postage stamps, because they won’t work here. I didn’t really need to pack washi tape, because I’m sure I’ll be buying some here. I didn’t really need to bring a variety of pens, because, again, I’m sure I’ll be stocking up. I’m not a big vacation letter writer, so I didn’t need stationery (and again, if I change my mind…I’m in the country of stationery!) I did, however, need my address book (painstakingly updated with all of my pen pals!) and a pen or two to start with.

So, here’s what I have in my mail pouch:

a red StazOn ink pad

2 Japanese rubber stamps (the Japan Post Office icon & a drunk kitty, both acquired on previous trips)

1 “Today Is” stamp (from here)

2 MultiBall pens (they dry quickly on slick surfaces, perfect for postcards!)

1 grey LePen (for writing in my travel journal)

a tape runner for sticking things in my journal or on envelopes

my mini address book (vintage from Greer)

a few rolls of washi tape (for sticking things in my travel journal)

a few paperclips (for clipping things into my travel journal)

A visit to the Tokyo post Office is on the top of my list so I can stock up on Japanese postage and get to my postcard writing! Our morning Mister Donut visits will be the perfect time to write.

My favorite time.

Tagged adventures, coffee, mail art, office supplies, rubber stamp, shopping, snail mail

Aug 16 2013

5 Comments

crafty adventures, Office Supplies, snail mail

Office Supplies from Japan

Remember the wonderful care package from my sister-in-law? I finally got a chance to try out these fun office supplies that she tucked in between the amazing snacks and sweets. First up are these pretty little flower and bird page flags. They are tiny sticky notes that I can include on catalogs and my calendar to remind me of things I love or want to remember for future reference. I tried to stick the “My favorite” on one Presley (who was sitting near-by during the photo shoot) but she wasn’t having any of it. (She’s still my favorite.) The flags came in the cute little canister, which makes them handy for carrying around or just looking pretty on my desk. Next up are these fun Deco Rush patterned tape runners. They are like regular tape runners, except they are only sticky on one side and they have fun patterns printed on them…kind of like clear washi tape in a handy dispenser. They have a little clicking mechanism, similar to a retractable pen, so the runner part is protected in your bag (or when the cat knocks it around the floor). And, they are refillable, too, so once you have the “case” you can buy all sorts of refills and interchange them to fit your mood. Hisae sent two cases–hearts and hippos–and a refill–chicks.So far I’ve used the hippos to mark a couple of events on my calendar. They are bright and fun and help make special nights–like a date with Billy & Angela–stand out in my week. And I started a little wave pattern of chicks on this envelope for one of my pen pals who actually raised some chicks this spring. The chicks in the wagons are killing me just a little bit. I’m excited to use these in card-making and mail art and to pick up a few more refills when we go to Japan next month.

Thanks, Hisae, for adding to the crafty goodness around here!

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

Jul 23 2013

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snail mail

Postcards from Cath

One of my penpals, Cath, is from the Netherlands. We “met” through the Letter Writers Alliance website when they posted about my volunteer role with Honor Flight Chicago. Cath sent some gorgeous postcards with beautiful notes for the World War II veterans. I was touched by her lovely words and I sent her an email to thank her for writing. We’ve been corresponding with each other ever since, and Cath has continued to write postcards for veterans this year.

Along with regular cards and letters, Cath has been sending a series of postcards about her community of ‘s-Hertogenbosch and specifically an old cathedral–St. John’s Cathedral–in the town square. I’ve loved receiving these little tidbits and a peek into Cath’s hometown. (I’ve never been to Europe so it is fascinating to me that cathedrals and communities have been around for several hundred years. Everything in the US seems so young, comparatively!) On the back of each card, Cath writes a description and a little history for each card. In the picture above, the man with the peas and the angel on the cell phone are both part of the cathedral. The man with the peas is from the 14th century (he has been restored since then). According to Cath, “the story goes his wife had cooked him peas and put them on the stone floor to cool. As he saw them, he got angry and said this was a meal very much beneath his status as a building master.” The cell phone angel was added two years ago, and according to Cath, “you can call [a number] and she gives you information about the cathedral…And her phone only has one push button, for a direct line to heaven.”

I have really enjoyed this postal series from Cath! I love this concept as a way to share communities and favorite places with pen pals.

Thank you, Cath, for the glimpse at your hometown! I placed the whole postcard series in the timecard holder on my desk so I can enjoy the lovely cathedral just a little bit longer.

Tagged mail art, snail mail

Jul 15 2013

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Forest Park, Oak Park, home is a 1970s apartment, summer manifesto, thrifted

Saturday on the Balcony

Saturday was the last of a string of perfect summer days–low 80s, no humidity, sunny skies, gentle breeze…

Naoto and I had grand plans for the day, but we ended up lounging around on the balcony enjoying the weather and soaking up the rare gem of a summer day in Chicago. While Naoto caught up on reading the Japanese news (hence the laptop), I watered the plants, caught up on some letter writing and worked on cleaning my thrift store typewriter. It was a nice feeling of lazy productivity. While we were outside, this was happening inside: After lounging all day, it felt good to put on a dress and walk down to Cafe DeLuca for drinks and dinner. They make the best limoncello martini…a perfect drink for summer.Today, when I walked outside and into the thick-as-pea-soup, heavy and hot air, I decided that we made the right choice on how to spend a summer Saturday.