Donovan of the Letter Writers Alliance has taken letter writing to another level with her latest project, Stamp Out Hate. Stamp Out Hate is a “project devoted to spreading hope through the mail.” It encourages positivity and kindness by writing letters and postcards. Each month, there is an action item where Donovan shares the story and address of a person or an organization who could use some positive mail vibes. So far, it’s ranged from mosques and women’s groups to individuals who have received hate mail for speaking out. 
Donovan has also been hosting mini letter socials for each action. This month I had a chance to go to one at the Read/Write Library in Chicago. There were pens, rubber stamps, stickers, a stack of postcards, and plenty postage. She had the addresses and stories ready to get us started writing. It took about fifteen minutes to write three postcards. It felt good to be a part of something positive. Sometimes writing elected officials brings out anger and stress. Writing people and organizations who are helping make the world a more welcoming place makes my heart a little bit lighter. (Not that I’ll stop writing my elected officials…it’s just not always fun.) If you’re interested, here’s the Action Items for July. Obviously you don’t have to meet Donovan to write a letter. You can write on any postcards or stationery you have at home, or print out some official Stamp Out Hate postcards or stationery. And there’s stickers, stamps, and postcards available to buy in the Letter Writers Alliance shop. But really, I think just writing is the key to Stamp Out Hate. The other stuff is icing on the cake. 
Speaking of cake…or pie…if you DO end up going to one of Donovan’s Stamp Out Hate Socials, they are often in her neighborhood which means you will be close to Spinning J’s Cafe & Bakery. I highly suggest you treat yourself to a slice of pie.
kimberly ah
kimberly at home
Tag Archives: rubber stamp
LWA 10th Anniversary Toast
Right after returning home from LA, the Letter Writers Alliance ladies hosted a 10th Anniversary toast at Greer in Chicago. 
Naoto and I made a date of it and ate dinner in the neighborhood. We enjoyed incredible cocktails and a fantastic dinner at White Oak Tavern, a few blocks away from Greer. 
At Greer, we toasted the LWA with sparking wine and milled around shopping and talking. Donovan shared all of her favorites from the shop and she and Kathy introduced us to a new-to-me paper that works with both fountain pens and other pens (which I’ll share in a future post.) 
In addition to the local crowd, two of Donovan and Kathy’s faraway friends came to town for the party and one LWA member came from Champaign, Illinois (about 140 miles away!!) As you know, I always love a letter writing crowd. The people and the magical atmosphere of Greer made for a fine night.
Cheers to the next 10, LWA!
P.S. Thanks to Naoto for taking pictures!
Shopping at Paper Pastries
I was so excited for my trip to LA, obviously to celebrate the LWA, but the cherry on top was a visit to the Paper Pastries shop. I’ve ordered online before and some wonderful friends have sent me Paper Pastries gifts, so seeing it all in person was a delight. Paper Pastries is filled with the sweetest stationery, gifts, wrapping paper, pens, rubber stamps (that Margaret designs and makes in house,) and one of the most incredible selections of indie greeting cards I’ve ever seen. Most of the shop consists of independent artists’ and designers’ work, which always makes for unique finds! 
Look at all of the fun greeting cards! There are tons of letterpressed options and most have bright colors and funny or cheerful greetings. There’s even an entire section of CAT CARDS! 
Pictured above (on top of one of my favorite (now discontinued) donut papers from Snow & Graham) is what I bought at Paper Pastries: sushi stickers, a travel journal, a neon notepad, greeting cards, a cat stationery set, rubber stamps, resistance postcards, and a postage stamp pin.
I’ve been sending a lot of neon mail this summer, but I think cat mail may be the next trend!! Stay tuned!
Letter Writers Alliance 10th Anniversary Party
Last month Naoto surprised me with a trip to Los Angeles for the Letter Writers Alliance 10th anniversary party hosted by Margaret from Paper Pastries. Margaret and I have been pen pals for a few years now but we’d only met briefly at Ex Postal Facto. So I was really looking forward to seeing her again and meeting her sweet family. The trip exceeded my expectations. There wasn’t a ton of time for sight seeing (especially since my Friday was cut short thanks to flight delays, womp womp) but I loved the time I spent with Margaret and celebrating ten years of writing with the LWA.
On Friday afternoon, Margaret took me to the top of City Hall for a view of LA. Then we shopped around Little Tokyo. Chicago doesn’t have a Japanese neighborhood so it was such a treat to go to these little shops and restaurants. We haven’t planned our 2017 trip to Japan yet, so I’m feeling a little Japan withdrawal so it was great to immerse myself in the cuteness of Little Tokyo. I bought some stickers and a fuurin, which is a Japanese wind chime. (I’ve been wanting one for Tanabata next month. I’ll show you soon!)
We also had Honeymee which was amazing and is making me rethink my summer treats. It’s a special soft serve that comes topped with a real honeycomb. Seriously, what a combination! It was so good and worth the sticky hands that followed.
I also got to go to Poketo which has been on my list for some time. I only bought some greeting cards but I just love their style.
On Saturday morning I went to brunch with Margaret, her husband Tony, and their adorable daughter Ellis. (Sadly no pictures of this…)
Then I killed time at the Museum of Neon Arts in Glendale. It was the smallest museum ever, but it was packed with neon signs and modern art. I liked the old neon signs the best but I was smitten with the Japanese katakana in the last piece above. (It says “neon” and was made for an art installation in Japan in 1998.) 
On Saturday afternoon, a few dozen people showed up at Paper Pastries for the official Letter Writers Alliance anniversary party and letter writing social. 
I shopped, I wrote a few postcards, I chatted, I drank champagne punch, and I ate the most delicious cake ever–white cake with white frosting and COVERED in festive sprinkles. It was perfect. It was so amazing to see people come from far and wide to celebrate letter writing! The letter writing community is so diverse and friendly!
After the party we all went out for dumplings and drinks which was the perfect ending for a day with pen pals who’ve become true friends.
On Sunday my flight left pretty early so I just had time to finish some postcards and eat an In-and-Out burger, my first. (It was good…I didn’t get the fries because it was 10:30AM.) 
Whew…it was a whirlwind trip. Now I’m home and looking forward to the NEXT LWA party, tomorrow night at Greer!
Write On Party
Last Sunday I had a few people over for a letter writing party. I ordered the Party Pack, which was kind of a party-in-a-box with pens, confetti, and Write On packs for everyone, along with other goodies like a printable invitation, a letter writing themed playlist, and a Write On calendar and tote. 
I hung some vintage air mail envelopes and a Japanese air mail kakejiku (hanging scroll) from the ceiling and I strung up a few more air mail envelopes to make a garland. 
I covered the table in kraft paper and sprinkled the confetti along with some mail things from my collection. Each person got a Write On kit and a little brochure about letter writing. 
On the stereo, I had all of my mail themed rubber stamps and washi tapes along with some extra air mail envelopes, postcards, and my new Mr. Zip book. (He deserves his own blog post!) 
For snacks, I made a pot of tea and put out some Trader Joe’s truffles, some Japanese Happy Turn crackers, and I made these little envelope pies. I found the idea here–they were so easy and even though mine looked rather imperfect, they were a really fun addition to the simple menu. 
It was a relaxing afternoon of chatting and letter writing. We all really wrote letters! (I finished two!!) My only regret is that we didn’t have Naoto take a picture of us writing in action, but we got a fun group shot using Photo Booth (at the top.) I think I’ve said this before, but I love letter socials. Obviously letter writing is a good solitary activity, but sometimes it’s interesting to get together and share our hobby in person.
I’m a little sad Write On is over, but the letter writing shall continue! I managed (thanks to a solid push to the finish line last night) to finish 31 postcards and letters and I’ve replied to everyone from my pile of overdue mail…whew! I need to give myself a pep talk to keep that momentum going in May!
Write On & National Letter Writing Month
It’s here! Already! I’ve missed writing letters, so I’m looking forward to catching up with my (oh so patient!) pen pals and hopefully writing a letter or two on the spring balcony! As usual, I’m going to set some goals for myself:
- Spend out more of my stationery stash. (It’s out of control.)
- Spend out my Easter cards/mail art stash. (Also growing out of control.)
- Send something every day. (It’s not a requirement for Write On, but I want to keep up my momentum!)
- Break out my new Letter Ledger!! (Seriously, it’s my favorite letter writing tool. Victoria of Paper & Type is a genius!)
That’s it. Write. Reconnect. Spend out.
Join me?
Letter Month, The End.
How did your Letter Month go? I have to admit, I crawled towards the finish line. Not making and sending a bunch of Valentines really messed with my mojo for this project. And I’ve been feeling very boring lately, even though I’ve been busy this month, so letters aren’t coming easily. Meh. Thanks to everyone who sent me mail this month! You guys were the light at the end of the tunnel because I wanted to make sure I responded to all of the mail I received in February (as the original Letter Month rules suggest.)
I tried to take a picture of my hand “feeding a mailbox” each day so please enjoy some of my favorite shots from the month. 
Good things:
- I sent a few packages this month and it’s been fun to play with stamp combinations and mail art on tiny boxes.
- I did mail at least one item for every day of February. I missed one day completely (but made up for it the following day by writing two letters.)
- I am all caught up on my mail pile!
- I enjoyed clicking on the #lettermo hashtag on Instagram to see what other people were doing throughout the month.
- A package I sent to Danielle weighed 12.9 ounces, a mere 0.1 ounce under the 13 ounce weight limit for mailing a package from a blue box. It was a mail miracle!
My totals for the month:
- 19 letters/cards
- 9 postcards
- 3 international letters/postcards
- 3 packages
- 34 total mailings
Aaaaaaand off to mail my first card for March.
Don’t Be Cruel Valentines
I only made a few Valentines this year. (I got behind in planning as usual.) I made a few Elvis Presley Valentines and a few MY Presley Valentines. For the Elvis ones, I started with my usual heart cards and stamped them with some hearts. Then I used my vintage DYMO label maker for the words “Don’t be cruel.” I added an Elvis sticker. (Ah, that gold lamé suit is fantastic, right?) On the back, I wrote “Be mine.” (Get it? Don’t be cruel, be mine?) Easy and kind of cheesy…perfect.
For my Presley-the-cat fan friends, I made cards using A2 cards and some pictures of Presley hanging out with Yeti holding our special Presley patch. I added “Presley loves you” with my DYMO on some and “P *heart* Y” with Thickers on others.
They were fun to make and, even though some will be late, I suppose a little message of love is well received all month long, right?
Book Club Christmas Tea 2015
One last thing about the holidays…
Last month, Peggy hosted our third annual Book Club Christmas Tea. As usual, it was a festive event with everyone contributing something tasty. I made this Japanese egg salad, which was delicious. (I take no credit…it’s just a good recipe!) I am not a fan of curry usually, but I really did love this egg salad.
In addition to the egg salad, we had ham salad, cucumber sandwiches, and chicken salad served in little bread boats, lemon cranberry scones and English toffee scones served with lemon curd, cream and cranberry butter, grape salad, toffee pudding, plum cake, and Christmas cookies. (I think that’s everything!)
I also made this shrub to serve with prosecco. I’d never made a shrub before, so I was a little bit worried, but it turned out really tasty. (Though next time I will crush the peppercorns a bit more because it was lacking the peppery bite.)
And, because I think every party needs a little paper element, I made these simple place cards out of some red cardstock, my Yellow Owl Workshop stamp embossed in white, and some Jolee’s holly stickers. 
Peggy’s tables were delightfully decorated, as always. 
We read The Bird’s Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin. It was a perfect read for December when everyone is busy. (Last year, we attempted an Austen novel and hardly anyone finished.) Most of us finished it in one relaxing afternoon while sitting by our trees. And though it was only eighty pages and maybe more of a tale for children, we found so much to talk about, even comparing it to The Dead. I recommend it if you’re looking for a sweet tale to read this December.
So much work goes into planning this thing–especially by Peggy since she decorates, sets the tables, and cleans up after we all leave!–but it is so worth it. We are already talking about things to add for next Christmas!
(And with that, I think I may be done talking about the holidays…for now!)
2016 New Year’s Postcards
After buying Japanese New Year cards (nengajo) for the past two years, I decided to try making my own for 2016. They were pretty simple…so simple that I made a stack of fifty! So far, I’ve sent out about half of those. 
I started with some A2 Paper Bag flat cards as my base. Last summer, I picked up a traditional nengajo stamp at a (yet-to-be-blogged-about) stamp shop in Kyoto and I was happy to get to use it for these cards. I embossed the Japanese characters and then added my Greetings from Illinois, LWA member, and a giant 2016 in blue, red, and gold inks. I added a quick message to each card. 
On the front side, I added a strip of Japanese patterned washi tape and a label. It feels good to start off the year with good mail momentum!
