Letters in the Box

Hello all,
This is another installment of what you folks send me.  I adore all the cards and postcards!  Keep them coming.

A wonderful pack of misc. from Aida who let me know that she stopped writing her blog.  You heard it here folks, Aida Goes Artsy is no more.  But the paper bits he sent will continue to give many of you pleasure!

a scroll letter! my first

Paul is a creative mailer from Sendsomething.  You can see more of his work on Rin's blog - Papered Thoughts.  He did a pop-up letter for her.

Above and below are all postcrossings

More postcrossings and a vintage postcard from a friend.

Above and below are 2 unexpected cards from 2 of my friends that do not usually write.  The above brought exciting news of a friend moving closer and the below was an amazingly perfect sentiment! 

one of the prepaid Hallmark cards

Above, a letter from Marion.  I definitely do not mind typed letters and for some people that works much better.

A nice note from Rachel who is in college and writes when she can.  Hope she got my letter okay!

Oh Kimi!  A really nice letter and some vintage uncancelled stamps that I will now hoard as I am terrible about that, so beware pen friends.  If you send me uncancelled stamps, I will probably tuck them away to use (maybe) in the far future!

Thanks and I cross my fingers that your mailboxes are remaining full!
My Best,
-b

Ah - Love My Friends

I recently got a card from an old friend who is an ex-pat to Canada.  She does not write much or often, but we are still good buds.  The kind of friendship that has lasted 15yrs thus far : )

It's nice to hear from old friends during the holidays!

I love the stories and connections in life and the moments and things that make us think of one another.

Happy Holidays,

-b

Let's Here it for Mail

It's been awhile since I have had the time and (I'll admit it) the desire to post some of my incoming.  The holiday season continues to swirl as I settle in from a long trip to "home"  (aka Ohio).  I actually have received and responded to much more than what I am about to show you, but I wanted to break this up a bit to let each letter shine.
First off, the wall of holiday cards.  I have added a few more, but I did a group picture just to allow some privacy since the majority are photo cards.

On to other fun

Awhile ago I won a fun contest for creative mail.  The pillow finally arrived just in time for the holidays.  And no worries, I was a student once and understand the limitations of coinage when applied to mail!  All the other note cards were bonus gifts!

The top card is from Juanita at There's Only Juan blog.  She sent me a way cool stamp - below that is a scratch off to reveal the answer.  I decided to leave mine intact for posterity!

One is postcrossing and the second is a private exchange from Annie.  You'll probably be seeing a lot more from her as time goes on.

Some lovely Postcrossing cards!

2 postcrossings.  The top is from Brazil and has a terrific bat stamp!

Malyss knows how to package some sunshine and send it my way!

A lovely packed envie from my dear friend Carrie

Well that is a wrap for now!  I hope to get more up soon!
My Best,
-b

Bethlehem is Christmas City USA

Hello all,
I know that usually the Pen Thief posts on interesting cancellations available.  But this one is all mine!  I live in Christmas City USA (aka Bethlehem, PA).  If you are interested in a holiday cancellation, you can send your letters to one of the many post offices on this list by the USPS.  I was a bit surprised to see Bethlehem's sister city just North of town, Nazareth, PA (home of Martin Guitar), also on the list.  I was told today that Bethlehem's postmark is the Moravian star. 

Image from wikipedia

The star can be seen all over town and honors the town's founders, the Moravians - a religious sect that came to Pennsylvania like so many others seeking freedom to worship what they wanted. 
Hope this finds you all happily mailing!
-Becky

Veteran's Day

For all of the other countries that visit today, today is our country's Veteran's day.  A day to honor the soldiers who have fought in wars.  One thing you may not know about me is that 2 of my siblings are Veterans.  I support our troops through Operation Write Home partly because a good friend of mine is deployed in Afghanistan.  But what I really, really wish for, pray for, hope for is peace.

The purple heart is a medal of valor awarded to Veterans wounded in battle.  It's one of my favorite stamps for postcrossing because it's small size, but both the medal and the stamp have been around for many years.
I hope you all have a reflective Veteran's Day!  Happy for those who made it home, hopeful for those still serving, and remembering the too many who did not make it home.
-b

Fun Recycled Materials!

Hello all,
It's been a bit in the making but here it is folks - the winner of the recycling blogoversary challenge!  First I'd like to say that I tend to like advertising and the re-use of daily household items.  I also like a challenge and the chance to inspire others through my actions.  I think I achieved all these goals with this competition.
First - Daily items were re-purposed and sent as mail by all who entered!
Second - I am challenged to make items as beautiful as the ones I received
Third - Many of my coworkers were caught ogling and touching the merchandise (which was encouraged!), and I heard them say how much they liked to receive mail but never got any anymore.  My comment back is that to get a letter, somebody needs to send one, so perhaps they should start the chain reaction!  And yesterday, one of my coworkers said "I want to mail this to my daughter"- referring to a piece of mail we had received with an illustration on the front!  Score 1 for me!

On to the contestants!!!!

Add caption

VaGirl sent my this creation of 2 sweet treats.  The back is from a Hershey's cookie and cream white chocolate bar.  The paper is calendar of some sorts.  VaGirl is new to the world of mail art and I hope she continues as this envie is stunning!

This really was not and entrant in the contest, but when Annabell's postcard arrived amidst the early part of the competition, I thought it was a great display of recycling and threw her postcard into the old hat.

Marian is a student and fellow PA'er.  She did an envelope out of a bicycle magazine and paper was from a calendar!

Emily at Winnie's Girl sent a gobstopper candy box with a wonderful booklet made from her favorite beer boxes! 

Kimi sent this nice treat of matching envelope and paper from a Trader Joe's grocery bag.  I have never been to a Trader Joe's but I love the graphics!

Lisa made a whole lot of wonderfulness to send my way!  The envelope and paper were from a clue game and the postcard was a compilation of the a recent bath and body ad and various other recycled pieces.  I too saw the ad and thought cool graphics, but what would I do with it - well now I see!

My dear Malyss sent me 2 postcards that she made from recycling various papers.  I think the ladies really liked them and the stamps.  They were shocked to see the French stamps.  It seemed so rare to them to get mail, let alone from France!  She may have opened some eyes on that one.  Malyss has a pictorial blog.

And finally, one of my favorites just because of it's sheer simplicity, is a recycled stamp postcard from Katherine in Great Britain!  I somehow think its beauty was lost on my coworkers.  I'm not sure they realized the stamps were real!

And the winner is #6 - Emily  from Winnie's Girl Blog!  One of the comments I received was "Beer and Candy, Yummy!"  Everybody will receive a thank you and at least a single piece of stationery for their own use.  Emily will get to choose her own gift package!

I hope this has made you all smile and think, "I could do that!"
Here's to having fun with mail!
-b

Cartoon Stamps - Send A Hello

Hey folks,
I was working on some packages and stopped in at my local USPS location.  As usual, the ladies know me and have the stamps sheet ready and waiting for me to pick from : ) Well these pretties were pulled out, and while I'm not a huge Disney and Pixar fan, I do enjoy the letter writing encouragements on the back of the stamps as much as the stamps themselves!

Misty (the Pen Theif) had a blog post that said there would be more this next year.  Not sure why Disney Pixar is working with the USPS but at least their designs are fun, and the messages are very pro writing and mailing!

Hope this finds you all giving and getting lots of mail!

-b

Thrift Store Finds - Less is More

Hello all!

How are you?  I'm taking this opportunity to stay cool by staying in and shopping.  Technically I went to Goodwill last weekend (a USA second hand store) and found a few goodies.

The stamps!  I really loved the little dancing hippo the best and have already forwarded a few on to other folks.

The book is from the early 70's and solid pictures!  If I were to ever consider destroying a book for mail art this would be it.  I bought it for $0.99 so no big costs there.

Yesterday I was down at the Bethlehem City Library and across the way was a little antique store, so I lugged my library finds over and took a look.  I found some postcards that I really liked and a few stamps.

Hope you enjoy my thrifty adventures!  Never know what you'll find in the back of some store at the bottom of a box : )

Happy Hunting my Friends!

-b

Designing Ways

Every now and again the USPS puts out some interesting stamps.  They issued these beauties of modern design. 

The only problem - well not really a problem - is what to use them on!  I'm sure I'll find something to mail them on.

Hope this finds you all well and good!
-Becky

Retro Stamps

The post office continues to turn out beautiful retro inspired stamps.  These are quite nice and depict the American Scientist that blazed the trail for modern science.  Believe it or not, I've already used a page of them!
My Best,
-b

Amazing Finds Around the World

Hello all!
When I started my journey into mailing people around the world about a year ago- (yes! really! same time as I started the blog! ) I was just looking for an outlet to my stationery obsession and a way to fight boredom with my recent move and new found spare time.  I didn't really love stamps or postcards at the time or knew anything about half the stationery I owned or the world of mail art.  But I liked to send and receive and I saw some value in both- but now!  My eyes are more open to the beauty of the mailer world and all the little things that make it unique and special.
Mail art was a new and eye opening experience  It is very personal and has been a very fun way to get to know other people!



From Mail art 365

Postcrossing has been a great way to see the stamps and world through postcards.  From ad cards to homemade- they have been a wonderful way to look through others eyes.

From Postcrossing

I have to say some of my favorite stamps have been from China, Finland, and the United Kingdom.

Just a few of the Finns- I passed the coolest on to a stamp collector

another amazing Chinese postcard from postcrossing and stamps

The Brit Mailboxes and Shakespeare

The other thing that amazes me is the connectivity.  Just one example:  I have 2 pen pals about my age from Finland and Spain who aren't into the postcrossing and blogging.  Well I became social networking friends with one to track our mail after a lost letter and low and behold she was friends with the other!  We apparently all write to each other.  What a find! 
Send something has been a good catch too:

Just some recent mail art from the site!

It's been an interesting year and I'm more than humbled by the folks who like what I have to say enough to read and follow this blog.  I'd like to think I'd write it no matter what, but truly you guys keep me going.  A blogger with no audience is like a flower with no water, it probably won't last long.
I'm done with my rambles.  Thanks again for reading and Happy Mailing to you!
-b