February 12, 2019

Start of LetterMo 2019

So, I haven't been posting on here of late, but I wanted to share that I'm taking part in the Month of Letter Challenge  again this year, and here's the first envelope I sent.  Had to wait to share it as the recipient sometimes reads this blog/Facebook page...and I like my mail to be a surprise! :)


This is the front...the card had sunflowers and daisies on it as well as looking a little vintage, hence the flowers and stamp.  There was also a some china with red/pink printing on it, so I decided to add pink stripes for more color/excitement.  The blank space at the bottom was for the USPS to put their strip of lines on for addressing purposes.



I really enjoy having the LetterMo stickers to use on my mail!

July 14, 2018

Smiles Sent Saturday~7/14/2018~Various

This is my favorite envelope I've decorated of late, and it inspired me to write a post to share some various recent decorated envelopes.  I was trying to make a "summer-y" envelope, and I had the lighting bug stamp.  I thought it turned out cute...and was a hit when recieved!




I was writing my great-aunt, and realized it was Flag Day, so I went all out with flags.




I had some bird house paper...so a bird house!





I had a blue card, but was lacking inspiration for the envelope, so went kind of simple, but I think it turned out well.





Stamps made some 4th of July card envelopes since I had a lot going on and didn't have a lot of time to dress up the envelopes otherwise.


Finally, a recent little birthday package that I decorated real quick, I thought it turned out really cute!





The name “Smiles Sent Saturday” denotes my hope these things I mailed made the people who got them smile.

May 12, 2018

Smiles Sent Saturday~5/12/18~Ducklings

We recently saw some ducklings-total "Make Way for Ducklings" moment.  So it inspired me to decorate some envelopes




This is the first one I made-a nest with a little hatched egg with a chick and his "dad" coming back "home".  I tried to make the duckling as accurate as possible.




I went with simpler/more traditional yellow ducklings here, plus tried to draw a "mom" duck and used the mallard stamp to have the "dad" flying down to join them.  I also added an oriole pair with a nest in a tree.





Finally, I made one with a log cabin as I was sending some info to a friend about a log cabin I visited.



The name “Smiles Sent Saturday” denotes my hope these things I mailed made the people who got them smile.

April 28, 2018

Smiles Sent Saturday~4/28/18~Various

Just thought I'd share some various envelopes I've sent lately, no real theme.



Thinking of you card with dragonfly on it.  Tried to do "water" themed stamps.



This Easter card had flowers in blocks like this, so I tried to copy it to the envelope.



I was using re-printed vintage, business stationary to write a note with something about canal boats, so I tried to go with vintage looking stamps, and modified a label I found at The Graphic's Fairy.  By finding a place that let me make a "monogram" of my initials.




My attempt at tulips to match paper.





Trying to copy the design on the card, plus "migrating" geese stamps!



Just a simple way to embellish an envelope, plus vintage pink stamps.

The name “Smiles Sent Saturday” denotes my hope these things I mailed made the people who got them smile.

April 21, 2018

Smiles Sent Saturday~4/21/18~LetterMo

I haven't posted in a while, I've been sending a good bit of mail, just short on time to record it.  So, here's some mail from when I participated in the Month of Letter's Challenge.



This was a Valentine's Day card with that blueish color and paper airplanes.  The envelope was simple enough, but I think it turned out cute!



This was actually the first piece of mail I sent for LetterMo 



When I have dark envelopes, I like to use a label in hopes of it being easier for the machine reading addresses to see what I wrote.




I enjoyed using the ice-cream stamps!




This was one of my favorite envelope designs-it matched  the card and was so cute and cheerful!



Having fun with vintage stamps!




A couple different envelopes trying to match the same card.




I thought this envelope turned out cute and matched the card.  Sadly, this was the last piece of mail I got to send my uncle who passed away last month.   So far this year, 3 people I wrote regularly passed.

The name “Smiles Sent Saturday” denotes my hope these things I mailed made the people who got them smile.



January 27, 2018

Smiles Sent Saturday~January 27, 2018

I'm pretty excited about how this envelope turned out! I was sending my great aunt of photos of some recent winter weather and some birds in it.  I was going to write a note/letter on paper with a winter scene of a barn, pine trees, and cardinals.  Inspiration suddenly hit me!  I pulled out one of these blue envelopes, it took some looking to find the white pens and get them working...but it worked out, and I remembered this stamp I had that matched.  After I got this image and addressed it, I decided to add a little bridge over the stream.   
It didn't show up real well in the scan, but there are also "snowflakes" all over it!


I just couldn't get inspired for this envelope, but it looked sad/plain/empty un-decorated, so I just drew some quick lines, hearts, and dots on it-I think it made it much funner!


This didn't turn out perfect, but I think the paisleys got the idea across.



 This was a photo card that had dots on it, so I just stenciled a lot of dots on it...easy and quick-but cute and fun!



Finally, this was a birthday card with an ice cream sundae like dessert on it, and I used the banner with the address-I found these instructions on Pinterest-and it did turned out pretty well!

I'm glad I seem to be getting back in the swing of decorating envelopes with the A Month of Letters Challenge just around the corner!

The name “Smiles Sent Saturday” denotes my hope these things I mailed made the people who got them smile.

January 13, 2018

Smiles Sent Saturday~January 13, 2018

I thought it was about time to get a new post on here!  It's been busy, and I've been sending less exciting mail, some envelopes are downright boring-haha!  But mailing is the important part, right?  But there have been some fun ones.  Here's what I've mailed for January so far.


This was my favorite.  It was for my great aunt's birthday.  When I was growing up, she was probably from whom I got the most mail as a child.  So it's extra fun to send her mail.  The card had lots of cupcakes on it, and my sister had gotten me small cupcake cards, so I traced that card to make the cupcake on the front of this card's envelope.  Then used a ruler and stencil to add decorations and added a candle on top.  The address went in the "icing".


These are a couple of the New Year's card envelopes...they were technically sent in December, but since New Year's is in January, so I'm counting it!


Finally, this is an envelope that went out today.  It was a real simple/quick decoration, a couple markers and a ruler, but it matched the card, and I think anything can make an envelope fun!

The name “Smiles Sent Saturday” denotes my hope these things I mailed made the people who got them smile.

July 15, 2017

Smiles Sent Saturday~7/15/17

I thought I'd try to go through some of the photos I took of mail I sent earlier this year, and share some of the envelopes here.  I take photos of pretty much everything I mail.  In part for this blog, but mainly to be able to look back at for inspiration and encouragement.
I'm not the best artist, but I think this turned out pretty cheerful & colorful for a new years card...and it went to a great aunt, who I'm pretty sure probably always views me a little as a little girl, so anything I draw will be great!  ðŸ˜Š

This card had kind of abstract flowers, so it was easy to come close.  Also one of the first times I used those cool "From me to you" stamps!


St. Patrick's Day envelope, simple but fun.

Had fun picking vintage stamps to match the color scheme of this card.  I then tried to mirror the card design on the envelope, so I'm sharing an up-close photo of the card and envelope design side by side.

 I really enjoy using metallic markers...so cool looking!  This card had a metallic, scalloped edge, so the card got the same thing, and wrote the name in a metallic pen, too! 

The name “Smiles Sent Saturday” denotes my hope these things I mailed made the people who got them smile.



July 8, 2017

Smiles Sent Saturday~7/8/2017

Well, it's July and this will be my second post for the year...a little slow, huh?  It's been a hard year.  I've been recovering from surgery and my sister has been recovering from a bad heart infection.  Then my grandmother who lives with us was diagnosed with dementia, so Hospice came in.  A few months later she died at home.  So, not only has it been hard to find the time and energy, not only to blog about writing, but to actually write and be artistic.  I think up until the last month or so, I only got one letter written this year, but I did pull off A Month of Letters Challenge with small note-cards and get my great aunts cards or postcards most months, and that's important to me...and I believe them.   But, I'm slowly getting back into writing people and decorating envelopes, so I'm hoping to get posting on here.  For now, here's some patriotic mail.

For the 4th of July I sent cards to my "short list" of great aunts, etc.   I've had a hard time over the years finding Independence Day cards, this year I was glad to find 8-packs of cards with blue stars on it at the Dollar Tree.  Was it supposed to be 4th of July cards? No, but with some red pens writing in them, and USA envelopes, they worked great!  I didn't do any big decoration this time, but I addressed with navy ink and returned addressed with red, and with the help of vintage stamps and stickers to seal, it turned out pretty nice I think.   One thing that is easy to find for 4th of July is stamps...there's lots of USA stamps!



I recently got to go to some Civil War historical sites, including Appomattox.  Since I'd gotten a few of the 150 anniversary stamps, when they came out, I stopped at the post office and had a couple Appomattox postcards hand stamped...including one I sent to myself! :)  Fun!  The lady working there was so nice, she lined it up just right, and sat it aside so that it'd dry well and not smear!


Well, that's all for now, hopefully I'll be able to post...& write more going forward!

The name “Smiles Sent Saturday” denotes my hope these things I mailed made the people who got them smile.




January 14, 2017

Smiles Sent Saturday~1/14/17

I haven't posted lately...nor have I really sent that much mail.  Our family has been having a number of health issues, so mail has taken a little bit of a back seat, things seem to be calming down now, so hopefully I'll be able to get back to doing it more...hopefully I'll be ready when A Month of Letters come around.  I was able to get Christmas cards sent out to a very cut down list.  Thanksgiving cards pretty much only went to my great aunts as we try to get something out to them every month.  I didn't have much time to decorate envelopes, but it's amazing how a few vintage stamps can really dress up an envelope and make it special.
Can I say I just love brown envelopes for Thanksgiving cards??




The name “Smiles Sent Saturday” denotes my hope these things I mailed made the people who got them smile.