Monthly Mail~October 2013

I keep track of ever piece of mail I or my family sends.  I like to be able to refer back to see how recently I wrote someone (it tends to either be longer, or not as long as I think!).  I decided to do a monthly post of the numbers, in part so I can look back and see how I've done.  For October of 2013 the final numbers were:

With my family, I:

Sent:           2-Cards/notes

 

Personally, I:

Sent:        2-Cards/notes

5-Letters

Received:    1-Cards/notes

2-Packages

(including USPS, and other carriers)

 

So, a total of 9 sent and 3 received.  Not great numbers for sending-half as much as last month, but hopefully I’ll do better next month with Thanksgiving cards.  And, I should get more, too, as my birthday is next month!

Smiles Sent Saturday~October 26

One way I like to embellish envelopes is to use sticky notes as address labels.  Now,  obviously, one can’t just stick it on there, it will come off in the mail long before it safely arrives at one’s recipient!  What I do is squeeze a little Elmer’s Glue-All ® on a scrap piece of paper than apply a thin layer to the back of the note with a cotton swab.  I’ve heard some people use glue sticks to apply paper embellishments to envelopes, so that may work, too, but I haven’t really tried it yet, and with it being the address, I hate to take any chances!  Well, enough explanations, on to a couple examples:

This one you can’t see too well with blurring out the address, but it went with a sunflower card, so I thought it was a great way to customize the envelope.  The stamp was one of the “Nature of America” stamp series, miss that series, it was really pretty and unique!

 

This one looked like it had stitching around the edge, so I thought it went well with this paper that looked like material (I actually made the envelope, too. Probably the first I made).

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

Smiles Sent Saturday~October 19

This week’s post is a little different. It’s not about mail I send someone, but sending someone the tools to write for themselves.   For years my family has enjoyed sending shoeboxes to needy children world wide through Operation Christmas Child.  We always include school supplies: paper, pens, etc.  This year, for the plain paper (I always like to put in plain paper for then to draw) I used free paper and cheap report covers from Office Max to make a booklet.  I got thinking, maybe I should put in some of my extra sheets of stationery paper in the front and back pockets for them to use:

I looked through my stash and was able to find quite a few kinds of paper from my stash that I had enough to share, plus some envelopes, each of the three boxes I did this for got something a little different.

I even had stickers to put in this one:

I think it turned out well, and is a gift I’d enjoy getting!  I was really glad I thought of doing it as my mom had read a story somewhere about kids in an orphanage being really happy about the paper in their shoeboxes as they could then write their siblings in another orphanage!

 

EDIT:  Added these photos to show how it fit in the shoebox.   The first is how it is when the shoebox is open, the second is how it fits with the lid down and rubber banded.  I found it bent better when the open side was up.  If the shoebox was a little shorter the long way I guess you could cut it down some.

 

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

Smiles Sent Saturday~October 12

So, I decided for today to share some envelopes I’ve decorated for male family members.  If you’re like me you probably find it harder to find cards for men, let alone decorate envelopes.  It’s not like they’d really appreciate you drawing flowers on the envelopes!

This one actually had a package attached (hence the tape around the edges).  I did the snow scene by making a stencil from a piece of paper:  cutting out the slope + some hole punches, then spray painted it.

This was for the London Olympics, I had some Olympic paper, so I used it..  The stamp was surprise, I found it in some childhood paper stuff, must have been saving it, but was really glad to be able to make use of it.  I glued on a paper clock and drew “Big Ben” around it.

This is a simpler one I did-just cut a label with zigzag scissors and paired it with a seal and tried to dress up the name font a little.

This final one may be one of my favorites.  I got this wrapping paper on clearance a few years ago, I just traced an envelope and taped/glued it.

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