Smiles Sent Saturday~November 9

We got the last of our Thanksgiving cards out today.  We sent a total of 15.  This is something of an increase over past years.  We are trying to send cards to all seven of my parents’ aunts.  In the past we’d just sent cards to the one or two we were closest to.  My grandmother lives with us and it always seems to brighten her day when she gets a card from one of her nieces or nephews.  So, we decided to try to do that for our aunts (now, just to be clear, we’re not leaving the uncles out, it’s just that, sadly, there are no uncles left).  I’d like to encourage my readers to think of a couple elderly family members or friends they could add to their mailing list, or even if you don’t send many holiday cards, do it for them.  They can be quite lonely, and I’m sure it would brighten their day to be remembered, especially as with their age, mail may mean more to them.  Well, now I’ll get off my soap box and share some of the envelopes I sent (and hope none of the recipients stumble across them here, first.)

A number of the envelopes this year were colored

Or brown (which I guess is a color) which I found nice as a simple rubber stamp…

…or label was enough to make it look special.

On some others plain ones I used a marker to draw either my old, standby, pumpkin…

and some fall branches.

If you’d like to see more, you can see my old posts Thanksgiving Envelopes 1 & Thanksgiving Envelopes 2

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

Smiles Sent Saturday~November 2

Since it’s fall, and I’m working on this year’s Thanksgiving cards, and I thought I’d post some of the ones I did last year for inspiration for me now.

This one was just a colored line and some scallops.

Just some colored lines and a sticker, it’s amazing how even a small thing can really dress up an envelope.

This may be one of my favorites: my impression of a fence with cornstalk stack and a pumpkin.  I also like the fall/turkey/West Virginia stamp. I find it hard to find stamps that work well for Thanksgiving cards, but this one worked out well!

Just a simple pumpkin, thought it turned out pretty well.

And, finally this one, that I just added a little stenciled feather to.

Here’s a link if you’d like to see more of my decorated Thanksgiving envelopes.

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

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.

Monthly Mail~September 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 September of 2013 the final numbers were:

With my family, I: 

Sent:          3-Cards

Personally, I: 

Sent:         9 -Cards/notes

4-Letters

2-Packages

Received:     1-Card/letter

That represents 12 different people we sent mail to.  It maybe not the greatest numbers, but all in all I think it's pretty good, and hopefully it encouraged and/or brought enjoyment to some people's lives!  

Smiles Sent Saturday~September 29

I’m not personally very good at drawing, but I have managed to decorate some mail with hand drawn flowers that turned out pretty good.

This an envelope I send this spring with bulb flowers-my favorite kind!

This was for a letter near Saint Patrick’s Day

I was trying to match the card with this pen drawing, didn’t turn out too great, but a nice addition I thought.

And finally, this package that I wrapped in paper I’d drawn sunflowers on.

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

Smiles Sent Saturday-September 21

So, today’s Smiles Sent Saturday is a little different.  Rather than having sent something to someone I know, this is going to an organization and then to a complete stranger.  You see, I cut my hair recently and am donating it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.  That organization makes wigs from donated hair for women fighting cancer.  Since family members of mine have had cancer, it seemed like the perfect fit, and hopefully it makes someone struggling with it feel better.

Good mail month

I came back from my summer vacation visiting family one month ago today.  On the way back I made list of all the mail I needed to send: photos of the visit to those I saw, birthday cards, someone I write regularly, etc.  About a dozen pieces of mail in all.  As the month went by, other things came up, too.  So in all, either personally or with my family, I sent 20 pieces of mail, and got everything  done on the list!  That was really a lot of mail for me, and I got two pieces of mail, too.  So, all in all, a good month mail wise-almost as much as the Month of Letters.