A New Batch

A few days had gone by with no new mail at all. What a drag that was! But toward the end of the week, they started to come in - so I have a batch of 5 new letters from: Tennessee, England, Finland, the Netherlands, and Australia.

My friend from the Netherlands did such a lovely job with that checkered envelope! I'll answer as many as I can before the post tomorrow. It'll be a challenge because a few of the writers in this particular batch, write really great letters that requires extra effort in the response. . .My favorite kind! :D

Stationery Set(s)

Postcards I've Made

Here are a couple of postcards I've made...

I think I'll make some more.

Recycled Envelopes

It only took about half an hour to whip up this batch of envelopes made from pages of old magazines.

I found my blank labels so it will even be convenient to address them. I am sorting through stationery designs I've done in the past, and developing some more. I was going to order packaging but I think I should like to design the packaging, instead. I have an idea...

Outgoing

With these two outgoing, I am all caught up.

I did track down the lady who sent me mail from Indonesia and forgot to add a return address - I sent her a message online this morning requesting it.

Swamped!

I got swamped with a lot of mail all at once last week and have had to scramble to respond to them all. What an adventure! I finally caught up, but the last person to write never left a return address!

A Post Office Run

I actually ran out of stamps!

International stamps, that is. The letter I am writing to a penfriend in Japan is already stamped, but there are four that I will write this weekend that will need stamps - plus five postcards going to international addresses. I am thinking that maybe it is a good idea to simply buy my stamps online so that they too can come in the mail! It's more efficient, I think. Plus, it'll be easier to get the stamps that I want.

At any rate, the shortage makes it easier to know who to write to first. I have three American penpals whose letters need answering, so I can post those three tomorrow!

It was another good mail day...
I got three letters, this afternoon from: Montana, Germany, and the Netherlands.

I also prepared my first batch of postcards for postcrossings . . . Happy to get that ball rolling!

Anyway, the remainder of my penpalling ventures for today - writing letters to Todd, David and T.J. - means it is time for me to get off the internet and get to it! 

Just A Really Good Mail Day!

I woke up to my Amazon package of postcards and this book I got as an assist to help me improve the quality of my zines and other alternative, indie publications. . .

But then, later this afternoon, this anticipated letter from an Australian penpal arrived (like 10-minutes ago).

Just thought I'd share that here before going to chill with my Aussie pal!

The other cool thing about the mail today is that my daughter got 2 netflix movies today that she ordered as surprises for me, and I don't get to know what they are until they show up on the screen (she likes to see me the look on my face when I am happily surprised). Little minx even hid my Aussie letter just now, when she brought up the mail; she slid it into some junkmail. I didn't notice it and set it aside so she had to redirect me to it - and then giggled delightedly at my surprise!

OMG - My Postcard Books Arrived!

My postcardbooks finally arrived - they're perfect!

My venture into postcrossing was awkward from the giddy-up. Postcrossing is a fantastic site that matches people around the world who are into sending and receiving postcards. I think of it as a social penpal network because, well, that's what it is.

Whenever you want to send a postcard to someone, they give you a name and address, you send a card to that person and they, or someone else, sends one to you. There is a serial number associated and when you receive your postcard, you register it on the site, and a tally is displayed in your profile of how many postcards sent, how many received. Many people also display their postcards received, in a gallery that is part of your profile. Some have their display categorized as, "favorites". There are enough options to make it fun, interesting and, social.

Some people list what types of postcards they'd prefer- and/or, prefer not to receive. This can range from subtle suggestions to obnoxiously demanding ... I've discovered that listing preferences can be a sketchy option if done indelicately, but it can be handy if well executed.

I was eager to get into the mix. First things first. How to register? I clicked on the option I thought would lead me to the answer and it ended up popping out the name and address of a 20 year old woman in Russia that I needed to send a postcard to. I just wanted to know the process at that time - I didn't even have any postcards and it'd be at least a couple of weeks before I could get any. So I ordered some from Amazon. After a week + and no postcards, my daughter suggested I check my account to verify that the order even went through. I followed her sensible suggestion. Sure enough, the order had not gone through. Now this young woman in Russia was going to wait even longer for her postcard! I was starting this whole venture, feeling like a dweeb! However, humble is good.

This morning, my postcards finally arrived! ... And they're fantastic! I think I chose really well.  Actually, it wasn't until after I had unwittingly registered to send a postcard, that I even discovered postcard books. Once I had made the discovery, I went a bit ape-shit on Amazon. Holy cow are they cool! It wasn't easy deciding which 'books to choose. I had a budget. And the mid-range was about $7. to $16. depending upon my choices, I could afford 2-3 'books. After a while, I recalled how people from other countries don't seem to grok that NYC is one city [ albeit The City of Earth ] in a larger state. I kind of get it. But I was closer to The City in Connecticut, where I grew up, than from up here in The Capitol Region of New York. Anyway, although there are NYC postcards, I felt it would be misleading of me to use them. When the absolute perfect option presented itself: A postcard book of 100 (The) New Yorker covers (spanning 10 decades)! LOOK!

I haven't even scanned a third of them yet and I can assert that they are just terrific! I can certainly see why some enthusiasts claim to always buy two of each book - one to mail out, the other for themselves!

And then, the other obvious choice for me was...

Since I have been so delayed in sending my first postcard pal her postcard, I think that sending her one from each book is the thing to do ... Don't you?