How to soak off stamps

I don't know how many of you already know how to do this, but for those of you who don't, it is very easy to remove stamps from envelopes. If it is an envelope you do not want to save, simply cut the stamp off of it, leaving about 1/4-1/8 inch (about 1/2 centimeter) of paper border, and place it with others in a bowl of water. If your envelopes are colored, place them in a different bowl than stamps with white envelopes, and keep an eye on them to make sure they don't bleed. The water should be cool to lukewarm, cooler for colored envelopes. Let them soak until the paper slips off the stamps. Self-stick stamps can take quite a while. Lay the stamps out on a cloth to dry. When dry, if they are not flat, you can press them in a heavy book, or under a pile of books.

If you have a postcard or an envelope you do not want to cut, simply cut a double layer of a coffee filter (I assume other absorbent paper would work well, though) that is slightly larger than the stamp, wet it, and place on top of the stamp. Cover with a glass, plate, etc to keep the water from evaporating. after about 10 - 30 minutes, the stamp should slide off. Note that I have never tried this with self-stick stamps, so I have no idea how long that would take.

New letters! And a couple interesting little facts...

So it's been over a week since I posted anything! I've been getting ready for my finals for few classes, and prom, and a championships horse show, so I've been pretty busy!

I got letters from 3 new people and places all in one day! It's funny how excited I get when I get mail from new people, or more than one letter: I can hardly sit still for the ride home from the post office!

The first letter is from Kayleigh in Basingstoke, England. She included a pretty postcard, too!

Did you know that college in England is the last two years of highschool, then university comes after that. For those of you who aren't from the US, here we normally say that we 'go to college' after highschool, while the 'colleges' that we usually go to are technically a university. True 'colleges' are small, usually community schools, while universities are larger. Hopefully that wasn't too confusing!

The second letter is from Yana, in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has a letter writing blog, too found here.

Lastly is a lovely little package from Marlous, in Malden, Netherlands. She has a letter writing blog here, as well a personal blog here.

Notice something a bit odd about the postage?

It did not cost €190 to send the package: in The Netherlands (I think it may include the rest of Europe, but I'm not positive) commas are used in place of points in numbers! So 10.000 would be ten-thousand, while 10,000 would be ten point zero. Little things like that fascinate me!

A shout-out to all of you who read my blog, thanks!! I have reached 50 followers! Thank you for stopping by, and sending me letters :)

Cute printable stationary

I found this stationary on Goodnight Little Spoon, free to download and print!

At the top, there are icons to write the music you're listening to while writing, weather, time, date, what you're drinking/eating, and your location. She has different colors, too! I thought it was a really cute idea :) And it's lined! Lined isn't the most common.

She also made matching envelopes, which you can download the template for here.

 The envelopes are cute, however I like the paper better, as the envelopes aren't quite my style :)

Blog button

I made a button!

You can add it to your blog with this code:

<a href="http://writing-letters.blogspot.com/"> <img src="http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/ii482/sunshinegirl505/icon.jpg "/></a>

also found on the side. If anyone uses it, please let me know if you have any problems! I tried it, and it works, but I'm new at this stuff, so I could've overlooked something...

Belgian chocolate and organizing paper

I got letters from two new countries!

A postcard from Caddi while skiing in France. I've never been skiing, but it looks like fun! The second is a letter from Elodie in Ghent, Belgium. Sadly, the envelope was ripped along the bottom (it wasn't quite as bad a this, this was after I opened it!), but nothing fell out! I love her stamps on the front! She has a blog here, however it is all in Dutch.

She sent me some delicious Belgian dark chocolate! I love chocolate, especially dark <3 I really like the tape she sealed the envelope with, and the little flag bunting.

Do you know what this is? A friend has been collecting stuff for a big yard sale (or garage sale, tag sale, or whatever you want to call it!) from family and friends, and was given this metal box used to keep photography paper. She thought I might like it for stationary, letters, paper, etc! How do you keep your letters and writing supplies organized?

p.s. I just found this website for photo editing, PicMonkey, and am trying it out. I didn't have any type of editing software, or even a website to use before. They have a lot of different options and effects, it's hard not to get too caught up playing with it! Do you have a favorite photo editing program?

6 steps to crossing anything off your bucket list

I know this doesn't really tie in with letter writing, but it does fit in with my project! I came across this article today, and I loved it! It's about these friends who made a bucket list of impossible things, and decided to take a two-week road trip to do some. For every one they crossed off their list, they wanted to help someone cross something off their bucket list. Five years later they have crossed off over 80 things, including playing basketball with the President, writing a best-selling book, and getting on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. The article gives their six steps to crossing anything off your bucket list, and is here. Their website is here.

 

 What do you want to do before you die?