Priority Boxes art project

Franck de Las Mercedes started the project to promote peace in 2006. He sends out abstract painted boxes with a "FRAGILE: Contains Peace" label to anyone who asks. He wants to get people thinking about how they can influence change, and make art available to all people.

One of his boxes

I thought it was a cool idea! I just emailed him for a box. His website is here.

Envelope tutorial

I know that many of you already know how to make your own envelopes (I love getting them in the mail!), but maybe someone will find this useful! I never used to use a template to make my envelopes, because then I could make them to fit whatever I was sending, but I tried it yesterday, and it is simpler!

Find an envelope that you like the size of, and open it all the way flat.

Position the envelope on your paper, and trace around it.

Cut out.

Fold your template envelope back up, and using it as a guide, fold in the sides of your envelope.

Remove the template envelope, and using your thumbnail, a bone folder, scissor handle, or other hard smooth object, crease folds.

Dot glue along the edges of the side flaps, and spread out (I used my finger). USE THE GLUE SPARINGLY!!! You only need a tiny bit, otherwise the paper will wrinkle.

Ta-daa! You now have your very own, one-of-a-kind, handmade, re-purposed envelope!

Giveaway winner!

I promise I did the giveaways fairly! I did take out the few people who are not following my blog, because that was one of the requirements. But I still had a good response! 14 eligible people!

Okay, I know you probably don't care about that. Let me announce the winner!

Carla of 365 Letters is the winner! Congratulations! I will package it up, and get it in the mail in the next couple of days. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Envelopes from Japan!

Aya at Travel by postcards and letters had posted that she had a bunch of extra envelopes, and would send some to anyone who wanted them. I can always use some envelopes, so she sent me some, along with a postcard and some cute stickers!

All the envelopes she sent

A close-up of a few

The rest of the contents of the package

My first giveaway!!!

I received a postcard recently from Mrs. Duffy of Letter Matters in Kingsburg, California. I love how she has postcards printed with her blog's logo!

The other day I made some pencil cases from a tube from a bike tire, and since I don't need 3, I'm giving away one! And some envelopes I made!

The pencil case doesn't actually fit pencils, because it is only 6" (about 15.5 cm) long. It holds about three pens. Then envelopes are 6" by 3 1/2" (15.2 by 9 cm) and made from a map.

To enter, you must be following Old-Fashioned Correspondence. Leave a comment with a number (make sure no one before you has the same number!!!) by Saturday, June 9. Also make sure I have a way to contact you, either through your blog, or leave an email address! I will write all the numbers down on paper, put them in a hat (or a bag, or other similar object), and draw one at random. Good luck!

More free printable stationary!

I just came across this today: hot air balloon paper and envelopes! You can download them here.

I think it would be so much fun to ride in a hot air balloon! So much different than an airplane...

30 Days of Creativity

"30 Days of Creativity is a global social initiative encouraging people to create stuff (anything) every day for 30 days in June. 2012 is our 3rd year. We hope to make it a big one.

Your brain is like a muscle. When you exercise it, it gets stronger."


I'm going to attempt it! If you decide to give it a try, tell me!

POSTCARDS!

I received a few postcards recently from new states and a new country. Well, the one from the new country (France) I received a while ago, but somehow it missed being posted... It was from Caddi, while on holiday skiing.

My math teacher Corinne sent the one from Gulf Shore, Alabama, while at the beach!

The 3rd was from Kate, while on a road trip. It was sent from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Haha I just realized that all three were sent while traveling! I would love to take a road trip out west. Where would you like to go?

So, more postcards! For Mother's Day, I made my mom a book out of some old postcards.

front and back covers

inside front cover

inside back cover

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?