Well...hello, it's been awhile...

 

It's been almost a year ago that my "life event" occurred.  My dear husband of 34 years passed away from an illness, and my life took a sudden turn.  My charmed life of a wife, mother to 10 beautiful children and grandmother, now looked different. I was physically alone and making all the decisions.  Facing challenges, duties, and mundane items that I never had to bother with prior to this event. Notice, I said "physically".  I thank God that I serve a Lord that has promised to never leave me or forsake me.(Hebrews 13:5) But still...it has been a year of adjustments...change...and just struggle.  But, slowly one learns what one must do and as Elisabeth Elliot used to say  just "Do the next thing..."!  This simple advice has carried me through the long year and for that I am grateful.  

So many of you have sent cards and letters of love and precious thoughts.....I have so appreciated this.  I tried countless times to answer them...I did manage a few attempts, but I still have several letters that I wrote...never sent.  Finally I submitted to my relegated season of life  and focused my attention on the immediate, the necessary...life.  

I still face new challenges (who doesn't?).  I now use  youtube , not just for pleasure, but how to fix items around the house, and if that fails...I call a professional! But the sun still comes up, and I find myself falling peacefully into bed each night.  Thank you Lord!

All this to say...I hope to get started with letter writing again.  So, first things first...my desk!  This is where it all happens, so I want my supplies at my finger tips...and whatever inspiration I can find.  (More on that later-- it's still a work in progress) .  So here is a picture  (sorry it was taken at night) of my desk as it stands right now.  Leave a comment below if you have any questions about my set up.  Also, if you love your desk and find it to be a happy place for you, tell me why in a comment!

Check back later this week to see my outgoing snail mail!

Happy Snail Mailing.

Pam

Pen Pal Kit

How To Make A Calendar Envelope

Re-Purposing Calendars into Mail!

I was in Dollar Tree today and I happened to see the boxes of calendars for sale.  I like making envelopes from calendars so I took a closer look.  try to find pictures that have a small to repeating design, so that it will be able to be used on an envelope. Florals usually work well, and I have made some with landscapes.  The problem with land scape calendars is that they are hard to get the center of the picture where you want it. I I liked what I saw so I picked up two.

My smaller template for envelope making has been missing for some time, so I decided to make an envelope template out of this thin sheet of cardboard.  I took an envelope size that I thought would work with the size of my calendar sheets, then opened it up to trace around the envelope.

Here is the finished template.

Don't forget to make the folding guide piece for your envelope. This is the template that is the size of the finished envelope.   It will help you to make the folds where they need to be.

You can use a creasing tool to make sharper folds.

Then a little glue to glue the flaps in place.

First batch of envelopes are just about finished!

Since the envelopes are so flimsy, I decided to add a liner to the envelopes.  Just use any paper that compliments the envelope's primary color.   A.C. Moore carries the sturdier , thicker paper calendars for a dollar , but I haven't seen them out yet...check that store after the New Year.

Here is the second batch of calendar envelopes.  I really like how this one turned out, a very nicely centered yellow rose!

All done!  24 envelopes made in just one sitting!

I thought I was done, until I noticed the back of the calendar pack.  I thought maybe I could do something with the mini pictures of the calendar pages...

I'm rather undecided as what to do with them...book marks?  Tags?  What would you do with them?

Hope this gets you interested in making your own calendar envelopes.

Happy Snail Mailing,

Pam

*Available In The Shop*

Sunshine Mini Kit

Some Cute Spring Envelopes....

Most of the time it always starts with the envelope for me.  I think making envelopes gets the creative juices going for me.  When I am pleased with the envelope, then I sit down and write the letter.  It isn't always that way but it seems to happen that way often.  what about you?  These are made using scrapbooking paper.

Front view....

Here is another envelope that was not included in the above photos.  I am getting a little more creative with my postal stamp placements, do you think?    

Here is a batch of out going mail...don't worry, I did finish the cloud letter.  I cut out a cloud for my return address and put a stamp on it.

Hello JO!  Very over-due letter that went out last week, with a little intro page with my letter.  I think this may be my first letter to Malaysia...

I'm still working my way out of the pile of letters ... I am still going at a pretty good pace.  If you need to hear from me, just know that I am still working my way through.

Take care,

Happy Snail Mailing!

Pam

*Available In The Shop*
Pen Pal Kit

Snail Mail Frugal Finds...

Dollar Tree Score!!!!

Ok.  I'm all about FRUGAL finds and I'm sure you are too!  I recently found these  items at the Dollar Tree, and quickly snatched them up.  I love the washitape...it is so vintage-y, right?   The calendars are nice and have a retro feel, great for envelope making.  The thing about the Dollar Tree is this:  get it when it is there, because the following week it won't be there!

Look at this spring-themed washi tape!  The labels are so cute....love!

My last great find at the Dollar Tree was this book that has been on my NTB (need to buy) list!

Don't pass up the book section at the Dollar Tree....they sell NY Times best sellers there for a dollar.  This book is a gorgeous hardback with dust jacket, 463 pages, great photos...retails for $27.50, and I got mine for $1!!!  I can't wait to read it all from cover to cover-- will do over Christmas break.

Enjoy the nice cold blast of ARTIC , Canadian (a nice gift from our friends to the North!) weather that is headed our way!  I find that letter writing is the BEST indoor activity to do when looking for ways to unplug from your devices.  It would be a great time to get a Letter Writing Social organized.  So gather your friends together , ok maybe after the holidays,  and gather supplies and have a great time pumping out letters.  

And for all you lovers of a good deal, ALL of my letter writing kits are ON SALE now through Christmas.  If you purchase a complete kit (excludes the mini kits) you will receive  a free pencil bag/pouch.  You can just message me a description of any of the pencil pouches ( I have more that are not in the picture) in my Etsy store and I will include it in your order.  This is good until the 20th.  

So keep on writing letters.  And for all of you waiting for a reply to your letter that you sent me, it is in the Que, I am working and getting through them.  I will be all caught up by the end of the year, to get my slate clean.

Send a Letter today!

Pam

Banner mail...calendar mail

Colorful Flags waving in the air...

I was the happy recipient of the Flow magazine banners.  Thank you Limner!  So it was time for me to send my "endless banner mail" on.  There are no letters in these envelopes yet...Just working on the envelopes which takes time.

Here's a little fun with some of the vintage stamps in my collection.

 And have you noticed that AC Moore had their 2016 Calendars on sale for $1 each?  They are those thick , thick textured paper too! So I snatched up several and made some envelopes from  these as well.  

Now that the envelopes are crafted, it's time to write some letters to PUT inside these envelopes.  That's the next step.

Happy Snail Mailing!

Pam

Outgoing Snail Mail!

It feels good to get some letter writing done!  I didn't get a picture before I used them, but have you noticed how beautiful the National Parks stamps are?  I used them on my "Amelia" mail and the craft envelope with one stamp on it.  Nice colors, and pictures.

Sometimes I feel like a bit of doodling is needed...

The above left letter was from a Golden Book:  the Fuzzy Duckling, I believe.  It no longer had a cover, so I took several pages and made sheets large enough to make an envelope.  The music themed mail is a flip book,  It is mailed in a cello bag.

Letting these pretties go...into the deep, deep ocean of the USPS.  Happy travels!

Happy Snail Mailing!

Pam