the Postal Society 2.0

Hello everyone! As some of you may know, last year, alongside some friends, I founded a website called the Postal Society to create a community dedicated not only to finding new penpals, but also to have a better place to host swaps and challenges, and discuss common interests.

Lest year we had a network hosted on a platform, but I was very unsatisfied with the quality and the restrictions of it, so I decided to cave in and create a proper .com website for it!

It is finally ready and I'd love to share it with you all:

We're obviously still getting started but if would mean a lot if you could check it out!

See you there, I hope!
♥, ƒ.

Snail Mail Love

Hello everyone! Today I would like to show you my newest illustrations, as I'm sure you snailmail geeks will appreciate them ;)
They're a series of five, that I've titled "Snail Mail Love".

They were really spontaneous drawing, but I realized they all represent something I really love about letter writing.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today I'm turning 23, which for various reasons, makes me feel rather weird. It could be because I look like I'm 15, or because I feel like I'm 37, or just because who does enjoy growing up after all?

Anyway, if you know me at all, you'd know I'm not the kind of person to celebrate this happening, so I don't really have any interesting plans for the night, besides maybe baking a cherry pie and eating it!

I don't even know why I'm writing a blog post about it, really. So yeah..!

Enjoy your day, guys! I'll be virtually sending pie slices to ya'll :)

ƒ.

February

Hello everyone!
February passed by so fast it's crazy.. Here's what I've been busy doing:

Reading: still 1Q84 by Murakami. I've just started the second book of the trilogy and finally the plot is unraveling and I'm loving it even more;
Watching: the Walking Dead, Girls, and I've recently seen the pilot a few new series but it's still to early to decided whether I like them or not.
Eating: kiwifruits, lots of these!
Drinking: organic green tea;
Using: brown paper envelopes again, which I'm liking to leave quite simple without going overboard with decorations. I feel like just a nice strip of washi tape compliments them better, and I really hope my penpals are enjoying this new "style" as well.
Recently: dyed my hair with henna from Lush. I'm not too sure how I like them but it'll do;
Wearing: my hair up. It's at this stage where they're not short nor long, and I really dislike it. So instead of loosing my mind with it, I'm just throwing it in a awkward length ponytail or bun and I'm pretty much done with it.
Listening: I've been listening to literally 5 songs on endless repeat this month, and one of them I particularly like is Cut Your Teeth by Kyla La Grange (Kygo Remix);
Trying: to focus on one thing at a time, complete it, and then move on to the next one. (Am I succeeding? Nope. Not really.);
Purchased: nothing noteworthy, I'm limiting myself to buying only the necessary to save up for a couple projects;
Working: out! I've been going to the gym 4 days a week and I'm loving it.

I'm curious, what have you been up to lately? ☺
Have a nice day,
ƒ.

January

Hello there, everyone!
My friend Michelle over at Seaweed Kisses wrote this very interesting post to wrap up the happenings of the past month. I thought it was a really cool idea to share with you what i've been up to (and hopefully read in the comments what you have been up to!).
So here we go:

Reading: 1Q84 by Murakami. Many reviews I've read describe it as a "waste of paper and ink" but I'm honestly really enjoying it so far, even tho the genre is new to me;
Watching: How I Met Your Mother, and I just finished American Horror Story: Coven, but I must admit it was my least favorite season so far, and the plot holes throughout the whole series are absurd;
Eating: nothing in particular, except cereal biscuits for breakfast and with my tea;
Drinking: a very nice apple & cinnamon tea;
Using: DAS, to make little critters to send to my friends! I haven't used DAS since I was in middle school probably, but I've seen lots of people using it, and clay, recently that I felt like picking it up again and give it a try;
Recently: dyed my hair with henna from Lush. I'm not too sure how I like them but it'll do;
Wearing: my new burgundy combat boots, which besides being really cool comes in handy with this horrible weather;
Listening: I'm obsessed with this song: Ghost Gunfighters by As Animals;
Trying: to study for my next two exams, ugh;
Purchased: a subscription to the gym to try and get fit again (aka be able to climb the stairs without getting out of breath);
Working: on some products for my shop. So far I've made a set of cute illustrated postcards, and I'll soon list some stickers, so keep your eyes peeled!

What have you been up to lately? ☺
Have a nice day,
ƒ.

Big Project: Help needed!

Hi guys. As you may know, I won't be able to update you on my incoming/outgoing mail for a little while as my stuff is currently in boxes because I had to re-paint my room. In the meanwhile, I hope you won't mind if I update you on something else. I have a new project, kinda big, coming up for you all.. but to make it real I still need to raise a few dollars and I wanted to ask for your "help".
Of course I'm not asking for donations, but instead, you can contribute by buying something from my shop.
So here's a friendly reminder of what I'm currently offering:

read more about it here & here.

I'm still offering commissions for: custom digital stationery, portrait illustrations, digitisation of your own art.. see images below~

example of different portrait style

example of digitisation based on a drawing

Prices reduced to 50% for April only:
Stationery Set: 10$ (for examples just browse through my freebies)
Portrait Illustrations: (depending on complexity) from  6.50$ to 25$
Digitisation: (depending on complexity) from  6.50$ to 25$
read more here.

I'm also offering the chance to advertise your blog through an ad space in my sidebar:

read here if you're interested in my blog stats.

If you're looking for a cool shirt, tote bag, or iphone case, you may want to check my søciety6 shop,
or if you prefer tangible paper goodies, you can take a look at my Etsy shop:

Thanks in advance if you're going to purchase something! And remember to stay tuned, the big news is hopefully coming your way shortly!

Have a lovely day,
ƒ.

Back from Paris (part II)

Hey guys, I'm back today with the second and last post about my Parisian adventures.
Thank you all for your patience and for sticking around even tho I haven't been really posting anything mail related in a while, but I promise this will change in a timely matter, and will also come with a fresh and exciting news for ya all ☺

Day 3, March 15th~ 
Through the Secret Penpal Scavenger Hunt, I had the chance to meet a lot of new people, and one of these happened to live in Paris! Terah, that's her name, and I talked for a while on twitter and via email and decided that it would have been nice to meet up while we were visiting, and we agreed on March 15th.
We met outside our metro station and walked together towards Montmartre, and obviously stopped at the Sacre Coeur to enjoy the breathtaking view.

Back from Paris (part 1)

Bonjour guys! I'm finally (not that I'm completely happy about it) back in Italy from my trip to Paris. We actually came back on the 19th but I was busy catching up with Uni and re-painting my room (my stuff is currently still in boxes so if you're waiting for a letter from me, please be patient a little longer :c) that I barely had the time for anything else.
Anyway, I'm here now, and I'd like to share some snippets of my holiday with you ☺

First off, our trip didn't start with the right foot at all. Our flight was due at 2PM of the 12th, but once at the airport we were told that it had a 2 hours delay due to the snowstorm happening in Paris.
A two hours delay was a real bummer, we had a lot of stuff planned for the afternoon since we would have landed at about 5PM and had the whole afternoon free, but at least our flight wasn't cancelled as some others flights departing from the Orly Airport.
After two hours our plane wasn't ready yet.. and long story short, after 8 hours waiting at the airport, we finally left for Paris and landed safely despite the snowstorm at 10PM.

happy birthday to me

Can you smell the sweetness of the freshly baked cake in the air? No?! Me neither!
But that's because I'm in Paris, breathing French air at the moment, and it makes me quite happy. Jokes aside, today's my birthday. I'm turning twenty two years old today, which is more than a 1/3 of the age of my grandpa and it's freaking me out.
I may write a post about about how ageing scares me, or how very unsatisfied I am about what I've accomplished in two decades.. but I won't! Instead, here's a gif of my Guinea pig munching a carrot~

Sorry for the very random post, but birthdays make me sad.

Have a great day!
ƒ.

(I'm aware that he cage looks super disgusting.. I was about to change it but couldn't resist the urge to film his little muzzle in action *onomnomnomnom*)

BRB!

Super Clearance Sales

Hi guys! First off let me thank all of you who signed up for the exclusive printables newsletter, and those who emailed me their questions on the matter.
Quite a few of you asked me if it was possible to receive a newsletter for free in January, you know, to taste the waters, and I must say it's a great idea, and I really should have though about it myself!
So, if you think you might be interested in subscribing to the monthly newsletter, but you wanna try it first, fill this form with your email by January 20th, and you'll receive an extra issue of the newsletter for free!
(After that, you'll be automatically unsubscribed, and if you want to continue to receive the printables, all you have to do is sign up for it).
Of course, all of you who already subscribed will also be receiving this first one extra ☺
Now, I wanted to tell you that I'm having a huge sale in my Etsy Shop, so come take a look!

And also, I added a new product: Vintage Collage Kits

Have a great week!
ƒ.

The Travelling Notebook is back!

Hello guys!
I'm here today with a big news: the Travelling Notebook came home to me this morning, so exciting! All the girls involved in the project did a great job, and that thin blank notebook, is now a chunky little work of art.

Before I show you the final -amazing- result, here's a recap of the project:
there were 6 participants (including me), from 6 different European countries, and the task was to fill 8 pages each: two pages about the author, two about their country/city, and the remaining with their own art.

blackout poetry

Hello guys, no smash Sunday today because I was working on a page, but all of a sudden my inspiration faded and I haven't touched the SMASH ever since.
Anyway, I still felt like writing about something today, which happens to be blackout poetry.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, it consists in redacting the words in a text (newspaper, old book pages, etc) with a marker, leaving behind only a few words to make a poem.
I've always been fascinated with it, as it also follows the "destroy to create" leitmotif, which I'm a big fan of!

I gave it a try lately; most of my "poems" are rather boring or trivial, but I kinda like one of them.
Before I show you mine, here some of my favourite by Kevin Harrell:

news and such

Hello guys! As some of the most hawk-eyed of you have already noticed, I changed (yes, again!) my layout. I grew tired of all that pink, and went for more neutral colors this time. What do you think of it? c:
I might be sticking with it for a while, but who knows!

Well, anyway, this post was not meant to be just a rant about graphics. I actually wanted to introduce you to two new pages of my blog: commissions & sponsor.
Their titles are pretty self explanatory. I've made a detailed page with prices, examples, discounts etc about commissions on custom illustrations, printable letter sets, and blog graphic.
Some of the prices aren't fixed, so if you're interested in something specific, you can email me to ask about how much your commission will cost (I don't bite, so ask me whatever question you may have, I won't force you to buy anything if you don't want to :P asking is free!).

The sponsor page instead, features the prices for an advert space on my blog (with stats and all that jazz, once again, don't be scared to ask questions, if interested!), which I think are nicer, not to mention more useful, than those annoying google ads.
Of course whatever sum I raise won't be used to open a bar on a tropical island ;) I don't actually plan to get rich with your money! It will more likely be spent in stamps and paper goodies, what else?!

Blablablah, are you still reading? Well, thanks :3
Another cool news is that one of my American penpals, Kelly, is coming over in Italy and she'll be visiting my town, which meeeans: we're going to meet! Oh, so exciting! That would be the first time I get to meet a penpal in person and I'm sure I'm going to be super awkward and all I know about the English language will be suddenly forgotten and I'll be like: "It's a-me, Fab!", lol.

(If you understand that reference, you win a virtual hug).

One last thing, promise! I re-opened my Etsy shop with brand new, still hot off the press, cards and collage kits! I also updated all the pictures, which are now slightly better than the previous ones, and to finish with a flourish, I'll be including a free stickersheet with the first 5 orders c: 
So go grab something, now! 
(pss also use the code REOP1 at check out for 10% discount *winkwink*)

Oh, and you see, I also have new business cards especially for Etsy, (am I a pro yet?!) and I'm really in love with them :3

Umh, that would be all, I guess! 
Have a good day c:

ƒ.

100 followers GiveAway!

Hello you guys! As the title says, I just hit 100+ followers here and it's a huge milestone for me since I would have never thought that a blog about my rants about mail and stuff would have received so many feedback and appreciation :) So, to thank you I'm having a little giveaway!

*drumrolls*

Let's get straight to the prizes, shall we?

my lomo notebook

Back in January, I bought this fantastic notebook on the Lomography website.

I decided to use it as a "daily notebook", meaning that I would have written/illustrated etc the most interesting things of each day, both to practice typography and to keep me busy.
However, if you know know me at all, you should know that I am so fickle, that I can barely stand myself. Would you believe that in 8 months, I've only done 5 pages?
(」゜ロ゜)」
I'm so bad.. Anyway they look quite nice at least, and I want to share them with you :)

cute finds #3

Hello guys!
Yesterday it was my name day (basically the day dedicated to the saint you were named after), well technically it doesn't exist a saint with my name.. it only exist the male version of it.
Even if I'm not really fond in celebrating my name day, or my birthday for that matter, as to me they're more like an occasion to do something special rather than an actual celebration, my mom often get me something for that day, and this year she got me an awesome notebook!

summer diary part 3

Ok, I promise this is the last post about summer holidays, but I took so many pictures that it's a pity to leave them just occupy space in my hard disk, isn't it?

Today I'll show you the little hamlet where we stayed - and the nearby one, where we cycled every other day.

Most of the buildings date back to Medieval age, in fact every year in July it takes place a Medieval fair during which all the inhabitants dress in typical costumes and recreates scenes from the life of the time. I went there once when I was younger and it was really nice.

summer diary part 2

I know it's not Tuesday, however there are 3 things I've been doing while on holiday:

1. Writing postcards & wearing a black straw hat (that made me look like a widow..)

summer diary part 1

Hello guys! Sooo, I'm back from my holiday on the mountains and even though it was surprisingly hard to settle in the urban atmosphere again, I'm back on my feet and ready to share some of my experiences with you :)

Just a little premise before I start: I know it has pretty much anything to do with my usual posts, but I will post about my mail soon enough, I promise! Oh, and  I've taken most of the pictures with my analog camera and due to the holiday, I can't have my rolls developed just yet, so instead I'll be posting a few of the digital ones!

The place where I've been staying, is a little village in a highland region in the middle of Italy.
It has no more than 200 inhabitants and the unpaved roads are not unusual to find.