details: mail from Katzi

Yesterday, I received a wonderful surprise in the mail from Katzi. I knew she was going to send me something, but I didn't really know what to expect and this little box of wonders blew me away!

First off, the lettering on it was amazing! I really wish I didn't have to edit out the rest of my information from the label but you can take my word for it ;3

This is what was inside (or part of it, actually), and I loved everything!

Something I was particularly excited to see, was the Creepy Hearts Club little fellas & zine, which is super dorky and fun!

Another thing I was very happy about, are those gorgeous analog photographs she too! I really love when my penpals decide to share with me some of their shots. Besides being able to see faraway landmarks and cities, I feel like there's something special about being able to see even the smallest detail through the eyes of someone else, don't you agree?

Thank you so much Katzi, you're one amazing lady, and this parcel really made my day! ♥

A question for you before I go, what is one thing you love getting in the mail?
Have a lovely day,
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.

the flat swap

Hello everyone!
Today I've got something rather interesting to show you; a while ago I joined a very fun swap over at Giova's blog, and last week, my parcel finally came!
I was really lucky to be paired with an amazing artist called Aljona (or Katlix) that really spoiled me with many beautiful goodies!
The swap required to send a couple of different things, and here's what I've received:
- for "something handmade in your area of expertise", Aljona decided to make me a portrait! How cool is that? What's even cooler is that she implemented some of my favourite things in it (for example, my hair are teal in her drawing because I told her it is my fave color! So clever).

- for "a drawing of something you like"she sent me various of her prints, and I was really impressed by them and all the different techniques that go into them.
- there was a little letter, of course, in this very pretty geometrical print card;

- for "something handwritten" she wrote a poem called "window" by Forough Farrokhzad on a watercolor stained paper. The poem itself is beautiful, and I really appreciated the creativity in displaying it.

- last but not least, for "something that you own, but not need", she sent me a bunch of paper ephemera and a few rolls of washi tape, that may or may not have made me squeal.

All in all, it was definitely one of the most fun swap I've joined lately, and I'll be definitely up for another round if there's ever gonna be one (*wink wink, Giova*).
Thanks again to Aljona for everything she's put together for me, and to Giova for hosting it :)

Have you guys joined any fun swap lately?
Much love,
ƒ.

Are you looking for a penpal? III

Here' some of the penpal ads I received recently, if you're looking for a new friend, this might be your chance to find it ☺! 

"Hi everyone! My name is Brendha, I'm 19 and I'm a law student. I want a penpal from anywhere and doesn't matter with your letters are cute or not, I'm more interested in what is written, but please,+16 at least; any gender. I'm not interested in big swaps because the brazilian mail is a headache sometimes, but swap little things of course I do smoothly. By the way, I'm brazilian! I would love swap postcards, I'm planning to assemble a collection of them! I reply as soon as the letter arrives, i just won't do this in special cases, like postal strike and exams."

Contact: breenyep@hotmail.com
Blog: http://daisiesandcallalilies.tumblr.com/
Kik: kontrollverlust;

"Hi, my name is Alex..a 44 year old woman from the UK...really love to exchange snail mail, love handmade envelopes, hand made things, paper, poetry, dogs, positivity, baking and sooo much more...would love to exchange snail mail with you, let's make happy mail days "

Contact: seaweed77@aol.com

"Hi! My name is Mira and I'm from Finland. I'm 17 years old childcare student. I love snail mailing, and I miss getting special mail. I love music, tv series, movies, friends, crafting, baking and magazines. Send me an email if you want to know more!"

Contact: mira.alamikkula@hotmail.com
Blog: http://mira-postcrossing.blogspot.fi/

Mail lately

I've been neglecting the blog again, sigh, I haven't posted about my outgoing mail in a while and I thought it was time for an update.
Here's something I've sent out in the past month:

As I mentioned in my monthly wrap up for January, I've been experimenting new mediums, and with DAS I created this little family of owls that have been sent to a special someone in Belgium.

I've sent a few orders from my Etsy, and a letter to Maddie.

I made a painting (to be shown after the recipients collects it) and sent it across the ocean.

And lastly, more orders, and a letter to Corey and one to Ari ♥

What have you sent lately?
Have a nice day,
ƒ.

Detail: mail from Mexico

I feel really blessed to have many talented friends all over the globe that care to share their wonderful creations with me every now and again! In this particular case, I'm referring to Ely, my awesome penpal from Mexico.
With her letter (all written in spanish, I want to add ♥), she sent me some cards and stickers she designed, and that I quickly fell in love with:

She was also so kind to include a present for my birthday (which is in about 3 weeks, but knowing how slow mail from Mexico reaches me, I truly appreciate the thoughtfulness of the gesture), which is this dragonfly notebook, that besides being gorgeous, is also made from recycled materials and I don't think it could get better than that!

Last but not least, she included a "city explorer kit" from her trip to Querétaro, and I loved going through all the bits and pieces imagining the places she visited ☺

Thank you so much for your wonderful parcel, Ely. Will write back soon!

What did you receive lately?
Have a great week,
ƒ.

Detail: mail from Ari

Erlier this week, I received an parcel from my friend Ari, a wonderful artist from California.
I already featured some of her mail here on the blog, and I probably already said this too, but she's one of those people with whom I just clicked right away, and seeing her letters popping in my mailbox is particularly exciting.
Here's some eye candy for you~

& this is her zine (which you can get here) and besides being a-mazing, it also features a little thing I sent her in the mail a while back ♥ such an honor!

Talk to you soon!
ƒ.

Are you looking for a penpal? II

Here' some of the penpal ads I received recently, if you're looking for a new friend, this might be your chance to find it ☺! 

"Hi, my name is Marisa and I'm 22 years old. I want a pen pal either in the US or internationally and I enjoy things such as swapping, collecting stamps, decorating planners, putting together cute parcels, smash book and other scrapbooking, cute note cards, and everything else in between. I know everyone has their own life going on, but I'm looking for someone that can take some time out and maybe send me some mail every few weeks? I want to get involved in the snail mail community!"

Contact: mythology.marisa@gmail.com
Blog: http://mythologyyy.blogspot.com

"Hello! My name is Autumn Echo. I am 18 years old, from New York. I'm looking for pen pals all over the world. I love coffee, owls, crafting, snail mail, reading, poetry. I'm willing to swap letter, post cards, and/or small parcels. I respond quickly as well, so if you are looking for someone to correspond with quite regularly, I'm your girl. If you are interested in being pen pals with me, please contact me by email."

Contact: mangoymango95@gmail.com

"Hello :) I'm Dani.
I am 25 years old and living in Massachusetts.
I like YA books and Jane Austen, colonial houses, halloween, Buffy, Doctor Who, picnics, long and deep conversations, little love notes, unique greeting cards, The Mortal Instruments, pagan holidays, and trying foods from other countries.
I am looking for a female penpal around my age, with similar interests, with whom I can hopefully develop a great friendship. Any country.
I hope to hear from someone soon!"

Contact: daniellephant@me.com

the Little Letter Girls

I'm here to - very cautiously - announce that my creative block is gone! *cheerful sound*
Despite spending the past few weeks (..months) bent over a statistics book in which I have no interest at all, I've had a few days during which my creativity reached some pretty impressive spikes and I even felt good about what was coming out of it.

As a new year's resolution I decided to be more positive about my art, whether it's a doodle on the back of receipt, or a 10x10 painting.. and to move the first step towards this goal, I decided to go big or go home by printing a few postcards of my latest illustrations series!

Ladies and gentlemen, please meet "the Little Letter Girls"~

If you like them, you can buy a set of 4 or 8, here. I'm feeling happy so I'm having free shipping worldwide for a few days ☺
What do you think? Aren't they cute? I would love to hear your feedback!

Have a great day,
ƒ.

Christmas Mail

Hello guys,
it's probably time for me to share some mail with you! Who's excited? I definitely am, I'm really looking forward to blog more regularly again in 2014 ☺
Here's some lovely mail I received recently:
from my dear Emily in Sweden, a Christmas package full of owl themed goodies! Some rubbers, a notebook and a cutesy card ♥

From Marisa in California, some gorgeous monogram cards to match the stamp she got me a while back, so pretty!

Mexican Skulls in my Mailbox

Hello everyone! I hope July's off to a great start for you all and that you're enjoying the holidays ☺
Today, I want to show you an awesome package I received from a very artistic friend over in Mexico: Musberina! We both love skulls, so we decided to go for a skull-themed swap and she sent me some amazing stuff and artworks..

Happy Mail & News Flash

Hello guys!! Long time no see uh? How are you all doing?
I haven't been quite myself lately, I got struck by a massive creative block and I couldn't keep up with my mail because of it. This, and exams (still 1 left, UGH!)  really got into my way and I'm truly sorry for not being able to organise my time in a most profitable way.
But I'm back now, for good, I promise!
So before I show you the awesome mail I got lately, I want to make sure you all know that starting July 1st, Google Friends Connect (GFC) won't be a thing anymore, so please please please, if you still wish to follow my blog, you can now do it via Bloglovin, or starting July 1st you won't be receiving any more notifications about my posts. So.. you've been warned!

Now, I in the past few weeks I haven't received much mail, but the few letters I got were really lovely!
I swapped one of my zines (yes, I made my first zine! More about it in a post to come soon!) with a lovely Spanish girl, Greta, and she sent me a zine with some of her experimental postcards, look how cool!

 Then I got a cute and vintage looking letter from Manon in the Netherlands,

 And also from the Netherlands, a little parcel from Marjolijn who recently went to Paris too, and also sent me some delicious Dutch liquorice that are not pictured because.. as I said, they were delicious :D

And that's it from for today, but don't fret! I have loads of posts in store for the upcoming months, so make sure to stick around :)
Also if you're still waiting for a letter from me.. I promise, they'll all go out by the end of the first week of July!

Have a lovely day,
ƒ.

smash sunday: DIY idea

Here's a super easy DIY idea for you guys ☺

Hope you like it!
ƒ.

Are you looking for a penpal from France?

Hi guys, today I have a penpal ad for you! Meet the lovely Viktoria from France:

"My name is Viktoria, I'm 24 years old and I'm illustrator and photographer, who for now is living not far from Paris.
I have a lot of passions, for now it's knitting and embroidery, but two things is never changes - my love for tea and reading books. I'm looking for a pen friend who loves these two things as well (because little common things is already a big start for find a good friend), and who will be happy to receive time after time little watercolors.
Voilà.

(x)

Some links about things what I'm doing: Flickr & Blog (when i was writing my blog, I was in love with Russian language and so i was writing in Russian there).

To get in touch with Viktoria you can write her an email to: alice.korlyhanova@gmail.com

Well, good luck Viktoria! :)
And I hope you're all having a lovely week!
ƒ.

Mail Update, finally!

Hi guys! Long time no see, uh? I'm back in the mood for blogging, but this time I'll go straight to the point, showing you what I sent and received lately, as I've missed this kind of posts c:

So, as some of you may know, it was my birthday back in March and I received lots of birthday mail from my lovely penpals ♥ (some of the letters are not shown as I didn't have pictures of them on my computer, but I'll post them in the next post for sure!)

I received a gorgeous card from Thea while she was in the UK, look how pretty! And I just love how it says: "Fab Friend" on the top left corner :3

I received an awesome package from Kelly in Canada:

Everything is so gorgeous, and being a big fan of deer, I can't help but loving the notebook and the card! Also.. the milk candies she sent me lasted just the time for the picture, they were delicious!

Postal Travel Magazine

Hello guys! Lately I've been really busy working on a project with some friends, and I thought it was about time to share it with you all! Tee & Karina, started an online magazine about snail mail, crafts, penpals and all things related to mail, and I'm in charge for the layout and graphic.
It's the first time I'm doing something like that, so I'm not completely sure that I'm doing it right, so please, feel free to give me your feedback about it!

The magazine is called Postal Travels, and is published the first day of every month. It is free to read, and has lots of interesting activities to do! You can submit your penpal ad, penpal story, ideas and what not! Head over to their Tumblr to read more about it and submit your own content ☺

The March issues is out, and you can read it here.

Let me know what you think of it, and if you enjoy it, feel free to share it with your penpals and friends!

Have a good mail day,
ƒab.

Lettermo week #1

Happy Saturday guys! Finally I've got enough time to write my first Lettermo update post.
I did quite a good job this past week, sending out 9 out of 9 letters plus some extras!
Anyway let's start from my incoming mail~

I got not one, but two letters from Meredith on the same day (I'm such a lucky girl!). The first one was a postcard from Mexico City and a muñequita, a tiny Mayan doll:

It apparently has the power to relieve you from your sadness: "tell her your sorrow, put her under your pillow, sleep peacefully. On the next day, your sorrow would have done away". I think I'm in love with it.

January Mail Week #4

Good evening guys! This week I received a lot of pretty letters, it's been a really good mail week! On the other hand, I'm a bit behind with my replies (I'm sorry if I owe you one and it's taking me a while), but I'm in the middle of my exams, and I'm doing what I can to write as much letters as I can.
Anyway, let me show you what my awesome penpals sent me lately:

I received a 10 (!) pages long letter from Mariam in the Netherlands, who also sent me a really cute address book, which is going to be perfect to carry in my bag when I'm travelling, as it's really light and quite tiny too.

Late Christmas Mail

While talking about Christmas since August is acceptable, apparently it isn't right when it's now over,
but I'm going to talk about it anyway, since last week I received some pretty awesome late Christmas mail.

My super talented friend Corey from Singapore sent me this lovely hand draw postcard, with a panda stamp if it wasn't cute enough already! How adorable ♥

Christmas mail~

Hi guys! The past few weeks have been a little bit sad in terms of mail as I found out that a lot of the Christmas cards I sent out quite a while ago haven't arrived yet to their recipient and by all chances got lost. Also, some of my penpals messaged me to ask me if I received their parcels/letters and still, by all chances those also got lost somewhere.
I was feeling really bitter for that, hence the lack of updates, but anyway that's a risk that us snailmailers must be prepared to take, right?
So without further ado, I'll show you what I've received and sent lately!

I got three postcards from: Amit, Kaira and Penny, respectively from India, Indonesia and Brasil.

 I love how colourful they all are! Not to mention the stamps..