#postallyconnected pt 1

A little while ago, I started a project over on Instagram, that I called Postally Connected.
For my birthday I received Keri Smith's 'Everything is Connected', which is a book of postcards with fun tasks written on them.
Instead of filling them in and then send them, I decided I wanted to give the chance to have a bit of fun with them to someone else, and this is how the project started.

I sent 10 postcards to ten lovely girls, and today, I want to share with you the first three postcards that came back to me, to show you what a great work they did with them!

The first one I received, is this one from Pandique in Sweden. As you can see, pandas are a serious business and they have their on sparkly planet, so cute!

 Next I got this lovely gentleman from Spain, made by a very talented girl named Blanca (which also sent me am hand-decorated notebook!).
To prove that Mr. Postcard went with her everywhere, she documented her day in pictures:

How awesome is that? He definitely had an interesting day!

The last postcard I received so far, is from Michelle in the US.

The task on her postcard was to mess up the shirt, and she did that by using food coloring. So original, don't you think?

I'm still waiting for the remaining 7 postcard to get back to me, but so far I'm really happy with how this project is going :)

ƒ.

Secret Penpal Scavenger Hunt 2014 reveal day!

Hello everyone! 2014 seems like to be just started but one month is already gone by, and today marks a very special day, the reveal for the Secret Penpal Scavenger Hunt!
I've been really lucky this year too, to be paired with an amazing person who put lot of care and attention into my package. My partner was Giova (who blogs over at "One Bunting Away" - check it out, it's rather great!) and this are the amazing finds of her scavenger:
1. Mail Art Kit - a wonderful assortment of paper, packed very nicely as well, that will probably satisfy my paper needs for the next month!

the Secret Penpal Scavenger Hunt 2014

Hello guys! Everything is ready for the Secret Penpal Scavenger Hunt 2014! Keep reading if you'd like to be a part of it!

 The rules are very simple:

1. You'll be assigned to one secret partner that you must keep secret, until a precise date when we'll all be revealing what we sent and received and who our partner was.
2. You'll have to find/create five object wrote down on a list (that will be available once the partners are assigned), and buy one surprise for your partner.
3. After max. 15 days from the revealing of the list, you'll have to send out your parcel and email me a picture of it for proof.
4. Once you receive your parcel from your "secret penpal" you'll have to make a blog post and share it on the set date.*

Some additional things you may want to know:

• This project is completely free to join, the only condition is that you have to be an active blogger either on Blogspot, Wordpress or Tumblr, or even very active on Instagram. (read more about it below)
• However, you can support it by donating, or sign up to be an 'angel'. (read more about it below)
• All the objects in the list won't be expensive, on the contrary they'll be object that need to be literally "found" - in your stash, in the street and so on.. - or that you can create yourself.
• Therefore, used things are an acceptable bargaining chip. However you must make sure that they're clean, in good condition, and not damaged.
• Your address won't be shared to anyone except your "secret penpal" which will be asked to keep it secret.
• Partners will be assigned randomly. So please be prepared to ship internationally.
• However, on the sign up form you can express a preference whether if you'd prefer to ship outside your Continent or not, but it will be possible only depending on the participants.
• This is a one time only penpal exchange, which means that after the swap you don't necessarily need to become penpal with your partner unless you both want to.

So, if this tickles your fancy, sign up by filling this form.  
CLOSED!! Thanks everyone for joining!

Read the FAQ's below before filling the form. It will help you not to encounter problems with it.

Deadlines:

• Sign ups close on the 23rd.
• You'll receive your match on January 3rd.
• Your package needs to be sent out by January 18th.
• You'll receive a weekly email to remind you of all the deadlines.

Donations & Angels:

As I mentioned above, this year I'm introducing donations. Why, you may ask: well, that's because last year an handful of people ended up not receiving their package. As much as I'd love to be able to send them all something, I unfortunately don't have the means to do it on my own, so any amount I'll receive via donations will go towards a fund to be used in case of emergency.

However, donations aren't just that. To reward you for your generosity, you'll be entitled to the following:

• You'll receive your match on December 26th, so you'll have an additional week to hunt.
• You'll receive a postcard from me, as a thank you for being extra awesome.

Or, you can sign up to be an 'angel', that is showing your availability to send a package to whoever may end up empty handed.

Both those possibilities are obviously optional and completely up to you. 

Eligibility

In order to participate, as mentioned above, you're required to be an active blogger either on Blogspot, Wordpress or Tumblr, or even very active on Instagram. Last year I was quite permissive, but this time all the entries will undergo a more detailed check to prevent any flakers. I grant myself the right not to accept everyone unconditionally, so if I don't consider you eligible, I'm sorry but I'll have to keep you out of this round.

FAQ

(to be updated as we go) 

1. This swap will be a Round Robin (i.e. = A sends to B, B sends to C, C sends to A and so on); 
2. The list of things to find, will be the same for everyone. It will be composed by 10 object BUT you'll have to find only 5 of them + a gift that you will have to buy based on your partner's preferences. The spending minimum for the gift is ~3€/$4/£2.50;
3. If your phone number is too long for it's section, just write "000 000 000" and add your phone number to the "about me" section; 
4. If the form doesn't accept your instagram, please write it in full: http://www.instagram.com/*username*
5. The "about me" section has a limit of 200 characters, so please double check that your text won't end up being cut by the system. 

I really hope you'll like the idea! Feel free to comment below if you have any questions and I'll get back at you as soon as I can!

Have a nice day!
ƒ.

* you can also include it in the "incoming mail" kind of post, but please specify that it was part of this swap. Or if you don't have a blog, you can share it on Instagram or Tumblr.

BADGES:

<a href="http://wreckthisgirlsblog.blogspot.com"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR6Sl7EIQ2Ia6WR7wcgf27gOBcRXcqyt18MdOcPdlm9wsttktW3-C6cQH_2SWsaBSxfXBfrh29IE2GvMOZymW8xtU7kgh0myY3RDU0lNWOam0XW1COL0mlUxCvjzpp3I-oNomFMqHLe9Jo/s200/werty.png"></a>

<a href="http://wreckthisgirlsblog.blogspot.com"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitzTYJJCryG2qusbHY51bvKMrqBGImWjMQ0OUGIamcoyHyQdbOMKkwsxChPfqtfBmOwH1EwqHj3v558gunRrfhGlCnf350rjLMMlVkPLaE1G-cHVGoPOe5u1MgndZqFHHIHOWHoJIb_Ql-/s200/wertyu.jpg"></a> <span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1b; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div> <span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1b; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"></span>

PROJECT: Secret Penpal Scavenger Hunt 2014

Hello everyone! Long time no see, but I come with jolly news.
Do you remember the Secret Penpal Scavenger Hunt I hosted back in February? Well, a new edition is coming and I hope to see ya'll joining it!

If you're new or you just need a little reminder:
for the scavenger hunt you were assigned a partner that needed to be kept secret until the reveal day.
You had a list of 10 objects of which you had to find/craft at least 5.
Last year's list was the following:

the City Explorer's Kit: take a day off and collect little things of your city for your partner. Can include, but not limited to: maps, flowers & leaves, postcards, tiny souvenirs, photos, interesting newspaper's clippings & pamphlets, etc  - just don't grab a bunch of random junk within arm's reach, put some effort in it;
 Something that represent you: for example - are you an artist? Send your partner a little painting. Do you love to knit? Send your partner a hat.. and so on;
 A mix CD with your favorite tunes. (Pro Tip: create a cover for it);
 the Postal Freak's Kit: Can include, but not limited to: postal goodies such as address labels, used stamps, envelopes, stationery etc.
 the Bad Day Survival Kit: assemble a kit of nice things that may help your partner to feel better when they're having a bad day. (Ideas: your favorite candy, a poem/story, bubble bath, a list of  happy songs/movies etc);
 Something you can wear;
 Something not square or rectangular;
 Something shiny;
 Something with animal(s) on it;
 Something seasonal;
+ extra from the list, a gift(s) for your partner that you'll have to buy based on their preferences. The minimum spending/value is about 3€/4$/2.50£

The first edition was joined by 78 awesome people from 21 different countries (!),  do you think we can top that this year?
Anyway, meanwhile the fine print is being written (make sure to check future posts for updates), I would like to hear your suggestions about what you'd like to see in the scavenge list for this year, so please if you have any idea, leave a comment below, it would  be very much appreciated!

Much love,
ƒ.

The Postal Society

Hello guys, today is May 3rd, and you know what that means? I can finally share the secret I've been keeping for months with you all.
As you might have guessed from the image above, there's a new community in town! And it's all postal! ☺
I always wanted a facebook-like place dedicated to snail mailers only, so I gathered a couple of trusted friends (the ever so awesome Natalie and Andie) and we worked and worked until today to create a place for us all to be postal together!
But enough sentimentalism here, let me go straight to the facts and explain what is P.S.?
Please check this post on our official blog, I couldn't use better words than that to explain it to you guys. Just let me tell you that if you love letter writing, swaps, challenges, and meeting new friends, that's the place for you and I can't wait to meet you there!

I'm not going to lie to you guys, I'm too excited to write anything else, so please please please, take a second to pop over the website and see if you like it, it would make me so incredibly happy if you could!

I'll see you there I guess?

Have a nice day,
♥ ƒ.

Secret Penpal Scavenger Hunt reveal day part 2

Hi guys! Finally my partner for the SPSH received her package and I'm able to reveal who she was and show you what I sent her!
I got Miranda from The Love Parcel as my partner, was I excited? Yes, you bet! As I told her, I always wanted to send her something for her project but eventually never did, so it was nice to get in touch with her thanks to my swap.

The secret list was the following and we had to find/craft 5 out of the following 10 objects:

the City Explorer's Kit: take a day off and collect little things of your city for your partner. Can include, but not limited to: maps, flowers & leaves, postcards, tiny souvenirs, photos, interesting newspaper's clippings & pamphlets, etc  - just don't grab a bunch of random junk within arm's reach, put some effort in it;
 Something that represent you: for example - are you an artist? Send your partner a little painting. Do you love to knit? Send your partner a hat.. and so on;
 A mix CD with your favorite tunes. (Pro Tip: create a cover for it);
 the Postal Freak's Kit: Can include, but not limited to: postal goodies such as address labels, used stamps, envelopes, stationery etc.
 the Bad Day Survival Kit: assemble a kit of nice things that may help your partner to feel better when they're having a bad day. (Ideas: your favorite candy, a poem/story, bubble bath, a list of  happy songs/movies etc);
 Something you can wear;
 Something not square or rectangular;
 Something shiny;
 Something with animal(s) on it;
 Something seasonal;
+ extra from the list, a gift(s) for your partner that you'll have to buy based on their preferences. The minimum spending/value is about 3€/4$/2.50£

For her I picked the Bad Day Survival Kit, which inccluded: coffee, sugar, a chocolate, a colorful bandaid, some heart charms, a bubble bath, emergency confetty and an handcarved stamp, which was more of a prompt for a crafty project then else:

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.

Secret Penpal Scavenger Hunt reveal day!

Hello guys! I've disappeared for a while, I know, but besides being sick, my Internet connection decided to die when I needed it the most. For this reason if you sent me an email/message and I haven't replied yet, I'm very sorry and I'll get back at you asap!

So, as the title says, it's finally the day when we reveal who were our partners for the Secret Penpal Scavenger Hunt! Aren't you excited? Because I certainly am!

My package arrived yesterday and my secret penpal was Manon (her blog here: lucky-birdy) who did a wonderful job to say the least!
When I opened the package, that's what I saw:

Imagine my excitement to see this gorgeous wrapping paper.. even if it was the start, it was already awesome! She wrote me a letter to explain in detail what she sent me and why:

 The first package contained the City Explorer Kit, with postcards of her hometown, business cards and train ticket (guess where they're going? ☺ If you thought "smashbook" you win a hug!)

The second little package was Something That Represent Me, and Manon has a (lovely) webshop called luckybirdy (which you should totally check out because she has some amazing pieces of jewelry!) and sent me a piece from her collection:

I can't even describe my face when I saw this because a) I love jewelry, b) I LOVE crosses, c) this is just gorgeous and I never wanna take it off now.
The 3rd package was The Postal Freak's Kit, and she sent me some PaperChase goodies, which I don't even think I need to say it, but I loved!

 As Bad Day Survival Kit, she sent me various flavoured teas and an inspiring quote:

The picture I took of the quote was too bright, but anyway, it said: "I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you are not, I hope you find the strength to start all over again" -F. Scott Fitzgerald

The 5° packet, contained Something Shiny, a golden hair pin! I honestly never wore something like that before, but I really like it (and it also reminds me of the one that Mulan has), so I could totally try and pull it off!

Last but not least, she sent me the gift. I asked for something crafty or vintage, and she combined the two and sent me these chipboard stickers and brads, look how gorgeous are they:

I wouldn't find them anywhere here, so I was super happy and I can't wait to use them in my smashbook and crafts!

I probably jumped up and down a couple of times from the happiness after I unwrapped everything.
It really seemed like she knew me and selected the perfect things to send me, so I couldn't be happier that I got her as partner ☺
Thank you so much Manon! ♥ I will get in touch with you via email very soon!

My partner still hasn't let me know if she got the package, so I'll be waiting a couple of days before blogging about what I sent.

 If you received your package and wrote a blogpost about it, you can link it below.

Also, I'm very interested in hearing your opinion abou the swap, so can you please take a moment to vote for these polls? It will help improve my future swap and make it better for everyone:

online survey

In order to avoid scammers from joining my swaps:

surveys & polls

Also, feel free to suggest new objects for future scavenger lists, or swap topics so that I can host a new swap soon enough!

Have a lovely mail day,
ƒ.

UPDATE: Secret Penpal Scavenger Hunt

You guys, it's time to start swapping! Sorry if in the past days I've sent ya'll a bunch of messages/emails but hosting such a swap requires to make sure that everyone knows what to do and how to do it, and especially that everyone's ready to keep their commitment.
Yesterday/this morning you should have received another email, with the list and your partner. IF NOT, EMAIL ME ASAP (secretpenpalscavengerhunt@gmail.com) or check your spam folder especially if you use Gmail because it flags everything as spam!

Official tags to snoop on the other participants (aka tag your swap related stuff, pretty please):
TWITTER: #secretpenpalscavengerhunt @wreckthisgirl_
TUMBLR: #secretpenpalscavengerhunt #wreckthisgirl
INSTAGRAM: #secretpenpalscavengerhunt #SPSH @wreckthisgirl
BLOGGER/WORDPRESS: please take a moment to link your post in a comment on my blog.

Now, while you wait for your email, here's some fun facts for you:

• 78 people, including me, joined the project. Crazy, right?!
• 3 are the "circles" I created for the round robins: 1 for who requested America only, 1 for who request Europe only, and the biggest 1 for everyone else.
• 35, almost half of the participants are from the USA.
• 14 people wanted a partner from another continent,  16 wanted a partner from the same continent, and the remaining 48 didn't mind.
• I'm not quite sure of this data, but only 2 participants are male.
• It took me about 4 hours to write and send every email.

MOAR facts:
6 people are from the UK
5 people are from Canada
4 people are from Belgium
4 people are from the Netherlands
3 people are from Malaysia
2  people are from India
2  people are from Italy
2  people are from Mexico
2  people are from Spain
2  people are from Portugal
1 person is from Danmark
1 person is from Finland
1 person is from France
1 person is from Ireland
1 person is from Israel
1 person is from Japan
1 person is from Norway
1 person is from Lithuania
1 person is from Russia
1 person is from China
1 person is from Indonesia

I'm SO excited, what about you? :D
Have a nice day,
ƒ.

Disclaimer: I'll do my best to coordinate this swap the best I can and to track down possible cheaters, but unfortunately I can't be 100% sure that someone is not fooling me. I can, however, assure you that in case someone cheats, measures will be taken.

On a side note, 48/78 people, the 61% already read and replyed my email. If you're not among these, please do it soon because paranoia is killing me ç_ç

PROJECT: Secret Penpal Scavenger Hunt

Be excited everyone! Today I want to share a project with you and I hope to see some of you joining the fun! I'm sure you're all familiar with the "secret Santa" kind of swaps, aren't you?
Well, since Christmas is a terrible, terrible period to send out mail in my country, I'm never able to join this super fun kind of swaps, so I decided that throughout the year, I'll put on some "secret penpal scavenger hunts" to make up for all the "secret Santa" I missed.
BUT to make it possible, I need you to join this! So go ahead and read more about it ☺

travelling notebook

Hi guys!
Those of you who are active on the postcrossing forum or even on tumblr, lately, should be aware of the existence of these so called travelling notebooks.
To sums it up for those of you who are instead unaware of those projects, a TN, is a notebook that is sent around the world to the different participants, so that each of them can make its own contribution to it. Once that the last participant has filled it in, it has to be sent back home to the person that sent it first.

I myself joined a couple of those TN project over the years. Some of them never arrived though, and it was pretty sad. The few that actually made it to me, were really interesting and so much fun to fill out. Not long ago I signed up for another of those project over tumblr, but apparently, one of the first participants in the list disappeared and another TN got lost.

The other day I found this A6 notebook in my drawer and this idea popped in my mind, why don't I try to make my own version of a TN? So here it is, ready to travel the world:

I'm looking for 5 participants (all from Europe, sorry!) to join this project, if you're interested click read more :3

something good

Hello everyone!
Those of you who read my last post, might know that I received a mysterious package last week that I had to wait before tell you what it is.
Well, today's the day, and I'm incredibly excited to tell you about it!

A quick recap: the first week of April, I signed up for the Send Something Good project, promoted by three fellow bloggers: Gentri Lee, kaitlyn and Kristy. Everyone got assigned a secret blogger to whom send a special package.

The blogger I sent the package to, was Tamika from Austria; my secret blogger, instead, was Michelle from Texas!
Today is finally the link-up/reveal day, and I can show you the awesome box I received!

Guest Post: Nnenna | Correspondance Club

Hi guys, one of my new blogger friends, Nnenna, runs a pen pal club, and I'm really happy to be part of it now! :) I though some of you might be interested, so I asked her to write about her project here.
You have until May 1st to sign up for the next month round, so make sure to read the whole post if you're interested!

Hiya- I'm so excited to be here on Fab's blog today! She asked me to share about a little project I started a few months ago called the Correspondence Club. First thing you should know about me is that I'm a huge stationery lover! I also love to write letters- I think they are such a special, thoughtful item that you can treasure for years. Then, I thought about how fun it would be to connect with my blogger friends in another way- through letter writing! 

When I posed the idea to my readers, I was so glad to hear that there are others out there who enjoy writing letters just as much as I do. I thought to myself, "Just go for it!" and that's how the Correspondence Club got started! 

Each person has one partner and we exchange letters once a month. In addition to our letters, we also include a small little gift (under $5), to brighten your partner's day. It doesn't have to be anything expensive at all (you can even handmake something); the idea is just to include a little present that you think will make your pen pal smile :) Then, at the end of every month, I do a round-up post on my blog with pictures of all the letters that people have sent! You can see some of the letters I've sent below :)

Send Something Good

A few weeks ago, I joined this amazing project promoted by three wonderful bloggers: Gentri Lee, kaitlyn and Kristy.
Basically, you're assigned a blogger in secret and you've got to get to know them and then prepare a package of things your secret blogger might like. Surprises + snail mail = awesome project, and I couldn't just sit at the computer and pass up this opportunity, could I?
I've already received the link to the blog of my secret partner, and I've already a few things in mind :) I'll take this weekend to arrange something cute to send her.
If you want to see the other bloggers involved in this project, click on the link below! As for me, I made this post so that the blogger to whom I was assigned would have had the chance to know something about what I'd like to receive; I don't really have preferences, I would be happy with anything, really :) Though, if you want to get a better idea of my likes/dislikes, you might want to check my swap-bot profile here.
Oh, this is so exciting. Can't wait for the reveal/link up day!! :D