Incoming Mail – June 22

I’ve received lots of lovely letters this week!
I’m a little behind on some replies because it’s been a pretty busy summer.
I’ve had to pick lots of cherries off my tree (not complaining – but it does take time).
Hope I can bake a cherry pie soon. Mmmm!
I’ve also been doing more yoga and on Sunday I’ll run a charity 5km race. Gahhh!!

Anyway, on to the snail mail.
Here is my first letter from Debbie.

 She included nice stationery with her own design and a lovely bookmark! 
This letter is from Sarah. The postcard is from an aquarium that she went to on a field trip.

The stationery she used was also self-printed. What creative pen pals I have! 🙂

Here is a pretty letter from Kara in the UK.
I really love this “Bend it like Beckham” stamp.
Just in time for world cup? 😉 

  Below is a postcrossing letter from Elena in Belarus.
Funny, this is what I always say: “My diet starts tomorrow” haha!

Do you think this card is bizarre?? It was sent as part of a “bizarre/ugly/tacky” card swap…
but honestly, I really like it! It reminds me of being a child and going to the dentist.
I never minded the dentist much. I think it’s because I always got a prize from the treasure chest before leaving. I could see how this might be disturbing to some people though.

Finally, Liza sent me this spring card from Russia.
Goodbye Spring! Today is the first day of Summer 🙂
I enjoyed dinner out on the patio. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

Afternoon Tea

 

I had the most exquisite Afternoon Tea at The Ritz in Toronto.

There was an assortment of savory and sweet delights and some fine organic tea.
Such a treat! 🙂

Incoming Mail this Week

Lot’s of fun incoming mail this week 🙂 First, I got this great letter from Emma.
She gave me some little surprises including these Korean stickers.
I really liked how she decorated the envelope with delicious-looking washi tape. yum!!
 

Laura from the UK sent me some blank postcards.

My favourites are these two:
A vintage looking kitchen….

and a “Vogue” cover card.
I am beginning to collect these ones.
If anyone has any, I’d love to trade! 🙂

I also received 8 postcards.
From: Bulgaria, China, Vegas (sent from Canada), San Diego (sent from Singapore), Netherlands, Atlanta, Moldova and Germany.

Timmy from China writes: “Hello from Beijing”.
This is the Wuhou Memorial Temple at Nanyang.

Sending out lots of mail but I always pop them into the mailbox before snapping a pic.
Responses are on their way 😉

Olivebox: Snail Mail Goodies

Stationery, in a box, delivered to your door. Fabulous idea.
OliveBox is a monthly service subscription for paper lovers.

I like the “Breakfast Set” in particular. Not sure if I would ever pay that much for it though.
The goods in the boxes are quite unique, but one of the reasons why I think people choose to subscribe is because they want to be surprised monthly. Maybe I have it wrong and you can’t actually select the boxes that they send to you monthly.

At a higher cost, there are also individual boxes for sale. If I had some disposable income I would sign up right away. I did sign up for free to their newsletter and upcoming giveaways.

Just thought i’d share this with the other snail mail lovers out there!

Incoming Mail

A gorgeous thank you card from Carol, Kara’s grandma.

 I didn’t expect this at all. A while back, Kara’s grandmother went in for surgery and (even though I don’t know her personally) I was on board with sending her a get well card. Such a lovely idea for Kara to organize this for her grandma. I am so happy that my card (and all of the other cards that were sent) reached her safely and made her day. Glad to hear that Carol is doing well.

It was so sweet to receive her thankful words.
I also love how the card is laser cut. It is so delicate and classy!

Maria sent this vintage ad card from Russia.

Here is a card from J Kim, my new pen pal in Korea.
She got this card (below) while she was visiting Turkey.

I’m really glad that we’re swapping because now it’ll give me more opportunity to read and write in Korean. Tonight I am taking part in a Korean-English language exchange.
Hopefully that goes well.
Looking forward to more sending and receiving this week 🙂

 

 

Why I write

Juni from Out of the Well is in the process of compiling a book on writing. She wants “real people, people who write and love writing, to share about their love of writing.” She asked me to  share my thoughts. Here goes.

While I was teaching English in Seoul I met an elderly Korean woman who was homeless. We met by a twist of fate. She read her newspapers quietly, attended church and spoke to few people. Miraculously, this woman had chosen me to talk to and we spent hours discussing issues concerning beauty, wealth, family, religion, love and,finally, death.

She admitted that she had been homeless for fifteen years and wanted her life to end. As she became ill with cancer and grew closer to death, she expressed her love for me. My final promise to her was to share our story. Although she is gone, I hope that her life lessons will live on forever.

I write as a tribute to this brilliant woman and feel a responsibility to share with the world the enlightening lessons that I learned from her.

Q&A:

1. Why do you write?
I write because I want to keep the past alive. 

2. What does writing mean to you?
Writing is empowerment.

3. What do you write?
Memoirs, postcards, love letters, articles and grocery lists.

4. Where do you find inspiration?
I find inspiration in the elderly and their stories of the past.

5. When did you first fall in love with writing?
When I was in the fourth grade I read Harriet the Spy. From then on I always carried a notebook.

6. How important is your writing space (if you have one)?
Whenever I try to find a nice writing spot I always get distracted. Often, I wake up in the middle of the night with an idea and end up jotting things down for a good thirty minutes.

7. What’s the best writing advice you’ve been given?
My friend reminded me that all writers face rejection. JD Salinger’s dream was to be published in the New Yorker but he was rejected 650 times before being accepted.

8. What’s the first piece of writing advice you’d give someone?
Your life narrative might not be as boring as you think. Write it. There is someone out there who will probably identify.

9. Why should people write?
People should write to change the world.

10. Writing is . . . (start each sentence with ‘writing is’)
Writing is political, evolving and imaginative. Writing is not the same all over the world. Writing is biased. Writing is risky business. Writing can transform people’s thoughts, ideas and lives.

11. I write because . . . (start each sentence with ‘I write because’)
I write because I have a story that must be heard.

12. What is the best thing about writing?
Knowing that your words no longer live only in your mind.

13. Why do you love writing?
I love writing because it allows me to be chaotic, emotional and daring — things that aren’t accepted as much in real life.

I wish Juni the best of luck with this book 🙂
I think it’ll be a great read and I’m eager to learn about what others have written.

A Postal Experiment

I have so much 4 1/2″ x 6 1/2″ coloured card stock so I decided to make some mini envelopes. I found that these teeny pockets were the perfect size for tea sachets. Don’t they jazz things up? My inspiration came from Shelley’s fantastic Teacup Card post. I realized that I had quite a few varieties of tea so made more mini envelopes to put them in!

The envelopes can be used for notes or small extras, too!
I think I’ll save them for some outgoing mail.

Now here is my “postal experiment”. I call this an experiment because I’m not sure if the goods will arrive at their destinations. I decided to put the envelope and tea packet into cellophane packaging, sealed it and added a stamp. When I showed my mom she said “Are you sure that’ll make it in the post? Don’t they put each letter through some kind of machine?”
This worried me.

My hope is to send some unique snail mail to friends overseas and surprise them.
Fingers crossed! I hope they receive these little packs and will be able to sip some delicious tea from afar.  

Incoming, Outgoing and Samples

I love samples, chocolate and vintage stamps and this incoming bunch was filled with just that!

Top left: A super sweet sample pack from Germany. Included: almond blossom salt and oil bath, Bio-acai cream and shower gel, organicum shampoo, a biomaris therapy mask (plus shampoo and intensive cream) and Speick natural shower gel.

Top right: A postcard from Margie (USA) and one from Germany that says “Chocolate doesn’t ask silly questions, chocolate understands”. Ironically, I have just started a cleanse diet. Ha!

Bottom right: From Sarah. This lady always sends incredible mail! I couldn’t believe that she made this stationery herself using vintage stamps. I also really loved the pretty envelope and postcards. My goodness! Definitely one of my faves! Thank you!

Bottom left: Outgoing mail to Sarah, Sher, Michelle and David (USA) and Elle (Singapore).
Sending or receiving… I’m not sure which I love more!

Incoming Mail from Elle

My oh my! What a wonderful surprise!   

I received this amazing package from Elle.
Enclosed was a book filled with notecards, kind words and a very fun fortune cookie.

     

I really loved/needed these inspirational sayings.

Thank you 🙂 I loved this package!

Make a Teacup Birthday Card!

Check out this great snail mail idea 🙂 I love it and can’t wait to try!

Shelley Makes

June marks the birthdays of two of my bestest buds, so it’s card-making season! For my friend Tal, who is a tea fiend, I decided to make a tea-cup birthday card, inspired by this DIY on Spoonful.

You will need:

• A4 card
• Patterned paper / wrapping paper of your choice
• Scissors / craft knife
• Twinings tea envelope
• String (I used some from an actual tea-bag)
• Staple (just one!)

Instructions:

Start by folding a piece of card in half, and drawing a tea cup shape on the card, making sure that the handle is at the fold. Cut out the cup shape, but make sure that you leave the fold at the handle uncut, so you have a hinge. If you’re uncomfortable free-handing the cup shape, here’s a template.

If you want a pattern on the cup, glue the open card to some coloured gift wrap and cut around the…

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