Wednesday 1 February 2012

letter day!

I have always loved writing letters - real letters, I mean, that you can hold in your hand. As a child I lived briefly in Arizona and remember even then, aged 5, writing to friends at home in the UK, and how much their letters meant to me. This was before email, before Skype, before Facebook. It was a lot harder to stay in touch with people. But somehow that made the contact even more special.
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My friend Ashlie and I have decided to write to each other on the first day of each month, sending our letters across the ocean. So that makes today letter day! Ashlie wrote a lovely post all about the pleasures of real letters. Today I thought I'd share some fun letter-related things, starting with the 'mysterious letters' project by artists Lenka and Michael:

I love the idea of a whole village waking up to find mysterious handwritten letters addressed to them personally. Doesn't that make you just want to write to strangers? I love the one about the giraffes, and the one that just said, "I am amazing": as the recipient wonders, who is the "I" in that letter?
I am addicted to buying notelets and stationery (as you saw in this post). However there is something wonderful about homemade stationery, like these envelopes made from old magazine pages (find the tutorial on the Craftinomicon blog here).
Or why not stitch re-usable envelopes from felt, like these (by small adventure, featured on the Twig & Thistle blog here)? Admittedly these aren't necessarily designed to travel across the ocean but I think they could be adapted to work as real envelopes.
Come to think of it, why not embroider your letter onto fabric for something even more tactile and unusual? (This example also comes courtesy of Twig & Thistle).
Using vintage stationery can also make your letters special and unique. I love the bright pink and green on this 'velvet petals' set from Jenny & Penny. And if you can't resist buying new, don't forget all the pretty handmade and original things to be found on Etsy...
Look, pretty bunting! I'd love to write letters on this set by Ninainvorm. I have been so lucky to have won some lovely postcards in various giveaways, such as these cute kitties by Beth from Doodlecats:
I love the way the cats are all wearing little disguises. My favourite design was the nerdy bookworm cat but I've sent those already! And check out these beautiful heart cards I won by Deer Little Fawn.
Perfect for Valentines Day, n'est-ce-pas? If you have a talent for photography and some image editing software, you could make some of your own! And finally...
This lovely Neil Young song would make a great soundtrack for letter-writing - just make sure that "one of these days" is today!

p.s. Polly from The Enchanted Pixie is on the look out for pen pals!

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