Today's Outgoing (August 18, 2014)

Sending out to Nikki In England and Jessica in GA!

I love the ridiculous contrast of stamps on Nikki's letter. "ALOHA, Draco and Bellatrix!"

Fortunately I am just about out of postage, and new stamps are on the way. I even got some special ones that are worth more than 49 cents, so should have new pictures and more accurate postage soon!

The Most Fun Letter You'll Ever Get (AKA: sending collage letters)

Everyone loves to find their mailbox occupied by something other than bills. Discovering a snail mailed letter is a highlight in itself, but that feeling is greatly magnified when the sender put a little time into creating a unique or colorful envelope that stands out.
But why should it stop there? Why waste all that anticipation generated by your zesty envelope only to  tear it open and realize there's just a boring, white, visually blank sheet of paper inside? Hopefully the words make it colorful and interesting in their own way, but maybe we can do something more to make it come alive.

Not long ago I stumbled upon a great way to summarize or condense a whole bunch of information by jotting down a trail of ideas in little clumps. (I'll also say that if you're like me and have a tendency to get behind in your correspondence, this is a great way to cover the main points without falling behind another week as you try to just get it all down on paper).

Now, what does that have to do with that eye candy we were talking about? Easy! Add some simple illustrations or diagrams to go along with each of your main points, and then you have one of these babies!

I call it a collage letter.

Here's an example. I whipped this up to send to my new (and first overseas! *squee!*) pen pal Nikki in England. This is our very first letter so it's focused on introducing myself instead of sharing news, but you can't deny it knocks the socks off the usual drab, same-20-questions introduction. (And before you decide I'm a complete narcissist, be aware page 2 contains all my questions for her!)

What do you think?

Today's Outgoing (August 13, 2014)

Headed out to Ariel in Massachusetts and Jessica in Georgia!

Elmo

Elmo and Ginny Weasley... Not the ideal combination, but it did get delivered! 

I wish there were more variety in stamps. This one's not too bad, but I dread the day when I have some sweet schmancy antique design to mail and I only have Disney and Pixar stamps left. I don't know why I cant bring myself to buy flag stamps for this very reason. It seems like every time I buy postage the flag stamps just seem to scream their lameness at me and I walk out with the more goofy fun ones.

Princess Anna

I also did this one at work, and it turned out much better than the Snail Love envelope. However, it unfortunately opens upside down.

Olaf

Who wouldn't want a happy Olaf letter?

Snail Love

Did this in my down time at work, thus the shaky speech bubble. I'd recommend a ruler!