The Handwritten Letter

In September, I received an email from a friend who I had not heard from in quite some time. I was excited to see her name pop up in my inbox. Little did I know that the email from her was asking for my current address because she had something she wanted to send me. 

I remember it was a late night that I decided to check my box. I hadn't been in a few days as September  was a busy month. I wasn't expecting anything that I could think of but when I opened up my box I found a key, and letters from sweet friends far away. Seeing this beautifully decorated envelope I was already amazed at what dear friends I have. Just knowing that my friend , Hannah thought to send a package to me, when we hadn't talked in probably a year, made me smile. It just made my night. Thank you Hannah so much! I truly appreciate it and it warms my heart that you thought of me. 

Here are just a few of the many pages inside. I hope you have a lovely Sunday afternoon!

Much love and many blessings,
Hannah Girl

Ipsy

Months ago I started watching beauty videos on youtube in my spare time. I kept hearing about a company called Ipsy but didn't know much about it until I talked to a friend. Many beauty "youtubers" are subscribed to Ipsy, and I watched their videos but still had questions. For those of you who don't know what Ipsy is, it's a monthly makeup subscription website . Every month they'll send you 4 to 5 beauty products along with a makeup bag. Some products will be trial size and others will be the full product. When I first heard this, I wasn't too sure if it would be worth it, but I decided to give it a go, and am so happy I did.

Each month you pay $10 and it arrives in a pink padded envelope..totally me. ;) My first bag arrived in April and I was so excited to find it waiting in the mailbox. I wasn't too impressed with the products inside but had heard Ipsy will have a few really good months and then one month the products will be okay. Some people will like the products one month because it's more "them" and other people will like products the next month that maybe the others won't like. But for $10 you get to try products you might not be familiar with.

The makeup bag ~ I really like this one. 

                                 Every month you receive a postcard with the "theme" for that month.

                                 On the back it shows all the brands that were taking

                                 part during the month. Shown below is the back of October's. 

                            

Zoya nail polish. I've heard this brand is a nice one.

I'm looking forward to trying it out. 

Healthy Sexy Hair blow dry volumizing gel. This is a great

brand. I'm looking forward to using it. :)

Nourish Organic Coconut & Argan body lotion.

One thing I find really neat is they have a lot of organic

products. When you first sign up you take a

quiz, and one thing you can click on is to get organic

products, and I clicked it and have received some

nice products I wasn't familiar with. 

If you would like to learn more about Ipsy, or subscribe, please click here. :)

Vlogging Sweet Surprises In The Mail

Hello readers,
Today I am bringing something new to my blog, vlogging! I've wanted to share a video for a while now, but didn't know what type I should make. Instead of sharing lots of pictures I decided to make a video and show all that I got. I hope you enjoy, and you can finally hear what I sound like. :) Please excuse the beginning where I repeat myself. I tend to do that when making videos. :p

I hope you have a beautiful Friday filled with many blessings and mail happies. :)

October Pinterest Loves

Pinterest is a place full of inspiration, I always leave the page feeling inspired and ready to begin a project. I have become quite the "pinner" and must say it's hard clicking the page off. Something I thought would be fun to do is once a month show favorite snail mail pins. Although I haven't really done this much mail art, I still love taking ideas and making them my own. I want to challenge myself using different techniques and diving into all the mail art goodness. A few hopes and goals to start making envelopes again, and adding different ephemera to letters, as well as making every letter worth mailing. Here are some of my favorite ideas as of late. :)

I hope these pictures leave you inspired and ready to create something lovely. If you haven't written a letter in a while, I encourage you to go and brighten someone's mailbox. You never know how much it can make that person's day. <3

Letter Writing Questionnaire With Claudia

Sorry this is a few days late. I forgot to schedule it and was out of town for my brother's wedding. Hope you enjoy. :)

1. Please tell us about yourself, How old are you? What made you want to start writing?

My name is Claudia, and I'm a 21 year old-girl from Barcelona (Spain), currently living in Seoul (South Korea). I've always loved writing, back when I was young I love writing short stories and drawing, I was a very imaginative kid. I started having penpals on Internet when I was 14, and some of them were into snail mail already. A friend suggested me to try it out, since it was a different way to keep in touch with each other, and I said... Why not?

2. When did you start writing letters?

As I said I started when I was 14/15, but I quitted a year after because it came a point when my two penpals stopped replying. They kept giving me excuses saying they were busy with exams and everything but they didn't reply to my letters. It's strange because they also sent me stationery and cute stickers but yeah... I guess we ended up losing contact :\ And it wasn't a priority for me so I didn't mind quitting either. Luckily I re-took it when I was 19: That's when I started collecting postcards, and some of the people who wanted to swap with me suggested to switch to snail mail. And well, here I am! :)

3. Have you met any of your pen pals?

I have met Internet penpals in real life but not snail mail penpals. The only snail mail penpal I met face by face it's Anna, my boyfriend's best friend who became my letter penpal after I met her, haha!

4. How many people do you write?..How many different states..Any out of the country?

Currently I have 18 penpals. I have from 5 different states in the US (Idaho, Florida, New Mexico, Maryland, DC), and also others from Thailand, Canada, The Netherlands, Australia, China, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Russia, Finland and the UK.

5. What is your favorite thing about writing letters?

I like both writing and receiving letters, so I couldn't say. But that feeling of either receiving or writing something special to someone, something unique for that person and full with personal and rather intimate thoughts, something that only that person will probably read...! I find it one of the best feelings you can feel :) Snail mail is definitely a different kind of friendship, might not be physical most of the times but more private and even more fulfilling sometimes!

6. Favorite place to buy stationery?

I currently live in South Korea, so I can find cheap and kawaii (cute) stationery everywhere I go! :) I don't have a favorite place to buy my stationery in, whenever I find a good store I just buy some goodies! I consider myself very lucky, because there aren't many back home...! But I need to be careful haha, my budget isn't infinite!

7. How do you store your stationery?

I just moved so I still haven't received any letters >_< I was considering buying a small vintage box for it, but I still haven't seen any I like. Back home I have a big haul where I store all the letters I've gotten after all these years. I'm also into Postcrossing, so I use normal photo albums to put my postcards in, and I decorate them with washi tape. 

8. Where do you keep the letters you receive?

Answered in number 7! :)

9. Favorite letter writing blogs if you have them?

In English: Corey's blog from Singapore, my penpal and definitely one of the most creative snail mailers I have ever met! -> http://quaintlittlevillages.blogspot.com

In Spanish: Yina's blog from Dominican Republic! We've been in touch for a long time now and she's a lovely girl to talk to! If you don't understand Spanish you should check her blog anyway! -> http://postingmylife.blogspot.com

10. In closing, What is something you'd like to share with us that you haven't mentioned yet?

Hm well I don't really know haha! Thanks for the chance of participating in your writing letter questionnaire! If you guys want to know more about myself, don't hesitate to check my blog -->> http://cloudydaysandletters.blogspot.kr/ I'm not currently looking for new penpals, but I'd like to get to know more bloggers who are into penpalling and sharing different opinions and experiences! So yeah, don't hesitate and contact me :)

Thank you so much, Claudia for sending in your answers. It was so neat to hear from someone outside of the states and so far away. :)

If you would like to be featured on here, I'd love to share your answers with everyone. Please go here for more info

My Little Box Of Inspiration

 I have a box filled with journaling paper products, gathered together from far-away friends letters. Pretties just waiting to used and created with-. I'm a journaler, always inspired, and always ready with new ideas. <3 Where do you keep ephemera?

sealing a letter

 a collection of wax and seals kept in a paris box. part of me is old-fashioned at heart and a little seal adds the perfect old-fashioned touch. most of these were given to me on my 15th birthday and i've loved using them since. <3

Letter Writing Questionnaire with Hannah

1. Please tell us about yourself, How old are you?  What made you want to start writing?  

My name is Hannah and I am sixteen.  I'm a Christian, and my hobbies include reading, writing, horseback riding, talking and hanging out with my friends, blogging, and writing letters to my pen pals, though I don't write them near as often as I should. :D 

2. When did you start writing?

Hmm... I'm pretty sure that it was in the beginning of 2012 that I started writing to my first pen pal, Isabelle. I had written letters before that, but not very many. Isabelle and I don't write anymore, but because of how much fun I had writing her, I wanted to get some more pen pals, so I did! :D I love my pen pals! 

3. Have you met any of your pen pals? 

Actually, yes. :) One of my old pen pals, MaryCatherine, actually lives only about thirty minutes away from me, so she invited me and some of her other friends over to her house in September of last year! :) That was a lot of fun! 

4. How many people do you write?.. How many different states? Any out of the country? 

Hmm... right now I think I write four people, all in different states. :) And unfortunately, I don't write to any people out of the country. That would be really cool though! :) 

5. What is your favorite thing about writing letters? 

I love getting to know people that live in different places all across the country. I always love hearing about their lives. :) 

6. Favorite place to buy stationery?

Hmm... I actually haven't bought any stationary in a long time. :D Maybe Home Goods... I'm not really sure actually. :D

7. How do you store your stationery? 

I keep it in my desk drawer. :) 

8. Where do you keep the letters you receive?

I have a binder that I keep all my letters and cards in. It's fun to look through them, and remember things that people have said in their past letters! :) 

9. Favorite letter writing blogs if you have them? 

Yours and Sarah's. :) 

10. In closing, what is something that you'd like to share with us that you haven't mentioned yet? 

Hmm... oh! I'm homeschooled, and a junior this year. :) I love being homeschooled! 

Thank you so much, Hannah for sharing with us  and taking the time to send in your answers. I enjoyed reading them. :) You're such a sweet friend and I'm so blessed to know you. <3 

If you would like to be featured on here, I'd love to share your answers with everyone. Please go here for more info

Stamp Keeping

I have a collection of different stamps, gathered together over time, that I use when I send mail. I have forever stamps along with all different prices. Some found in old boxes while going through our storage room and others I've had for quite some time. All of the stamps I have aren't in here at the moment but this is where I keep most of them. :) Where do you store stamps?