I spent several hours last night putting together my pages for the mail themed Travelling Journal. When I went to buy the journal I wandered around in Borders for about an hour going backward and forward between three different journals I came across. I found a travel diary that had a cover with stamps and postmarks all over it, which I thought was perfect and appropriate, but the pages were lined and it was really thick and heavy. I also tossed up between buying a two-pack of bright green Moleskines but decided $25 was too much and so I ended up buying this gorgeous little understated, craft paper paged book by Paperchase for $10. I'm sending it out tomorrow to the Phillippines to its next recipient. I'm sad to have it leave my hands, but I'm sure each person along the way will add something amazing to it. Here are some of my pages. My scanner hates life, so I apologise for the quality. If you'd like to see larger, more detailed versions go to my mail art Flickr :);


^The front and back covers.


^ The inner cover and the first page, the envelope (which is actually silver doesn't look smudged like that in real life) contains the 'rules' of the journal.


^ My first two mail collage pages.


^ My second two mail collage pages, the first contains a list of some facts about mail, if you can't read my tiny little writing go here for the larger image.

C is making me a mail-themed mix cd to pop in the back sleeve of the journal. I'll post the tracklisting here later to show you. There are so many songs written about mail and letters and things, it was hard to make a shortlist.

Of course, if you're interested there are two still spaces to join up, so you're very welcome to join, and If those spaces fill up you're welcome to email me and I'll open another space for you.

♡ I couldn't help myself but post this here. MmmVelopes; Bacon flavoured envelopes... who would've thought... I'm a vegetarian, though they do have a kosher verification (via Incredible Things);


♡ There are still two days left to sign up to Missive Maven's cat postcard swap. I've been saving some cat postcards especially for the occasion.

♡ I think this stamp is pretty sweet and the note cards are dreamy. Both from Hygge & West Holiday;


I've smothered my desk entirely with bits and pieces for the journal and I should probably spend the rest of my night cleaning it all up! :(

Also, I think you should definitely go to Sylvia's blog and tell her how lovely her new glasses look!

^ Contrary Mary.

To anyone from the UK I imagine you might be familiar with Harriet Russell. I've only just come across her, and as I can gather she basically sent a whole lot of envelopes and postcards through the Royal Mail with the addresses of these missives written in ways that the postal workers would have to decipher, of course not all of them reached their destinations. She also released a book full of these postcards. Here are some of my favourites;




Today C and I are going out to the mall for a browse. I'm going to Borders to see if I can find an appropriate journal for the travelling journal, C is probably going to come home with a handful of things from JB Hi-Fi.

I also wanted to point out how to sign up to the travelling journal mentioned yesterday, as I've had a few emails of people asking me how -
- Go to the journal page (link)
- You'll need to become a member if you haven't already
- On the right hand side of my journal page there is a link that says 'Get In Line'
- Then you just need to email me your postal address to teacup_teacup[at]hotmail.com and you're in! Yay!

I am quite in love with the wares of the Etsy store Chupchik. Look at these;



And I'd really like to get my hands on the Wonderful World of Fashion colouring book by Nina Chakrabarti;



Also in my want want wanting I am very smitten by these satchels by Cambridge Satchel, I think the purple is the one for me. I'm pretty sure the UK price equates to about an AU $115, so I can only dream about it for the moment;

^ BY ANNA RUSAKOVA.

I have been quite fascinated by the 1001 Journals Project lately. I have joined up to receive a few of these travelling journals and thought it would be fun to start one up with a 'mail' theme and see if you'd like to play :) Basically you fill in one two-page spread with anything you like within the theme of 'mail'. I've given it an open sign up list and up to 11 people can join at the moment, though I can increase the number if more people are interested. I'd love it if you'd like to participate :) Of course, by signing up you commit to filling in your two pages when the journal comes to you and sending it on to the next participant when you're finished. Postage shouldn't be enormous as the book isn't very heavy, though it will get slightly heavier as each person adds to it.

Within this theme you could choose to use some of the following: postage stamps, airmail stickers, envelopes, writing paper, drawings, rubber stamps, handwriting, typewriters, date stamps, stickers, old letters, etc.

Here is the link to the journal.
Eeeee! I'm quite excited :)

^ unknown >:(

Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve.
- ERICH FROMM

Isn't it sad to go to your grave without ever wondering why you were born? Who, with such a thought, would not spring from bed, eager to resume discovering the world and rejoicing to be part of it?
- RICHARD DAWKINS

As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.
- ALBERT SCHWEITZER

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately and it has been getting in the way of my doing anything lately. In all honesty I feel depressed, with great highs and lows, I have difficulty verbalising these feelings or doing anything aside from them and feel that it is inappropriate to display them in a public forum. I have decided I am just going to do things that make me feel good, and I'll keep doing those things until they don't. I suppose blogging is one of the things under consideration.

On a entirely different note... I just submitted a drawing of a giraffe to OneMillionGiraffes.com. This guy needs one million hand-drawn pictures of giraffes by 2011 so he can prove his friend wrong that collecting one million drawings of giraffes is impossible. Here is the drawing I did. I kind of screwed up the legs, so I decided he/she was an awkward ballet-dancing scarf-wearing giraffe instead ;




And here is the drawing I made C do;



I wholeheartedly encourage you to submit your own giraffe :)

Remember that site I was desperately trying to find last week? Well the lovely miss Robyn (which is also my middle name) from Robayre commented me and told me what it was! I am so so grateful and have spent the whole evening on the blog; The Scribble Project. Robyn if there is any way I can repay you let me know :)

The day before yesterday my sister and her friend Rokia came to stay and we went to the Hamilton markets and looked around for a while. I bought a letter "B" badge and um-ed and ah-ed over a red striped hugely ruffled shirt that I decided to get without trying on and which ended up being ridiculous looking and over the top. I'm deciding what to do with it at the moment and unhappily trying and retrying it on thinking I might eventually like the ridiculous ruffles.

Tonight I went for a trip to Dungog with my friends Manneh and Dan for a few hours. They had a footy game to play (all but two of their team is made up of soccer players who are learning how to play football in their soccer off-season) and I thought I'd go visit la famiglia. I got to (re)meet my little sister's boyfriend. He seems lovely and appears to endure a great deal of (good humoured) abuse and violence from my sister, though I can't say it is too much removed from the way that I lovingly treat C :P After their game the boys came to pick me up and we went to the 'top pub' and had non-alcoholic fire engines and later the power went out and there was green lightning and a whole lot of wind and we had to head home quickly before the hail hit. Driving over the hills home through the lightening was a pretty amazing show. Along the way home we stopped at a bridge where there were a lot of cars and lights and noise and the sad news that a seventeen year old boy had jumped off the bridge into the water, likely hit something on the descent and still hadn't been found. We had seen that same group of boys jumping off into the river when we drove past earlier. So sad.

I'm thinking of making the trip to Dungog with the boys every Monday afternoon when they go, hopefully without the ridiculous weather and sad accident along the way.

C wasn't expecting me home tonight as I had said I would stay at my parents, but decided to come home, and when I got in I started making myself a sandwich, then I heard him coming through the gate, so I left my sandwich on the kitchen bench and hid in the cupboard for him to open the back door. He saw the sandwich, looked puzzled and then I jumped out and scared him and he looked very frightened. I don't think I've ever scared him before, so it was very satisfying.

Here are some letters I'm sending out early this week. I feel like I'm forever behind in the letter writing stakes;