^ (via swissmiss)

A week or two ago I entered one of Just Something I Made's giveaways and won one of Cathe's handmade faux engraved rings. It arrived today in a cute little box. Of course, I'm going to wear it whenever I blog;




In other news, I am so so sick of this heat! It's 30°C/ 86°F before 11am :( Tasmania is starting to sound too good.

Two other lovely mail items arrived today;



^ I almost had my first mail related injury trying to pry off the staples from this one :P Lauren has started up a new mail blog called Post With The Most/Letters She Wrote if you'd like to check it out.



^ A lovely letter from Carrie. The letter was written on the backs of fliers and cut up paper, I loved it.

I'm currently coveting this pretty little necklace from CuteAbility;

I wrote 5 letters today without meaning to. My hands and eyes are sore, worth it, of course. I've been experimenting with making envelopes out of different textures and papers lately. Here are a few;




^ This envelope is made from handmade Indian cotton waste paper. The paper has a really cool texture to it as each white dot is risen. In the bottom photo you should be able to see this better. I had to stitch the labels on as they weren't sticky enough to hold onto the paper.

The next two envelopes are made from thick tracing paper from the newsagents, with labels and paper stuck on top. I'm not sure how these are going to fare through the post, or if post marks will stick to the waxed paper, but we'll see. I love the fact that you can see what's inside it before you open it;




^ Headed to one of the girls behind Rolismail.




^ Sent to Tejal of All My Hues.

I owe about 5 emails to different people. I think there must be something wrong with me - writing a letter feels effortless, but writing an email feels laborious :\

^ Playing cards, handpainted on newspaper in a Soviet prison (via smut to-go)

Over the last few days I have:
◆ Lugged the mini wheelie bin I mentioned last post through the streets of Newcastle to my mum's work.
◆ Sat around late drinking lolly water at C's brother's house.
◆ Baked two batches of choc-chip mint cookies.
◆ Attended a delightful house warming party at Susy's, ate vegan pie, drank punch, met lovely people.
◆ Dog-sat a friend of C's precious little puppies at her house.
◆ Visited my brother and his wife and beautiful little Rose (That smell on the top of a baby's head is amazing).
◆ Bought an external hard drive for my computer.
◆ Watched the Newcastle Jets vs Melbourne Glory (soccer) at the stadium. Sat near a group of loud, beer-guzzling bogans who often yelled insults at our own team. Cheered loudly and got a lobster-grade sunburn, though it was worth it for the win.
◆ Watched C clean up our very messy yard.


^ my dirty feet at the soccer.




^ the game.


^ me and the bin on the bus + on the street.


^ the mysterious silhouette of C.


^ Mesca asleep with her head in her hands on top of C's computer.


^ C with the almost vegan cheesecake he just made. Such a good house wench. Today he did the manly task of cleaning up the yard, then came back inside and baked! :D

Mail!

Received:

^ from Laila in Norway.

Sent:

^ my favourite metallic envelopes.


^ This is actually an envelope from a bank. I really liked the pattern inside the envelope so I turned it inside out and stuck it back together. It still has the see-through plastic panel so you can see the letter inside.


^ This postcard came with a bundle of stuff from Chandlerguera and now I'm sending it off to Norway.


^ To the lovely lady behind Time After Tea, envelope made from photocopied foreign newspaper.


^ & new lipstick :P

^ visual think map (via mry pwrs)

Listening to: Oregon Girl - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.
Drinking: Fuze.

I went to visit Susy at Bird In The Hand zine distro today and she very kindly donated me a whole bunch of stamps (I've used quite a few already). She received her brand new pair of roller derby skates while I was there and they were aaamazing; white with bright pink wheels. If I can think of a plan to afford it, I think Roller Derby sounds grand. I picked up a bunch of zines and I went to visit my ma at her work and she bought me delicious lunch. My mum said she hated the 'a hamburger stops a beating heart' sticker. Tomorrow I have to go buy her a mini wheelie bin from Office Works and wheel it through the city to her work, ha.



Zines:
☂ Adventure time by Maddy Phelan
☂ Diayr II by Jenii
☂ July 25 by Amanda
☂ Feels Like Friday by Ivana Stab

Two items received from Lauren today (who is about to launch her own mail blog very soon);

^ The envelope features some great old stamps.


^ I love the stamps on this one too, and the mail man label!


^ Contents of the above envelope. Two postcards, some stickers, a letter and a great letter-themed card.

Bits:
☂ Amazing paper-cut artworks by Peter Callesen;



☂ I love this concept, by Simon Evans;


☂ A great article about handwriting.
☂ Milkcrate Digest blog - a blog dedicated entirely to milk crates (via Susy).
☂ 10 ways to infuse your work with your personality by Keri Smith, an old post, but a good one.

I still keep doing a double take whenever I see the date with '2010' at the end.

Ideas for tattoos I'd like to get (but probably never will);
☂ The world-travelling garden gnome from Amelie.
☂ A polaroid.
☂ The ampersand (&) from the cover of the book 'Figs & Phantoms'
☂ The alphabet around my ankle
☂ An umbrella
☂ A leaf
☂ A semi colon
☂ The planets in order of distance from sun and to scale.

Also, I'm not much of a Woody Allen fan, but I did like this quote I found;

“In my next life I want to live my life backwards. You start out dead and get that out of the way. Then you wake up in an old people’s home feeling better every day. You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect your pension, and then when you start work, you get a gold watch and a party on your first day. You work for 40 years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You party, drink alcohol, and are generally promiscuous, then you are ready for high school. You then go to primary school, you become a kid, you play. You have no responsibilities, you become a baby until you are born. And then you spend your last 9 months floating in luxurious spa-like conditions with central heating and room service on tap, larger quarters every day and then Voila! You finish off as an orgasm!”