^ These envelopes were made by making paper dyed with achiote, then pressing in leaves and allowing it to dry in the sun. Amazing, by Mleak.

Oh boy, it was another grandiose mail day. I should probably be replying to mail and not just awing at the things I receive;

I mentioned a post or two ago that I participated in the Knick Knack Exchange. A lack of funds prevented me from going all out for my partner sadly, and I never anticipated I would receive a such an incredible package myself. It was delivered by parcel post and left at our front door and C brought it to me while I was still in bed, it is a good place to open mail;


^ Four inconspicuous little brown paper packages all tied up with twine.




It contained: A lovely card made by a friend of hers, a big pack of die-cut cardstock, a 'tag pad', a sticker pad full of beautiful stickers that look just like stamps, a Burt's Bees lipgloss pack, a gorgeous box, a pack of cute alphabet cards, a huge bunny shaped box of Ferrero Rochers and a cute little Peanut Butter Cup egg. Oh boy, each little package I opened got better and better! Is it weird to say I almost cry sometimes when I open my mail? Ahah.

Sandra, my wonderful partner who blogs at Don't You Wish even did a post about how ridiculous the postage for the box was! So hefty! She said it was her first time sending an item out of the US. I am so very very grateful - I keep going through each item over and over. It's absolutely perfect. I plan to send something back her way to say a huge thank you for her beautiful generosity. Uhhmazing...

The postman stopped out front just after I opened the pacakge and I went out to collect the mail and he talked to me for a bit and asked me about mail art, haha. It was sweet;


^ Aska also said to mention that she really wants to send LOADS more postcards and would love more people to send them to - if you'd like a pretty handmade postcard, send your address to aska.doll[at]gmail.com and join her Facebook group - MAIL ART PROJECT.



^ Two gorgeous envelopes filled with great letters from Lauren.


^ Fantastic handmade envelope from Carla. The mailman asked me if the girl on the front was me, ahah.

Loading my blog makes C's computer not work properly, haha :D I am sorry about the over abundance of pictures, but really it's kind of your fault for sending me so much awesome mail, heh.

^ I have no idea where this came from originally, but it made me giggle.

♡ Create a tiny terrarium in a light bulb;


♡ Clever and creative tea packaging;


♡ I'll have any of these Etsy cursive typewriters please!;


♡ A collection of Polaroids with the theme 'Before I die I want to...';


♡ C sent me this link and it's basically crazy mail box heaven; 17 Unusual and Creative Mailboxes;


♡ Amazing floppy disc paintings by Nick Gentry;


♡ Definatalie did some pretty doodling on the pages of her copy of this months Frankie mag;


♡ Some gorgeous free desktop images here. I have this one on my desktop currently;


♡ I just really liked this Flickr photo;


♡ I find this stump ring by Digby and Iona kind of ugly and totally gorgeous at the same time. I told C I'd give it to him when I propose ;) Lawl;


♡ I like this scarf a whole lot by Cooler;


♡ This shower curtain reminded me of Andy and his Real Wall, I'm sure he'd love to take it in the shower with him. It's got vinyl pockets so you can put things in it and they won't get wet - from Urban Outfitters (If you go to their website you might need to click on Australia at the bottom of the page to see it). I'm pretty sure I'm going to get this when I can afford to;


♡ Lastly, a very cute, creative video;

Rethink Scholarship at Langara 2010 Call for Entries from Rory O'Sullivan and Simon Bruyn on Vimeo.

^ My hair is not black, I have no idea why it looks black.

Well folks, today ranked pretty highly in the good mail day stakes; nine items in one day. Thank you so much if you've sent me a letter recently (or ever). It is truly wonderful and rewarding to be a part of this blogging-mailing community. C ran out to get the mail this morning and Mr Postman said "So what's with all the colourful stuff?", to which C went on to quickly explain my mail obsession to him. I really got too many things today to share all in one blog, so I might post them over a couple of days (assuming that I don't get another 9 tomorrow). The mail haul coincided wonderfully with my getting a Pro Flickr account. I've been desperate for one for years, but never really had the change to spare, so after getting paid for a gig last week I thought that regardless of the fact that I'll spend the majority of it on food and bills, I'd lash out and get a yearly account. I certainly recommend it. You're welcome to visit it - I'll be updating it more frequently now with various things, some of which I won't post on the blog;


^ Two packages, two postcards and five letters.

❶ The first item came from a blogger that I really like named Elissa who writes with great humour at Cerebral Excrement. I am especially fond of her haikus. Looking over the contents of this package was exciting. I'm probably going to go crazy with the photos as I want to include every little detail!;

^ Cute huh? I love the Anne Taintor cards (who she spotted that I liked from my Amazon wishlist). The package included several types of gorgeous Japanese stationery as well as some 'vintage' sheets from her own collection (Minnie Mouse, Barbie) and two sheets of Small Object stickers. AND, the whole package smelled awesome! I find scented mail quite fascinating. My cat was sitting on the table next to me as I opened the package and the smell seemed to calm her down :P An overwhelmingly wonderful package.

❷ The second great package comes from a wonderful correspondent, Garci. She made the envelope from a record cover. They make very sturdy envelopes! ♡ Cinderella;
^ As you can see, it was actually opened by Australian quarantine under suspicion that it may have contained something heinous. It didn't, but they did include these handy pamphlets;



The paper she used to write the letter on made me laugh out loud. So good :D A placemat from 'Dirty Dick's Crab House'. She also gave a funny recount of visiting the place;

^ The contents of Garci's package; lots of wonderful Valentines themed items and a little package of red ephemera.

❸

^ A beauteous letter from Belen in a pretty handmade scrapbook paper envelope. I had to include the little chocolate she included with her 'Review of a chocolate bar eaten recently in 50 words or less'. I ate if before breakfast :P Very tasty. Can't wait to reply :) I already have an envelope made up.

Eh, to heck with it, I'm going to post all of the mail I received today *cackles as she steals all of your bandwidth* Ehehe...

❹

^ A delightful unexpected package from Jennie (aka one half of Good Mail Day). It included a great little pouch of ephemera she gleaned from her collection (it was my day for ephemera), a little letter and a zine about my favourite kind of art, mail art.

❺ I also received three different items from Lauren;

^ Postcards, stickers, teeny tiny envelopes and iTunes card and some paper in a wonderful handmade calendar envelope.

❻+❼

^ They're both wonderful in their own ways and I agree with the hooked arm man.

❽ And something from a Finnish friend, Sirpa - another of her wonderful envelopes;


Last but not least was a lovely little Valentine from Aaron, whose just started up a great blog about food and mail;


Besides taking about two hours to open and read all of this lovely mail and taking a hundred photos of it, I also purchased a rather nice Olympus De Luxe typewriter on Ebay today. Some of the typewriters on there are in perfect condition and sell for $5 - $20 making them pretty irresistible. The one I bid on didn't offer postage, so I am catching the train to Sydney (3 hours away - two trains and a bus!) and navigating my way to Concord to pick it up! I'll report back with it's loveliness. I assume a new ribbon for it will be in order and they seem to be in abundance on Ebay for a couple of coins. I am sorry if I overwhelmed you with pictures of mail. It was overwhelming to receive them!

^ sleep sleeper (via)

Incoming:

^ A beautiful handmade envelope from Debbie made from a poster.


^ A great little letter from Rebecca in the UK. The tea card is one of my favourite things I've received in a letter ever. She also included some cute word magnets.


^ Eee, I love typewritten letters! A fantastic package from Jennifer, who has in fact launched a new blog and is hosting a pretty little giveaway you should take a look at.

Outgoing:

^ I decided to spend my last $20 for the fortnight on international stamps :P




^ This one's got a print out of a photo booth picture of me and my friend Laura from my birthday last year on the back.

I finally got around to sending my Knick Knack Exchange package to my partner. I put it off because I'm poor and couldn't afford to pick up any fun stuff, so I ended up just grabbing bits and pieces out of my desk and filled up an envelope;


^ + some handmade envelopes.


^ Frankie and hot chocolate in my favourite op-shop find mug.

Frankie is the only magazine I buy regularly and although sometimes it's a bit hit or miss, it's generally a really good read. I picked up the second issue in a newsagents when I was about sixteen and have bought every copy since. It comes out once every two months so it means that it's not too much of a big deal for fork out $9 for it. I highly recommend it. In the latest issue there is a rather delightful article about a friend of mine called Susy Pow, who owns a zine shop in Newcastle (that I mention pretty often on this blog) called Bird In The Hand. Here she is (click to make it bigger);




There was also this DIY article about what to do with old jars that I really liked that I wanted to share. I'm going to try some out;



Today while Manneh and C battled each other on the Xbox I made a bunch of envelopes out of old Buffy comics C let me have (I know, I'm amazed he let me cut them up, he loves Buffy);


Here's some I made out of other magazines;

^ My favourite is the bottom left hand corner envelope or the 'Attack of the 50ft Woman' one.

I've seen a couple of my favourite bloggers (+) post pictures of two of their favourite items in or parts of their house lately in response to BacWoods Fern's post and I thought I'd contribute mine;



^ This is my pop art phone. No, sadly it's not functional, but I don't think it would take much to fix if I did want to use it practically and not just as an ornament. I made it for an art project when I was fourteen. It was originally a murky green colour and I found it in the basement of an old boyfriend's house. It's collaged with photocopied Pop Art images, stamps, magazine cut-outs, paint, nail polish and other miscellanea and then varnished. Next to it is a before-and-after type photo of C's cat when she was a kitten and now, and a letter 'B' I got from Spotlight and painted years ago.


^ Not an awesome picture of it, but this is a handmade appliquéd cushion my Nana made me for a Christmas one year. There are a few other things around my house that she has made me, but this is probably my favourite. The little blonde-haired mermaid is supposed to be me (who would've thought I was naturally blonde) but her shell bikini has fallen off so she's kind of topless. Under the seaaaaa...

I'll see if I can do this once a week (or every two weeks maybe). Join in, I'd love to see your favourite parts of where you live.

And lastly, I'm a day late, but here is my weekly Fill In The Blank Friday;

1. If I could medal in an olympic event it would be the snowboarding is pretty epic .

2. If I was stranded on a deserted island I'd take C a bunch of food & a guitar .

3. Tornadoes are my most irrational fear. (They invade my dreams)

4. I'd rather be poor everyday, than work a job I hate everyday.

5. I am excited about going back to university. I've been feeling nervous, but I reread my subject descriptions and they really sound awesome .

6. I should really be blogging? That's all on my agenda for this afternoon .

7. One of my favorite things in all the world is good company .

Also, Scott McCloud posted this entry about how to avoid hand strain when drawing, but I thought it applied well to letter writing as I know after writing a letter or so in a row I feel like I've crippled my hand. Good tips.

Listening to: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Gil Scott-Heron
Consuming: An overripe banana.
About to: go watch the Jets game at the pub.