Last Day! Snail Mail my Email

Fact: I love paper.

I love sending paper. And I love, love, love receiving paper. Getting the mail is one of my top ten favorite things to do. So much that I actually dislike days that the mail doesn’t come.

Like Sundays. And who dislikes Sundays? It’s like disliking Christmas. Blasphemy, folks.

Back to paper.

Today is the last day of ‘Snail Mail my Email,’ which is pretty much one of the coolest things ever. And it’s free.

The idea? Send an email (100 words or less) to snailmailmyemail2@gmail.com, along with the recipient’s physical address.

They’ll handwrite your note, make it all artistic, and send it in the mail for you. You can even select custom options for the note, like doodles or perfume sprays or lipstick kisses.

(Although the idea of some stranger kissing a note with lipstick that is then sent to one of my friends is sort of…creepy. Not to mention the germ contamination…sad side effect of paper mail.)

Did I mention that it’s free?

How did this all start? The project was started in 2011, with the goal of rebuilding personal connections in our digital world — and more than 10,000 letters were illustrated and mailed to over 70 countries. You can see many of these in the Snail Mail book.

So get writing!

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Friday Find: Inkadinkado Stamping Gear

Yes, I did purchase something called an ‘inkadinkado.’ Shame rattle. Don’t judge, I used a coupon.

I’m going to put this in my hall of fame for best inexpensive craft purchase ever. Sure, I’ve got a Cricut, but who needs a fancy die cutter when I got this entire stamping system for a mere $8? Plus the cost of ink. Coupons folks, coupons.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE.

Inkadinkado Stamping Gear can only be described as “pretty sweet.” Even my brother in law, who generally scoffs at things like envelope liners and all things cakerypapery, said it was cool.

So what exactly is Inkadinkado Stamping Gear? It’s stamping made simple.

The starter kit has four stamp patterns, a stamp block, and a wheel. It was $14.99 at Jo-Ann Fabrics, but there’s always coupons (duh) so you can get it much cheaper.

The idea is, you stamp around the wheel, to make these crazy patterns. The wheel has every other notch marked, so it’s easy to make patterns.

You can stamp in every notch, or every other.

I used this to decorate the envelopes for my niece’s birthday party invites.

Not going to lie, I can’t wait until people receive them in the mail. The patterns made the envelopes super fancy-looking and really gave them something extra. If only they were pink and scented…

This was my first stamping project, and the Stamping Gear made it really easy. I’m excited to get some of the other stamps to try out, and a second stamp block, so I don’t have to switch out stamps to mix patterns. There’s also an oval and circle wheel, for making larger patterns.

Overall, I’m really happy with Stamping Gear. Most impulse purchases don’t turn out this well!

Monster Mash Notecards

He did the mash…the monster mash!

Brings back memories of my first grade tap dance recital and green dyed leotards with matching tights…

But these monsters are much cooler.

They have glitter. And bats. Cool.

I finally got back into using my Cricut after a long hiatus, and I remember why I love it so much. It’s fast, easy, and you can make really unique stuff.

The die cut for these is on the Cricut “Wild Card” cartridge (appropriate name, right?) and I sliced them with the Cricut set to 3.5 inches. The bats are from the same Cricut cartridge and are at 2.5 inches.

For the background, I used pre-cut cardstock from one of the mat stack books. It’s easier more efficient than cutting from scratch. These cards are from a 4.5 x 6.5 inch mat stack.

I’m also back into making envelope liners.

Envelope liners are an easy DIY. I sacrificed an envelope to make an initial stencil, which is slightly narrower and shorter than the actual envelope. For the liner, I recommend using lightweight paper, not cardstock, as its easier to crease and doesn’t require extra postage. Glue in and you are set.

While I highly doubt anyone notices envelope liners…I like to think they give the cards something extra.

Card + envelope liner.

Ready to do the monster mash yet?

Clearly, I’m just a bit excited for Halloween.

Oh, and I have to dress up at my work…so if anyone has office appropriate Halloween costume ideas, please send them my way!

Best. Thing. Ever. Kraft Paper Notecards.

I have a serious obsession with kraft paper. And yes, I know, I am seriously obsessed with many things…

But seriously. Kraft paper. It’s amazing.

And now I found it in pre-cut, pre-folded, with matching envelopes notecard form.

Pretty much my stationary just went to the next level. Because everything looks cooler on kraft paper.

Like these cards.

Front.

And inside.

Like I said. Everything is cooler on kraft paper.

So far I’ve only seen the kraft paper notecards at Michaels. Where you shouldn’t shop unless you have a coupon. But I’m sure you can find them at an online outlet or Amazon too. I just like the in-store experience of seeing aisles of paper…I seriously…love…paper.

Enjoy and happy krafting!

A’hoy Mate!

Yo ho, yo ho a pirate’s life for me…

But back to reality. My goddaughter came to visit a few weekends ago, and her mom mentioned that they are going to a pirate-themed party.

SAY NO MORE.

Not only is Pirates of the Carribean pretty much one of my favorite drinking games movies, I just so happened to have this sweet pirate ship shape for my Cricut.

(Okay, so yes, technically you could say it was just a regular ship like the Nina, Pinta, or Santa Maria…but I like to think it’s the Black Pearl.)

(And if you don’t mentally read “the Black Pearl” in a pirate voice…something is wrong with you.)

Use the outsides of the Cricut cutout for the stencil, and then use the Cricut shape for the notecard.

I had the Cricut set on 4.5 inches, and the onesie is size 6-12 months. This notecard is an A6 size.

Savvy?

If you want a full tutorial on painting baby onesies with stencils, here is a step-by-step overview.

My Novel. On a Notecard.

I can’t stop making stationary lately.

I love paper. And I love mailing it.

The part I get most excited about, what I love the most, is imagining the person’s face when the card gets opened.

For me, the second I see an envelope in the mailbox which isn’t a bill and is clearly a card, I start picturing what’s inside. Love note? An invitation? Just someone saying hello?

I made this one about my novel.

And then I sent it to Texas.

The card is a bit of a font-a-thon, but I still like it.

And, surprisingly?  It doesn’t take that long for mail to get to Texas from Upstate NY.

Saltwater.

When you think about it, saltwater is pretty amazing. It literally keeps you afloat.

I’ve even read studies that say the reason you are sad when you leave the ocean isn’t because you are sad to leave the ocean, but because your body can feel the pull of the tides, and feels lost without it.

Which is why when I read this quote, I knew it was perfect. Just the most perfect way to describe saltwater.

So I put it on a notecard.

Here’s the front:

And here are the insides:

And then I gave them to a good friend.

The end.

I mustache you…

I know the mustache trend is a bit overused…but I can’t help it. I saw this easy DIY project on the Finley and Oliver blog and I couldn’t resist.

Plus, my Friday night consisted on running into not one, but TWO ex-boyfriends at the same bar.

With their new girlfriends.

Who I got to meet.

Because the new gfs “really wanted to meet me.” Which we all know means they wanted to check me out up close. Like I’m some sort of zoo animal. As I said: good luck chuck.

So, crafting fun and crazy-cute mustache items kept my mind off things (and my hands off the chardonnay and corkscrew). I cut out the letters for these on my Cricut Expression (chirp chirp!) using the Plantin Schoolbook font, with the “shadow” feature. The blue card letters were sliced at 2 inches and the green card letters at 2.5 inches. The glitter paper I purchased at Michaels–its pretty thick, so if you’re using a “slice and dice” machine like me, be sure to change the blade depth.

Now, the most important part. The mustache graphic. I downloaded an image of mustaches that I saw on the Cheddar Guppies blog. After some resizing, I traced this onto the back of the glitter paper and cut out VERY CAREFULLY. As we all know, because I am efficient (read: lazy), I use a stack of precut cardstock for the actual cards. It’s way easier than trying to cut out an exact rectangle and the paper comes in a rainbow of colors.

Arrange the letters how you like and glue onto the card stock. And then you’re set to mail out some mustache love.

Easy Paint-Stamped Stationary with Celery Roses

Easy, eco-friendly, impressive!

Yes, you stamp these with CELERY. The kind you buy at the grocery store and eat.

It’s no surprise that since I drive a Prius love eco-friendly projects, these are one of my favorite things to make. Let’s be real here, what else are you going to do with the butt-end of the celery, besides compost it?

To get these going, you’ll need paint, a brush, celery (duh) and whatever type of notecard you like to use. I buy the “small” celery bunch at the store. My paint isn’t anything special, just what I had on hand today. My notecards are 4 x 5.5 in, a good cream cardstock.

Everything you need for stationary awesomeness.

It’s important that when you cut the celery, you make a good, clean, straight chop. Else, you’ll have trouble with the stamping.

After you’ve brushed a thin, and I repeat a THIN layer of paint onto the celery stamp, press down firmly onto the cardstock to make the stamp. Make as many celery roses as you like on one card–whatever suits your taste. I like to stamp the envelopes too, to make it a matched set.

Press and stamp!

If you want to print words or a message onto the card (like I do with my cakerypapery tag), you need to do this BEFORE you stamp the celery roses–else you’ll have a very hard, messy and frustrating time running the stamped cards through your printer.

The best part? Each card is unique–no two come out alike. And, the whole project only takes one or two minutes per card (plus drying time). Can you tell why this projects is one of my favorites yet?

Not to mention, celery stamping cards would make a great project to do with children (just use washable paint!). I’ve also whipped up a bunch when I need a thoughtful but affordable gift for someone. You can see my inspiration for the cards here at Creature Comforts, where she uses the technique for wrapping paper.

Happy celery rose stamping!

Card + envelope? yes please.

When you give a girl a party…

She’ll have to craft everything in sight.

Old book pages + gluesticks = victory.

Well…technically I’m throwing myself a party…although it’s really not for me…its more of an excuse to get together with friends and show off try out some DIY project’s I’ve been wanting to do. I keep calling these paper pinwheels, although they’re really not pinwheels, more like flowers.

Pretty easy to make, once I got the hang of it and got over the fact that I need to make MANY MANY book flowers before Saturday. The original idea comes from a Better Homes & Gardens post which can be found here.

First, you’ll need an old book. I grabbed a copy of White Noise that an ex-boyfriend had given me. (Just like the ex, this book needed to go…) While the BHG post recommends using a vintage book with thicker pages, I like the thinness of the paperback pages better–easier for making accordion folds.

Fold, trim, tie, glue!

You need two pages (or one page cut in half) to make the book flowers. After you make the accordian fold, you can trim the edges off to give it a more flower-y look. Then, tie the two halves together (this is where had serious #fails…) and glue the pages into a circle! Luckily, the book I choose had some interesting title pages, which is what gives the light/dark effect above.

After making about eight of these, I got smart accidentally discovered that if you fold one page over the other before tying with string, it cuts down on the glueing. The picture below shows what I mean.

And then I got smart...linking the edges together eliminates glueing.

Also, depending on where you are going to hang your book flowers, you may want to leave extra string on the ties.

As for me, I have 14 of these bad boys finished and many more to go! I’m planning on glueing buttons to the centers to complete the look. Wish me luck!

Ta-da!

One of the best parts of this endeavor was that I already had all the supplies I needed–so the project cost me $0. It’s eco-friendly and a great way to recycle books into something new.