Happy Mail #2

Another post sharing some great happy mail I have received lately.

Here I have a Dr Who postcard from a Swap on Swap-bot, some of my postcards back from the Write back my Postcard RR and a swap with a forum member. 

Naruto 

Pokemon Movie

Pokemon New Year Card (Year of the Sheep)

A package from my pen pal in The Netherlands with some sweet Winnie the Pooh stickers and some notecards - I really like the tiny one. She wrote the letter in the blue card with silver hearts on it, it has a really cool texture.

A postcard from a friend in Russia with a special cancellation.

How cool is this cancellation! 

Happy Postcards

I'd just like to share a few postcards I received in this post. These postcards are from a Swap-bot swap, called Happy Postcards, where we sent a postcard to three partners .

These are the three postcards I sent out.

And these are the ones I received.

A 3D card, my first, of a happy apple :)

A Big Cats postcard

The inside of the Tardis (Dr Who)

Some really great cards there, it was a fun swap to do!

Happy Mail #1

I've been having batches of mail come, a few days with no mail at all then a small handful at a time. It's always nice to hear the thud as mail drops through the door and it's even better when it turns out to be happy mail :)

Some colourful and pretty envelopes from a pen pal, a RR (Write back my Postcard) and a surprise card from a forum member.

This was a lovely long letter from my pen pal in Finland, she enclosed some pages from an old copy of Twilight as well as a bookmark and some diary stickers. I already have some crafty ideas for using the book pages.

A Pokemon card, handmade envelope and memo sheets as a surprise from a forum member I recently swapped with, the Pikachu is soooo cute! The envelope even has a special WWF cancelation :)

Have you had any happy mail recently? Do you prefer to get lots of mail in one go or to have it spread out?

Outgoing Mail - January (Part 2)

I've had a busy few days writing postcards and making a few envelopes and other items for pen pals, friends and swaps. It's been lots of fun ^_^

This is a letter to my penpal in The Netherlands.

 I made the little envelope out of a page of a Lush catalogue - I thought the pink flower was very pretty.

Inside the notecard I taped an envelope on the left for the letter, I added some matching washi tape (seen on the inside of the notecard) to the letter paper, I made a little pocket for the other side to sit the mini handmade envelope in (with the rubber stamps) and decorated with stickers.

I really liked the simple look this time so I just added the same washi tape to tie everything together and lots of different stamps ^_^

This is going to my penpal in France.

 I made another mini envelope from my Lush catalogue and cut out some butterflies and flowers, and the word Dream to put inside the envelope, there is also a bookmark and of course the letter. The envelope is made from a January edition of Gardeners World.

Outgoing mail - January (Part 1)

A few pictures of my January outgoing mail

I made this envelope out of a paper bag that looked quite interesting, I need to remember to make sure the front part is the right way up next time! I lined the envelope with patterned paper to strengthen the envelope and make it look nicer inside. The address is written on a postcard tag and glued, and taped onto the envelope.

Inside a bookmark, letter, a postcard and I made a mini envelope out of a page from a Lush catalogue - the picture is a man twirling a moustache and I filled the mini envelope with moustache stickers and some confetti.

Excuse the quality of this photo, taking pictures at night is not my forte! The big envelope is a Swap-bot swap going to the UK, the owl envelope is a Penpal letter also going to the UK and the postcard is a thank you and New Years card to someone I swapped with in Japan.

Finally this envelope is going to Japan with some postcards for a swap, I added more stamps at the post office. You can't tell of course but I matched the decoration of the envelope with the decorations on one of the cards (the other is unwritten).

Long lost mail?

I did a swap with a friend in China and we had begun to worry it was lost when I did not receive it. Well 2 months and 10 days later it arrived! It's good to know that sometimes mail is just extra slow and not lost especially a special piece of mail like this. Well I think it's special ^_^

There are a few pictures to share from the swap.

First of all the beautiful postcard of Legolas - the card is so much nicer up close, it's ethereal, there is also a postcard with a fanart sketch (seal) on it - it's on both sides but there is also writing on the other side, a sticker with hobbit fan art - very cute and a Postcard of Bard the Bowman

Then another beautiful postcard this time of Thor and Loki <3, a fanart card of Naruto - I love these fan art cards, and a postcard of Dumbledore ^_^

Last but not least some lovely extras including two shaped cards - how cool is that Royal Mail postbox card! and a really pretty bookmark.

I'll have some more outgoing mail coming up soon too.

Write back my postcard (Part 2)

As promised here are the other two envelopes I sent out for the WBMP RR.

Envelope Three

The top card is from, actually I can't find it in my Flickr album (so annoying), the illustration is from CloudI (Postcrossing), the viewcard is from acharo (Swap-bot) and the Hello Kitty card is for dogma7911 for writing back my postcards.

Two more cards from acharo (Swap-bot) she sent me some really lovely cards, and the cat is from tingtinga2602 (Swap-bot), the stamps are for pumucki for writing back my postcard as they collect stamps.

Swap-bot Incoming and Outgoing Swaps

I recently signed up for a swap entitled Notecard with small enclosure. It was lots of fun to do and I hope to do it again sometime. 

This is the lovely swap I received. There is also an envelope in the background with some postcards for me to Write Back as part of the WBMP RR.

Inside was a gorgeous notecard with an Owl on it, a blank notecard for me to use with a quote by Confucius "Wherever you go, go with all your heart" which is lovely, some mini notecards/journalling cards which I can use in my Smash Book and a Caramel Chai tea. 

This is what I sent to my partner.

I had lots of fun making the notecard, I've not made one like this before. I also made a little origami envelope (with the brown bear on it) and filled that with stamps and a few sticker flakes), I also enclosed some mini notelets and a squirrel magnetic bookmark.

Write back my postcard

I thought I'd share some of the postcards I am sending out for a Round Robin (RR) called Write Back My Postcard on Postcrossing. In the RR you send some of your own postcards you like to the members of your group and they write on them and post them back to you. It's such a nice idea, last time I sent out postcards from my own supplies which I liked and wanted to keep but this time I am sending some lovely unwritten postcards I received in swaps/RRs so I can get double the joy from them ;)

Envelope One 

The Wolf was from acharo (Swap-bot), the cat with the sticky out tongue is one of my own, it looks a lot like my cat (cute!), the Jetoy is for Shireya who will be writing back my postcards and the Lancy Cat was from MissMo (Postcrossing).

Envelope Two

The Lancy Cat was from MissMo (Postcrossing), the snow scene was from acharo (Swap-bot), the Cafe scene is from an unknown person and the Jetoy is for minkero who will be writing back my postcards.

I have two more envelopes to send out I'll post them later when I have done them.

When I started Postcrossing I didn't document cards I sent at first, then I started a Flickr album and started taking pictures of my sent and received cards and as time has gone by I have been more organised. I have a few unwritten cards from swaps where I'm not sure who sent them it's a shame I wasn't fully organised from the beginning but now I know :)

Outgoing Mail

I'm finally getting back into the flow of things after a Christmas break and have a fair few swaps lined up for January plus some New Years cards to send out with the new line of stamps released for January. I won't publish the pictures until about a month after to allow for travelling time just in case someone I am sending to happens to read this blog ;) So watch this space for upcoming outgoing mail pictures.

Christmas Mail

I thought it might be nice to share some of the lovely mail I received over the Christmas period.

I received a gorgeous envelope from China (the prepaid envelopes are always so pretty) with a Christmas card, and some postcards to return for the Write Back My Postcard RR, a fun handmade envelope with a Spirited Away postcard, and a lovely surprise of washi tape for a swap I did, a surprise Christmas card, and a letter from my Pen Pal in the Netherlands with a gorgeous handmade decoration.

Christmas Card of sora to hara a Fan Fiction art drawn by COM仔 

from someone I swap postcards with regularly.

Spirited Away 

Christmas Card from Wendi, this came in the pretty Chinese envelope.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and New Year!

New Year New Mail

Happy New Year everyone, hope 2015 brings you lots of Happy Mail, new friendships and health and happiness. I've been lucky to receive some gorgeous mail from some good friends to welcome the new year.

 From a friend in Russia, a New Years card with a fab envelope - the image is of Levi Ackerman dressed as Santa with some really nice stamps one of which says Happy New Year in Russian. Inside was a cute sheep and owl postcard, a mini calendar with bears on and a lovely Christmas cat magnet =^.^=

From a friend in French Polynesia, an envelope with more great stamps, inside a New Years card I won in a lottery and a handmade thank you card.

I also received a mystery postcard from "Someone who loves you in America" which was a lovely surprise, I wonder who sent it to me?

And last but not least a postcard from a trip one of my Pen Pals in Russia took of somewhere that shares our name, very cool ^_^

Manganima no Secret Santa

A group of us on the Postcrossing forums decided it would be fun to do a Secret Santa this year, we are all part of the anime and manga fan club on the forums and chat regularly as well as exchange postcards, letters and occasional item swaps.

It's quite exciting to think we will all be opening gifts from each other on Christmas Day/Eve, of course this will have happened now as I wanted to wait until after Christmas to share the swap I sent for obvious reasons :)

Now it is time to share, a bit later than I had planned but here are the swaps.

This is the one I sent

I made my partner a winter themed Artists Trading Card and wrote her a short letter. I wrapped the presents put them in a box and then wrapped that and labelled it ready for Christmas Day. Lots of fun to do ^_^

My Secret Santa parcel came from Finland with lovely wrapping paper and a cute Santa label.

Inside you can see a Moominpappa towel, a Hattifatteners note pad and 2 music CDs Charon and Sonata Artica. A great parcel as I happen to be a fan of heavy metal and I love the Moomins :D

It was a lot of fun and I hope we do it again this Christmas!