Mailbox Love, Finally!

Good afternoon my lovelies. It's 70' F outside but it feels hotter than that. Maybe it's because I just came back from a brisk walk. I hope all of you are enjoying the weather where you are no matter if it's hot or cold. I think we just need to accept our fate and make the most of it.  I'm excited to blurt out into the blogosphere that I am very happy that I finally got some good mail yesterday. I love it, especially because they are both from bloggers. One sent me a postcard as a participant of LetterMo, and the other comes from a lovely blogger named Claire in the UK. Check out both of their blogs and make a comment or follow them.

I really love the postcard. It is so colorful and dream like. It feels magical, like I just stepped into a fairytale. And the message written is wonderful too. For me, that's always the best part because it means the person took the time to write something just for me. Oh, and Claire's envelope is fabulous. Inside I found a wonderful ATC that she made for me and a vintage postcard from her alma mater, Oxford, and a lovely message.

what makes this so unique is the folder she created to hold the ATC. It's a puzzle.

I would have thought that I'd have a postcard from another postcrosser by now, but no such luck.

As far as LetterMo goes, I've already failed the task. I missed Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and today for mailing out. There is no making it up, but I will still try to send something daily starting tomorrow.

Day four, 3 out the door

Good afternoon my lovely beauties. My days go by so fast. It seems like I just woke up an hour ago and here it is already almost time to get diner cooking. I haven't done anything to brag about except I finally wrote brief letters to 3 of my pen pals who haven't heard from me in months and months. They will be shocked that I'm still alive. Ha Ha.

I know at least one of these people look at my blog every now and then. One is headed to Decatur Georgia, one to Algonquin, Illinois, and one to Katy, Texas. I hope it brightens up their day.
I'm in a pink mood and it's sweethearts month so I'm sticking to the theme all month long.

Have a great night and maybe a little romance too. If you can't have that then just a hug will do.

My latest art, LetterMo, and Valentines Day Plans

Hello, hello, hello! It's a beautiful day. I've been working on some more art and these are the two pieces I created yesterday. I want to use them in the "Liberate Your Art Project" but my photos aren't all that sharp. I think I will do it anyway. Maybe. I don't know. See, here comes the flakiness in me.

I had to warp this one in photoshop because it was so crooked. Other than that, I did not do any editing.  This is my interpretation of the 7 chakras.

This is an image that I always draw. Sometimes I like it better than other times. I'm not ecstatic about how this turned out, but I'm running out of time and this is basically my signature art. This is me. It's the only thing that I really know how to draw, with the exception of a few faces I sketched with pencil before. I wrote this poem just a few days ago. Those of you who know about twin flames will get it. Those of you who don't know what a twin flame is probably won't get it.

I would totally appreciate any feedback. Is this artwork worthy of being on a postcard? Tell me what you think. I like constructive criticism as well as sincere compliments.

Day 3 of LetterMo. I'm not representing very well but at least I'm sending out another postcrossing.

This postcard is headed to Hong Kong.

I write: Greetings from sunny Las Vegas. For today's Postcrossing I feel like dispensing a little bit of wisdom. "Practice the philosphy of continous improvement. Get a little bit better every single day." ~Brian Tracy~ I have that quote pinned to my vision board where I can see it on a regular basis. It reminds me to learn somehting new every day. Have a wonderful day and mae your life the best you can. <3 JarieLyn

Normally, my husband and I don't really do anything special for Valentine's day. For one thing, the wait to get into a restaurant is ridiculous, even for a regular everyday non fancy chain restaurant. But this year, I planned something for the both of us that doesn't involve eating, unless you count going out to lunch.  I'm so excited because I just scheduled it a little while ago. I can't tell you what it is right this minute but maybe after Valentine's Day I will share with you all what we did and how it turned out, etc. It's a secret surprise for my husband.

Have a fabulous day all.

LetterMo Begins

I wasn't sure that I wanted to participate in LetterMo this year, but at the last minute, meaning just now, I decided I would take on the challenge. What is LetterMo? Copied directly from the LetterMo website, following is the explanation.

The Challenge

I have a simple challenge for you.

1. In the month of February, mail at least one item through the post every day it runs. Write a postcard, a letter, send a picture, or a cutting from a newspaper, or a fabric swatch.
2. Write back to everyone who writes to you. This can count as one of your mailed items.

All you are committing to is to mail 23 items. Why 23? There are four Sundays and one US holiday. In fact, you might send more than 23 items. You might develop a correspondence that extends beyond the month.

Write love letters, thank yous, or simply notes to say that you miss an old friend. Send a fabric swatch from your new dress. A feather you picked up while on a walk. Whatever it is, let yourself step away from the urgency of modern life and think about an audience of one. Think of it as sending 23 little gifts. And, who knows, you might enjoy going to the mail box again.

Feeling intimidated? It’s fewer words than NaNoWriMo and I know how many of you do that. Join me in The Month of Letters Challenge.

Sincerely yours,

Think you want to give it a try? It all starts tomorrow so go sign up at LetterMo.com. It'll make you stretch your cognitive muscles. ~JLR~

A Zombie in My Mailbox!

Good morning everyone.

I struggle with whether I should expand this blog to include more personable writings.

I have my other blog over here, and some times I get a little more personable.

I don't know, what do you think?

Should I just keep this blog as a mail and small talk or should I expand a little?

 

Well on to the mail.

 

Yesterday I had quite a scare.

There was a creepy zombie that greeted me in my mailbox and I started to run.

But then I realized it was just a picture of a Zombie with instructions on how to protect myself if I ever cross paths with one.

Whew!

Thank goodness.

Now, I know what to do.

 

 

Don't worry. I've got your back!

 

 

I also received my first Postcrossing from Ireland.

The sender writes:

Dia Duit!

My name is Alexandra and I am 11 years old.

I go to school and my favourite subject is ART.

It's always raining here in Ireland!

I hope you will like this postcard. :)

 

 

A reply letter from a LetterMo participant who lives in Germany.

 

 

This is from my swap partner for Fast and Easy notecard swap.

She had to answer one out of three questions that I posed.

She answered all three in some detail.

It was very nice.

 

Now for the outgoing:

 

I didn't have any outgoing but I have some ready to go out.

But I'll post photos later because I'll be adding more to the pile.

 

Besides, I like to keep you in suspense.

 

:)

 

I guess I got a little distracted last week and forgot to publish my post on Friday until earlier today.

:)

I've been getting a lot of postcards from postcrossing and swap-bot but I haven't received any letters

from any of the persons I wrote to for LetterMo except the ones I've already showed you, which really was about a 15th of what I sent out.

Do I sound ungrateful for saying I'm a bit disappointed? I hope not. I'm just mentioning it because I'm wondering if you all had the same experience or did all or most of your letters get reciprocated? I'm just curious.

I enjoyed writing the letters nonetheless and it was a fun challenge.

Original artwork and poem by me! (2009)

Now on to the mail!

Here's what has been delivered to me the past few days including today.

A Postcard from Bulgaria.

This is for a swap I joined awhile back called I Love Postcards #3.



A Postcrossing from good ol' US of A.

This is personally one of my favorites that I've received so far.

The sender writes:

Here is a vintage funny postcard for you that I found @ the local Raleigh, NC farigrounds/flea market.

:)

Crystal.

This is from a Group Swap on Swap-Bot, Quick Notecard Swap #3

The cards are really cute in person.

I do like them a lot.

This amazing mini journal for another swap, One Sentence A Day February.

I was blown away by the creativity of the person who made this.

I have to share some of the inside with you as well.

This precedes the actual journal writing.

So cute, don't you think?

At the end of the journaling, this little surprise was sewn into the pages.

Lift it up............

To reveal a secret compartment with a treasure hidden inside.

A very nice bottle and key pendant and I love it.

The creativity of the maker of this journal has me in awe and I am so appreciative of this gift, not just the pendant tucked inside, but the love that went into making this journal.

So nice.

I love postcards with images of dogs.

This one is so sweet.

This is a postcrossing from the Netherlands.

The sender writes:

Hi JarieLyn,

Do you have examples of your mail art and snail mail.

I don't know what it means.

I try to do some scrapbooking besides being wife and mother of 2 sons.

My sons are 5 and 3 years old.

It's busy but fun most of the time.

Wish you the best.

Regards,

Grietje

Another Postcrossing from USA

(it is a resend because his first one never arrived)

The sender writes:

Hi JarieLyn,

I scanned the card begore I sent it to you so I printed it and hope yo liike it.

Best wishes from your Postcrossing friend-David.

(Lost Card)

I love the stamps too.

Notice that the postoffice didn't cancel the stamps.

Oh no, they had to put their little cancellation mark on the front of the card.

Ugh!

These lovely postcards came from another swap, Postcard Scavenger Hunt.

My favorite one is the black and white gallows and the other sepia toned one.

A PC A Day Swap.

My husband and I actually went here two years ago while on vacation so I was glad to receive this postcard because I don't have any from that vacation.

I received one of Julie's (La Papiere) postcards from a swapper for PC A Day Swap.

It's pretty cool because I ordered some envelopes from La Papier not too long ago and this was the sstyle that I ordered.

I have several more postcards, at least five but I'm not going to photograph them because you might get impatient scrolling through my blog post.

But I will post my outgoing now:

I finallly joined a Round Robin on the Postcrossing forum.

This is a march postcard pals.

I send one pc to 3 different people once a week in March.

I thought it would be easier to send them all the same card.

These are headed to Russia, The Netherlands, and Estonia.

These are for the Quick Note Card Swap, two partners.

I believe this is for the 3 card swap USA.

I forgot to take a photo of the cards inside.

The mini journal swap.

Again, I forgot to photograph my handy artwork.

But compared to the one I received mine pales in comparison.

A Postcrossing on its way to Russia.

A Postcrossing on its way to New Jersey.

A Postcrossing on its way to Germany.

A Postcrossing on its way to South Africa.

Fast &amp; Easy Notecard Swap.

Also the front of the envelope of my original artwork and poem.

A Postcrossing card on its way to Turkey.

One of my pen pals had a birthday recently, (I guess it's been a month already) so I will be wrapping up a small gift and writing a long letter to her tonight.

And tomorrow............

more pen pal letters to write.

Oh, happy days are here again.

Something Different for My Mail Readers

Good morning friends!

Before I started posting about mail I posted regularly on my other blog, Write Place, Write Chick!

It started out as a writing blog and turned into something so completely different.

I joined a group called the Friday My Town Shoot Out Group in 2009 and every Friday we posted photos on a specific theme. Although I haven't posted regularly in quite some time, I still do participate with this group and I have made some great friends and learned a lot in the past few years.

Today, this photo group celebrates it's 4th anniversary and so I have posted an entry about what FMTSO means to me if you're interested in taking a peek.

You can enoy my post by clicking here.

 

Now on with yesterday's mail.

 

Incoming:

 

 

A reply letter in response to my reply letter from a LetterMo participant.

This is my second letter from Kate.

 

 

A reply letter for a letter I sent to a LetterMo participant.

My first letter from Denise.

 

 

A PC A Day from Oklahoma.

 

 

A Postcard A Day from Sacramento, California.

 

 

My outgoing:

 

 

A Postcard A Day (27)

 

 

This is on its way to Illinois for my best friened's son who is in bootcamp.

 

I couldn't help dispensing a little advice.

 

 



Three for Three

Three coming in, three going out.

 

Inside my box:

 

 

From Washington State A PC A Day Swap (14)

 

A PC A Day Swap.. Image is of a church in Boston, but the card traveled from Texas.

 

 

A reply letter from a LetterMo participant.

This comes from Lisa in Switzerland.

 

Mailing out:

 

 

A PC A Day (26) traveling to Maryland.

 

 

A PC A Day (25) traveling to Oklahoma.

 

 

Group Swap: Postcard Scavenger Hunt traveling to Denver, Co.

 

I've noticed that the bloggers have slowed down on their posts.

I need my fix, where is everybody?