a hiatus

Hello Cosmopostalan readers!
This is a long overdue post; I'm sorry about that.
I am currently travelling and have been for the past month, and these next months are going to be insanity.
I cannot guarantee that my posting schedule will be reliable, but I will try to post when I can.

Consider this a temporary Cosmopostalan hiatus.
I look forward to "reconnecting" on the flipside.

Thanks for reading--


Ms. Always Travelling 

lately.

As of late, my blogging on Cosmopostalan has been abysmal. I'm sorry. Things have been the busiest this past month, and now it's summer so the traveling begins!

I'm away for a month, so Cosmopostalan will be offline too.
More writing on the flipside, and maybe some announcements!

Thanks for putting up with the stagnancy, reader(s?)!

--Ms. Always Traveling

Mail O' June

I can't get over how much I adore mail.
These past months, while my posting has been HORRENDOUS, I have still managed to find time to write letters to my fab pen pals! Here are only some of the wonderful incoming/outgoings that I have received/sent these past months!
Enjoy!

Incoming
I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful group of buds and pen pals alike who write such beautiful letters and create such beautiful mail art! Always a joy to open the mailbox to letters like these!

A pile of only some of the gorgeous mail art received this month!

Some of the (as always) gorgie mail from pen pal L., in U.S.A.

 

(And some of the lovely stamps adorning aforementioned envelopes.)

 

A recent lovely letter from S., in U.S.A.

A fab letter from J., in Australia.

A lovely letter from M., in U.S.A.

A phenomenal, action-packed letter from S., in Australia.

(and the gorgeous "Canberra" stamp--our nation's capital--stamped with her Quorn beauty!)

Outgoing
I can only hope that my outgoing letters bring the recipients as much joy as the ones I receive!

A handdrawn butterfly for my best bud; U.S.A. (and the stamp of which is the second to last in my Lady Bird Challenge stamp collection)

A little red for my cousin; U.S.A.

Some vintage nautical madness for an awesome pen pal; U.S.A.

Some arrows and hearts for my cousin; U.S.A.

A long overdue birthday package for pen pal J in Australia...

...and the vintage hand-finger-pointing decal for the package!

 

A long overdue letter for S., in Australia...

...and the washi-tape/typewriter decaling...

...and the gorgeous postage stamps (that I am super-duper in love with!! Including Lady Bird Johnson stamp which is the last in my Lady Bird Challenge collection of stamps!)

And a little outgoing orange to dear friend in U.S.A.

And such is the mail! Today, I shall write three more letters and might even post them on here!
I'd love to hear about your mail adventures! Comment below!
Cheers,
Ms. Always Traveling

Where did May go??!

Wow.
It has been a LONG time since I last posted, aye?
Believe me; the gap in posting was not intentional! This past month has been insanely busy with life going full speed ahead!
As much as I have thought about posting, I haven't really had a whole lot of time to do that!

One of the things that has been PLEASANTLY taking up some of my time is working with first-third graders, teaching them to write letters! I adored it, and I wish the project lasted longer! After three weeks--meeting three times--the kids wrote a total of 42+26+12 letters; EIGHTY LETTERS!
I even received a couple myself!

So here I am. I have a smidge more time under my belt, so I thought that I might do a little mail post. What do you think? Well overdue?!
I'll get right on that! :)

Cheers;
Ms. Always Traveling

April

This month has been crazy. I feel like I'm writing that a lot lately. Things have been so busy and, unfortunately, I have not had the kind of time that I have desired to write more on this blog!
I have been letter writing, however--and am, as always, open to new penpals!--but I haven't been keeping as much documentation as I would like! Which is a bit of a bummer, but I recognise the necessity to keep my priorities in line.

With that being said, I think--for these next few weeks as summer approaches and I close the book (quite literally) on a major part of my life and open another, I am going to aim to write one blog post a week at minimum and two at maximum. That way, I can stay focused on what's really important right now, and still have time to do what I love!!

Additionally, with all this hype about googlereader ending, I think it's about time to recommend to my followers (the few, the mighty!! :D) to switch over to Bloglovin' to follow me there! The steps are pretty simple and the program sends you a nifty little email with blog post updates! Good fun! I would hate to lose you guys!

Hope you're all well, and look forward to posting a bigger post this week!
Have a brilliant day,
~ Ms. Always Traveling

Outgoing | Early April

Wow, it's been quite a while. Things have been--as per usual--absolute craziness for me, so I haven't had a lot of opportunities to post! My apologies! To make up for it, I'm going to post twice tonight! (See my other post here.)

Post The Second | Outgoing Early April.
I know that I haven't yet posted my incoming, but I will do that on Tuesday.
Here are some of my outgoing for this week.

 An outgoing piece to L., in the United States...

...and a close up on the washi+special delivery aspect of it.

An outgoing piece to A., in the United States...

 

And some of the intricate parts...gold tape and a sticker from Bondi Beach.

A postcard to A., in the United States.

 

A letter to S., in the United States.

 

And, lastly, a letter to K., in Canada.

 

Enjoy, penpals!

~ Ms. Always Traveling

Those Items.

Wow, it's been quite a while. Things have been--as per usual--absolute craziness for me, so I haven't had a lot of opportunities to post! My apologies! To make up for it, I'm going to post twice today!

Post The First. | Those Items.
We all have those go-to items that we repeatedly use for letter-writing. While the pens and stationery may change, there are always some trustworthy solid pieces that stay by our side.

 For me, the stationery of choice changes with every letter I send. But I found this cute "Stenographer Notebook" and I've been using it MUCH of late.

Simple lines, and a flip pad. Excellence.

I also keep my trusty Rooster Box on hand--it houses the "sprinkles" that I pop into my letters. Cut outs of music notes, colourful circles, etc.

And then there is the simple pen. I use more than just this one pen, but I am enjoying purple right now.

And my letter opener (one of three), complete with a little bit of washi-tape stickiness on the side there.

Gotta love those "go-to's"!

~ Ms. Always Traveling

Stay A While?

As I get closer and closer towards the crazy deadlines for the crazily busy things going on in my life right now, I can't help but feel a little ache for every letter that gets delayed. I am so used to writing/replying straight away to letters that staring at my pile of "just-a-waiting-on-you" can get a little sad.

Unfortunately, I have to prioritise right now. And that means that letters--as much as I love them (which is A LOT)--and writing long, photography-inclined posts may not be the call of the day for the next month. And that's okay. I'm going to try my hand at being small, concise and quick--trying to provide little posts that will bring a smile and, hopefully, a laugh.

We've all got a lot going on. Letters are never second-best.
But time has to be used wisely.

So I'm going to do just that.

Stay a while? I promise I'll write you as soon as I can.

Cheers,
~ Ms. Always Traveling

Bugs and Ink | Outgoing March

I know that it has been a horrendous long time since I last posted, but these past months have been some of the craziest, busiest and most rewarding that I've experienced in a fair while. With that being said, here is the outgoing for this weekend:

For two dear people in my life, C. and T. in United States.

I enjoyed the simple red accents on these pieces.

For my dear friend H. in Australia, I took inspiration from BUGS and some colour-coordinated washi tape!

One bug was the Australian Cicada...

and the other was a Belizian...somethingarather!



Four similar letters on their way out to J., S., L., and E., all in the United States.

I enjoyed using both the Emancipation Proclamation stamps and the new Sealed With Love stamps!

A close up on one of the four envelopes, all which were a little bit different, but still had similar themes.

And, for the letter to H, for stamps, I used the Lady Bird "Plant for more Beautiful Cities." Love it.
 

What mail did YOU send this weekend?
Send mail, send love--
Ms. Always Traveling

Long Overdue

Posting will begin again this weekend!
Looking forward to it--

Ms. Always Traveling

Hello Monday.

[I feel like this image perfectly articulates the mediocrity of early Monday mornings...]

Monday can be a tough day to start any week, but I feel that today was particularly hard. I have nothing to complain about by any means, but something about the combination of the early morning snowfall making outside a little bit darker, and the late night last night made this morning...not my favourite.

But the day was to come, and I got up, headed out, and now here I am again. Things were crazy during the day, no mail graced my mailbox, and yet--it's now about seven-thirty eastern standard time, and I'm feeling good. Good enough to write some letters.
Pen pals?

I hope that your day has been just as wonderfully busy and rewarding.

Send mail--
Ms. Always Traveling

Newness | 2013

Throughout the months of January and February, I was given some lovely new (antique) stamps from members of my family (thank you very much, loving family!) and my good pal Bill the Postman who works at my local post office.
Each one is gorgeous, and, since I was lucky enough to also receive a beautiful stamp holder (!!), I am able to keep all of the gorgeousness in one place.

 The stamp holder itself, a Standard, is gorgeous. Some of the stamp-holding prongs are bent out of shape, but I love it nonetheless. Nuances provide character, no?

Each of the stamps that situate themselves in the stamp holder--and there is a perfect amount of stamps (great thinking, lovely family!)--are gorgeous. Case in point, "Insured", a stamp from Bill at the post office.

The "Air Mail" stamp is another treat from Bill-y boy, while the "Past Due", a little unorthodox compared to the rest of the collection, was a family gift.

 

As you can see, the stamp is a self-inking press down stamp, and it has a gorgeous font PLUS a cute, little mini hand and lovely spiel: "This account has no doubt escaped your notice. Will you please favor us with a [illegible] by return mail and oblige?" Love it.

A more traditional stamp, this one has already been used on multiple occasions as the return label on my letters. Love it.

And two more beauties! The top one (complete with purple ink--oops!) was a gift from my family, and the bottom on a kind offering from Bill.

It makes me very happy to know that these stamps were once used by postal/office employees somewhere in the world back in the day. And it makes me even more happy to know that they are now safe in my collection.

Antiques, you make me happy.
~ Ms. Always Traveling

Outgoing | February

This month has been one of wonderful letters. Prepare yourself, because this post is a long (gorgeous) one! :) Mail and stamps are two words that bring music to my ears--and with the new postage stamp selection, the outgoings this year about to get a little more LOUD!'

A batty outgoing to A. in United States.

A birthday "Celebration!" on its way to A. in United States.

A funky aerogramme on its way to B. in United States.

A letter on its way to D. in United States...

...complete with NEW Fort Sumter stamp!

A letter on its way to K. in Canada.

A letter on its way to A. in Australia.

And some of the GORGEOUS stamps that I lovingly adorned A. and K.'s envelopes with!

A package for L. (United States) made out of a USPS stamp envelope.

Some more outgoing love!

A letter to E. in United States (missing a stamp, I know)

A letter to G. in United States.

...and the back of G's letter.

A circus-themed letter on its way to J. in United States.

This letter was inspired by one that I saw on the fish-mail-art blog. Stamp from the Modern Choreographers collection.

Letter on its way to S. in Australia.

And the back -- adorned using one of my new (antique) stamps!

What mail have you sent this month?
Has it been LOVEly?

~ Ms. Always Traveling