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

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

An Able Quote

Here is a little bit of inspiration for your day.
(I'll be posting four longer posts today in addition to this one: Lady Bird Challenge | One and Two, Incoming | Feb 2013, Outgoing | Feb 2013, Newness | Jan-Feb 2013. I do hope you'll check them out!)

"To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides." ~ David Viscott

 

Have a wonderful day!
~ Ms. Always Traveling

Outgoing One | February

Here are just some of the many outgoings I have created in these first two months of the New Year! I have to say, I am trying a bunch of new things! From washi-wonders to cartoon collections, to hand-drawn illustrations that encapsulate my feelings in the moment! I can't express enough my deep love of the wonderful handwritten note/letter/anything and everything.

A green+dots inspired letter for L., in the States.

Adorned with one of my favourite stamp collections EVER.

It's kinda crazy how the different washi expressions can all fit together. My aim for this letter was to make sure that the stamp and the other envelope decorations all matched nicely. (I think they did, don't you?)

A pink+beaches inspired letter for M., in the States.

A close-up in on the beachy couple!

A reminder of the nature of the envelope!

Adorned with one of my last Love stamps for the 2012 stamp program!

An "I-Miss-You" to my dear friend T., in Australia.

I've always acknowledged that international letters deserve excess stampage. Go big or go...bigger.

A spread-love inspired letter for penpal S., in the States.

We should all make sure we are always actively spreading the love.

And the perfect match to a LOVEly letter; A Love stamp!

And quite possibly my favourite outgoing so far this month, a hand-drawn envelope of a lighthouse. I love how the lighthouse turned out, plus the simplicity of the colours. When I drew it out, the envelope was not yet folded--so the water goes onto the back and turns into a paintdrip effect. Kinda spooky!

I LOVE how the lighthouse turned out!

And the stamp matches perfectly, don't you think? Got to love those stamps. So beautiful. "Earthscapes" -- I'll miss you stamps!!

I will post my incoming here soon, as well as more of my outgoing!
What do you think of these ones?
Send mail--spread love.
~ Ms. Always Traveling

Possibly The Best Halloween Lolly *Ever*

Halloween heralded the end of October, and I was exceedingly excited to note that one of the members of my neighbourhood was giving out stamp collecting kits as the "lolly* of choice". I could not believe it.
So I grabbed two.

When I opened the packet of stamps that came with it (how wonderful is that??), this is what I found...

...a selection of beautiful, global stamps that about blew me away.

Never have I been treated to such a wonderful Halloween "treat" as that!


And here is the coolest part of all! When I opened the packet, the first stamp that fell out was this one:

 ...an AMAZING, Australian Qantas 50th Anniversary stamp. I think it is most definitely a sign from The Universe.
Home is never too far away, and neither is the method with which to return.

Some of the other, beautiful stamps included one from the U.S.A about a music legend; one from the U.S.A. about Health Research; one from the U.S.A. encouraging the sport of football; two from the U.K--both lovely and graphic; and plenty of other beautiful stamps that I can not wait to add to my collection.

OH! And I've come to the conclustion that the red Sour Patch Kid is my favourite.



Yep. He doesn't look like much, but he's a winner in my books.

Happy Halloween--and welcome to November, everyone!
Send a record amount of mail this month;
~ Ms. Always Traveling

(*lolly=candy. Translation=pretty simple. Haha!)