Decorated letters...

Hello again dear friends!

Sunday evenings are the best for blogging, letter writing and the like. I find that sitting down to write while listening to classical music soothes the soul and gets the creative juices flowing. I wanted to talk about decorating letters today. Like most of you, I adore trying to find the cutest and most decorative stationery out there but I must admit that I rather like decorating my own paper and making unique forms of stationery.

This is a postcard I made using papers and ephemera I had lying around...

The postcard above was hand-made for a postcrossing swap I had done. You can see another example of a hand-made postcard by clicking here for my blog Mes Petites Creations. That one in the link was for a fall swap. 

Another form of decorative stationery is hand-made cards and I have seen some really gorgeous ones out there! I have a limited amount of resources right now so I make cards with what I have on hand. Here is another example from my other blog:

I made this one a while ago using up scraps of paper I had
around. To see more images click here.

Besides making and printing my own cards (I print my own photography onto card stock and make my own blank note cards) I like to decorate my letters with stickers or hand-drawn embellishments. I have an enormous sticker collection and find so many uses for all those stickers in letter writing.

Here you can see that I've used stickers to decorate plain white envelopes. 

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Here you can see a couple of the stickers I've used. These were actually
images I'd printed myself onto sticky full label paper. Aren't they lovely?
Home printed stickers!

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Sometimes I decide to get even more creative and include drawings in my
letters...this one unfortunately never reached it's destination, it has been
lost in transit...hopefully someday it will reach it's intended recipient...sigh!

So, those are just samples of what I've done...how about you? How do you like to decorate your letters? Do you make your own cards? I'd love to hear from you! 

Lots of love,

Nadia Marie

Letter writing inspiration...

Good Wednesday Morning to you all!

As some of you may have noticed besides speaking English I also speak Spanish and love it! I'm once again watching Despierta America while I write. I think it makes me feel closer to my relatives who are in Venezuela and whom I do not always get to see so frequently. It also makes me feel closer to some of my Spanish speaking pen friends who are in Latin America and the few which are in Spain.

So, as I was watching the show and thinking about pen pals I thought it would be interesting to go to Pinterest and see what people find inspirational for letter writing and I found some beautiful images which I will share with you here!

This was pinned by Kristy Schaffer and  I found it
to be just beautifully inspiring. Simple and pretty. 

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Who wouldn't want to write a such a gorgeous desk
as this one? I love the simple set up and the chair is
exquisite! The flowers, small lamp, books and photo
give it a tranquil and familiar touch. 

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A book to inspire us all to keep writing. I think I
will look for a copy of this one soon. What books
inspire you all to writer more?

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This just made me want to create more of my own decorative stationery! Yes,
I occasionally make my own stationary. I've made some Jane Austen inspired
papers with lines on my computer and want to make more adding other images
or vintage ephemera. Wouldn't that be lovely? 

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I would love to have a pink type-writer! I love the way letters look when
typed on one of these. It gives the letter an authentically vintage feel and
every now and then I like to be vintage. What about you? What are your
favorite styles of letter writing?

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Hand made envelopes have always called my attention! They are always so
unique and interesting. I know that many of us make them so I included this
photo to remind us to keep reusing and recycling! When we reuse we conserve.

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On Etsy you can always find the neatest stationery and letter sets! This vintage
one is just wonderful! One of these days I will buy some of these from Etsy! I
love them! Where do you get your stationery from? I buy mine from various
places (and of course you already know that I make some of my own as well. 

Well I hope these images will get you inspired to keep on writing and treat your pen pals to something special...a letter from YOU!

Have a fantastic Wednesday!

Lots of love,

Nadia Marie

Organization is key...

I have several pen pals with whom I am often in contact and have started collecting several letters from each. For this reason I devised a creative way of organizing my letters, and pretty at that too! Envelopes can be bulky and also I often cut out the stamps and whatever decorations my pals have added to them so I end up with a rather strange looking bunch of paper. I recycle whatever I can and discard the rest of the envelopes. This allows for my letters received to sit cradled well in my letter carrier. 

my little desk where all my creations take shape...

Above you can see my desk covered in stamps and decorations I was collecting from my envelopes, a few notes and letters which I was working on organizing, tools and ribbon in my jar (I need to get a couple more jars because that one is jam packed). My desk is probably my favorite place in the world to write and craft at. I paint there, write letters, draw, do pretty much everything at my desk--including writing this and my other blogs.

Organizing and Gathering:
1. My letter carrier is organized as such:
European pen pals in the first slot, followed
by pen pals in the Americas in the second slot
and the rest of the world in the last slot.

2. Detailed shot of the second slot with my
friend Maria Laura in front.

3. Ephemera I've collected from my envelopes.

4. Stamps I've gathered and my hole puncher. 

I love the way the ribbon looks bundling the letters and holds the little name tags I made for each bundle. It is simple and easy to do, not to mention aesthetically pleasing. I simply used enough ribbon to loop around each bundle three times before tying it off, giving it room to increase capacity when I need more space to add letters. My ephemera and stamps I placed in decorative soap boxes that the soap my family buys at Tuesday Morning come in. I love those French and Italian soaps! The boxes are so beautiful! I have lots of them filled with crafting supplies and little gifts that have been sent to me by my pen pals.

A bundle and letters waiting to be bundled...

Such a joy it is to send and receive letters! Yesterday I received a letter from Ida in England in a very cute Mini Mouse envelope. No mail today but I have TONS of letters to write back to! So, that being said, until tomorrow and happy posting!

Lots of love,

Nadia Marie

Paper craze...

Show or Song: Despierta America on Univision

Time: 9:02AM EST

Mood: Bright and Cheery

Anyone who love pen-paling as much as I do knows that a love of paper is pretty much a must in our lives. I adore paper and am always looking for the next best thing when it comes to writing letters and crafting. One of my favorite paper companies to look at is {papermash}, it's a UK company and someday soon I will be able to buy some of their lovely products. Granted, their paper products are not exactly letter writing papers but we all know that a creative mind will always come up with an ingenious way of using the product even for writing letters. Here are my favorites from {papermash} this week:

I love these retro style folk cards...

I also adore this pretty patterned Post-It Note...

Being a poet and writer in my own right, I just adore these
notebooks as well...

And of course, the Washi Tape craze did not escape me,
look at these gorgeous patterns...(can you tell I am into all
things retro??)

Those are just a few of the things which I can see myself using to decorate letters, cards, notebooks and more. Let me know what you all think! I'd love to hear from you! Here's to an excellent Monday and a fantastic week!

Lots of love,

Nadia Marie

Dear friends...

I was perusing my own pen pal Maria Laura's blog today and thought how very exciting would it be to have my own pen paling blog. So, here it is. I have created this blog not just as a place to share ideas but as an ongoing letter to you, my friends and readers, in hopes that I might share even more with you a little bit about my own letter writing journey and whatever else comes along. I have a great many other blogs which you will shortly be able to see here listed on one of the side-bars. I also hope to share with you other pen-paling and letter writing blogs I may come across as we embark on this journey. I hope to share creative letter writing ideas and how to recycle bits and pieces of your letters soon as well! I am thrilled and excited to being this journey!

Lots of love,

Nadia Marie