Embellishing Letters and Recent Mail

Photography & Drawings by Nadia M. Perez Bugler

Hello again! Sorry it's taken me a while to get back on here and write a new post. I've had a bit of an emergency situation arise and have been working day and night helping an elderly couple out for the time being so I am happy to find some time to write and share with you mail and pen pal related goodies. I've been getting lots of great post this past week and I wanted to share some with you and a little about what I've been using lately to embellish my letters.

Most of us who pen pal generally tend to have a rather large haul of lovely stickers, pens, and nowadays decorative tapes we use to add a little extra flair to our outgoing post. In the next few weeks I hope to showcase some of what my own pals use to embellish their letters and how unique everyone's style seems to be.

Since I love to reuse things I took this soap box my father had give me and left the partitions in to separate this stash of stickers. Some are hand-drawn and hand-coloured others are ephemera turned into stickers, all homemade and hand-cut by me, Some are the ones I sell in my Etsy shop, WalksInBeauty2014, and others are a personal stash I made for myself. I love to have stickers that are unique and that very few other people are going to have.

Of course, I am a HUGE fan of washi tape and have a gigantic collection back in our bungalow in England but I've already stated accumulating tapes here in the States...go figure! Here are my latest acquisitions...

Top sets: Sheet music & pattern set plus the camera and film set were gifts from my nieces.
Bottom sets: The arrow and camera set came from Hobby Lobby, the Christmas set came from
The Range in Dorchester before I came back to the US.

I am notorious for looking for new tapes all the time...I really need to curb my addiction but I seriously doubt that will happen! *wink*

As for the post I've received lately, well, I feel that I've had a great mail week. I really can't complain! I received letters and even a parcel! First let me share the contents of the parcel my hubby sent me from England:

My journal I'd sadly forgotten to pack and bring with me, some lovely drink packets from the UK for me to drink so I didn't get too homesick for Bridport, and my little clipboard with some stationery I designed on it and some freebies I'd printed out from Wreck This Girl's Mailbox.

Aside from that, I also received a few postcards and a letter inside the parcel my hubby sent me as they'd all been sent there to the UK address...

Postcards from the UK, Germany, and Australia and a letter from my pen pal Renate in Norway plus a little pack of paper embellishments I purchased on sale at Hobby Lobby in the clearance section. It always pays to have a look-see there. ☺

Independently of that parcel I even got a little card from my hubby which came separately and some more fab mail...

This is the card from my hubby congratulating me on my new job and a letter from a new pal in London and the fab stickers she sent me. Take note that on the envelope she used one of my very own artwork,--a sticker that looks like an envelope which I sent her and my birdie air mail sticker which I made and shared out with her as well! It's nice to see people use what you've share with them. ☺

I got some more letters this past week but I have sadly not photographed them. I will try to get a picture of them all so you can see how lovely they were as well. Since I went to Hobby Lobby I couldn't resist purchasing a few more bits to use which I will showcase here...

The tapes you've already seen but these fabulous stickers were all on sale! They are ephemera stickers from Stickabilities and are just gorgeous. The Christmas Sweater stickers were fun too! 

Well, as I am not at home right now it has been a little difficult to be without my stash as I was only able to bring a few things over with me. Hopefully when I can get back to the house I can get ever so much more creative and share these creative lovelies with you!

Until then,

Keep Writing & Happy Snail Mailing!

Nadia xo

Letters, Gifts and Musings...

 

Hello from a sunny and hot Florida! Well, it was sunny earlier today and hot but here I am enjoying being in the warmer weather in November! I arrived her this past Tuesday and what a different scene it is from Western NY where I was!  I ☺had a nice little pile of post waiting for me when I arrived here from several places in the world. My dear friend and pal Jo from England had sent me a nice little gift (which included the little notebook and flowers pictured above) which she posted from Greece while she was visiting our mutual pal there, I received an intro from a new pal from the pen pal group I'm in on Facebook, a letter from a friend in Cardiff and a letter from a lady in Canada asking if I wanted to be pals. 

This lovely post was from my friend Ali in Cardiff! I love how all of my pals personalise things! Postcardsm paper bits and even a tea bag!

I think I may have to visit Cheddar Gorge and Glastonbury Tor when I am back in the UK! They look like fabulous places and Ali sure knows how to describe them enticingly enough! :)

Lovely gifts from Jo, my pen palling soul mate, full of loads of little goodies! 

I don't have a photo of the other letters but they were both quite lovely too! I have been re-discovering all the bits and stationery I'd left behind when I left for the UK earlier in April and decided that for now I am going to start using the cards that I have here to accompany my letters. I have so many cards and they are lovely but sometimes I forget to use them so I think I shall start putting them to good use! Today I wrote to my Finnish pen pal Maria on a lovely pink card which I added her name to on the front. I decorated the inside with hand-coloured round labels and other bits. I also answered her mail tag and added my own tag on the back of my business card.

Decorating the inside of the card with hand-coloured dots! Lovely aren't they?

I love mail tags because they are a great way of getting to know more about pals and also of sending things that your pal might like. To the left, on the Diddl paper, is the mail tag my friend sent me and I responded with some hand-drawn/coloured stickers, a little sticky note with something about my country, a list of 10 books that really moved/impressed me and a couple of bits of decorative paper as I sadly could not find a nice paper napkin to send this time.

Do any of you do mail tags and if so, what do you often ask for or include? I also received an intro letter from a new pal in Norway which I'm going to read tonight before sleeping with a cup of tea latte. 

Isn't this a cute envelope? I can't wait to read it with my warm drink all cosy up in my bed!

Anyway, thank you for stopping by and spending some time with me today. I hope you're all having an excellent week! 

Happy Snail Mailing!

Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company.  ~Lord Byron

Weekend Musings: UK British Post Pillar Box Photos

So, most of my friends, twitter followers and instagram followers know how obsessed I am with the different post boxes to be found in the UK. While I was there for about 6 months visiting my husband I took photos of many in different places and I shall share them with you here! I'd love to see what post boxes look like in different places so send me a link to a photo you've taken or send me the photo to feature in this blog! I'm planning some exciting things for this blog in the future, hoping to get some more snail mailers to guest post on here and feature mail artists from around the world!

For now, enjoy these photos of post boxes in the UK!

I found this post pillar box while walking to my husband's job in Bridport on St. Andrews Road.

This is the rather large one outside the post office in the Bridport town centre. I frequented this one a lot!

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This box is near the famous Cobb of Lyme Regis.

My husband and I discovered this wall box on the side of a building somewhere just outside of Axminster in Devon.

Another non-pillar box post box nestled in an inviting corner just outside of Bridport on the road to Eype. The trees, bench and phone box make this setting so interesting. 

This wall box is in the area of Bothenhampton, between Bridport and West Bay in Dorset. My husband and I discovered this one while walking back home from our friends' house one evening.

This one is just down the road from where we live, off of North Allington on St. Swithuns Avenue.

This one is probably my favourite wall box so far, situated in Eype on the way down to the beach. I hope to get to visit this village again soon! It is so cute and picturesque!

This photo and the next two are of a box in Dorchester. This is an Edward VII Penfold PB8 box and remains in use today. It has beautiful details on the top and is hexagonal in shape.

Details of the Penfold PB8 on top.

From the other side of the box.

Last but not least, this box is the last one I photographed on my last full day in the UK. This was taken in Cardiff, Wales. I flew to NY from here via Dublin and it was my last full day with my hubby until Christmas. Hopefully, next year after March, this will no longer be an issue. Until then. he'll be my top pen pal. 

Happy Halloween and some outgoing mail! :)

It's a very brisk day on this All Hallow's Eve and I took a short walk to look for the only post box nearby, down the street a ways, in order to post a few letters I had ready to go out to Belgium, England, The Netherlands and Wales! I was finally able to get stamps the other day (wreath ones for the international mail, flowers for within the US) so that I could post the letters I had all ready and waiting.

Autumn hit its peak here in the State of NY (I'm visiting and will write more about why I am back in the US in another post) the week of the 18th October and now the trees are starting to look barren. Only a few have leaves left but soon enough they too will have none and only the evergreens will look green and full. I took a few photos as I went back and forth between the house and the post box.

You can see the remaining leaves on the one tree in the lower right corner of the collage of photos, the walk to the post box seemed infinite but it is really only about a 10 minute walk back and forth. The autumn leaves and berries are breath-taking though!

Like I said earlier, I posted four fab letters, two of which were to brand new penpals and I have learned from my husband back home in England that I received a letter from Norway and had received a few postcards about a week and a half ago as well! Have you all received many letters lately? Here's a photo I took right before putting my outgoing mail in the box...

I'm looking forward to writing more posts in the next few days! Happy snail mailing all! 

Don't forget to check out our Facebook page! :)

#CreamTea and #Letters...

Though I have some more bits of mail to show off to you, I couldn't help sharing with you what I had for breakfast today. Hubby brought be two lovely scones yesterday afternoon from work. He doesn't fancy raisins and someone had brought these in to share so he saved them for me and I made myself a cream tea breakfast this morning! Yum!

I finished off a letter to a pal in Florida as well as I had my yummy breakfast! Have any of you written any letters today?

It's been too long....lovely post I've received in the last two weeks...

Wow...it has been a long time since I last posted in this blog and so much has happened! I have a new blog, a new home and a new marital status! *SMILE* I have great pen pals and really want to make an effort to keep this blog as well as my new one, Walks in Beauty, up to date. I also started lots of new work, including my own stationery line an shop! It's all a work in progress but there will be more on that later! 

Today I want to present you all with my latest post received. I've received so many beautiful letters and goodies from old and new pals these past couple of weeks! I am presenting these in no particular order as some came on the same day together so here goes!

First up is a letter from a new pal in Belgium. She sent me a lovely letter full of goodies--a postcard from her home town, some washi tape samples, two bits of pretty scrapbooking paper and the envelope was covered in gorgeous tape! Thank you, Silke! xx

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Next is a cute letter from my pal Nikki in Hull, UK. She sent me lots of lovely stickers and this cute little handmade friendship bracelet in some of my favorite colours! Such a nice treat to be welcomed with!

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A lovely letter from my pal Mary in Worcester... ☺

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A letter and card from another fab pal, Caroline, whom also sells great stationery! ☺ 

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A beautiful letter from my pal in Norway...

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Lovely letter and goodies from Amy in Australia! ♥ She sent me the cutest book mark, some lovely sticky notes, owl stichers and the fab ATC you see there. Below is a pic of the fab stamp she used to post the letter! 

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The beautiful stamp of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with little baby George! 

Another fab letter and goodies from my pal Andrea in Wales! ♥ She sent a nice postcard from Chester, another fab book mark and a cute Welsh themed pen! xx

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Hands down the most beautiful envelope I have seen to date sent to me from my pal in Scotland, Leeanne! My French press looks cute in this pic too! 

The contents of that envelope...a great letter and some envelopes as a little gift! xx