Newest Washi Tapes Acquired from Unwrap Colour

If you live in the UK like me and want some great quality washi tape at great prices you really can't go wrong with Unwrap Colour. Based in Leeds, Rose has a large amount of tapes regularly on offer both in her Etsy shop and her web shop. I absolutely love the tapes I bought from her this time around, including the brand new manga tape. I am not usually a fan of manga anything but this was pink and quirky and it really appealed to me!

I love how Rose packages her goodies in these fab little bags! They are to die for! :)

Seriously in love with these foiled tapes and how awesome they look on basically anything!

I think that I had previously mentioned my obsession with all things foiled lately too so it goes without saying that I bought these fabulous copper foiled tapes to use! I also love the Galaxy and Fly Me to the Moon tapes and the light blue seagull tape I bought. I am in washi heaven! Now if only my MT order from Singapore would get here! 

Even while they were still wrapped they looked fab!

Which ones would you have purchased? I am curious to know! :D

Cheers,

Nadia xo

Cardiff Haul!!!

Been dying to share with you all the lovely things I got in Cardiff when we went a couple of weekends back! It was amazing to see Bryan Adams in concert and lovely to be back in South Wales for a little while. Next month, Alan (my hubby) and I are going to be embarking on a no spend month to save some money. I am both excited and scared as it means that I cannot spend on crafty bits at all but at the same time it also means I can FINALLY start using all the supplies I do have to make embellishments myself.

So, without further ado, here's my entire haul...

There are bits from Tiger, Paperchase, PRIMARK and TK Maxx in this haul! I am sure I could have spent tons more in other places but I could not resist all the above goodies. Tape, tape and more tape---my addiction must be curbed (but it's so pretty, right?). I am especially excited about the tag punch I got at Tiger. Such a bargain!

I am in love with the Paperchase writing sets above. I know they are plainer than what I usually buy but they are just so lovely! The Paris A4 paper pad is one I've been trying to hunt down for ages and who doesn't love Grumpy Cat? Found the notebook and sticky notes in PRIMARK. I had no idea one could find such great things in that shop. 

I am sure you've noticed there's a bit of a gold theme going on here! I am crushing on anything glittery and foiled right now. I am also crushing on office supplies and vintage botanicals and such.

Natural and pastels are also on my crush list of late. What are you crushing on these days? I would love to know! What in my collection makes you want to go out and buy something?

Let me know in a comment! I love to hear from all my readers!

Cheers,

Nadia xoxo

Linked to: http://www.thereadingresidence.com/papery-peep-may-2016/ 

Incoming Mail, Unboxings and Outgoing Mail

Hello friends! It has been ages since I last wrote to you and shared anything snail mail related! Last week I had a pretty good mail week despite the fact that I have been dismal at getting much out myself. Sigh...I have been working on mail lately and am hoping to start another few replies tomorrow after I get orders out for customers of my stationery shop Walks In Beauty Paperie on Etsy. I've been adding new designs each week and hope to renew a few of our most popular items soon! 

Anyway, as I said, in the last week a half I've had quite a lot of great happy mail arrive, some letters as well as some subscription boxes which have been to die for! So, I'm going to share them here with you today.

Up first some of my incoming pen pal mail:

I receive a lot of mail from back home in the States from my parents. They've been slowly sending me the things I left behind so it is always a bit of a surprise to re-discover what things I had that my Dad is sending me in small boxes. 

He was able to get ALL of this into the top small box! 

This was also a bit of stuff that my Dad sent me in an envelope from home, a few Hello Kitty stickers, some Barbie paper bits I'd designed for a friend and a set of envelopes that came from an old stationery set.

A letter from my Belgian pen pal which came in the cutest envelope decorated with deco tapes! She always cleverly pairs tapes on her envelopes. There was also a little bag of gummy candies inside but I ate it before I took the photo! Whoops! LOL!

Also received mail from my kindred spirit twin, Bekah a.k.a. Mouse, @miss_mouse_middleton on Instagram,. As well as another envelope of goodies from home. The contents of Bekah's letter are so lovely I think they merit their own blog post so be on the look out for it. ☺

Now, all my pen pals know I am addicted to washi tapes and stickers and the internet has greatly facilitated my addiction and hoarding with the advent of online shopping and subscription boxes. I had, until very recently, only subscribed to the Lucky Dip Club boxes which I will do an unboxing post about with this month's box but then I finally caved and got Pipsticks and also Yoohoo Mail and OMG!!!

Mail nowadays has been taken to another level with all the bits one can add to it! And everything inside is just gorgeous! My other favourite place to shop online for bits, mainly washi tape, is Etsy!

First up: My order from Unwrap Colour's Etsy shop, 2 sets of sticker flakes for my diary and a lovely pink & gold foiled pineapple washi tape. I had two tapes like this before but in white and gold. I am hooked on foiled washi right now!

These fabulous vintage paper clip rolls of washi came from LobsterBisqueVintage which is located in New Hampshire. I sometimes miss the stuff I could get in the States. The lovely Susan added some extra bits to make the shipping worthwhile. Isn't that sweet of her?

Pipsticks is the sticker sensation of the moment! The pro pack comes full of 15 different sticker sheets plus a postcard and print. Plus that packaging is way fun, right?

I'm pretty sure all of these are being put toward my diary, not sure I want to share them! LOL!

Yoohoo Mail is a UK based stationery subscription box and it is to die for! I bought the Wanderlust box this month and it did not disappoint! I am over the moon with the amazing goodies that came in it!

Two fabulous prints, 3 postcards, 5 amazing blank greetings cards, one writing set and the cutest list cards ever! All travel themed and just extremely cute! 

What subscription boxes, if any, do you receive? Lastly, I'd like to show you my latest bit of creative mail I was lately working on which is going out this week to a pal who loves birds! I gathered as many bird themed supplies as I could find in my stash to create this lovely bit of mail for her.

Some of what I used to create a mail folder for her. The Kingfisher card was what I used as a base for making the mail folder, I used all the tapes pictured and some stickers from the booklets pictured. 

Inside the folder: I made a flap for the letter to sit in on the left and used washi tape to secure some bits on the right hand side. Stickers, labels and mini tags I punched using a new craft punch I picked up at TIGER in Cardiff.

Some of the stickers I included...

Mini tags secured in a mini envelope sealed with a feather and some birds on a wire holding in place some pretty pink tags. 

Just a tiny bit of polka dotted tape holding the folder closed and a mail art covered envelope. If you aren't already aware that I now have an instagram account for this blog, follow me at @this_is_myletter_2u where I will be posting the mail art in a photo tomorrow. You can also follow me on Facebook to see the photos which are always automatically posted on there as well. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed seeing all the mail I've received lately! I will be posting tomorrow again with a look at some of the stationery related goodies I purchased in Cardiff two weekends ago. Stay tuned!

Happy Snail Mailing!

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

A few hi-lights from travels and returning home...

Keeping up with pen palling was a little difficult while not being at home but not impossible. Here are just a few of the things I received and acquired while away...

Post from one of my British pen pals...

These are cards designed by the lovely Hannah Yates in Bridport, Dorset.
Her designs also feature on clothing through her small business called
Quirky Clothing Company, for more info: http://www.hannahyates.com

Just part of the washi/paper tape collection I acquired while I was in the UK &
The Netherlands. Thanks to Paperchase, The Range, Dragon Chant, HEMA,
and Wibra for tempting me beyond belief!

Three tapes for £3 at Paperchase, how could I not? 

Had to buy a tin at Goulds in Dorchester just to house
my increasingly large collection. Pretty, right? 

New tapes from Clinton's Cards, purchased in Dorchester. They are a new line
called My Journal and there were three different tapes. I got the first to there
and caved and bought the third one at the Clinton's in Sutton Coldfield. 

Last set of tapes I bought at Paperchase in Sutton before leaving the UK to
come home for a long while...sigh! From the Pushy Cats collection.

Upon returning home and scouring my collection I came
across this card that reminded me of the beach huts in
Lyme Regis! Go figure! I suddenly found I had many things
in my collection at home reminiscent of the UK!

A visit to the new Hobby Lobby within walking distance of
home revealed MANY new possibilities where stickers are
concerned...this is just ONE aisle of nothing but stickers!