#LuckyDipClub #Unboxing!

We all love great happy mail, right? Who can resist a brightly coloured envelope or parcel getting pushed through the mail slot or deposited into a mail box with their name on it? For about a year and a half now, aside from the rest of the fabulous pen pal mail I receive, I have been receiving a subscription box called the Lucky Dip Club box. Lucky Dip Club is the brainchild of Leona Thrift-Ola and has evolved over time to include some of the best curated paper, fashion and other accessory goodies that one could ever hope to receive. From cute and quirky pin badges to lovely prints and stationery items, these boxes have it all. Bright and cheery, they are a dream to receive monthly in the mail. Don't believe me? Just have a look at the #luckydipclub hashtag on Instagram and you will squeal! Leona has a massive following and being such a creative lady has sparked a mass girl gang of creative minds and lovers of all things kitsch alike.

I am always excited to see the box waiting for me on the landing when I've just rolled out of bed (the mail gets here quite early for me)! This particular box was even more thrilling as it was the debut of the new printed boxes as shown above! I took a photo of it for my personal Instagram account (@mrsnadiabugler and it also appeared on the IG account of this blog (@this_is_myletter_2u). So, without further ado, here's a photo of all the contents of this particular box:

This box featured the 5th installment of the Girl Planet zine (new this year), a lovely flower card, cute seed packet, a "bloom where you are planted" patch, a super sunflower with two ways of affixing it (I used the brooch option), a cute cactus pin badge and a fabulous "Petal Power" canvas bag.

The sunflower seriously makes a really cool brooch and will brighten up any outfit or day for that matter!

It seemed rude not to photograph this pin badge with my very own mini cactus on the window sill!

A closer look at the details of that fabulous sunflower brooch...

That seed packet! It's just beautiful in its own right and I am certain the flowers that will come from those seeds will not only make the butterflies & bees happy but will no doubt be pleasing to the eye as well!

Just fabulous! I must get a jean jacket to add all the patches I suddenly now have to! And this bag is a perfect addition to my growing collection of printed canvas bags...go figure!

Fun colouring page on the back of the zine...

And lastly, You are blooming wonderful! Yes you are, each and every one of you! The zines are always a huge inspiration!

Leona and all those who work on all the Lucky Dip Club goodies are such talented people it's hard not to get excited each time a new theme is announced and a new box arrives!

Do you subscribe to Lucky Dip Club? Are there other subscriptions you think I should check out? The next Lucky Dip Club theme is "All the Fun of the Fair" and launches on 1st June at 7am! Set your alarm clocks and grab yourself a subscription or a one off box!

Cheers,

Nadia xo

A Peek Inside The Writing Room in Lyme Regis...

About two Sundays ago the hubby and I went to Lyme Regis to explore some of the areas we rarely go to when we are there. While wandering around Bridge Street we encountered a place just next to Aroma Cafe called The Writing Room. This is a stationery lover's dream come true. Think classic style stationery, hand made cards, beautiful hand carved stamps and treasures not found in your typical stationery shop. According to an article in Counry Calling, The Writing Room is rumored to be situated in a room Jane Austen once dined in.

I was immediately taken with everything inside. The room itself looks like the perfect place to just set up a desk and write while you people watch from the windows which face Bridge Street. If you don't believe me just see for yourself:

I pretty much wanted everything in sight! The hand bound notebooks were gorgeous, the displays using luggage tags looked just perfect.

I loved the idea of having buckets hanging holding pens and pencils. May have to try this in my own creative space. *wink*

And these nice big colour coded jars of sweets were making my mouth water. Everyone knows that writing and creating just go better with sweets!

The mechanical pencils above looked so perfect I just had to have one for myself! I chose a pink one. Which colour would you have chosen?

I chose a few things for myself from the shop, just to whet my appetite and yours of course! A few binder clips to continue my obsession, the pink mechanical pencil I mentioned above, a nice tiny versa color green ink pad to go with my new ammonite stamp (very appropriate for a person who lives in the Jurassic Coast area like me), a fabulous big roll of numbers packing tape, some cool vintage style ticket Japanese stickers and a candy baggy.

This bag had a lovely mixture of boiled sweets and caramels, a throw back to retro sweets in candy shops. Hope you've enjoyed your glimpse into The Writing Room! Do please comment and tell me if you have been and what you think of it!

Cheers,

Nadia xx

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/ 

Mouse Mail: Incoming from my twinsie Bekah, aka Miss Mouse Middleton

I believe that we all have more than one soul mate in life and that these soul mates can come in the shape of a close friend, a relative and even your other half. I find myself lucky enough to at least have two soul mates, my own other half Alan and my twin from another mother & father, Bekah. I swear, we share a brain! It is uncanny how much alike we are and when she was here visiting from Canada the amount of times we said "me too!" to one another was beginning to sound redundant! Hehehehe! So, of course, it makes perfect sense to assume that we both are very creative people and have quite similar tastes in things. Bekah is "Mouse" and that is why I am calling this entry Mouse Mail. 

I received this letter over the weekend and boy was I surprised! I had no idea she'd written to me so soon after having spent basically a month in each other's company but I was super excited about it anyway! As soon as I saw the envelope I was certain I'd love all the contents and boy was I right! I just have to show you how creative Bekah truly is:

Will you just look at the amount of gorgeousness that is this black/kraft/white/purple amazing letter and goodies!!! Right down to the Anne of Green Gables line art and the washi samples cleverly placed on a little tag with an Eiffel Tower sticker on it (because we are both obsessed with Paris). I love it all! Plus the quote card for my inspiration wall is just a lovely touch. 

The letter is contained in the beautifully embellished card above and everything is just perfectly and cleverly colour coordinated! Isn't it all beautiful?

I am in love with all the little bits Bekah sent and am already imagining what to do with them. I think I am going to start a pen pal scrapbook for just the things that Bekah has sent me or remind me of her and will add pics from our trips together here and there. 

I love, love, love the stickers and definitely want to use them to add to a scrapbook of our travels! They are just perfect for that! What do you do with all the things your pals send you? Do you tend to hoard them like I do or do you actually use them to send to other folk? 

I am very much looking forward to replying to Bekah soon and will do a few new posts on the things I am sending soon! 

Have a lovely day all!

Happy Snail Mailing!

Nadia xo

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!