And the winners are...

Jan, Hawwa, and Felicia!

Thanks for entering friends!

Three Year Anniversary

My three year anniversary of blogging passed me by a little while ago (Sept. 18th).  I'm really happy about my choice to blog and to keep at it through these three years.  When I first started I didn't have a clear idea what it was going to be about.  My first few posts were just about various things that I was interested in... horses for one!  I'm really happy how this has evolved into a mail blog and I've delved deeper into the wonderful world of mailart.

Also, since it's a special sort of occasion, I am having a giveaway.

Three winners for my three years.
The package will include some notecards, some handmade envelopes, and some artistamps designed by yours truly.

To enter simply comment on this posting and share something interesting!
If you are not one of my penpals (i.e. I don't already have your address) please leave an email address so I can contact you if you win.

I will randomly choose the 3 winners a week from today on Monday, September 30th.

Recently...

 I made a key lime pie to celebrate the end of summer,

 I received my first definitely autumn themed mail,

and other pretty mail as well, (I LOVE the Mary Cassatt stamp!)

 and I've been enjoying the company of my snuggle loving pup.

Please deliver to...

I promised photos of how I used the LEP printout address labels. Well here they are. I had a lot of fun doodling with crayons before pasting on the labels. 
 

Desk Drawer #1

I always love seeing fellow bloggers work areas and methods of organization, so I am going to share what some of my desk drawers look like. 

This first one is my middle main drawer. It definitely gets the most action. I have two cardboard "trays" to organize a bit. I believe they were the gift box of a bow tie that was given to Clayton.

I've got some of my favorite rubber stamps, an ink pad, my Jane Austen address book...

vintage stamps in glassine envelopes...

and address labels in glassine envelopes.

Over top all of it, my bag of stamps gets stuck in the drawer.

It's one of those plastic things that sheets are sold in.

I have a lot of stamp sheets that have just one or two stamps on them because I hate using the last stamp. 

I'm interested in how other people store their stamp sheets.

Incoming

from Taradactyl

from Adrienne

very cool stationery!

 

from Dana

from Connie

 I love the little mice on the front.

Outgoing and LEP printables

Two outgoing letters. I was on a slump for a while. Picking back up now and it feels really nice.

Finally used some of the free printables that come with being a LEP member! I thought that maybe I wouldn't be able to fit the addresses on the lines on the superhero label, but so far it's been fine. Photos coming up soon of the labels in action!

Elephant Butt

A great postcard from Oriana.  Funny thing is that it took me like a day to realize it was a person's butt! For some reason it reminds me of an elephant.

from Taradactyl, I always love her envelopes

Envy vs. Action

One of the blogs I followed and loved is now defunct and a good friend of mine recently quit facebook, mostly for the same reasons.  Too much time spent online, feelings of envy and depression, taking away from time that could be spent creatively...

I have similar issues although I am not thinking of quitting blogging or facebook.  I am trying not to be so envious of things... Recently a friend and penpal found a spinning post card rack like you see in stores and I was happy for her but also a little envious. I was thinking about it and about how it's a perfect example of this type of envy. I would have no place to put such a thing! And it's really cool, but before I saw it I wasn't thinking about how much I wanted one! 

Or those awesome boots that my friend found for $5 at a yard sale that look just like the ones I had for horseback riding when I was younger.  All of a sudden they are brought to my attention so I really want them.

There's also the Ex Postal Facto event that Jennie Hinchcliff is putting on in San Francisco.  Man, that sounds so awesome. But there's no way I can go. But I've been wanting for a year to set up my own public letter writing event and I haven't made any progress towards it.  It's so easy to focus on the things you want and can't have than it is to focus on the stuff that you really could do, but would require some work.

So that is what I'm trying for. Focusing less on the stuff I can't/don't have, and more on the things that I could do, fulfilling things that would make me happy.

The desk

Ms. Bea says no more letters, petting instead.

She really liked playing with those pink strips of paper.

The desk now has a couple plants on it. I've been really wanting to have plants on my desk, but it was a challenge because my desk was always so crowded... But I just had to make room for them. So these marigolds are super hardy. They were pulled up from the garden earlier this summer because they were growing too close together. I just placed them in this bowl outside that had water in it and they kept growing and even flowered! So I brought them in and placed them in our old coffee pot with more water. The roots are huge. I think soon I'll add some dirt and/or plant food. They don't get nearly as much light as they used to, but I think they will be fine.

Doodles for the Dactyl

I've been saving that Snail Mail sticker forever. It is on a clear background which I just thought was really cool.  I have a few more from that sticker sheet.

I just found in my closet a few sheets of velum sticker paper... and now I have a printer AND a computer... maybe I will be creating my own amazing snail mail stickers soon.    :-)

Outgoing from May

Sticker selvage for Mary. Selvage is one of my favorite words now. It's such a useful word!

Ripped scraps from the Chinese newspaper at my favorite Chinese restaurant, Golden Harbor. They have 1000+ items on their menu.

Shiny number stickers? Yes please.