My Newest Hobby

One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to send more real mail. You remember, handwritten letters -- actual paper and envelopes that require stamps, that sort of thing. So I've been making cards for most of my friends every month, which is great, because it gives me an excuse to collect more pretty papers, laces, tapes and embellishments, and to perfect my amateur paper-crafting skills. And a little while back, my very talented friend Evan explained to me how I could make my own stamps, so I took a trip to the craft store last week to produce some pretty silhouette stamps: the one on the right is Jane Austen's, and the one on the left is a little girl's. Not too bad for a first-timer, if I do say so myself.

Next, I made a card recently for a super-sweet Etsy seller with whom I arranged a trade of items, as a thank you for the trade. She and I are both in love with Britain, so I made a cut-out template of the Union Jack and put it on the front of her card, in cheery moss green, pink, and with the addition of a lace-patterned paper tape. The inside is embellished with the same green patterned paper, a pink Martha Stewart paper lace I found at Michael's, and a beautiful little vintage ledger-paper heart punch on top of which I put a pretty little bird punched out of a thin birch-wood veneer card.

I also put together a little bag of vintage and handmade goodies to go along with the card. I included a vintage hankie from my collection, a pair of earrings in coral, her favorite color, a few paper punches of vintage lined notebook paper on which I used one of my silhouette stamps, some tiny butterfly punches of vintage ledger paper, a yard of gorgeous vintage lace, scalloped punches of a vintage wallpaper, and some little pink bird punches. I packaged it all up in a handmade envelope I made using the same green patterned paper.

So that's what I've been up to this weekend. I plan to keep going for a little while on the paper crafting today, make a quick trip to the post office to send off some pretty packages, then settle in on the couch for Masterpiece Classic tonight! Hooray! And happy weekend to all of you.