New Envelope Template!

I bought a new envelope template! Now I know that you don't really need a template to make envelopes, but they sure do make it easier! I recently bought THIS one! I thought it was pretty cool how it interlocks. I was afraid that they wouldn't hold much so I couldn't write long letters with these lil square envelopes, but you'd be surprised how much you can write on a little 4X4 piece of paper! 

The main thing that I dislike about these envelopes are that they're square. So when you're sending a letter that means more postage! Plus it's already small which doesn't leave too much room for extra stamps, address and return address. I'm also not too sure how easy they are to get into. I'm waiting to hear back from one of my pen pals. I'm just hoping it didn't get ripped to shreds or lost in the post!

I really should've taken a photo of my finished sent letters, but I forgot and dropped them in the box! I really need to remember to photography my neat mail art before I send it! Most of the time I just get too excited to send it off I forget! 

So are you the template kinda snail mailer or a make it up as you go kinda envelope person? 

Snail Mail Findings!

This is a cool DIY idea to spruce up some post cards! I love the idea of reinventing old items. You can read more about it HERE!

I'm always on the look out for new stationery! Seems like most note cards don't have enough room to write and most letter sets are a bit unaffordable. So I think THESE meet in the middle very nicely. Plus they have tons of affordable printables in their Etsy shop as well! Oh and you can read their snail mail blog here! 

Personalize note pad!! Wouldn't this be awesome to use to writer letters on?! Plus I'm loving the trendy triangle thing. Found in the Pencil Shavings Studio Etsy shop! 

I'm loving this drawing to show the stamp increase! I wanna make one of these to put up in my room! Made by the lovely Letter Writers Alliance ladies!

Theres so much neat stationery out there! I'm glad that I'm not completely self indulgent, cause if I was I would be broke and have a massive stash! Oh, I also found THIS lil' post that I thought was awesome! She made a few really good points that I wish I knew when I was starting out on my snail mail adventures! 

Phew! Is it Friday yet?!

Ice Cream King!

I did this lil' drawing for one of my pen pals this weekend. I thought it was pretty cute, so I thought I'd share. As I was drawing this guy I totally came up with a story and everything for him. Do other people do that when they draw? Or is it just one of those weird Remi things? Anyways, I think he'll have to take up a couple pages in my next zine! 

Stamp Increase!

Photo found HERE! 

The lady at office depot so kindly informed me that stamp prices are about to go up again. I refused to believe her and decided to google it myself. Well..it looks like she was right! (Now I feel bad for giving her an eye roll!) But its TRUE! Can't say that I'm too terribly surprised. I was kinda bummed but then realized that expensive postage is better then not having any postal system at all! I love snail mail so much! I'm sure if and when the united states postal system goes kaput, that some other company will pick up all the slack. But there is something historical and romantic about the postal system. I'd hate to see it go. So, to show them my love I'll continue to buy their expensive stamps! Although yes, I will complain about it occasionally!

Long story short I'm super glad that I stocked up on all my stamps before the increase!  Luckily for us they made forever stamps, so if you've stocked up then you don't have to buy additional postage stamps. I wonder when they'll make postcard forever stamps..or does it just get to complicated at that point? Anyways, you can read more about it HERE!

As always, SEND MORE MAIL!

P.S. How awesome is THIS tattoo! 

List of Thoughts!

Photo by Kübra Sağın

Lis of thoughts as of late:

1- Why is my skin so bad?
2- Why am I so sleepy, angry and HUNGRY?
3- Oh, that's right...I'm a girl and the menstrual cycle is basically the bane of my existence.
4- I feel like I want to write something, but I'm not a writer. I should still write something though.
5- It scares me how love and hate are so closely correlated.
6- I wonder how long it'll take me saying "i'm not a writer" for me just to prove myself wrong.
7- I think I just wasted 8 hours listening to triple j top 100....eh, worth it!
8- Most people don't see how beautiful and wonderful they are.
9- My insides feel so conflicted these days. I'm just hoping that in the end I'll come out ahead.
10- I'm no going to lie..THIS..gave me nightmares.

I need to stop thinking and get some sleep! Oh my I love you all so much.

Song and Doodle #18

My new favorite song is Head On by Man Man! The first time I heard this song was HERE! Then I realized that I really need to look this band up more. I love the happy and soulful sound they have! This song is officially on my "start your day right" playlist! 

"There's a hole in your head. At least that's what everybody's guessing
It's why you're always misread. It's why you sleep but you never feel rested. You never get your rest in."

I love finding new music! I can't believe it took me this long to discover them! 

Lovely Things: Zines!

I'm such a fan of zines and I've done lots of blog post about them. (Usually about the ones that I make!) But, theres a ton of zines you can buy on Etsy! (Well also other places, but I love Etsy!) The awesome things about zines is that they are fairly cheap. Also you're totally supporting someones creativeness! Which makes you feel twice as good about buying it. Also I like to think they put the money back into make more art, but I could be wrong about that. Anyways, here are my zine findings! Theres lots of kinds of zines so I broke it up into my favorite kinds! Activity, DIY, mini and poetry!

Activity Zines! (1: Activity Zine by Hellojenuine  2: Pony Schok by Danadamki) 

Poetry Zines!  3: Love Like Pop #8 by sardonicsmile  5: Little Epic by Miss Quite Contrary) 

DIY Zines! (4: Don't DIY by Small Ghosts  6: Parcel Ghosts Guide to Post by Thimble Winder) 

Mini Zines! (7: Stylish People by ElizabethGraeber  8: Fjord Zine by Memohelen)

I still have my mini haiku zine if you'd like one! I hoping that I get another one done soon! Sigh, never enough time! 

Incoming Mail

I haven't gotten too much mail this year so far, but I wanted to share what I have received so far! I'm trying this new scanning in mail thing. I realized that my photography skills aren't improving anytime soon and looking back at my old posts I need to improve. Or I should just buy an actual camera but thats kinda expensive and my indecisive is going to get the best of me! 

My favorite pen pal Michael always has the coolest stamps! Plus he makes all his own envelopes. Which are always so pretty! 

I got a really cool zine from one of my newer pen pals. I'll share it later on when I can get some better photos of it! I still have a ton of mail I have to respond too. One day I will get all caught up! 

Weekend Accomplishments!

I got so much done this weekend! I finally filled out my calendar in my efforts to get more organized! My goal is to do a post everyday, but I'm not sure how long that'll last. I'm thinking if I have a outline it will be very helpful! I'm using THIS calendar and THESE stickers with THIS kinda sticky notes cut in half! I'm starting to realize that I'm all of a sudden attracted to bright colors. Which is a good thing! I'm such a grey person. So now my blog design matches my blog calendar! 

I also got my room picked up! I'm embarrassingly messy but hey worse things could happen! Also I realized that I need to get some shelves asap to avoid random piles of books on my floor. AND I got all my laundry washed and hung up! I feel kinda nerdy sharing my small accomplishments with you all, but I'm really proud of myself! Its kinda like I'm adult or something. 

I hope you all had a very successful weekend! 

The Sketchbook Project!

Every year I partake in the Sketchbook Project and EVERY year I forget to do it and I end up whipping it out in a week. Needless to say deadlines are not my friend. But I continue to do it mostly because I love the idea and I LOVE that even pretend artists like me can participate. So I thought I'd share with you my sketchbook that I successfully dropped off ON TIME this evening!

My book didn't scan too well because all the pages were woobly from the paint. Plus squeezing the chunky think down on the scanner wasn't going to well. 

I didn't really have a solid idea for my sketchbook. So it kinda just became a mishmash of random half ideas that I had. Most of these are just thoughts and ideas that I jotted down but didn't ever develop them into something of substance. I figured maybe if I compile them all then they might make sense together. Maybe that was wishful thinking? 

I'll be honest its always a little bit hard to let go of my sketchbook. But hopefully one day I'll make it to the Art House sketchbook library and get to look at all my past sketchbooks! You can see last years book HERE or THERE! Phew! I think I have time to actually work on other project and organize myself a little bit. I've been a lazy blogger lately and starting off on the wrong foot. Its not too late though! 

List of Thoughts as of Late!

Photo by Emmalyn Sullivan 

Things that have been on my mind:
1) Why do your finger nails grow so fast?
2) Weekends need to be longer!
3) Why do I sign up for the sketchbook project then wait until the last minute to do it?
4) The weather is indecisively cold. I'm not even sure how to dress anymore.
5) God? Religion? Feels like a mush in my head.
6) Top Gear is awesome! How am I just now finding this out?
7) Finally bought a planner. Now I need to fill the darn thing out!
8) I'm so in love with THESE and THOSE!
9) I should bake more because cookies sound pretty much amazing right now.
10) I pretty much despise cleaning out the fridge. But it is one of those things is HAS to be done. Or else you really suffer the consequences!

Hope you all have a successful week!

Song and Doodle #17

Its been a while since I've done a song and doodle post! Mostly cause I haven't been too obsessed with any songs as of late, until now! I've been a Deer Tick fan for quite sometime ever since my obsession with Middle Brother. But I've found a recent fondness for this song. I'm not sure why actually. It speaks to me for some reason and says, yeah..we know Rem, we feel ya don't worry. Don't forget the small changes! Ok ok, maybe that's a little bit crazy. 

"I am the dotted line, and you fill me in with whatever you like. I am just going through the motions. I need an old fashioned potion. There has gotta be some old recipe."

I need to keep a better eye out and snatch up some Deer Tick tickets the next time they are in town!

Mini Zine!

I've been getting discouraged because I haven't really had time to work on my zines. I do confess that I'm awfully picky and taking way too long just being fickle. Needless to say I don't do good with deadlines. Anyways, I made a mini zine! I love these because they are only one page, super cute, easy to make, not intimidating, easy to print and produce! I decided to just do one with lil' haikus in it! I'm not a very good poet, but haikus always seemed to come easy. I think having a pattern helps! If you'd like to make your own mini zine you can find how to fold and cut HERE! I think I'm going to try and produce these lil beauties more often!

Also! If you'd like a copy of my lil zine, you can go HERE! I'll send you one with a lil love note! 

Pen Review!

For Christmas my bestest pen pal gave me some AWESOME giftys! A way to a girls heart is definitely getting her some pens! I got some brush pens and a new water color sketch book. I just wanted to share and give you my thoughts on these lovely additions to my massive pen stash! 

First off, I'm not sure how to link you too where theses were purchased. (and that might be kinda rude of me to "research" where my gifts came from) So I just guesstimated and chose something that was similar to these pens! Which I found HERE! My favorite store Jetpens.com! 

Let's hop to it! Things I like about these pens:

1-Easy to hold and grip. Kinda light which is nice. 

2- Can easily get a super fine line. 

3-Makes your handwriting looks instantly fancy 

4- Doesn't bleed out or ooze like some pens. 

5- Fun to write with! 

Things I didn't like: 

1- Inconsistent ink flow, but I think I just need to get the hang of it. 

2- Very wet ink that takes a while to dry. So watch out to make sure you aren't smudging anything! Luckily once it dries, its DRY and ins't going anywhere! 

Over all I'm loving the challenge it's been to learn how to use these pens efficiently. These aren't the usual kinda pens I use for drawing but I think I can make some really cool and creepy monsters with them. Especially once I figure out how to force the ink flow. 

I feel like the luckiest girl to have friends that know me well enough to get me something I'd adore. Did you get any out of the blue surprise gifts that were just too perfect?