Small parcels with lots of love

I have always believed in the perfect timing of things and how they find their way to you. These parcels below are amazing examples of excellent timing. They arrived in time to cheer, comfort, reassure and most of all to deliver the love the person invisibly wrapped just for me.

My life has felt a bit like a roller coaster lately, and these beautiful and amazing people from far away have made me feel loved, and for that I am deeply grateful.

It is magical how "pen-palships" are born, why some are a perfect match, and some others aren't, why some last many years and others don't. I've always thought it is actually quite similar to meeting someone in person- you either have the chemistry or you don't, and you either insist or you don't.

What I  know for certain is, that when beautiful parcels like these or simple, long letters arrive on my mailbox, my life is so much fuller and brighter because of them... And I feel very darn lucky!!

Thank you so very much, Juliane, Jenni, Puk, Julia, and Jen!!

I wish you a beautiful weekend ahead and may the stars align so that beautiful parcels arrive at your doorstep,
Giova

Write on Challenge

Just so you don't get all confused, this blog hasn't gone back in time to Valentine's day. I am cutting a bunch of hearts to sew together, but they are for a different matter.

What matter is that? you ask.

Well, a few days ago I read on Instagram about a challenge to write 30 letters in 30 days, and I was, WHAT!!!! I need to do that, but where will I get 30 people to write to.

Instagram and Facebook of course. I asked who wanted to receive a letter from me, and almost 30 people answered.

As you may or may not know April is National Letter Writing month. You can read all about the campaign here, and I think there is still time to order your free kit to get you started. They also recently started a lovely blog filled with wonderful inspiration in all things related to the art of letter writing.

Maybe you'll feel the need to send 30 letters out, or maybe just one or five. Any number is perfectly wonderful. Just a tiny grain to keep the art alive, is enough.

Confession: I'm actually not writing a letter per day. I have written more than one per day, but I have plenty of good excuses, for instance; I work from our dining table, and it can't possibly be a mess for a month, when I write letters, I also make things to send, like the garlands above, I do take my time to write, and decorate the envelope, and finally I have kids on vacation at the moment.

So, there will be days when  I'll write 1 or 3 letters and there will be days when I won't be able to write anything at all.

I do hope you find a little time this month to send out a letter. If you need ideas on what to include with your letter, you can check out The Flat Project.

All the best,
Giova

Meeting a Pen Pal in Real Life

Maybe if you follow me or Puk on Instagram you saw that a meeting between two pen pals was taking place! Maybe you didn't?
Well, Puk and I have been pen pals for about 8 months, and we get along pretty well (on paper that is), we had never met in real life before last week.
I can't recall how we came upon a meeting, but I was truly, really, nervous. I never went on any blind dates but I imagine this is sort of how you rationalize the meeting: total acceptance and chemistry, vs. total rejection and uncomfortableness. Sweaty palms and a billion butterflies in the stomach. Do correct me if I'm wrong.
On top of it, one of my other pen pals knew about this meeting and wrote back to me saying; "I value my pen palships way too much to take a risk like that, maybe you like her and maybe you don't, and if you don't, you loose your pen pal."
So to make me even more nervous, she was staying at my house for 5 days.

Crossing the boundaries from the written word to the spoken one was a bit tough. I'm usually not very good at first time meetings, usually I come across as a bit rude, and I'm the type of person you don't like immediately (I've been told this several times).
Thankfully it all went smoothly. We got along in real life too. Pheewww!!! We happen to have a great thing in common; CRAFTS. So we went out looking for the stores (yes, we bought more washi-tape), we crafted in the house, we talked about crafts, we looked at books about crafts, I showed her my crafts and journals and she even taught me some new crochet patterns.

So yes, it is a risk you take (a big one) and I don't recommend this for the faint of heart. Many might think that you can write to anyone, but I disagree completely. You also need to click on paper. It is a bit hard to explain, but when you receive a letter from someone you know if it will be  lasting relationship or not. Writing letters takes time, just like real life friendships. They are not sustained because you have a person on the other side. Like all relationships, you need to work at them to make them work. Sounds silly, but it is the truth. Pen palships are no different.
So be nice and tell me,  were you ever in this situation? Did you ever meet any of your pen pals in real life?? How was it??

There must be millions of people all over the world who never get any love letters... I could be their leader.  - Charlie Brown

And none will hear the postman's  knock
Without a quickening of the heart.
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
- W. H. Auden

Have a wonderful day.
Giova.

Snail Mail Goodness

I want to thank you all who participated and left such wonderful comments. Reading why you like snail mail so much made this past few days so much brighter! And for this, I've offered to write a letter to each and everyone of you! You don't have to write me back, just leave me your address on my email and I promise a letter will be sent!

It is really amazing how one letter in a mailbox can make a day brighter, cheer up, inspire, and just for the minutes (or maybe hours) you're with a letter everything is simply "much better."

When I was little, some 30 years ago, I used to wish for a pen pal,  I waited and waited for that someone who would write me letters. Boy did I have to wait!! I was 17 when I finally met someone who loved writing letters and beautiful papers as much as I did. She lived in the UK and I in Colombia. Those letters took a month, sometimes more to reach its destinations, but we kept at it. That is the trick to a good pen -palship, I think; "to keep at it."

O.K, the reason why you are here, (drum roll please.....)

Congratulations mi+ed, these two packages will be on your way soon!
P.S: Also Dinastia Chow Fan, I have an extra set of cards and I will give them to you so you can win that girl. A man does need nice paper to write poems to his loved one, I think!
P.S.S: Please if you would like for me to send you that letter that I promised, send me your address (my email is on the right side of the blog).

Thank you again everyone for such cool comments.
Have a wonderful day!
Giova

Accordion Envelope Using Paper Bags

I think I should change the name of my flat project to the envelope project. For some reason I keep coming up with envelopes, but I must admit that envelopes are a weakness. More so, than the actual writing paper. 

This is a very easy and simple project. It is a little folder where you can fit almost anything flat that you wish to send to your pen pal. And you have a nice envelope made up with all those leftover paper bags (I'm assuming you have leftover bags, but I think if you only have the brown paper kind, they will look very nice too).

Here is what you'll need:

• paper bags, any kind (I got mine at Paper Presentation, and St. Augustine Paper Co.) 
• glue stick
• washi-tape if you want to re-enforce the lower part
• scissors or x-acto knife
• nice paper for the back (the bird one is from Sukie, the red chevron is from Igloo letterpress)

The glue goes in 2 places: On the lower part of each bag so they get stuck together, and on the last bag which a piece of paper will be glued to make the flap of the envelope.

I haven't sent out one yet, but I don't think it needs extra protection. Seal it with wash-tape instead of the twine and you'll be set.

Wishing you a lovely and crafty weekend.
Giova.

Guest Post: Jillian in Italy

 I'm super happy to have Jillian from Jillian in Italy and her colorful world on the blog today. I'm an avid follower of her blog (and not only because we've been blogging friends) but because she is such an inspiration. She is a busy mother of 3, and always comes up with the most amazing projects or the best tips for traveling with kids. I'm really honored to have her here!

Hello One Bunting Away readers!  I’m so happy to have been invited to share this space today.  I’ve been a huge fan of this blog since I met Giova at The Hive last year and I adore her passion for everything crafty and creative (we’re definitely kindred spirits).  And I love Giova’s infectious enthusiasm for anything to do with the old art of snail-mailing (can it be considered an old art yet?).  I’ve received snail-mail from her and, believe me, it’s amazing.  She puts so much time and thought into her letters that leave you feeling so happy and positive.

So when Giova asked me to do a little guest post the first thing I thought about was to try and find something for her FlatProject (for snail mailing).  And since I’m a lover of sewing and fabrics it only made sense to combine the two.  I decided to make my own notecards embellished with sewn on pieces of fabric.  It’s quick and easy and actually a great project to do with kids of just about any age.

This is the perfect project to use up some of those tiny pieces of scrap fabric that you’ve been saving for the last decade (please tell me I’m not the only one who does this).

I cut up tiny circles, half circles and triangles and sewed them around the edges of various sized pieces of coloured cardboard.  I used a mix of floral, polka dot, gingham and striped materials but it would also be really nice with solid fabrics as well.  And don’t worry about them being perfect – the homemade look makes these little cards even more charming.

My daughters and I also made some round cards which turned out very sweet.  Definitely something a little different to include in your snail mail envelope. 

Since I know Giova loves inspiring quotes I dug out my jar of alphabet stamps and stamped some out on a few of the cards.

Whether you use these as writing cards or frames for your favorite inspiring words I think they would bring a lot of joy and colour to any letter you send to friends, family or pen pals.  Thanks for having me Giova!

I hope you have enjoyed her really cool ideas for making your snail mail a bit prettier and colorful. For more doses of color, sewing projects, baking goodies make sure to visit her blog.

Thank you so much Jillian! And do send a pretty card this way, I would love to have one!!

Have a great weekend!

Giova