Postcards Mailing Out today

First one will be going to The Netherlands,

Second one will go to Czech Republic,

Final one will go to Finland.

How About Orange: Make your own stamps

How About Orange has a feature article on their blog about making your own stamps.

Featured are:
1. A Pennant Rubber Stamp roller
2. A button stamp made from a recycled spool of thread

Letter Writing and Art

I've noticed a trend lately and am quite excited about it. As I browse blogs across the web I'm finding more and more people picking up a Pen and Paper. How exciting.

The Art of Letter Writing by The Rhythm of the Home
This article is all about the beauty of the Written letter. Creating paper either via handmade paper or painting or printing -- just making the letter beautiful for the receiver.

Circle Letters by A Joyful Chaos [I thought this was a wonderful little article.]

The author of A Joyful Chaos raised Amish and shares what that was like via her blog. In this post she shares what is called a Circle letter. This is where a letter is passed around to a Circle of Friends - Like 10. Sounds like a Round Robin for Penpals. This would be so cool to do. So, just commment below and I'll add you to a list and when I get up to 10, I'll start the first letter.

The penpal project by Indie Fixx Jenn is getting frustrated with Email and so she decided to bring back the written letter. Join in by leaving a comment and following the Twitter page.

Enjoy Writing again.
Sara (Momwithahook)

P.S. The Image above is my Mothers' Birth Announcement. My grandmother kept this in a memory book for my Mom and gave it to her upon her marriage.

Mail Call: Tags, Fbs and Label Bags

First off I participated in the I Love Etsy swap for February via the Etsy Addicts Group on Swap-bot.com. For this swap we had to purchase something $5 or less from our partners favorites with a Heart-Red-Valentine theme. I purchased a set of Vintage Red buttons for my partner in Australia. I received a nice set of Valentine themed Tags from OpheliaQuilts.

Second, I received these 5 Label Bags from thvmatt on swap-bot.com.


Third, I received some friendship books from Renate in the Netherlands via a group swap.


Last, I received some friendship books from a pal Tracy in WI.

March: Project 12 Mail Call

Hi all, haven't posted in a while but that doesn't mean my mailbox has been empty. I'll catch up here soon. I wanted to post a quick thank you to Christina, my Project 12 partner for Swap-bot.com. As you may recall I was part of a fantastic Penpal swap in which we wrote our partners 12 letters and included a small 'something' to inspire or encourage our new penpal throughout 2010.

Christina is my partner. She is so like minded in her likes it's as though we've known each other forever. This month I opened up my last 'Mind' themed letter and was encouraged by her letter. She's been giving me homework assignments each month plus a crochet pattern to work on.

This months assignment is to catch all my inspiration in the little journal she gave me. Also included in this months letter was an antique crochet doily, a 4 leaf clover crochet pattern, a funky pencil and a very kawaii owl book mark to encourage me to read. (awwww)

I'm excited for this month as I dig deeper into my inspiration for crochet and writing. Also, out of no where God surprised me and my family with a call from our previous Apartment Manager. As some of you know my husband lost his job Oct. 2008 and in March 2009 we had to move in with my parents. Well, our manager calls me last Monday to say she has the apartment in the back with a small backyard available and that she'd give it to us for the amount we paid previously.

This was so unexpected as we weren't even looking to move out but God sometimes will push us in a direction he'd like us to go. So, here we are at almost the 1 year anniversary of moving in with parents, just like at the one year anniversary of my husbands layoff he found a job, -- we find we will be moving out of my parents into our old place plus with a bonus back yard for my boy.

Isn't life just the most 'Epic' adventure ever?

Project 12: February Mail

I Opened this months 'PROJECT 12' envelope a bit late as this month started with a bang of busyness. I opened this months envelope with the idea that it would have a love theme as this is Valentine's Day but got a pleasant surprise.

This month my pal decided to send Chinese New Year items. I loved the letter - the challenge of stepping outside of myself and my normality-explore other cultures and traditions. I opened the lucky envelope and inside was a $1.00. I'm challenged to give family and friends the remaining lucky envelopes. (I'm gonna enjoy that)

Included also was Lucky Star paper, lucky stars, Lucky star instructions, Origami Paperas well as instructions and of course a Crochet Pattern. This month the project is a Water Bottle holder.

Valentines Matchbox Tutorial with Rachel Johnson

Featuring Rachel of Swap-bot.com


You can see the video HERE.


Also, visit the swap-bot.com blog for the wonderful photos of the matchboxes made last night during the Etsy Live Labs.

Today, for How To Tuesdays Etsy also featured this Matchbox Tutorial so you can see a picture tutorial there as well.

Be sure to Download the Matchbox Template HERE. She has two types there for you. The first being the Traditional-similar to the purchased matchboxes and the Envelope Matchbox - which is the one I prefer.