Envelope Art

I am into snail mail in a big way. There are few things better than sitting down with a pile of magazines to snip up, a pile of news to dish out, and a cup of tea to sip on.

Throughout secondary school my friends and I would write each other letters in class, tear out pictures of punks from old copies of NME and slip the sticker-decorated envelopes into each other's schoolbags (we weren't punks- we were writing each other letters for gods sake- but we did fancy them).

Once we all split up for college, letter-writing became a great way to keep in touch and update each other on our latest escapades (few and far between in my case; "I went to a party this weekend! It was my Mom's birthday! We had a nice cake, and then I went to bed early because I had a lecture in the morning")

After a while, the letters petered out, on both sides. We drifted apart, I found friends who were happy to sit in with a bucket of chips and talk about TV shows, rather than going clubbing and shifting.
When college finished, and my close friend also drifted away to her side of the country to continue with her life, the letter-writing resumed.

But it wasn't enough, goddammit! I missed having a couple of letters a week to write, and so I started writing to my two closest friends, who live in the same town as me.
We didn't write lengthy letters describing our days, seeing as we meet up every week and chat for hours, but instead we chop up magazines and fill envelopes with pictures of interiors we admire, dresses we covet, and articles that piqued our interests, along with recipes, photographs and nice sweet wrappers.

And while waiting for those letters to arrive, I joined the Letter Writers' Alliance, on the insistence of my pal Laura (you can check out this awesome service here). Here I was matched with two other women who enjoy a good fountain pen and pretty writing paper, and we share stories from our corners of the globe.

At the moment, I have 5 ladies who I write to on a semi-regular basis (Have you heard of a letter-writing man, in this day and age? Introduce me to him, I have some spaceman stickers I'd like to use).

Decorating the envelopes I send off into the world is a hobby of mine, one I'm about to share with you. I like finding pretty envelopes in stationary shops, but I much prefer putting something together myself, with scraps from magazines, prit-stik and coloured pens.
Here are a bunch of envelopes I've sent over the past year or so, for your nerdy amusement.

 

I tried out my budding watercolour skills on this one. Turns out it's extra tricky when you don't use actual watercolour paper...

 I like the effect you get from tearing out colourful bits of pictures, and leaving the ripped edges

Sometimes I go all out and throw a CD in there too. That's when I'm feeling WILD. 

Also, washi tape is the easiest way to jazz up anything and I love it. Even if I did spend most of my adult life calling it Washti tape, like a derp.

Okay, this one is not an envelope, but a card I saw and then re-made at home. I stuck it in here to show a new trick of mine that I like. I use those little pads you stick to the end of chair legs to stop them scratching the ground, to raise parts of the picture! Cheaper than the purpose made stuff!

 I used a butterfly clip to make a cheery waving envelope (that's me, there!) Butterfly clips are THE BEST. In an ideal world, even envelopes containing angry letters from the bank would include a butterfly clip (maybe an angry bank manager wagging his finger...)

It's quite fun looking back over my old envelopes and remembering the things that filled them. Between these two letters here, Shauna got married!

Please excuse the crummy photo quality. I included these because I wanted to show that decorating the backs of the envelopes is just as much craic! (Providing you find decorating the front of envelopes any craic at all)

 ~

Sometimes I find myself huddled amongst stamps and scissors and stickers and stuff and I think "What am I doing? Seriously, does a beautifully decorated letter really make any difference to the world at all?"
And then I remember a birthday card that was made for me by a child in my pre-school class... 

...And I get back to cutting and sticking.