Letter Writing and Swaps

Who doesn't just LOVE to get real mail in their mailbox? A letter written by someone you know and lives near or far away and is thinking about you. During the month of February I participated in "A month of Letters" where you sent a letter each day of the month, it was quite a good exercise for me to start writing more and to think of all the people who could use encouragement. My Mom is queen of the written letter and even has a blog dedicated to the Lost Art of Letter Writing and you should definitely check it out!

Recently my two sisters Beth and Maddie have organized a monthly package swap. You sign up at the beginning of every month and then are randomly assigned someone to send a package to. Package swaps are so much fun! Usually it is supposed to fit in an envelope but sometimes it can be just at cheap to send a box! There is a theme each month--first month it was favorite things, this month it is spring! Then you can write a sweet note or letter and fill your package, decorate the outside and whatever you enjoy doing and send your package on it's way to delight the recipient! For those who wonder about the cost...I have found it easy to keep my eye open for small gifts at dollar racks at Michael's or A.C. Moore's that are full of things that I would love to get! I also watch sales...and then of course you can make things which is so much fun! As for mailing there are actual mystery shops that you can do that covers postage and pays you to mail your package! That is totally a win-win situation! So that is how I am able to participate. You don't have to do it every month but if you can, it's fun!

This is the package I mailed yesterday to my swap partner...she loves scrapbooking so I included scrapbooking supplies...she is tea drinker so I put that in there...she also loves to sew so I put some springy fabric in there...I put some flower seeds for spring...some clothespin magnets I made for her...some spring laundry softner...and at the last minute upon reviewing my swap partners profile I decided to pull out the candy as she was trying to cut back on sweets...so mine was put in a box because my secret shop called for a box...but you can do an envelope--I did last month.

I decorated the outside of my box with scrapbooking paper to make it more fun and creative! I had some fun letter writing paper which I love!

I also wanted to show how you can take simple envelopes and brighten them up--I'm  running low on stickers so right now I've just been doing the letters of the name but sometimes I like to put all sorts of fun stickers all over the envelopes. My Mom's letters are AMAZING take a look here. She makes even the envelope a work of art and such fun to get in the mail!

This is the package I received last month--isn't this full of fun things??? I love the pink theme and let me tell you so did Tirzah!!! So you can have quite the elaborate package or something more simple and homemade...I'll keep updating on swaps I do and receive as I remember. You can always make it full of light things to the shipping is less...just remember to do things that you would want to receive.

If you want to join email me or leave a message and I'll see you get signed up...