The lost art of letter writing - Project Letter Writing 2012

personalized cards by Angie Allen Stationary 

When I take down my displayed holiday cards each year, I always tell myself I'm going to write my friends a letter or card sometime throughout the new year. This has been a pipe dream of mine for years.  To sit down in an evening, choose a random friend, and write a note to them on beautiful stationary. It's a great notion but one that is often squashed by reality. 

As the postal service is having financial issues, letter writing is becoming even more obsolete. I've used the USPS for all my shipping needs and have been extremely pleased with their service. It is truly amazing to me that a package or letter can get across the country in a matter of a few days for very little money. And what about the convenience of having something brought directly to your home daily?  As much as I complained about the rising cost of postage, 44 cents can be found under the floor mats of my car or sofa seat cushions.  It's embarrassing to think how much I willingly spend on a cup of coffee from YouKnowWhobucks.

I love the art of letter writing. I love beautiful stationary and cards. I have a box full of cards for every holiday. I have gorgeous pens, nibs and inks. If better organized, I should be able to send at the very least a birthday card a month.  It's all been a lovely notion.

As I pondered this idea for the ?? year, I thought that even a card/letter a month isn't a huge task. I just need to commit to it.  So, that is what I'm going to do. Would you like to join me?  I'm going to write a letter or send a card to someone at least once a month (maybe more but at least once).  I'll document it here with a photo. If you'd like to make this commitment, too, just share your post or photo and I'll post it along with mine for the month.

Do I have any takers?

Rudolph - posted by Crafted by Lindy - Fab Finds from Etsy

Top to Bottom, Lef to Right

1. Retro Cute Rudolph Deer Christmas Stocking Aqua Blue - Mr Button

2. REINDEER ORNAMENTS VINYL DECAL STICKER - Cano Designs

3. Damask Rudolph Cards - Set of 12 - Oh Louise Designs

4. Deer to My Heart Hat - Polka Dot Robots

Top to Bottom, Left to Right

5. Illustrated Christmas Carol Card - rudolph the red nosed reindeer - Maile Lani

6. Reindeer Bird - sabahnur

7. XMAS SALE Christmas Reindeer Felt Pillow - photographik

8. Rudolph-Special: Rudolph and 50 yards of Superthick Paper Twine - Paper Phine

[Lindy lives in Alberta, Canada, with her husband, son and new baby girl. Besides blogging, she enjoys running her stationery business and creating new designs for her Etsy shop. You can read her own blog here.]

DIY Slinky business card holder/display - great for indie craft shows or your office desk

I've had a Slinky (the classic toy that's fun for a girl and a boy) sitting on my kitchen counter for...well, longer than I'd like to admit.  It dawned on me the other day that it would be a great way to hold/display business cards for a desk or table.   It actually holds a lot of cards and looks great. 

Fun for adults, too!

 

Monday Morning Madness - To market, to market...

Happy Monday! Hope you had an enjoyable weekend. Ours was nice. I worked much of it, but did so with the flurry of family around me.

It's down to the wire for me as I'm nearing my December shows. I'm doing many things at once, including ongoing production of items. I have spent a lot of time with packaging and display lately. Some of you may have noticed that I've changed the look of my materials a bit. When I started à la mode, I hurriedly threw together my marketing so that I could bring business cards and such to my first event. Knowing that I'd be making & selling a variety of items, I came up with a universal name so as not to pigeon hole myself - à la mode (in the prevailing fashion). I designed my marketing materials very simply, again not knowing where I was going with my look. Since I did a lot of marketing in years past, I knew the importance of branding. So, with that in mind, I kept things the same for 3 years.

A few months back I was playing around with some photos and took pictures of a pile of my labels. Liking how they turned out, I decided to incorporate them into the overall look of my business. Last week, I got my new business cards and hang tags (actually business cards designed to be cut in half) from Vista Print. I was quite pleased with the way they turned out!

I have been quite pleased with Vista Print and you can't beat their prices. I know many people say otherwise, but I've not had any problems. You just have to resign yourself to ignore their gorilla advertising. Besides my business cards, I've had them print postcards, brochures, labels, and note cards.

So, what's on my "to do" list this week? Pretty much everything -- make more bags, jewelry, switch plates; print, package, and primp; design my booth, buy some lighting, and the list goes on. What are your goals this week?