Happy Monday, y'all!
I know its been pretty quite on the old blog so far in 2015, but I appreciate you stopping by today as I have something new and fun to share! One of my goals for this year is to celebrate the everyday a little more and send out more happy mail. I decided to turn it into a blog feature and I want to see you, my lovely friends, play along!
After selling cards and paper goodies on Etsy for a year I have learned alot about the trends for what's popular and when people make an effort to send actual paper letters or cards to their loved ones. December is a biggie-Christmas, Hanukkah, even New Years. Valentine's is a popular one then, well....there is Mother's and Father's Day, but beyond that, people don't send letters and cards like they used to. Even for birthdays, many people send an email or a FB message (I am guilty of that). But, there is something so special about a real life letter or card, the excitement of opening the mailbox and seeing your name on something that is NOT a bill.
Happy mail is the best mail, people.
I went online and found a couple of 'official' holidays each month and decided I would some cards and send them out to my friends. These are not national, parade worthy days, just perfectly lovely little days that are worth celebrating. I also want to challenge myself to try a new technique or a little something different than my normal style-stretch my creative muscles a little.
Here's how it will work: at the beginning of each month I will post the holidays and the cards I made to celebrate them. I will post them to Instagram with the hashtag #happymailisthebestmail. The, all throughout the month I will be re posting (on IG and FB) what YOU have made or received based on my ideas. Make sure to use the hashtag so I can find them! I am super excited and ready to see a movement happen. A moment to send out a little paper love and tell the ones we love we are thinking about them. Not just on their birthday-but every day!
Who's with me? Let's get started!
Now, you might be saying 'Michelle, ummm, it's February'. Well, that's true ; ). Thing is, goal setting is a skill I am always working on. When the end of January popped up and I hadn't posted the cards I made. I felt a little discouraged. I thought about scraping the idea. Who would care, anyway? The thing is, I am really excited by this idea. I LOVE the thought that other people will be inspired to send happy mail to their loved ones because they saw what I made here. So, I decided to go ahead and post the cards I made last month with the ones I made for February. Can we agree to not give up on great ideas if you falter at first? good. Let's do this.
{National Hugging Day- January 21st}
You guys, a days for hugging-how cheesy and awesome is that? Mark your calendars for next year ; ). Here's the card I made:
I love the look of heat embossing, but I really use plain powders-black, clear, maybe silver. I saw this card at Paper Source and loved the colors and the letterpress look. I used a couple of colorful embossing powders to recreate the look here. And now I want a pet robot, he is so cute.
{National Pie Day- January 23}
I mean..pie. I am a dessert aficionado. My friends and I have been known to plan their dessert choices at a new restaurant before we plan our entrees....that's how we roll. Don't get me started about how much I love my grandmother's berry pies. Heaven. with whipped cream. Here's the card:
I mean..pie. I am a dessert aficionado. My friends and I have been known to plan their dessert choices at a new restaurant before we plan our entrees....that's how we roll. Don't get me started about how much I love my grandmother's berry pies. Heaven. with whipped cream. Here's the card:
(supplies below)
The design for this was pretty simple, but for the first time I found clip art and printed it out twice on patterned paper. I kind of 'built' the pie. Nothing earth shattering, but I this it turned out pretty cute!
Onto February..
This is my favorite I made of the group for many reasons. I have two furry roomates that I love so much, and I have many friends who feel the same. I also sat down and figured out a technique I have wanted to try for a while- using my Silhouette Cameo to cut out stamped shapes. I put together a step by step of what I did, come back on Friday to see that.
{Thank a Mailman Day- February 4th}
I have a pretty cool mailman. He's an older guy, he is super friendly, and actually remembers my name when I see him. I live in a condo building and I used ot have trouble with my packages not getting delivered, they are inclined to leave them on my doorstep, so I would have to make a special trip to the post office. Very annoying. I told him about it, he makes sure to put my packages in a secret hiding spot where I can find them, they are safe and I am mucho happy. Don is a super nice guy and I should thank him. So I did:
This card is actually a flat card-I added the slot to stick a smaller card in with my message. I really like how it worked out, I might make more for giving gift cards.
There you go- Series #1 of #happymailisthebestmail . You still have time to send a note for Love Your Pet Day! Let me see them. Leave a comment below if you have any questions about how I made the cards, come back on Friday to see my Silhouette tutorial.
xoxo,
Michelle
HUG ME! Card: Prima Press Uppercase Stamps, PS Robot Stamp, Ranger Pink Embossing Powder
,Embossing Heat Tool
YOU, ME and PIE Card:Dear Lizzy Letter Stickers
Blue Card Bases
, image from Google Search, paper scrapsPAPER PET LOVE POSSE Card: Mama Elephant Origami Stamp Set,Copic Markers
, Silhouette Cameo 
,Hero Arts Black Card Bases
, paper scraps