“You may struggle at times, but here you are, having picked yourself up again and pressing on. Never lose that. You are so much stronger than you think.”

“Love can’t enter through a wall. It comes in when doors are open.”

“Well, friend. I guess – I guess we’re not so fleeting after all. I’d say we’re pretty damn infinite.”

These are all excerpts from love letters written to and from total strangers. They are part of a project called The World Needs More Love Letters, a community of more than 20,000 letter-writers from across 49 different countries.

They mail love letters to strangers in need (you can request a love letter of your own here), and they leave love letters in public places like cafes, libraries, holiday destinations and college campuses for strangers to find.

The whole project started with one young woman, Hannah Brencher, who left love letters for strangers all over New York City to help lessen the loneliness and depression that followed her graduation from university.

How about you. Would you write a love letter to a stranger? If you’d like to, you can get involved here.

{Image credits, all licensed under Creative Commons: 1. BiblioArchives 2. Trondheim Byarkiv 3. petertandlund 4. State Library of Victoria Collections}

A little while back my dear friend, author Ruby Blessing, alerted me to Mark Powell‘s stunning drawings on antique envelopes, maps and newspapers. Talk about putting my picture post attempts to shame! I wrote to Mark and he gave me permission to upload some of his pictures for you here. Which is your favourite?

There’s loads more on Mark’s website, or you can like his Facebook page, if you want to see more.

“To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart.” ~ Phyllis Theroux

Last night Mr B came home from work with a pile of “googly eyes” board-books for Madeleine, and this one for me. Did you know that the British Air Force kept more than 20,000 pigeons to carry intelligence during the first World War? Or that Hammurabi the King of Babylon invented one of the earliest postal systems (almost 4000 years ago)? Or how to make scented ink? I do, now. I am going to sparkle at dinner parties.

What are you reading right now?

There is something so very tactile and satisfying about receiving old-fashioned snail mail in the box, don’t you think? There is a wonderful theatre to opening it, not knowing what’s inside. And a special feeling, knowing that the sender has taken time to write to me by hand, to pack a parcel, to wrap and post and send it.

The fact that mail takes such a long time to arrive (as opposed to the instant gratification of email, phone calls and messaging), and has been through so many hands to get to its final destination, only adds to the romance of the post.

When you receive a parcel from me in your mailbox, it has been on a journey. It has seen places you may never see, and has travelled across mountains and highways and oceans to reach you. The stamps and marks and scuffs that you can see when it arrives are evidence of its adventurous passage toward you across the globe.

Often, I like to draw or paint pictures to embellish the addresses on the mail I send, like these. I also use string and wax and ink stamps to add to a parcel’s beauty. (This is for the benefit of both the recipient and all the postal workers who handle it: the woman at my local Post Office loves it when I come in with a new parcel, turning it over in her hands and saying “Oh, lovely,” before affixing the stamps.)

But lately I’ve been exploring other ways to make the mail I send something lovely to look at. And after a recent trip to Kaisercraft at the fabulous Uni Hill factory outlet precinct for inspiration, I came up with some new ideas using collage, stencils and wooden embellishments.

They were super easy to make, and I’m really happy with the results. If you want to have a try, just wrap your parcel in plain paper, then have a play. I used PVA glue to attach the wooden and paper collage pieces, although double-sided tape would probably do as well. For pieces that absolutely couldn’t fall off (like those containing the addresses!) I reinforced the corners with pretty printed tape. The wooden eggs were plain when I bought them, so I painted them before gluing them on.

Some mail tips for embellishing mail (so that they won’t get mad at you at the Post Office):

* Make sure you leave space on the top-right of the parcel for the stamps
* If your parcel is going overseas, leave space for the airmail sticker to go on the top-middle or left
* If you need to make a customs declaration (most Australian post going overseas requires this), leave a good area on the back to stick the form so it doesn’t destroy your lovely artwork on the front
* It’s a lot easier to send ‘fancy’ mail if you are sending something with a flat surface, like a book. If your mail is bumpy or squishy, consider putting it in a small box before wrapping it in the brown paper, so you can more easily decorate it
* Since you’re using paper in place of an envelope, take a few extra steps to be sure it is strong enough to survive the journey. I make sure there are a few layers of paper around my parcel. I also reinforce all the fold-lines of the paper with sticky-tape, leaving nowhere that it could catch or tear. Finally, I put a piece of sticky tape on every corner to protect it from tearing if it bumps around with all the other mail.

I found all the supplies I needed to decorate my mail from the the amazing new Kaisercraft University Hill store. This included PVA glue, printed sticky tape and a craft knife, as well as the following ‘features’ for each box:

1: Packet of mini playing cards
2: Packet of Rub Ons – easy-to-use stencils in various designs
3: Packet of “Timeless Tags” – more than 50 pieces of die cut shapes
4: Two packets of three wooden Easter eggs

Coming up next week: Easter eggs with hidden messages inside.

Sponsored by the good folks at Uni Hill factory outlets. 

Just after Christmas, a little package arrived for me in our post office box. It was about the size of a letter, but satisfyingly plumper (plumper? more plump?). There were little drawings on the outside, my address was written in a friendly, swirly script, and washi tape held the corners together. The stamp was from Germany. Drawing on my masterful powers of deduction, I surmised that this was a letter from my penpal Astrid. Also, she wrote her name on the back. I was very excited.

Astrid is wonderfully generous and creative, and writes me fabulous letters about her life and family in Germany, and her regular travels in Italy and elsewhere. She fills her letters with lovely anecdotes, as well as little gifts of beautiful stationery, pictures, mementos and ephemera, much of it handmade. You can see some of Astrid’s amazing mail packages to me here and here.

Astrid is a much better penpal than I am. I take a lot longer between letters than she does and, no matter how much I wrack my brain, I never come up with anything as clever or imaginative or lovely to send in my letters to Astrid as she does to me.

Case in point, the letter I excitedly tore open just after Christmas. Attached inside a card by a piece of pink tape was a beautiful little pendant. It was a silver cloud and, when you looked closely, one side was covered with pretty little raindrops while the other was clear like a fluffy, white cloud sailing by on a sunny day. Then I read the card, and discovered that Astrid had actually made this! Isn’t she clever?

A little while ago, Astrid opened a shop on Etsy called Sparkling Flora, where she sells some of her lovely creations. And today I have a very special chance for you to win one of two prizes from my generous penpal: a rain-cloud pendant just like mine, and a set of three handmade mini-journals. What’s more, Astrid will send you your prize ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.

To enter:

1. Go to Sparkling Flora and Tweet about the page, like it on Facebook or Favourite it (you only need to do one of these but I’ll award one entry in the draw for each action, the buttons to help you do this are on the bottom-left of the page)

2. Leave a comment here to let me know what you’ve done

For an extra chance, let me know in the comments what you like best in Astrid’s shop.

I’ll draw two winners using a random selector on Thursday 28 February, 2013. Draw 1 will be for the necklace, Draw 2 will be for the mini-journals. Good luck!!

ps. I made the prizes look all Polariod-esque using polaroin.com

UPDATE: This competition is now closed. Congratulations Lisa and Noor.

These are some outtakes of photos of me writing letters and sending books to you guys, and painting pictures on the parcels. They were taken to support a piece I was invited to write for Winsome Journal, about how so many of us love snail mail.

I love to sit outside and write these letters, when the weather is not too hot. The downside of taking photographs out here is that you are in danger of being photobombed by dogs, cats AND babies who insist on being held (and then insist on stealing your pen).

While I was battling with all these elements, as well as my innate awkwardness in front of the camera, the sun came up and glared in my face and let’s just say it wasn’t flattering and I should probably get some cream for those frown-lines. C’est la vie.

More mail went into the postbox for you guys today. This is such a fun project for me, though I think I’ll need to mix it up and do something different for the next post (I’m not sure what yet, time to do some thinking!).

I’ve had a few people ask me how they’re done, so here you go.

First, I wrap each parcel in brown paper, using several layers to be sure the book underneath doesn’t show through, and making sure to tape all the edges and add extra tape to each corner, to protect it as it travels across the country and all around the world.

The pictures aren’t stamps, I draw them (which is why some of the drawings are so wonky), taking inspiration from what I might know about the recipient or anything they’ve told me in the comments box, or else just choosing something from my world or imagination, as it takes my fancy. I’m clearly no artist but thankfully people seem to appreciate the effort and the novelty and forgive the lack of talent! I outline the drawings with black pen and sometimes use watercolour paints if I want to to add colour. I always go over the lettering in the addresses a couple of times after painting on the colour, to ensure it stands out for the postie.

When the paint is dry, I stamp the back with my address, created in this lovely design by Simple and Pretty. Then I wrap the parcel in string, and drip sealing wax over the place where the string crosses over to stop it from sliding around.

Wax is a tricky customer to use because it often catches alight, or drips (and sets) unevenly. My trick is to hold the wax stick upright, at about a 45 degree angle, rather than tilting it any lower. You just have to be patient and allow the wax to slowly drip down. It does eventually speed up with time. I let the wax drip in small circles, starting from the inside and working my way out, until it’s the size I want. I blow out the wick while I’m still holding it over the mail, because it still has a couple of drips left in it and if I move it away too soon, drops fall elsewhere across the mail (or the table).

If you are using a wax seal (mine is an ornate letter N), wait about 10 or 20 seconds before pressing the seal into the middle of the wax. Then wait maybe another 20 seconds and lift it off in a peeling motion. Make sure you don’t touch the wax or put anything on it for a few minutes after that, to be sure it has time to set hard.

These are the results from the latest batch. I hope the recipients enjoy them.

ps. You can see more pretty mail here
pps. If you’d like me to send you my book Airmail in the post and make it look pretty, simply subscribe to this blog and fill out the form on the same page

Last week my dear friend Deb dropped in for a visit and she brought a little gift, this pack of 52 assorted miniature postcards. I love them!

Now I am spoiled for choice as to what to do with them. What do you think?

I thought perhaps I could wrap them up in tiny envelopes and send them out as surprise mail to friends and bloggers I admire.

Or write little snippets of poetry on them and leave them behind in public places, like park benches, cafe tables and shop windows, for strangers to find.

Maybe I could send them out to you guys, in batches of five or six, with stamps and envelopes. And I’ll ask you to leave them behind at different cafes or at the airport or anywhere else you go, with a note on each asking people to write something and post it back to me. That could be interesting, right?

I don’t know, I’m sure you guys will have some creative ideas. Any suggestions as to how I can best use these beautiful, tiny postcards?

On Christmas Eve I wrote a tiny letter to Madeleine, tied it up with red ribbon, and slid it into a Christmas bauble with some glitter and coloured confetti.

It was a very simple letter. I just told her some bits and pieces about her first Christmas, since she wouldn’t remember it herself. Where we lived, how we would start the day, all our visits with family and friends. I told her about the friends who were coming for brunch, and how we would pick up her big sister from the airport at lunch time. I told her about how her five-year-old cousin Livvy had special clothes posted to us ahead of time so that Madeleine could wear them when we visited and the girls would have matching outfits. I told her about our tree and her presents. I told her how gloriously fat her little legs were, and how much she liked to laugh. I told her how much she was loved.

The bauble was decorated on the outside with a big M for Madeleine and 1 for her first Christmas. Each year, I’ll make a new bauble, and write a new letter.

This morning at six o’clock while I was feeding Madeleine and flicking through the Internet on my iPhone, I discovered a stunning blog called Letters of Note, which curates and republishes funny, profound, touching and unusual letters written by famous people throughout the ages. Here is a letter written by journalist and diplomat Walter H. Page to his infant grandson, on the grandson’s first Christmas. Page’s letter is somewhat more witty and intelligent than mine to M, I must say.

Whenever you next have time on your hands, have a browse through this blog. But a word of caution: it is very, very addictive.

I’ve been spending some time during my Christmas break sending books and letters to you guys, the lovely subscribers to my blog, to say thank you. As you probably know, I like to draw pictures on the mail I send. These are a few of my latest favourites. If you want to see more, I’ve created an album on my Facebook page.

If you’d like me to send some mail to you, you just need to subscribe to this blog and fill in the form on the same page. I’ll send you a copy of my book Airmail in a lovely package.