Letter Writers Alliance

Letter Writing Days of December

It's December and that means it's time for blog posts everyday this month! It's our little gift to you. Our BIG gift to you is paper! FREE paper! Our benevolent sponsors at the Curious Collection by Appleton Coated have sent us some celebratory, shimmery paper from their metallics collection. All you have to do is send a Self-Addressed, Stamped Envelope with your member number and a request for free paper to: The Letter Writers Alliance, Paper Giveaway, P.O. Box 221168, Chicago, IL, 60622. The larger an envelope you send with the appropriate number of stamps determines how much paper you get. It's first come, first serve so send in those requests now. And remember to show up what you make over at the L.W.A. Flickr group. We'd love to see!

Happy Holidays,

Throw a Mail Art Party!

Last Sunday, I threw myself a party; my kind of party- a mail art party! It was easy and fun. How fun? Look how fun!

It was also easy. I simply set a date and time, invited some lovely people, gathered supplies and set it all up and then had a blast. I understand that you might want a little more information than that; so I have some slides and a prepared text for you.

STEP ONE: Set a Date and Time. This is the hardest part. You should see my schedule. My schedule is insane. Instead of trying to coordinate with others, I just found the first open spot in my calendar. The thing about mail art is that it's fun with others or by yourself. I knew I'd have a good time even if no one came.

STEP TWO: Invite Lovely People. I invited friends, co-workers and pen pals and most of those people are two out of the three. My house was small and the three people who could make the time that was free on my schedule were just enough.

STEP THREE: Gather Supplies & Set Up. I decided to theme my party around Halloween. It is my most favorite of holidays and one of my favorite motifs. You could pick any theme- a color, an animal, a presidental election..., but it's easier if you pick something familiar. Halloween has a fair amount of craft supplies available for it, making it easy to amass a great number of supplies with very little effort. I went through my collection and pulled out anything spooky, anything weird, anything black, grey, silver, purple, or orange. Our paper sponsor, The Curious Collection by Appleton Coated just sent over a bunch of sparkly paper which was perfect. I also picked up a pack of six glue sticks and three pairs of scissors at the trusty office supply store. From my basics I added ink pads, stencils, and blank labels.

The kitchen was the best place. I pulled in another table from my porch and put an artboard over the top of it so there was a smooth place to work. I put down a craft paper runner so that no one would have to worry about messing up my tables. (Not that they could have, but it's nice to feel free to get glue on things.) I put papers on one side and embellishments and rubber stamps on the other. Everything was going to get mixed up anyway, but it was nice to start out in an orderly manner.

BONUS STEP: Make Goodie Bags. What's a party without a goodie bag? I put together some of the best pieces of Halloween ephemera I had, plus a new Halloween card from Rifle Co., and gave them to my friends when they came in. I gave them out first instead of at the end because I wanted them to be able to use the supplies in the bag.

STEP FOUR: Have a Blast. Then my friends came over and we drank cider and ate goodies generously supplied by Kimberly. (I've been eating dark chocolate Trader Joe's peanut butter cups for breakfast ever since.) All we did was play with the paper. There wasn't any need for "instruction", but I did offer a tip or two regarding a certain thin tissue  and tool use. We mail arted for about 3 hours and it was relaxing, fun and all together a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Plus, I now have a giant pile of Halloween envelopes for the rest of my mail this month.

Phew! Did you read all that? If you did, here's your prize. I have one of these goodie bags left over. If you'd like a treat on Halloween, leave a comment with your favorite Halloween postage stamp (mine are a tie between  the 42 cent Edgar Allen Poe and the 10 cent Sleepy Hollow). I'll pick a winner by random chance on the 26th at 8:45AM CST. Fun and easy, just like having a mail art party!***A winner has been chosen. Commentor Bonnie, number 17, who likes the Witch Canoe stamp suggestion, won my goodie bag. Yay!***

Trick or Treat,

Summer Challenge Winner: Lucy

Congratulations to LWA member Lucy from Norway for completing our summer challenge! Lucy has slowly been working her way through our three Initiative Response projects and I have been thrilled at many of the creative solutions she came up with. Here is a highlight of some of the few interesting mail items she sent out.

Love Note by Helium Balloon Delivery
"In the spirit of the World needs more love letter, I attached an anonymous love note, sealed in plastic. I let go of the balloon on our balcony. It wasn't until I saw it fly away and become a little dot on the horizon that the real excitement set in: A tiny balloon filled with love and sent out into the great big world in hopes of making a stranger's day." (From Lucy's I.R. form)

 

Typewriter Repair Shops & Sources
Unfortunately, Lucy has few options for typewriter repair in her area, but she put together a great list of DIY resources and shops in Germany and the UK.

DIY Tutorials
- (See image above)
- Classic Typewriter Page's Basic Typewriter Restoration guide
- Machines of Loving Grace

Germany
Gerhard Sieber -- Burotechnik
Ulmer Str 10
73033 Goppingen

Sidro Burotechnik
Bauernstrasse 41-43
86391 Stadtbergen

Eveline Theobald, Theobald Buromaschien
Bruckenstrasse 2
66798 Wallerfagen-Bedersdorf

United Kingdom
77c St. Pancras
Chichester
West Sussex

Rudolf Johnsen
Grinivein 159
1359 Eiksmarka

 

Pez Dispenser through the Mail
I love this idea. Lucy glued the flip top head closed and affixed the stamps to the back of mailing label. There are many other ways to do this that would be interesting to see. The first thing that pops into my head is to reuse those clear bags that cards/stationery comes in by putting the Pez dispenser in there with some extra candy. You can then put an address label and stamps on the sealed clear bag.

A big congrats to LWA member Lucy for completing all three Initiative Responses by the end of summer. If you still have unfinished IRs, no worries, there is no time limit to completing your tasks. We just wanted to have a bit of fun and give these Initiatives a good run around the LWA community before we introduced new Initiatives. Ah yes, the new tasks...well, keep your eyes peeled for them by the end of Fall!

-Kathy

FREE TYPEWRITER!*

*kinda, read on!

So Kathy and I are getting ready for Mini Maker Faire in Urbana, IL on April 14th. The fair is being held in an old post office; how could we refuse the chance to have a social in a post office!? We'll be there representing the Alliance of course and will have our sundry goods for sale as well as a free stationery for writing letters on at the fair and typewriters for you to try out. It's a combination letter-writing social and fair for us.

Our paper and envelopes for this social have been generously donated by Conqueror by Appleton Coated. Aren't you guys just the luckiest? No office copy paper stationery for you- oh no! This is some premium stuff. It's smooth, it's thick and it's got a watermark. They also sent along some fun cards printed on their wares as well. Perhaps we'll have everyone at the social sign a thank you note for them.

What's more, we are offering up a typewriter for some lucky person to take home at the end of the fair. What typewriter? How about this typewriter!

The rules are simple. You get one free entry with purchase of L.W.A. membership. If you're already a member, just show your member card and you'll get a free ticket. You can also purchase additional chances to win for $2 each. The biggest rule is that you must be present at the time of the drawing (3:45PM CST) to win and it has to go home with you.

See you all at Mini Maker and good luck!

 

Squeaky Wheels via Post

I try not to be that person. You know the one- the person who has a bad experience somewhere and creates a Yelp profile just to whine about it; the unashamed "squeaky wheel" consumerist complainer. I do my best to be understanding, to be patient, to be supportive.

But sometimes, sometimes I have had a drink or two and I'm really excited to, say, use some new printed tape that I just picked out. I make a lot of mail art, and I've been around a washi tape roll or twelve. I know how to "operate" tape. Imagine my increasing frustration as my new tape just keeps ripping into unusable little shreds instead of neatly lifting from the roll. I was so dissapointed that I tweeted about it. {This is the exciting stuff that happens on my Twitter feed; see what you're missing?} Then, to make myself feel better, I wrote a note to the company.

The company we're talking about is Cavallini & Co. They make beautiful, quality things. I've always enjoyed my purchases from them in the past. Perhaps that's part of why I was so upset about this tape catastrophe. It's the hallmark of a great company that, when they received my note, they contacted me and apologized. There had been some glue issues with the manufacturing, but they'd gotten them fixed and would I like some replacement tape? That's excellent customer service in action. Other companies, take note.

However, I'm upset with myself. I didn't write Cavallini a letter to tell them just how great I think they are; no, I waited until I had a "I think you're great, but..." letter to send. That's unacceptable. I am going to make an effort to write at least once a month to a company that I think is doing a good job. I'd suggest everyone do so. Let's not just send more mail; let's send more positive mail.

In that spirit, I'm going to do a little tape giveaway, courtesy of Cavallini. To enter, leave a comment with a company you think is doing a great job. You don't have to write them a letter to enter, but just give them a little shout out. I'll randomly pick a winner on Friday the 16th at 9AM. **CLOSED** Our winner is commentor #6: Thequietscribe AKA Sam R.Thanks to Cavallini for the tape and thanks to you for reading. And, yes, I did send them a thank you note.