Letter Writers Alliance

Tiny Post Office Postcards

After receiving multiple postcards from different L.W.A. members on these Tiny Post Office cards from Power & Light Press, I decided I needed some of my own. They perfectly encapsulate the charm of the small town U.S.P.O. To share the fun, I bought two packs and am giving one away. To win, leave a comment about your favorite post office and we'll pick a random winner next Monday morning. **Contest now closed** Our winner is Commentor No. 2, Jennifer, with her favorite Post Office, the Bridal Veil P.O. Rules are our standard set: 1) You must present your L.W.A. member number to claim your prize. 2) If you are international, we will require that you pay for postage. Good luck!

The Parcel Ghost

Do you know the Parcel Ghost? He used to be a mailman, but now he's a ghost. That doesn't slow him down though. He's a ghost that really gets around. Check out the Tumblr of all his adventures and follow along with his postal tips in his handy and informative zine! L.W.A. members, guess what!? You can win one of those zines if you send a postcard to the Parcel Ghost at P.O. Box 380582, Cambridge, MA 02238. Three winners will be selected from the postcards recieved. The deadline is October 31st, 2013! Trick or treat!

Nicely Noted Review & Giveaway

Back when I did my reviews of a number of stationery subscription services, I got quite a few suggestions to check out Nicely Noted. For $18 a month, the folks at Nicely Noted will send you a package containing three letterpressed cards with envelopes and selected postage.  Perry was kind enough to send me a package for review. You can see that it was delightfully packaged. I appreciated the fun label and the way they wrapped the cards.  The back of the band holding the cards together had information about each of the card's makers, which I liked. It figures out to be $6 a card, but they give you the stamps and send them straight to your door. It's a sweet little package to get and worth the fee, especially if you don't have access to cards of this level of quality on a regular basis. You can see some of their past sendings here.

What do you guys think? Would you use Nicely Noted? Leave a comment and be entered to win the set above! Rules: You must be an Alliance member to win and you'll be asked for your member number to claim your prize. If you are International, there will be a small fee for shipping these to you. Good luck, and thanks again to Perry at Nicely Noted for the opportunity to review their service. Winner to be picked on Friday at 9AM! **We have a winner! Commentor No.3 is our lucky winner. Thanks for the opinions everyone!**

A Tale of Three Subscriptions: Part 3

My final review of a "stationery subscription service" is of Rad & Hungry. Rad & Hungry does packages of office supplies from around the world. You can order older sets from Spain, or Brazil or wherever, or you can sign up for a mystery mailing from another country. When I went to do my review, there weren't any unrevealed country sets available so I opted for a "Rad Bag", a mad lib mixture of supplies from all over. I wanted that unknown quantity to better compare the experience with that of Quarterly Co. and Olive Box.

The Rad & Hungry set has a really great aesthetic, packaging wise. It's all kraft and plain paper paired with pops of florescent orange. I was undone by the cleverness of the bag closure. Two holes, a paper clip and a rubber band = GENIUS.

My Rad Bag contained a notebook from Spain, wood push pins from the US, a "European Version" Bic Pen from France, an eraser from Brazil, a pencil from Columbia, and a pencil cap from Japan.

I have long derided the Rad & Hungry sets to myself. Every one seemed to me to be another slim folio notebook, another ho-hum pen. BUT, while that's essentially what I got in my "Rad Bag", the little note card about where things were from and the obvious care with which the supplies were selected really came through. It managed to make the ordinary really special. My favorite was the business card with the various paper clips on it which isn't even a part of the "Rad Bag"; it's the Rad & Hungry business card. Again, GENIUS.

At a $20.00 price tag, with shipping, it was a little more expensive than I'd like, but I didn't feel cheated. It was a fun time. 

Would you like this Rad Bag? It's rad! You can win it here. The giveaway is for MEMBERS ONLY. If you win, you'll need to supply your Letter Writers Alliance member number to redeem your prize. We'll cover the shipping domestically, but International friends will be asked to reimburse us any shipping costs. The rules are simple. Leave a comment with something rad you think we should know about. A winner will be picked at random next Friday! ***Contest is now closed. Thanks everyone!***

 

 

A Tale of Three Subscriptions: Part 2

Welcome to the second part of my reviews of some popular subscription services. Today's post is all about Olive Box, a subscription for "a delightful box of paper & lifestyle products delivered to your front door each month. From cards to artwork to inspiring books and gifting ideas, you never know what exciting products you will unwrap each month. Each box will have a surprise theme and will include goodies that have been transformed by the beauty of paper." The attention to detail on the packaging was really nice. I loved how the enclosed note had a little heart sticker just like the logo. The box contained one greeting card, one Night Owl grocery list, and an issue of Sweet Paul magazine. I picked up the box from the post office on the way to one of my jobs. I didn't have any stationery with me, but I had letters to return. "What fortune!", I thought, "I have this mysterious box which is surely full of stationery as it is a papery subscription."

So, I was really, really disappointed to be presented with a single card, a small notebook with a specific, non-correspondence purpose, and a magazine which, though nicely designed and photographed and I could cut up into some pretty envelopes, seems to be mostly about food. I suppose the surprise theme is something to do with cooking. Even months later, I'm disappointed by it. At $32.95 with shipping, it was the most expensive of the services I tried and the least satisfying.

A word to the wise, as a subscription, it automatically signs you up for the next round. I was unlucky enough to not even receive my first box before I got charged for another. Plus, the website is not very helpful when you want to cancel. I had to send in an email request. I also have yet to receive the second box I was charged for; so I've sent another email. Email sending is not my favorite thing. My second box was a bit more enjoyable content wise, but as I didn't want or need it in the first place, that's not enough to make me more charitable in my assessment. I cannot endorse Olive Box. It feels too style-based without enough substance to really satisfy my paper needs. Maybe I just got a bad batch though.

As with the Quarterly Co. review, I'm having a giveaway of this box! The giveaway is for MEMBERS ONLY. If you win, you'll need to supply your Letter Writers Alliance member number to redeem your prize. We'll cover the shipping domestically, but International friends will be asked to reimburse us any shipping costs. The rules are simple. Leave a comment with something you would hope to get in a mystery paper box. A winner will be picked at random next Wednesday! ***Contest is now closed. Thank you.***

 

 

 

A Tale of Three Subscriptions: Part 1

One of the newer itterations of fun mail is gift subscription services. You sign up and get sent a mysterious package in the mail. You don't necessarily know what it is, but you probably have some sense of the type of things that this particular subscription might bring you. They work a lot like our R.S.V.P. program in that sense. 

There are a bunch of different options out there. In the interest of SCIENCE!, I have tried out three of the most popular office supply/stationery ones: Rad & Hungry, Quarterly Co. & Olive Box. It's a bit too long to go into how I felt about each in one blog post; so we get a whole week of reviews! Fun, right? I hope you think so. Let's start out with Quarterly Co.

Quarterly Co. sends you out a package every 3 months (hence the name) which has been curated by one of their contributors. They pick people from all across the Internet who are experts or tastemakers in particular fields. You can go on the Quarterly site and read about all their different package selectors. They have a wide range of people and interests covered, from food and home styling to robotics and outdoorsmanship. For my package, I picked designer/blogger Tina Roth Eisenberg of Swiss Miss. 

 This is how my Quarterly Co. subscription came packaged. I love the branded tape and the stickers and rubber stamp usage. Plus, anything referencing Carrier Pigeons always gets a plus with me. The box contained a new Beginner's fountain pen, refill cartridges, a letter and a handwriting practice pad by MakeWellMade.
I'm not even a fountain pen person, but the fancy boxed pen and Tina's lovely letter about how she is "curious to see your handwriting" really gave me the warm fuzzies. For $25 with shipping included, it seemed like I got more than I paid for; a welcome feeling for any received mystery box. 

I was less when my credit card was automatically charged for the next shipment. I thought I had selected the option for just one mailing, but perhaps I was wrong. It is a "subscription" after all. However, it was easy to cancel and I'd be willing to try out other contributors. I've had a couple of other Alliance members tell me that they also enjoyed using Quarterly Co. (and one also had the same autocharge grumble I did.)

As a bonus, the creator of Quarterly Co., Zach Frechette, has some really lovely things to say about the mail in his essay on their site. I was especially fond of this: "There’s a gap in our lives where we used to get something in the mail that mirrored our interests, reflected our values, and made us feel like a part of something bigger than ourselves." 

In reward for reading this whole review, I'm having a giveaway of this box! The giveaway is for MEMBERS ONLY. If you win, you'll need to supply your Letter Writers Alliance member number to redeem your prize. We'll cover the shipping domestically, but International friends will be asked to reimburse us any shipping costs. The rules are simple. Check out the Quarterly Co. contributors and let us know in the comments which one you would pick.  A winner will be picked at random next Monday! ***This contest is now closed. Thanks for playing everyone.***

 

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!