Last week of November Mail and News

Today is the 1st of December, officially the Christmas Season, so let's get last weeks mail out of the way.

I am part of a Collaborative Drawing Swap with three other Aussie women which I'm really excited about. Part 1 I did straight away and sent to Elizabeth with a chinese card with a note on the back, then wrapped in washi tape (non sticky of course)  I love wrapping letters in washi tape because it just looks so great.  I just stick washi tape onto some thin paper, and use the paper cutter to slice off the remaining paper. Easy.

Collaborative Swap Part 1 off to Elizabeth

I was really happy to get a letter from Amanda, my longtime American Penpal. She also sent me a Christmas Card (the first of the season!) which means I'm going to have to think of something inventive to put my cards on this year.  The wind blows through the windows a lot so it will have to be something secure that won't blow away.  Er...that is, assuming I actually GET some more cards that is.

Cute Deer Happymail from Amanda in the States

 Recieved my second letter from my newish South Korean penpal. I'm yet to open it - might save it for tomorrow!

Some washi tape love from my S.Korean penpal

 Today I found a little sparrow out on the porch flapping around. Looked like it hurt its wing, so I put it into a box inside to rest.  It relaxed and slept for about two hours until which time it was flying about (inside my house unfortunately!!!) and was ready to be released again. Must have just gotten a bit tired or something. I'm glad it was okay and didn't have a broken wing. I really didn't know what to do with it otherwise.

Little bird

I've been struggling a bit this week with lack of contact from some people/friends of mine. It seems they are too busy to bother to text, email or call me, and I'm just a bit sick of doing all the chasing all the time.  If I don't contact them, they don't bother to contact me and it really hurts.
I've got all my Christmas Cards to send out to people which I will do, but after that I'm not sure which direction I will go with some of these people. It might be a New Years Resolution that I just be selfish and cut myself a break - let someone make friends with ME (however that could leave me pretty lonely, couldn't it?!)

Collaborative Drawing Swap

A note for Carol, Carolyn and Elizabeth....

See the photos below (taken from 365 Journal Fodder) so you can see what I mean.
(But because there are four of us, we'll be folding the paper into quarters instead)

When you send the paper onto the next person on the list (which will be in the email I send you guys) you will need to make sure that they can ONLY SEE the last quarter of the drawing that has been done.  The way we can do this is to paperclip some cardstock (or other non-see through material) onto the parts above so only the last quarter is showing.

That then means that the person who gets it next has to use their imagination to come up with something else that may not even be related to the first part of the drawing!!!

RULES:
Um. Well. No rules really.
Let's just stick to pen/pencil/texta etc.  No paints. No stick on things.
You can draw/colour black and white, or use colour. Up to you.


Theme: No theme. Just use your imagination.

When you receive the drawing back complete, please email me a photo so I can pop it up here on my blog so we can all see the end result.

FUN FUN!

My crazy art for the day

Thought I'd share my bit of crazy art for the day.
It drew it lightly in pencil first, then used watercolour paints.  The letters are done eith a thin sharpie.

Thought I'd get in touch with my art journal  - the one I have has grainy paper, so I started (yet again) another one.  It's A4 in size, 110gsm paper which is a BIT thin for doing watercolours, but it doesn't matter.

Smash Around the World Project Update!

I've been saving all the little letters and things from people who have sent me things and wanted to be part of my Smashbook for this project. So here are the updates photos.

A 'Smash On' encouragement from Donna

From Smash Book

A secret Postcard swap from.......not telling!!!

From Smash Book

I love this little note to the postie. From the UK

From Smash Book

From Georgia  page one

From Smash Book

From Georgia P2. LOVED the stamps in the little envie. Thankyou!

From Smash Book

Note from Georgia

From Smash Book

Old used 1915 cards from Betsie - these are cool

From Smash Book

Note from Betsie

From Smash Book

From Smash Book

From my new Penpal, Sara in Western Australia

From Smash Book

An envelope swap on swapbot from Lilacnyellow

From Smash Book

A little bit of Cookery

ONLY because this is possibly the easiest dessert you could make AND because it's the season where you often have people over for dinner, I thought I'd tell you about this quick little recipe.

All You'll Need

*A large can of fruit (such as apricots, peaches or you can use fresh/frozen berries if you like. I used a can of fruit salad)

*One packet of vanilla cake mix

*3/4c melted butter

Here we go!

Preheat your oven to 180c

Pour your canned fruit into an oven proof dish

I used SPC Fruit Salad

Pour over the top, the dry mixture only of the cake mix

I used White Wings Angelic Vanilla Cake Mix

From Blog Photos

Spread evenly!

From Blog Photos

Melt your butter in the microwave on or the stove

Cut the butter up to melt faster

From Blog Photos

Pour over the top of the cake mix

Drizzle over the top. It won't cover all the cake mix, so don't worry

From Blog Photos

Bake for 1 hour.

Remove from oven and allow to cook for ten minutes before serving with ice cream

YUM!

From Blog Photos

November Week 3 Happy Mail

Yay for Happymail  - here is what I recieved in the mail this week.

Love the little note to the postie on this one.

From Blog Photos

A swapbot swap for items to Smash into the smashbook

From Blog Photos

A secret postcard. Shhhh! Love her work.

From Blog Photos

Letter from Penpal in the UK

From Blog Photos

2013 here I come

This is such an exciting time of year....and no, I'm not talking about Christmas!  I'm talking about getting a new day planner for the coming year and putting in all the dates. Birthdays, anniversaries...everything. 

For next year, I've gone budget. I purchased a cheap daytoapage A5 diary from the Reject Shop. Took the plastic cover off, and then covered the cardboard cover with washi tape. Loving it!
(And the good thing about that, is if I get sick of the cover, I can simply recover with whatever I please)

Satisfying my washi tape obsession

Random Bits of Life.

Right now I'm hosting a swap on swapbot where we send people random odd things to put into their smashbook.

One person got my meal plan that was still stuck on the fridge from last week.
Another got the Poppy badge I wore for Rememberance Day on Sunday, and the other got a torn off piece of brown paper bag from my bottle of wine I had with dinner tonight, with the wine sticker on it.

So random? Yes! Totally!
And that's what I love about it!
It gives someone else a tiny eeny little insight of your daily life.

I put the little things inside baby envelopes (I used a template from K&Company and made two of my own below) then have posted them off in larger envelopes so they don't get lost in the mail.
Hope I put a smile on someones face!

If anyone would like to do a swap with me of random items, let me know :)

Two of these little envelopes made by me

Monday's Mail

I just love it when I recieve a postcard through postcrossing from a child! it really makes my day.  Today I recieved one from Lena in Germany, and thought I'd post the message.

From Lena in Germany

The stamps. Love the Saturn one.

Also recieved a handful of new washi tape from the UK today! Loving them all but haven't used them yet.

New washi tape, YAY!

The Trinket Penpal Solution

I'm a member of Swap-bot (give me a cheer!) and a few months ago I started a thread about trinket penpals. I matched up a bunch of us and we've been swapping ever since.

The problem was, that I had no way of closing down the thread when the match ups were done, so people were still joining, begging me to do another one of these swaps where people are matched to their interests.  It was a lot of work to get everyone matched to be honest, and so I was hesitant to oblige. Until I figured out that if THEY can answer the questions, and I can find a way of putting them altogether in a public place, then THEY can CHOOSE their own partners by approaching others.

SO.
I firstly created a Group on Swapbot.
Then I created a Blog to post all the info on.
Including a questionnaire for people to fill out, and email back to me.

24 hours later, I've got a bunch of memberships to approve in the group, and a handful of questionnaires to upload to the blog!

I'm so pleased with the response (because there's nothing worse than doing a whole lot of work for something that never pans out) and hope that people find a match.

If you're interested in finding yourself a trinket penpal, or someone to swap things with, just check out the group or the blog for instructions.

Wednesday Mail and a Trip to the Op Shop

One of the reasons I love living down on the Peninsula is the amount of Op Shops here. You can pick up awesome books for anywhere between 20c and $2, depending on where you choose to shop.

This morning I was dropping off some clothing to the Habitat For Humanity Op Shop, and dropped inside for a look.

Along with a couple of cards, I picked up two books that I know I'll enjoy reading.

Still in great condition, I picked these up for $1

Also, sending off a letter to my Trinket Penpal. Keep an eye out Stephanie!

Alas I will never be an artist!!

Just heard the postie outside, and wow did I hit the motherload of postcards today!!!
Six in total! (Although now this means I'm going to have a major catch up to do on what postcards I need to send out) :)

Private Swap from Russia

Taiwan up the top, Russia below and Holland to the right

Check these awesome stamps out from Russia!
Don't you think the top one looks a little like Matt LeBlanc?

Writing on Washi Tape

The other day on a forum I finally discovered what I could write on washi tape with, and not have it rub off, or smudge or fade. And even better, I had these kind of pens already in my craft room!

BIC Mark.it Pens are Acid Free and come in a range of bright colours.  I'm fairly sure that I purchased mine from either Office Works or K-mart.

Writes boldly and clearly on Washi Tape

Make your reminders stand out

Don't forget important dates!

BIC Mark.It Pens

The nib is quite thick, but it does the trick

So get your hands on these little beauties and write away.