Thursday, 28 February 2013

A letter I am working on right now ...

I'm currently writing to my penpal Kirsten from Australia. She writes LONG letters and I think it will take me at least a week to get her letter done. But it's fun! I bought a big pack of purple writing paper, some paper-tape and some stickers and I think the letter will look great in the end. So far I have written 20 pages but I'm not even half-done! Oh blimey! Haha.

These are the materials I am using to decorate her letter.

As the letter takes me a long time to write I start every new day with a little collage of what I have been up to during the day. This one is from yesterday
 And this is what the letter looks like so far (plus my feet haha)


Wednesday, 27 February 2013

Letter from Juliane

Today I received a letter from my penpal Juliane from Germany. She knows that I love cats so I'm sure that's why she decorated the envelope with a cute cat. She also sent me some ginger tea. I'll have to try the tea later, I have never had ginger flavour before.

 
The envelope with the cute cat

And here is her letter. We write in German to each other. I'm really excited about trying the tea!

Penpalling - Mail Art


In the age of technology and internet most people have abandonded the idea of writing a letter with pen and paper. A quick e-mail, a short sms, a message on Facebook are the most common tools of communication today. This has brought a lot of advantages but also some disadvantages. I personally like the idea of corresponding with people from all over the world, with people who come from different cultural backgrounds and with different perspectives on life. I love to get to know someone through a letter. I like the idea that someone has actually sat down with pen and paper and wrote a letter to me. It's nice to know that someone has taken that time to create something for me. At the same time I love being creative, I love discussing things, I love having a relaxing evening with some music, some tea and just me and that particular penpal. It's like diving into a different world, a sanctuary from our fast and often shallow world today. This blog is dedicated to the art of mail, to penpalling. Old school writing. I'll post pictures of letters that I have received, of letters I have written. Maybe it can be an inspiration to some people. Who knows, maybe that's what someone needs, a new hobby that involves making friends and being creative. I'll explain the special language of penpalling throughout this blog because there are some words which "outsiders" might not be familiar with. So here we go!