scribbling scrabbling

There are not very many things I enjoy more than writing people letters. Some of my favorite hours when I lived in New York were spent scribbling to my friend who was living in Arizona at the time, and I always look forward to the day after Thanksgiving so I can mail out my holiday cards. Thank you notes have been a staple in my life since I was tiny, when I was practically not allowed to play with my gifts until I had written a short letter expressing my gratitude to the present-giver.

I honestly can't even stand how adorable these are. They're letter-pressed and the envelopes are this forest green that doesn't deign to show up on camera. I only send them to very super special people, so if you ever get one, I must like you a whole awful lot.

Nowadays, not much has changed. I have an obsession with stationery, with more than 14 types of notecards and various stamp and paper selections. I recently ordered my second-ever set of return address labels* and I'm already obsessed -- I only got to use my last set for a few months because I left my school (and therefore my address) in NYC.

These pictures are some of my absolute favorite stationery bits. The blue floral thank you notes are from Target and are current -- I just picked them up at Christmas -- but the others, unfortunately, are from Borders, so I'm not sure how you could get your hands on them now. For notecards or stationery, I recommend Target or TinyPrints. In lots of cities, there are also local paper shops that sell pre-made cards or can work with you on a custom design. 

I encourage you all to take up letter writing! There's nothing better than opening up your mailbox to see, mixed in with the water bill and junk mail, a pretty envelope from a friend saying that they were thinking about you. Maybe start up a pen pal situation with friends who live far away, or give each other artistic challenges and send the results back and forth. Or, just send some thoughtful thank you notes for presents you may have received this week!

*sorry for not including my return address labels, but I don't want the internet knowing my address! they are the Floral Chalkboard Return Address Labels from Zazzle if you'd like to see the template.