Pen Pal Letter Kit

By Jackie Flaherty (May 2011)

In 2010 I found a few more pen pals through the ever popular’ Call for Scribblers, Mail Artists and Pen Friends’ over at Good Mail Day. This talented group of writers and mail artists has kept an ongoing dialog through their comments section and I am so pleased to have found the friends I made.

One such friend was CS in NY who sent me this wonderful pen pal letter kit that she made.  As if it wasn’t enough that she made it and sent it to me, she also filled it with all kinds of stationery goodness. My heart be still. It was wonderful. I wasn’t thinking to take pictures of it when I received it, so the ones you’ll see now include some of my own additions to the many pockets in this stationery kit.

I love the colors and the design of the fabric that she chose. And the lovely red ribbon and button enclosure add a colorful touch.

When you open it up you will see two pockets on the left and one pocket on the right as well as both sides having room to have additional items within the middle as you will see in the pictures a little further down.

The next photo shows the backside of the kit. I’m not sure to call it a pen pal kit, a stationery holder or a letter carrier.

Now we’re getting down to some serious business with the addition of cards, bookmarks, letters. Don’t you just love it?! I’m so glad it’s mine!

And that’s why there are pen pals. To share these little joys of life. Thanks, CS! I absolutely love it!

___________________

Letter Storage Box

by Jackie Flaherty Where do you store your letters? I keep mine stored by year in these gorgeously decorated boxes purchased at Michael’s Craft store. I used to store them in shoe boxes that I always meant to decorate like mail art, but I just never took the time. Plus, a shoe box would not hold a year’s worth of letters.

Originally, I had planned to keep them sorted by person within each box, but I found that was a level of organization that I wasn’t committed to keeping up with. If that appeals to you then I suggest that you may want to check out Patty’s blog at Just Letter Rip and read her post on how she organizes and tracks all of her letters. I tell you it’s admirable!

You can see that the letters in the box below have no stamps. I saved some for use in the collages or artists trading cards that I sometimes do. The rest I sent to a friend who collects them.

Now I’ve decided to leave the stamps on the letters and maybe in a year or two, if I should decide that I need them, then I will remove them. But for now they will remain intact.