Basic Tricks To Take Your Sewing Up A Notch

11 March, 2016

Ideas For Happy Mail



I like this idea. As long as the postal clerk can put their postage labels on it, it can go. This one is a bit small. It would  take $2.54 in postage stamps to send(2016).   It needs to be in a bigger container - clear if possible.


 Envelope art.  Google it.  Seriously.


 I found this road atlas for a buck at the estate sale this morning. For a buck, I can make about 50 envelopes. Well - twenty - cuz I'll get tired of cutting maps out.


 Have you ever made your own envelopes? It's pretty easy to find templates all over the web. Or, if you're fond of a particular size envelope, sacrifice it to be your pattern. I cut my templates out of cardstock-weight paper - usually the ends of a calendar. Then I just trace and cut them out. A little glue stick on the ends to hold things in.

Did you know glue sticks go bad? The glue stick in the kitchen was all dried up and the one in my sewing room looked 'moldy!'. I used Elmers school glue instead.


At garage sales,  I look for large books/calendars that have wonderful images on them. Coffee table books. Nice paper.

 The other two envelopes are from a German calendar. Which is actually awesome as, at most, there are only twelve images, which is doable as a project with a clear end in sight. This US states road atlas looks like a massive black hole of time project.

I'm thinking I will offer up some handmade envelopes as a prize. What do you think? Do you want particular states? I sized my templates for a long business envelope and a smaller, more personal size - is that an A4?



 I also found our local photographer who made these Canby Ferry postcards. This is our car ferry that traverses the Willamette River just north of us.



 One of my favorite ways to send Happy Mail is cute socks for the nephews & nieces in clear freezer ziploc bags. Everyone smiles along the way as these socks make it to their destination. These fun socks are going to DD.  Its fun to send boxes of movie candy - like Sour Patch Kids, in ziploc bags too.

Make sure you use the freezer style as this plastic is thicker.





 Some of the items I have on my counter to pack up and send in the next few days.
Easter is March 27th so this is a reminder to send out those easter packages.

I am sending out all of my plastic easter eggs. They are already filled with candy, ready to post. You can send just one easter egg with stamps on it but my peoples are getting more then ten each. Really! Do plastic eggs re-populate in the dark storage cupboard? When did I get so many? It's been many years since an easter egg hunt was held here.
 




 Adult coloring books anyone?
Awesome happy mail to get colored pencils in a upcycled clear water bottle.


This larger envelope with multiple smaller envelopes.
Please, pretty please, will someone make it for me?





How about printing out a Marauders map and sending it to your niece or nephew who loves Harry Potter?

I've sent coconuts from Hawaii before. A little bit expensive as the coconut has to be USDA approved (no bugs) and they are heavy.  What's the most interesting item you have sent through the mail? Have you tried?



6 comments:

  1. Thanks for the reminder that it's mail count time. Some great postal ideas!!!

    Quick lesson (no need to read if you don't care, it's just the type of maths I love!)

    In the UK we use A sizes of paper. A4 is about 30cm x 21cm (a bit taller and thinner than USA letter paper) A4 is part of the A family which starts with A0 which is almost 1m in area but in a ratio of sides of 1:1.414 (1: sq root of 2). When you cut a0 in half you get 2 x A1, keep halving and you get 4 x A2, 8 x A3, 16 x A4 etc, down to A7 which is about original post it size

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  2. So many nifty packaging ideas. I like the colored pencils in the bottle and the envelopes in an envelope are cool, too.

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  3. Canada Post seems to have trouble delivering even plain white envelopes, let alone boxes, let alone "fancy" stuff. I fear what they would do with fun boxes/packages! LOVE the pencil crayons in the water bottle!

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  4. I have a card in an envelope and a postcard ready to put in the mail on Monday. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  5. Such awesome ideas! I was given a plastic envelope maker-it makes several sizes of envelopes. I've used it several times and it's really a neat item. You gave me lots of ideas for sending grandchildren mail!

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