25 Friday Apr 2014
Posted in Oh Hello Mr. Postman
Click here to learn about this snail mail goodness!
Good morning, World! How was your week? Happy it’s the weekend! So I’ll be taking a little break so I can recharge those creative juices. I’ll return to give you more snail mail loveliness on Monday, May 5th. When I return, you’ll see a whole mess of snail mail goodness! Enjoy last week’s letters! See more photos of snail mail letters on my Instagram account @ohhellomrpostman. Click link here.
Sincerely,
Jamie
07 Monday Apr 2014
Posted in Oh Hello Mr. Postman
Click here to learn about this snail mail goodness! Happy new week to everyone! How is everyone? Did you watch WWE WestleMania? I didn’t, but my husband did! I was too busy eating my wings from Wingstop that we ordered. I’m feeling a little under-the-weather today because of the weird weather Southern California has been having this past week. It’s hot, then cold, then earthquakes! Yes, we had a pretty big earthquake at a 5.1, and my husband and I live near the epicenter. We were ok, but we heard a lot of ambulance and firefighters headed to the next city over. I hope everyone was ok. Any weird happenings during your weekend? Siince I’m not feeling too hot, I’ll keep this week’s post short and sweet. Letter #27 is going out to my new pen pal Lisa from England. 
It was her birthday last month so I wanted to add a few extras to her Tiny Piggy’s Kitchen letter. She likes owls like me, so I added this adorable owl Target gift card which is actually a bookmark. I also added some Target page flags for her Filofax planner and some cute owl stickers. 
Letter #28 is going out to Stephanie from England, as well. You can tell I love writing to people from England. I went on a school trip to England about 10 years ago. I loved London, Abbey Road, The London Eye, tea, and the tube. I can’t wait to go back! I wanted to include a Harry Potter stamp with Ginny on it. Isn’t this stationery from Daiso so cute? I first saw this letterset when I received my first pen pal letter from Jessica in Washington. You can see on the second page I wrote “oops, upside down LOL!” I wrote the 2nd page upside down. Haha what a dork? It’s still cute anyways, right? Right?!
And here are some featured letters from fans who have used the hashtag #ohhellomrpostman to their snail mail photos!
This lovely letter is from Toni in California! Follow her on Instagram @house_of_hera and see other lovely snail mail she is sending into the world!
Robyn hashtagged this lovely letter with the hashtag #ohhellomrpostman. How beautiful is this envelope! She is @robina_black from South Carolina, USA! Want to see your letter on my blog? I might just feature you, just use the hashtag #ohhellomrpostman!
Well, have a happy Monday! Working hard or hardly working? I hope the latter. Take it easy!
Sincerely,
Jamie
P.S. I really want to write to someone in Ireland. If you live in Ireland, please let me know through the contact form located at the top of this page! Thank you!
02 Wednesday Apr 2014
Posted in For the Love of Crafting!
Hello, Lovelies! How are you this Wednesday? So this is an impromptu blog post but a very important one if you covet your pens as much as I do! I posted the above picture on my Instagram account for TheDeskOfAdam.com #ohsnapaday Instagram challenge Day 2: Pens. I asked if anyone wanted to see this blog post about pens so here we are! The picture above was a pain in the a** to set up LOL! But it was fun seeing the pens I have all laid out. Not pictured is a Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto 4-barrel pen I just ordered online and on it’s way to me. It is my first Coleto pen so we’ll see how this pen snob likes it. I’ll definitely be posting a picture about that on my IG.
So below I did a couple of pen swatches in my Filofax for you.
Here are a lot of my favorite pens except for the Zebra Z-Grip Daisies which I had recently purchased. You can see how the ink does not flow smoothly and the “orange” pen is just awful. Maybe I just got a bad batch. I had mentioned on my IG that I had only bought these because I need a yellow ink pen for my letter, and it doesn’t even write in yellow! It’s more of a burnt orange/light brown. There was no color descriptions on the package, there was a yellow colored swatch on the front , and the pen even has yellow flowers on it LMAO! I guess I’m not a ballpoint pen kind of gal. I’ve been spoiled by my Pilot G-2 07 Gel Pens. I left 7 lines blank because as I was researching these pens here, I noticed they are coming out with new colors of the Pilot G-2s for a total of 15 different colors. I must have them all! You can purchase these pens at Target, Staples, or any other office supply store.
I love the Pentel Sunburst pens because the 4 colors shown are gorgeous and oh so glittery. I first bought the pack of 5 pens for the white pen not shown here. I love writing in white ink on dark paper. And also shown here are the Sharpie Fine-Tip pens which are available in 10 different colors. I’m missing the black, dark blue, and red colors. You can also purchase these at Target, Staples, or any other office supply store.
Here is the back of that page of Pen Swatches if you care about shadowing or bleed through. None of these pens bled through the Filofax white pages. You can only see the shadow of them from the other side. For me, when I’m writing notes or in my weekly inserts, it doesn’t matter to me. If you do care, ballpoint pens are better for you as shown below in my second page of Pen Swatches. 
The ones in the middle of the page (below the bleed through of a washi tape marker) and at the very bottom of the page are ball-point pens. Do these shadows bother you? I heard people also purchase Filofax inserts in Cotton Cream because they are cream colored and thicker, so there is definitely no shadowing or bleed through. I’m not sure, but please let me know if do use the cream colored inserts in the comments by clicking the “Leave A Comment” button under the header of this post.
And here is my pen and line swatches for my Sakura Pigma Micron Pens, Daiso pens, Target Dollar Spot pens, and some random pens I have.
The 2 pens that surprised me the most were the Daiso Permanent Marker pictured at the top, and the Target Hello Kitty glitter pen. The Daiso Permanent Marker works great for writing on washi tape, and the Hello Kitty pen which was $3 with the set was a very surprising and nice glitter pen. Those Target Dollar Spot pens with the heart caps (Pictured in the 1st picture in the top right) are scented and smell yummy but don’t write very well. Maybe they write better on darker paper.
Well, hope you enjoyed this long winded pens review. Happy writing and happy Filofaxing!
Sincerely,
Jamie
31 Monday Mar 2014
Posted in Oh Hello Mr. Postman
Click here to learn about this snail mail goodness!
Good morning. Hope you all had a restful weekend! I had fun doing a little sale shopping at Target.
I was definitely in need of some extra storage for my craft supplies, so I purchased this cute Sterlite 3-drawer rolling cart. I love this purple tint color, and it is still clear enough to see your stuff inside. I also love the fact that it rolls, so it is easy to roll it to my desk when I’m crafting or decorating letters, and then I can roll it right back to the corner. Our apartment is small so this will keep my crafts off the floor, hopefully. So if you are not already, I would love if you would follow @ohhellomrpostman on Instagram. Join the 235 members of this snail mail loving community! Also, search the #ohhellomrpostman to see what other snail mail everyone is sending around the world.
Here is a pretty letter going out to Kristina in Massachusetts, USA. I was lucky enough to meet her when she was having a giveaway on her lovely Instagram, and I won! Her giveaway prize were these lovely Aha Art Stamps. Check out her cool blog here.
Of course, I had to design a “Thank You” letter using these clear stamps she gave me. I love these stamps so much that I think it has started a clear stamp obsession for me now!
And this was the lovely wrapped package in my mailbox that I received from Kristina.
Letter #26 is going out to my close neighbor, Ophelia, in San Diego, California, USA! I met Ophelia on Instagram, and she is a sweet and spunky lady. I thought the saying “A Little Sugar & A Little Spice” from the BasicGrey “Hey Girl!”Collection was a perfect fit for her. The blue polka dot banner is also from the BasicGrey “Hey You!” Collection. The paper I made the envelope from was from the paper pad Ophelia gave to me as a gift! She was so sweet in sending me this Colorbok Paper Plus Rosewood paper pad which is so helpful to me when I make my own envelopes. Kristina’s envelope pictured was also made from this paper pad.
How gorgeous is Ophelia’s wrapping with the paper pad inside! The package was bigger than my head, and I was so surprised to see this in my mailbox. Thank you, Ophelia and Kristina! Your generosity is truly appreciated!
Well, I hope you all have a joyful Monday! Take care!
Sincerely,
Jamie
P.S. Have a few minutes to spare before you start your busy morning? Check out the blog A Beautiful Mess here where they also feature these gorgeous stamps.
24 Monday Mar 2014
Posted in Oh Hello Mr. Postman
Click here to learn about this snail mail goodness!
Happy Monday! Hope you had a great weekend! I did some shopping at Michael’s and Joanne’s, and I got a lot of goodies for 50% off! Score! Shopping is so fun, but I’m thinking I have to do no spend April again LOL! We’ll see. 😉
So I participated in 2 swaps for Swap-bot.com. I’m still a Swap-bot newbie, and it has been fun so far. If you would like to add me as a friend you can find me here. I have been in 6 swaps so far and only 1 swap partner has been late on a swap, but I won’t let it get me down. I’m excited to swap with people from outside the US.
I participated in the M A R C H Notecard Swap. My partner was Catie in Ohio. I added a few owl stickers, some stamping on the envelope, and a Harry Potter Stamp.
The M A R C H Notecard Swap: “Inside the note card you will tell your partner a few things about you but with a twist. You must use the letters of the word MARCH. You can use the letters how you want to. Be creative. You aren’t limited to just starting the description with a letter.”
Here’s what I wrote:
-I usually “M”arch to the beat of my own drum.
-I m“A”rched in my high school marching band where I played the French Horn for 3 years and the flute freshman year.
-Ten years ago, I marched in the St. Pat“R”icks Day Parade in Ireland with my high school. It was really fun!
-Green is my favorite “C”olor!
–“H”appiness to me is loving who you’re with and loving what you do!
Letter #24 was for the swap “What is Your Quirk? RU Brave Enough to Tell?#2.”
I sent this to Jess from Australia. This is what we had to write: “This swap is to send your partner a short note or a postcard if you are brave enough, of something that you do as a pastime or hobby that others may find quirky, odd or strange.
Hope you enjoyed reading some of the letters I wrote for my swaps! Have a lovely week!
Sincerely,
Jamie
P.S. Please follow @ohhellomrpostman on Instagram to see more photos of this snail mail goodness as well as featured photos of letters written by you! Post a picture of a letter or postcard you wrote to someone with the hashtag #ohhellomrpostman and you might just get featured!
17 Monday Mar 2014
Posted in Oh Hello Mr. Postman
Click here to learn about this snail mail goodness!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Everyone! Are you celebrating today or did you celebrate this past weekend? My hubby and I celebrated yesterday at home by relaxing and watching some movies. Ten years ago today, I was celebrating in Ireland! I can’t believe 10 years has passed since I marched in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin with my high school marching band. Every four years my high school’s marching band would take a trip to Ireland to march in the parade.
Here we are playing in front of the Nenagh Castle in Nenagh, Ireland a few days before the big parade. Then, on March 17, 2004 we marched the 7 mile parade playing our tunes and enjoying the sites and sounds of the Irish people. It was one of my most memorable trips ever!
I would love to write a letter to someone in Ireland. If you are currently living in Ireland, contact me in the contact form by clicking the “Contact” button above.
Letter #21 is going to Diana in California, USA. She was kind enough to donate some Project Life cards to me. I use them in by letters, and write inspirational quotes on them. This letter set is good enough to eat! I added a few clover design memo papers to her letter in celebration of today!
Letter #22 is travelling to Elsa in the Netherlands! A place I wish to visit too and maybe make a pit stop in Ireland again.
She loves cats so a Hello Kitty letter set and a Kutusita Nyanko letter sheet would be purrrffect for her. She had sent me a letter first, and she included this genius “Mail Tag” sheet for me to fill out. I like this idea for keeping track of all your pen pals.
Here is a little about me if you would like to read:
Sincerely,
Jamie
P.S. Are you following @ohhellomrpostman on Instagram yet? I hope you are! 🙂
10 Monday Mar 2014
Posted in Oh Hello Mr. Postman
Click here to learn about this snail mail goodness!
Happy Monday! How was ya weekend? Did you do anything special? I’d love to hear from ya in the comments below. For the first time, my hubby and I went to the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena, California yesterday. It was fun to walk around the five miles of unique vendors and see all the vintage and new goodies. According to Women’s Day Magazine, it is one of the “top global bargain-hunting destinations of the world.” I dream of owning a reclaimed wood coffee table or a vintage piece of furniture one day.
Speaking of destinations of the world, Letter #19 is going out to Jessica in Washington, USA! Jessica and I are currently pen pals, and I can’t wait to learn more about her and her wonderful life. Here’s another Rilakkuma look-a-like letter set. How cute is this bear! Some sequins to add a little sparkle! Those letter seals are from Target. They are perfect to jazz up your envelopes while keeping them shut until they arrive to their destination. I also added an owl Target gift card that is also a cute bookmark.
Look how cute this envelope is! I bet you and I can practice drawing him, even though I’m not much of a doodler.
Amanda from New Jersey is my 20th recipient of my snail mail letter. She is a baker so I thought this macaron and cake letter set would be perfect for her. Don’t those sweet treats look so yummy? I’ve been craving macarons for forever! Have any of you been to Bottega Louie?
I wanted to write in hot pink because she sent me the cutest Betsey Johnson card in a hot pink envelope! What better way to start our correspondence than to write with a hot pink pen, which is a Sharpie fine-tip pen from Target by the way. Can you tell I love Target? LOL! Not to mention their Dollar Spot, but I digress.
Hope your Monday isn’t too thrown off by Daylight Saving Time. Enjoy your extra hour of sunlight by maybe going for a walk or taking the kids to the park! Spring is almost here! Goodbye, for now! 🙂
Sincerely,
Jamie
P.S. Please follow @ohhellomrpostman on Instagram, and I will be announcing when I’ll be taking more letter requests for my Oh, Hello Mr. Postman series. Also, post a picture of a letter or postcard you wrote to someone with the hashtag #ohhellomrpostman and you might just get featured!
03 Monday Mar 2014
Posted in Oh Hello Mr. Postman
Click here to learn about this snail mail goodness!
Top o’ the mornin’ to ya! Happy March! Did you watch the Oscar’s last night? My husband and I did, and we had a very relaxing weekend. My “no spend February” ended last Friday, so I can say I did a long-awaited shopping this past weekend. Many people are doing “no spend March.” Will you be participating in that?
One thing I am participating in is “100 Happy Days.” I started on March 1st, but you can start whenever you like. I will post everyday, a picture of something that made me happy that day for 100 days. I always strive to live for a more grateful and happy life, and this will be fun to participate in. If you want to be a part of this happier community, check out 100happydays.com!
Enough chit-chat, I can’t wait to share this week’s letter with you!
Dada is from South Korea, and we had swapped stationery before. So, I wanted to write her back thanking her for all the cute memo papers and Korean stamps she gave me. She added some Rilakkuma memo papers, and I LOVE Rilakkuma!
This letter is Rilakkuma inspired. For those of you who don’t know who Rilakkuma is, he is the cutest San-X character in my opinion. He is a dressed up brown bear with a zipper on his back. This letter reminds me of him. It’s too cute so I wanted to keep this letter simple and let the design speak for itself. Sometimes these letter sets are too cute on their own.
How adorable is this envelope? The little bows are from Sakuralala the cutest online shop.
On the theme of cute animals, here are for the little piggy fans! This is going to Missie in Oklahoma. We had met on the “Happier” app (check this out too available for the iPhone), and traded postcards. She then sent me the sweetest Valentine’s Day card, so I wanted to write back to her to thank her.
How scrumptious is this envelope? I hope this brightens up the recipients’ mailboxes, as well as your Monday, lovelies! If you would like to be a recipient of one of my letters, please follow @ohhellomrpostman on Instagram. I will announce soon when I will be accepting more letter requests. Have a wonderful week, everyone!
Sincerely,
Jamie
24 Monday Feb 2014
Posted in Oh Hello Mr. Postman
Click here to learn about this snail mail goodness!
Good morning, World! How was your weekend? Mine was busy, and eventful. How are you liking the letters on @ohhellomrpostman on Instagram. Fun huh? Be sure to tag your letters with #ohhellomrpostman Here are this week’s letters!
Letter #15 is going to Jill in the Philippines.
I bought this awesome houndstooth washi tape that had arrived in the mail, and I was inspired to use it for Jill’s letter. I bordered the top and bottom of the letter with it and just snipped one of the ends into a v-cut. For a sleek look, I wanted the color scheme to be red and black! I added a Project Life card, Hello Kitty stickers, 2 die-cut letters for her initials, and picture frame where she can put a picture of her and her loved ones.
This is my 2nd Found Letter for the year! I used the same washi tape except added pink! This I will hide in the aisle of a shopping mall for one lovely lucky lady to find. Hopefully this bright pink letter with Hello Kitty stickers and a True Love die-cut will brighten her day. Happy Monday, Lovelies!
Sincerely,
Jamie
17 Monday Feb 2014
Posted in Oh Hello Mr. Postman
Click here to learn more about this snail mail goodness!
Hello, Everyone! Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten about you. How was your Valentine’s Day? Let me know in the comments up top. My Valentine’s Day was swell. (Who says swell anymore? This girl does!) My hubby and I ate yummy Italian food. Lobster ravioli, salad, bread with olive oil, and tiramisu was on the menu. As a lovely present, he gave me the turquoise Raskog cart from Ikea that I have been wanting forever. I definitely will be storing my craft stuff in that beautiful thing. In this post you will be seeing what I gave him.
So, I didn’t forget to post last week. I wanted to make sure the recipients received their letters before posting it on here so as not to ruin the Valentine’s Day surprise! So, let’s get to it!
Here are letters 10-14!
Melissa from Utah received Valentine Letter #10. And my partners for the Handmade Valentine Swap, Andrea from Canada, Sandi from Illinois, Kim from Florida, and Jennalee from Utah, received Letters #11, #12, #13, and #14. All the letters were similar including the one I made for my husband. Enjoy!
I made these Valentine’s Day Activity Books inspired by the creation of pen pals books by some lovely ladies on Instagram. I also handmade the cute envelopes.
I used paper from the Martha Stewart Crafts Valentine’s Mat Pad. To adhere the front and back pages together, I used a wide washi tape to tape the sides together.
As I said, I handmade these envelopes. I used paper from Target’s One Dollar Spot, a section in the store I’m obsessed with! If you are just getting into snail mailing, the USPS post office sells international forever stamps to use with your international letters. It is the world stamp as seen in the picture above. It’s very handy to have a few.
This one is going to Melissa in Utah. Her words were, “It is so creative! Love it!” I’m so glad she loved it!
Here are pages 2 and 3. Page 2 is the back of page 1. Thank goodness the Martha Stewart page are double sided so they have patterns on both sides.
Since this is an activity book, I created 9 spots for her to write 1 thing she likes about herself everyday starting on Valentine’s Day. The red and white labels were blank Martha Stewart spice labels I found for $0.50 at Big Lots. The kraft labels were from Target’s One Dollar Spot (see how obsessed I am with this section!) I hand-stamped all the dates.
I cut page 3 to be a little shorter than the other pages for decorative purposes. In this little envelope pocket is a blank tag where she can write how her Valentine’s Day was. Where it says “How was your Valentine’s Day?” that’s just good ol’ brown masking tape and some little key patterned washi tape underneath. I just used masking tape from Oh, Hello Friend to adhere pages 2 & 3 together.
Page 4 is the back of page 3 so you can see how handy doubled sided paper is!
I had to add some cute stickers because what activity book doesn’t have stickers?! I used a glue runner to tape those suckers down, and added some washi tape for decoration.
I purposely left page 5 blank. Those are loose confetti hearts I sprinkled on there just to make this photo look good. Here is where she can add a photo of her and her significant other or a photo of whatever they did that day! (Get your mind outta the gutter lol!)
Page 6 behind page 5 is my letter to her.
I hand-stamped the date and wrote a little about what my husband and I did on Valentine’s Day. (Again, get your mind out of the gutter!)
This last page was the most special page in the book. I punched out more than 1000 confetti hearts for all my Valentine’s from pink and red paint swatches. I handmade the vellum envelope and used a glue tape runner to glue it down to the page. Using a red striped washi tape, I closed the envelope flaps. Hopefully, she sprinkles this confetti over someone she loves! My husband sprinkled a few over me today!
The back of the book. THE END!
Hope you enjoyed seeing my handmade Valentine’s Day Letters for “Oh, Hello Mr. Postman!” Enjoy your Monday, lovelies!
Sincerely,
Jamie
P.S. Do you love Instagram? Please follow @ohhellomrpostman on Instagram to see more photos of this snail mail goodness!
Sincerely, Moi. 
