Mountain Musings...And Letter Writing

What is your source of inspiration?

These pictures are from a vacation a year and a half ago. I had been meaning to write a blog post using them but never did.  But looking at these pictures (in my draft file) got me thinking about a subject that writers often talk about.  What is the source of your writing inspiration?  If you are a letter writer, you are a writer. And letter writers, like book,or magazine writers, get into slumps.  What do you do?  Well, whenever there is a vacation planned, I take the opportunity to use that time to "recharge" .  I try to  reflect a bit and see what is new in my life or maybe what I have learned.  Even a change of scene is invigorating! Maybe that will get you thinking in a new direction!  Maybe it will slow you down enough to actually spend some quality time  to write letters!  Look at that view we had EVERY DAY!  This was just a breath-taking view and plain awe-inspiring.  If you are curious, this was in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.    It was a family vacation, and the house was HUGE!  It slept something like 40 people, but we "only" had 27 of us, I believe.  That included I think 11 or so grand kids, so just imagine Legos and all sorts of kid toys scattered everywhere on this carpet.  Ha, ha, I swept them away temporarily for the purpose of this photo.  :-)

This was the summer that was just after  the Pigeon Forge fire...literally 5 months.  Up the treacherously steep and narrow road (which gave me a near panic attack--no kidding!) there were countless slabs of cement where recently stood majestic cabins.   The above photo shows how  the fire had nearly  surrounded this house.  This mountain top was just to the left of our house for the week.  I wanted to shout, "HALOOOO" to our mountain neighbors....

I took along my tea stash and literally just enjoyed sipping my tea and gazing at God's glorious creation. It's nearly impossible to see this site and not think about God and his goodness and mercies.  I also took my mobile writing kit and did pen a few letters.    What about you?  What keeps you focused and writing?

Give Your Brain A Vacation

Go visit a friend

take your tea

Enjoy!

Pam

A little Christmas Holiday Cheer!

Christmassy Outgoing Postcards....

Hi EVERYONE!!!!!  Just sharing a little bit of what I just sent out to all of my local yokel friends and family (stateside, not international!)  I normally send postcards out to my international  postcrossing community...but instead I sent locally...why not?  So, in addition to the  "real" Christmas mail...my token family picture card...I thought I'd send out some fun stuff!  YAY for me!  :-)

I thought I'd do a flat lay , so you could see the different stamps I used.  Some of them are such cute vintage ones...that I hated saying goodbye to them.   But, I do hope they bring a bit of a smile on the receiver's face! Some of the stamps are not Christmas stamps (like the West Virginia and Alabama. state stamps, and the traffic light!) , but have a prominent red and or green.   

Hoping your Holidays are

Bright and Cheery

Love to you

Always,

Pam

Pen Pal Kit

Merry Christmas...and look at these cards!

Merry Christmas 2018!!

I recently attended a wonderful card making workshop.  This was open to all ages at my church and we had some that were as young as 3 and 4.  I was stationed at this particular styled card.  The more "advanced" card making was at a different table.  We had so much fun, and the children did an amazing job!  The cards were destined to be delivered to a local nursing home.

We signed each card...

I just adore the work that Rachel (6) did on her Christmas trees...and her older sister Lydia decided she wanted to do a different tree altogether.  So creative!

One thing I wanted to share with you is the dual tip brush pen I found at the Dollar Tree which  I saw  on my last trip.  They had a good supply with various colors but  I only purchased one so I could "test it" and not waste money.  I was hugely surprised!  These are  made from a Japanese company

"Marvy"...and let me tell you...they are MARVELOUS!  They have a nice firm tip and are "juicy" so they allow for different levels of color. The marker tip is very fine and works well too.  When I was at the check out, the cashier was gushing about the pen.  He said he did calligraphy and they were great. I should have run back and swiped all of them, but I didn't.  

Here is a closer look...

Needless to say, I went back and bought several more in various colors of what was left.  Evidently the word got out about this product...I hope they get more in!  Moral of the story...trust your Dollar Tree cashier...they know what they are talking about!

Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas

and a Happy New

Year!

Pam

Pen Pal Kit

Envelope Watercolors...Autumn

The air is cold and crisp.  The trees are losing their leaves faster than I can rake them up, and I find myself drinking hot tea by the gallons... It's time to get out the paints and start dabbling away.  First, I must caution you.  I am a complete amateur, I really don't know what I am doing...but hey!  Watercolor is a friend to all.  I must warn you also, that trying to do any blending on regular paper is next to impossible.  If you try your hand at watercolor (and I completely urge you to do so...) you might find yourself a bit frustrated because if you work on anything but watercolor  paper you will have a big puddle of wavy paper.  So, this is about the best I could do with the paper envelopes I had.  I did find a link to watercolor envelopes, but they were outside of my budget for now.  If anyone wants to go in halvsies let me know!  :-)  

Here is one going out to Sheryl!  The nice thing about pumpkins...they are so naturally irregular that they are very forgiving to budding artists. :) I love the postage on this letter!

 

 

 This particular study.... I'm pretty sure that I overworked it a bit.  Ah...there is always next time!

I love this sweet little watercolor birdie with its cauliflower bloom  on it's breast!  haha.  Oh the joys of watercolor!  I think that the postage on the birdie envelope is my favorite!

Here is some of my top pics of  washi tape that I am using right now on outgoing snailmail!

 

 I do almost all of my work at my desk.  It's not usually so neat and clean, I think I dumped everything onto the floor for this picture  so you wouldn't see how messy I really am.  

Well, I think that wraps up the autumn themed snail mail that I sent out this week.   What are you sending out?

Happy Snail Mailing,

Pam

P.S.

Free Shipping on all my letter writing kits through December!!!

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Add Some Quick Mail Box Happiness With PostCrossing!

Is your mailbox sad these days?  You peer into the metal box....only to find, ugh, junk mail? Well, one way to quickly make that sad little mail box happy again is to sign on to postcrossing.com. 

Be sure to have your international postage on hand.  I have been a member for awhile, although, with long dry spells.  It doesn't matter, you can pick right back up again, anytime.  I have 8 going out right now, all heading to Germany, Russia, and the good ol' USA.  

I had to go online (Amazon.com) to purchase some postcards as my stash is still somewhere in my moving boxes...I still have not found them, but these will do for now.  So get busy and turn that sad little mailbox into a happy one!


Happy Snailmailing,

Pam

Pen Pal Kit

I've Got The Blues: Snail Mail Flipbook

This is one of my small, simple to make flip books ....you can find more examples of this style of flip book here.  Need some more inspirations?  Try this link...  

Just a few things I put inside my flip book...actually I should probably call them "fold overs"...what do you think they should be called?

Happy Snail Mail Inspiration!

Pam

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This Little Mail Man...Snail Mail Postal Theme

Who Wouldn't Like to receive this cutie in the mail? 

I absolutely LOVED receiving this super creative , vintage postal themed envelope and long, chatty letter. This was from a pal  I met at the DC Postal Meet Up, organized by Global Pen Pal!  Carrie is a great creative talent in the snail mail community.  You can follow her work on Instagram:  

Carriejojo212. She pumps out mail like no one's business, and ALL of it good mail!

Urgent!!!  I needed to get something out to Carrie...and I decided to  continue the vintage postal theme!  I grabbed one of my vintage children's readers and  was thrilled to find a picture of "Mr. Postman"!!   Then I had to get out my post office stamps, and vintage stamps...and here you have it!

And this cute photo  as a pair!  Yay!  We LOVE our post women AND men!

Happy Snail Mailing,

Pam

*Available In My Shop*

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Hey Girl, Hey...Snail Mail Antics

Hey Girl!

Michele always sends such wonderful mail to me...I needed to get busy. As cappuccinoandartjournal would tell us..."to get good mail,  you gotta send good mail"!  The pressure was on.  The group from the " D.C. Postal Meet Up" are some serious mail artists.  And here I am just doing my cutesie, crafty little thing over  here in my corner of the world...but not these folks. They are into all their cool artistic techniques churning out mail nearly EVERY day.  I'm slow folks. And the pressure was on.    So this is what I came up with for Michele who sent me this GREAT mail pictured below...

Isn't her "stamp head" spot on?  She is just oozing talent in very direction!!  So much fun to receive such great mail!  Thank you Michele.  You can follow Michele on Instagram:  mbcano1.

My son , Benji, went off to camp for a week this summer.  I tried to find something that a teenage boy would not be  too embarrassed to receive.  I think I asked him weeks after he was home from camp (when I remembered to ask) if he ever received the letter... he said, "oh yeah, mom".  Ha, I guess he appreciated it.

Have fun with your outgoing mail...put a smile on the postal carrier's face!

Pam

*Available In The Shop!*

Pen Pal Letter Set Kit

Incoming Stationery Haul....

Parcels are so much fun to receive, right?  

This nice big envelope arrived in the mail from Global Pen Pal.  (And I have NO idea why her cute envelope is upside down in each picture!) She was so thoughtful to send me her nice de-stash of stationery.  

For those of you not familiar...this stationery comes from the Victorian Trading Post.

I try to send "global" themed mail to Global Pen pal whenever I can.

And of course...a letter also!  Speaking of which...If you have written me, I am attacking my pile as quickly as possible.  More posts coming on YOUR beautiful snail mail!

Happy Snail Mailing!

Pam

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Pat Mail....Let The CRAZINESS Begin..

SNAIL MAIL AT ITS BEST

HELLO, RVA!

Everyone needs a crazy, wacky sister like mine.  Oh, and to top it off, she is my identical TWIN  sister.  Of course that doesn't make me crazy or wacky....ha! This summer she came for a visit, taking the Amtrak down to my neck of the woods...Richmond , VA.  When she came to town, I had already planned each and every day with something she hadn't already done in the Richmond and surrounding areas.  We had a blast...and she was so sweet to send me a thank you card(s) with her very cool graphic art and watercolor.

Are you ready?  Dare to open?  I did.

First, THANKS!!  For what?

Our first trip was downtown Richmond for an electric bike tour of historic Church Hill.  We had a great tour guide and it was absolutely fantastic,  everyone needs to check out their local e-bike tours!

One day was spent at the Jefferson for high tea!  You can read all about it here:High Tea At The Jefferson  .  You will have to google why the alligator is in the picture.  It figures into the history of the Jefferson Hotel.

And then the obligatory family time!  And that is no small feat getting 10 children, 4 spouses,  and 11 (now 12) grand kids all together! And just so you know, no babies were injured or harmed in the "baby lift" competitions.  Brandon of course, rocked it!

We had so much fun researching the type of coconut (4 layer originally) cake that my grandmother used to make --circa 1920's?.  We had narrowed it down to about 8 different recipes online, and finally think that we found THE ONE!  Here is the recipe we settled on: Grandma's Coconut Cake.   It was amazing....and so much fun to make with Pat.  Thanks, Pat, for taking over the grating of the coconut!

Ah, then the interesting trip to Petersburg Virginia.  Petersburg has a fantastic  Civil War history and the city is amazing to visit...but be warned!  Since the town has suffered almost total bankruptcy this past year , the tourism industry has been completely annihilated!  First stop to the Visitor Center?  Closed!  Museums?  Closed!  The historic area is like a ghost town!  One saving grace was our luncheon at the Dixie Restaurant!  Great small  town vibes, super friendly service, and we were told ahead of time about the heavenly "Spoon Bread" which was literally "to die for!"  Great place, I highly recommend.   Then it was on to the national battlefield to see the "Battle of the Crater"...my young uns that we took were not really impressed.  I think you have to be an adult to appreciate this interesting bit of history.  But, there too, the museum was CLOSED!  Ugh, arrrrgh!

Richmond, Virginia is home to one of the only two, URBAN  level 5 white water rafting in the country!  So off we went to try our hand at it!  Ha, ha, the pictures are ACCURATE!  We lost Pat and my son Benji on the first rapid into the water!  We had to go into rescue mode immediately! Thankfully we all made it through the rapids without loss of limb or life!  It was an experience of a lifetime.  

Hi Lydia!  We had some swim time in the river which was great on the sweltering day we happened to be on the James River.

Such fun mail!  Thank YOU Pat for keeping the memories alive, even more so than the photos that we took.  What a great week, with this mail I will  always look back with a smile.

I hope you have enjoyed this travelog , maybe you can go out and explore your own city too.

Happy Snail Mailing,

Pam

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