Snail Mail // Deconstructed

I’ve recently entered into the world of snail mail and I never realized there was such a large community of modern letter writers out there! I became interested in doing some kind of exchange with someone and I eventually found someone I could write to. I guess the words snail mail, pen pals, swaps, and RAKs are interchangeable, but the basic idea is to get to know someone through writing letters and perhaps exchange some goodies if you feel like it. I felt like this would be an interesting experience, and a great way to share some crafty love and things I might have too much of.

I got my first letter for @paperpanduh together and it didn’t take as long as I expected! Here is a breakdown of what I sent for my very first pen pal.

1 | The Letter // Probably the main/most important piece. I took a plain card I had extras of and jazzed it up with whatever paper, embellishments I had on hand. I also decorated the envelope (shown below) with stamps and washi tape. Just have fun with it! 

2 | Mail Tag // As an efforts to get to know your pen pal know, most people include a mail tag. A Mail Tag is usually a list of questions you want your pen pal to answer in their next letter to you. This time I used another 3x4 PL card (so useful!) and attached a tag onto it and used some alpha stickers I had.

3 | 5 Things // Since I was the first one to write, I decided to include 5 things she should know about me. I just took a 3x4 Project Life card from the Midnight core kit and jazzed it up with some Thickers on one side, and wrote those 5 things about me on the other side.

4 | Crafty Goodies // This is definitely optional, but I enjoy sharing things I have extra of or might not use or things you feel that your pen pal would enjoy. In this letter I included some samples of washi tape I have on an extra Popsicle stick I had from rub-on's, shared some PL cards, some Martha Stewart home office stickers (because I knew my pen pal had a planner), and some other extra goodies.

5 | Treats // How much more could I fit in here? I knew my pen pal liked tea so I included some tea I had for her to try. I've seen others swap candy they've never tried, which I think is a neat idea. 

In the end, to send all of this out, it took about 5 stamps from California to Seattle. I dropped it off at a blue postal box first thing Wednesday morning and she got it on Saturday. It was fun to put together and I look forward to exploring this world of pen pals, RAKs, and swaps some more!

If you're interested in finding a pen pal/person to swap with, here are couple of ways to find one!

- Swap Bot

- If you have an instagram, you can look up hashtags such as #penpals #penpalswanted #penpalsneeded #snailmail and such, and usually you can find people looking for pen pals or even post something yourself!

Do you snail mail? If so, what do you like to do with your mail?

Big Hug,

Jeziell