Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Snail mail accessories.

Note: I recognize today is September 11, and I am thinking of the people affected by that tragedy. I wrote about 9/11 two years ago on this date, and I chose not to post about it today because I believe many bloggers have more to say on the subject, and I would rather read and respond to their words than create my own. But that doesn't mean I don't hold America close to my heart today, and every day. And if you are or know someone who was personally affected, I am thinking of you, too.

Now, for regularly scheduled programming:

I'm slightly obsessed with stationery. In fact, I had a specific line in my monthly budget last year for stationery and postage. (Told you it was an obsession.) I'd much rather receive a shopping spree in a Papyrus or Paper Source than in any clothing store, and my stationery collection takes up an entire cube in my shelving unit (and that's just the stationery I want to display).

Anyway, now that you understand the depths of my love for all things paper and postage, I wanted to share some of the adorable snail mail accessories I've found on Pinterest over the years:

top: yellow | chevron | red /// bottom: pink | green | embosser
As much as I love return address labels (I can never say no to a free label offer from Shutterfly!), I'd love to get a return address stamp (or embosser!) now that I have a more permanent location. I had three different addresses in college and then changed addresses twice in the year following graduation, so a permanent return address wasn't really on my horizon. Now that I'm finally settled down in a new city, I thought about getting a stamp, but my last name will be changing in a year and we'll hopefully be buying a house shortly before or after, so this project might remain on hold for a little while longer. Since creating these graphics, I keep finding new cute options online (like this heart-shaped stamp), but I finally had to cut myself off.

left: patterns /// middle: pages | maps /// right: maps | glitter
I'm not a super crafty person, but when I was younger, I loved making stationery. My birthday cards for friends were always homemade, but one thing I always had trouble with were the envelopes. They usually ended up being plain colored paper and I put all my focus on the cards themselves. I'm very intrigued by the envelopes above, however—especially the maps. (Didn't you know? I'm obsessed with maps, too.)

Do you have any favorite stationery accessories?