AfricanKelli

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The winner for the stationery is Becky Sue because she hit a cord with her pro-book stance:

“I don’t know if this is considered “old-fashioned” but it certainly seems the tide is turning with all these new e-book thingys like the Kindle and the Nook. Give me a good old-fashioned book any day…I love the feel of it in my hands, the feel of the pages, the smell. I have never listened to an audio book either, and I don’t really care to – even if it might save me some time.”

I am all for technology, but I can’t imagine the time I’ll take a Kindle over a great used book found on a dusty shelf at my local haunt. I like the sensory experience of books and I cannot believe this is now old-fashioned, but so be it!

Your comments about the letters you’ve written, saved and cherished over the years brought out the sentimentalist in me. I am so thankful so many others celebrate this simple joy. I’ve learned you received letters your grandparents had written each other when courting, you’ve written letters to your future children when pregnant, you penned letters to introduce yourself, and to end relationships too.

What used to be an art now seems to be contrite; I still find a good letter a great entertainment. Thank you for sharing your stories!

~K

If I had gobs of money to spend on new hobbies, I’d be taking letterpress classes. I love the design, look, feel and weight of letterpress stationery. It is simply perfect.

Alas, this is not in my immediate future. (Although a friend mentioned yesterday he knows someone who knows someone…) In the meantime, I enjoyed the current stationery sale at JoAnn’s and bought a few new supplies that fueled an afternoon of correspondence creation.

That Ginger Rogers really did get the short end of the stick. You know who else gets cheated? Every single female character on Mad Men. Have you watched this show? I am a bit obsessed. The fashion, set design, and feel of this show makes it visual art. The writing makes it brilliant. I simply love Mad Men, but I am struggling with the female leads. I don’t identify with any of them.

It makes me wonder what my grandmothers put up with and how they view the world today — one where in certain circles, not wearing panties gets you splashed on every magazine for the week. How the art of femininity has changed for the masses.

My love of a great handwritten note and Mad Men are linked in that  I’m enamored with all things old fashioned. Sure, text messages are efficient, but a well written letter? A letter you hold on to. Certainly jeans and soft cotton t-shirt work, but a tailored dress, flats and pretty jewelry? They make me feel like Christmas morning.

And so, another contest for a bundle of handmade stationery. Leave a comment describing one of two things: a letter you’ve received or need to write and why it is special, or, what old fashioned thing you consider the bee’s knees. I’ll select the most creative answer and post it Friday.

~K

Stationery

Um, holy Moses. This 24-days of advent thing I’m attempting? Phew. You’d think I would have started this with a plan of action, but really I started on a whim and have been struggling to keep up. Not to mention next week I’ll be scheduling posts while I’m on the beach and exploring Mexico with my family. Feliz Navidad! So, thank you for hanging around for all this crazy creativity. The self-imposed challenge has me learning to work with new medium and rethinking patterns, etc. I really do appreciate your feedback.

Stationery is one of my favorite things to have on hand. My love of correspondence is well-known. Stamping cards for the holidays is an easy blend of several passions — art, the holidays and the craft of letter-writing. Plus, it is an inexpensive way to check in with so many people during this time of year. I regularly underestimate how many I will need, but this year capped my list at 150. Stamped, mailed, sent with love.

Next year I am going to save the trees and the energy by the mail trucks and email a photo collage. It simply makes more sense ecologically.

Are you making your holiday cards? Do you ever save cards? Reuse the envelopes for scratch paper? I have mine displayed on the mantle. My favorites include the family chronicle letters with lengthy updates on everyone’s activities.

~K

Sunday I was in charge of Children’s Moment at church. The timely lesson was about giving thanks. I whipped up some Thanksgiving cards and we talked about the importance of being grateful. The kids went into the congregation and found someone to give a card to and then we worked on cards for their families in Sunday School.

I am a bit like Johnny Appleseed, but with correspondence. Johnny Stampyseed? Kelli Appleletter? Hmm… I like to spread it and make others write letters too. (My brother told me the other day he’s saved all the letters I’ve sent him since he left for college and there are more than 100. I’m a little crazy, I know.) The kids agreed — getting personal mail rocks.  They now know the secret too — to get mail, you’ve got to send some stationery love too. They were as excited as a group of little ones gets about a thinly veiled manners lesson.

I whipped up some music mixes this weekend too. Looking at this photo I just realized the Four Seasons song is a Vivaldi and it is Violin not Violent. Ha! Violin autmun, not violent autumn.

I think these might be my two very favorite things to receive:  handwritten notes and mixes of la musica.

Hope your Thanksgiving week is off to a great start!

~K

I was the kid at summer camp who always came home with a stack of addresses and managed to write a dozen pen pal letters in the first week, chronicling life in suburban Arizona as though it was dramatically different from the other WASPY childhoods of my new friends.  No surprise my fondness for this form of communication carried forward into adulthood, although my Hello Kitty stickerbook has been updated a bit. I typically start the new year with a fresh address book, making edits to the year’s changes in addresses with a stack of Christmas card envelopes in hand, and adding birthdays for new babies, etc. I keep a running list of birthdays in some attempt to remember as many as possible.

I’ve got plenty of people who think I’m crazy for operating on a pencil/paper system these days, even though my Blackberry is permanently attached to my otherwise technologically savvy self. I like an agenda where I can doodle, make lists, paperclip notes and not worry if I spill my morning coffee. Ink runs, but it doesn’t spark.  Same goes for my address book. It’s a scratchy mess by the end of the year — it seems this is a time of life when most friends hop from rentals to mortgages — but it is my mess and it doesn’t ever need to be in binary code.

And so, every few months, I find stationery and stamps and create a stack of  notes to be posted. In part, I enjoy writing letters because it forces a thoughtful selection of word choice and flow. There are things I’ll discuss at length when writing with pen that I’d never consider sending via gmail. Plus, with email how often do you have a greeting, a point and a kind valediction?  And in part, I write letters selfishly because the sense of opening the mailbox to find something handwritten and personal is the bee’s knees.

I’m adding this to my “list of descriptive words I need to create,” along with the feeling of finding an unexpected love letter. My mom used to tuck notes of love in our lunches on occasion. My dad slipped a letter into my luggage once when I left for a long trip. My grandma regularly sends me letters of love. I’ve even found one or two romantic, sappy and completely exhilirating notes from ghosts of boyfriends past. It isn’t just the words, but the paper and the ability to tuck such sentiment away to be cherished again and again.

I’m in the mood to spend extra time writing letters and connecting with friends. A correspondence month admist an otherwise busy technological world is old fashioned or vintage, quaint or lame, thoughtful or a waste of time. Like everything else in life, it depends on your perspective. I’m venturing to bet on I’m not the only one who appreciates kindness signed, sealed and delivered.

~K