Week 4: 52 Letters in a Year

Hello, my friends! We're already into the fourth week of 2021, which means it's time to send out letter number four. However, this week I wrote three letters: one to my 4th grade teacher, one to my 9th grade band teacher, and one to my great aunt. I haven't seen many of the people on my list in a long time, so is very exciting to write to them. 

 

Week 4, Letter One:
The first letter I wrote was to my 4th grade teacher, who I haven't seen since 2010. Her favorite color is blue so I decided to create a blue and yellow theme, with a bit of brown. Once again, I tore up some pieces from a brown paper bag and layered the blue and yellow scrapbook pieces on top. 

For the letter, I used yellow copy paper
and torn scrapbook paper

My favorite envelope so far! It's made with 
yellow construction paper, blue scrapbook 
paper, and pieces of a brown paper bag

Week 4, Letter Two:
The second letter was sent to my 9th grade band teacher. I just used a piece of plain notebook paper for the letter and decorated the header. The envelope was a lot of fun to make too. I drew some music notes around the border to match the letter's header. 

The letter's heading because I forgot to take
a picture of the whole letter

The musical envelope!

Each note got its own border

Week 4, Letter Three:

The last letter for this week was sent to my great aunt. I wrote this one a few days ago, and decided to use stationery paper that I already had on hand. 

This stationery set came with envelopes so 
I just added some star stickers to decorate it

The back of the envelope with its matching
stationery paper

And there you have it: three envelopes and three letters to get your creativity flowing! 

Which envelope is your favorite?  

-Miss K

It's National Handwriting Day!

 Greetings, fellow writers! Tomorrow is an exciting day because it is National Handwriting Day. Yup, there IS a day for that and it's celebrated every year on January 23rd. To keep handwriting alive, here are some ideas on how to celebrate.

But first, you need some history because who doesn't love history? 

History:

National Handwriting Day was founded in 1977 by the Writing Instrument Manufactures Association (WIMA). January 23rd was the chosen day because that is John Hancock's birthday. He was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence and has the largest signature out of all fifty-six delegates who signed.

 After the long seventeen days of writing the document (thanks to Benjamin Franklin), Hancock received the honor of signing first. His signature is almost five inches long! There are various stories as to why he signed so big, but they all state that he wanted people to be able to read it without spectacles. 

The large John Hancock signature

How to Celebrate:

The main goal of National Handwriting Day is to bring back the use of handwriting, so doing anything with a pen (or any writing utensil) and paper will work for celebrating. 

• Write a letter to a friend

• Start a journal 

• Learn calligraphy

• Write your grocery list or to do list by hand

• Write a short story without a computer

• Practice your handwriting

Jane Austen's beautiful quill pen writing (credit)

"Handwriting is a true art form and one of the few ways we can uniquely express ourselves. There's something poetic about grasping a writing instrument and feeling it hit the paper as your thoughts flow through your fingers and pour into words." -Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association

What is your favorite way to use your handwriting?  

-Miss K

Week 3: 52 Letters in a Year

I've been having a lot of fun with this challenge, and I encourage you to try it too, if you haven't already. Here's my pictures of this week's letter. 

 Week 3:

Since I'll be graduating high school in a few months, I decided to include some of my elementary teachers on my list of 52 people. My first teacher on the list was my 5th grade Language Arts teacher. I haven't seen her for seven years so I was very excited to write to her. I actually wrote the letter last week, but I mailed it this week so it still counts. Enjoy the pictures! 

The letter! It was so fun to decorate it!

A (kind of) matching envelope with leftover scrapbook paper

Close-up Pictures:

I like to save every scrap I accumulate, which may or may not be a good thing, but it comes in handy when I want to create my own stationery paper. For this letter, I used a plain green copy paper sheet and added brown paper to the corner. It's actually from some small brown paper bags. I like the look of torn edges so that's how I created those shapes. 

I added a piece of flowered washi tape over the brown piece.  

I love how the torn paper looks in this corner! I also added a washi tape sticker.

For this last one, I glued some red tissue paper over the brown piece and then stamped this bird onto it. 

Have you ever tried making your own stationery paper? 

-Miss K

Week 2: 52 Letters in a Year

Welcome to week 2 of 2021! For anyone participating in the 52 letters in a year challenge, it's time for letter number two to be mailed out. Remember, you're welcome to start anytime. 

 Week 2:

Last month, I was cleaning off my bookshelf and discovered a CD of James Galway and his flute. I borrowed this from one of my band teachers a couple years ago, and it never got returned. To solve that problem, I decided to write a short letter and mail the CD back to its owner.  

Letter and the music cd

Treble clef and trumpet envelope

Have you written any letters yet this year? 

-Miss K

Fill the World with Mail: 52 Letters in a Year

 Hello readers! It's been a while since I've written a post, but I'm excited to be back with a fun, year long challenge! There's nothing better than receiving or mailing a hand written letter, right? So this year, I'm challenging myself to write at least one letter every week of 2021. Each week, I'll be posting pictures of my letter or card for the week. It is already week two, but you can certainly write two letters to get caught up. :)

Challenge Details:

• Make a list of several people you want to write to. (The goal is 52 letters not people, so you can mail more than one letter to the same person.) It could be a relative, a friend, a former teacher, or even a sibling that lives in the same house. 
• Mail a letter or card to one person each week of this year. 
• Keep track of each letter and if you want, take a picture before you mail it out.
• The author Michelle Houts also has some information on her website, and you can mail her a letter to tell her that you're participating in the challenge.

Week 1:
I mailed my first letter of the year on Wednesday, which went to my aunt's mailbox. I haven't seen her for a while, so I decided to make her the lucky first recipient of my letters. She loves sewing so this envelope was perfect for her letter. 

Of course, the drawing credit goes to my brother

I used this cute bunny stationery paper for the letter.

                                                                                                

My older sister will also be participating in this challenge and my eight year old sister is doing her own version, with at least one letter per month for a total of 12 letters. I hope you'll join the challenge in some way, even if it's not 52 letters. Let's fill the world with snail mail!

Will you be participating in this challenge? How many letters will you write? 

-Miss K