April is Also National Poetry Month

I don’t think I’ve ever shared a penpal letter and poetry in the same envelope. But this month a swap by the League of Extraordinary Penpals has me doing just that. You can send your own work, or you can send in that of someone else. As a high school student The Hollow Men (especially the last line - “This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper!”) by T.S. Elliot. But I think, for this swap, I’ll send in one of my own. Would you like to see one? Well, you’ve gotten this far so I’ll assume you do. 

Hearts Longing

My heart longs to belong to you. 

To feel your love every day.

Two hearts intertwining to become one.

Beating together, heartbeat, by heartbeat as one.

My heart longs to know you.

To feel your pain and joy every day.

Two souls joined together by destiny.

Sharing secrets no longer to be hidden.

My heart longs to be loved by you.

To be loved by you every second of every day.

Two people joined by fate.

Loving each other across the miles.

My heart longs to love you.

To bask in the love I feel for you every day.

Two bodies joining together as one.

Joining the two together forever.


So, what do you think? Should I share this one with my swap partner?
Do you share poems in letters? Would you share one with me? Either privately or publicly I’d love to know that side of you dear reader. If you’re not willing to send one of your own, would you be willing to share one of your favorite poems? 
Until next post, 
Tami

National Card and Letter Writing Month

It’s time. Time to get my ass in gear. I’m using April’s National Card and Letter Writing Month as another excuse (as if having letters written and received in December sitting in my pile wasn’t enough) to tackle my 15 deep reply pile. How big is your reply pile?

National Card and Letter Writing Month was initiated as a month long initiative by the USPS by  extending its week long April holiday. They thought it was a good idea, and I for one agree. 

So today was me writing to a longtime pen friend Karen. She and I have a “thing” of referring to each other by pet names. Today was Pookie and Snookums. I look forward to letters from her because they are full of life and make me feel like we should be sitting side by side drinking a cocktail. I’m glad to have a pal like her.

Do you have a pal like Karen? Do you ever refer to your pen friends by pet names, or is it just us? I’d love to know!

Today’s mail brought an unexpected postcard surprise from Chris in the form of a tip for my upcoming trip to Puerto Rico (still 10 months away). Who knew that I’d be able to spend time in a feral cat colony in Old San Juan? The trip just went from awesome to EPIC!

If you’re interested in a postcard pal feel free to drop me a message, I’d be happy to oblige.

 

It's the end my friend...

National Card and Letter Writing Month started April 1st and ends on April 30th. I'm so sad to see it go. 

I've spent this month with all of my friends at the League of Extraordinary Penpals. I hosted two Facebook events that brought together some like-minded people and we shared and supported each other as we tried, and succeed in reducing our reply piles.

I've gotten down to where my reply pile is answered within 2-3 days after I get the letter. I think my pen pals must think that I've been taken over by some alien life form. I will admit that I wasn't taking the time to write back as promptly as I should have. I always wondered if I had enough things to talk about if I wrote back right away. But comes to find out that I did/do have it in me to write things of substance.

When I was in Jr. High School I went away to camp during the summer and before we left school I asked if I was able to write to my bus driver while I was away. She said she would be honored if I would. I wrote to her several times over the summer and when I got back to school she told me that I wrote like that I was right beside her talking instead of through a letter. That made me feel very good.

We talked in the event on Facebook about our first pen pal experiences. When I was in high school we had to choose a pen pal from a specific country but only two people could choose the same country. Trying to find something different became difficult for me so I said, "OK, we live in the town of Lebanon, PA let's pick the country of Lebanon." So I got a pen pal from there. It was nice talking to the young man. He and I talked into our early 20s until the post office where he got his mail got bombed. One of his friends was searching the mail piles for his own mail and came across the letter I wrote to him. He wrote to me and told me that it wasn't safe for him to write to me anymore and he'd write again when it was. I never heard from him again. I wish I knew where he was and if he was safe. I can't even remember his name anymore it's been so long.

In the group, Crystal told us her story: 

When I was in junior high I moved from BC to Alberta. My still best friend Tammy got me some Disney letter sets, stamps, and pens. We wrote to each other. From there I was addicted.

I'd love to hear about your first pen pal experience, are you still pals with them today? Is your reply pile dwindling? I hope things are looking up for you as we prepare for National Stationery Week April 29-May 5th.

A Month of Letters Challenge - February

It's been a while; I've slacked off, goofed around and shirked my responsibilities. At the end of last year, I had sent out 104 replies to pen pal letters. It was impressive, but not what it could have been. Thanks to the League of Extraordinary Pen Pals I was motivated to send out letters more often than I would have. *waves at the LEP community*

Last year I joined in on a project called A Month of Letters Challenge. Every day in the month of February you send out a letter, so that's 24 pieces of mail (we're excluding Sundays since the mail doesn't run that day) out. There are badges that you can earn for sending out certain letter types.


Here's a few of them:

I replied to mail - Answering a letter from someone in your letter pile.
I sent mail today - Sending out a piece of mail.
Postal explorer - Send out a piece of mail from a different mailbox.
Postal adventurer quest - Using 3 mailboxes that aren't your own.
Contact your representative - Contact a government representative.

And there are so much more. Last year I didn't work on those badges because, to be honest, I was a little lazy. I worked on getting my reply pile down and sending cards/letters/postcards to those that I love. It was nice connecting with them on that level and knowing that they were surprised to get something in the mail from me, or anyone that wasn't a bill. I'm sure that you know that feeling. I do plan on working through those achievements this year to see if I'm able to expand my horizons a little bit.

Will you join me in the challenge? Will you post on or read the forums and find the pen pal of your dreams? What writing challenges do you join or what writing goals do you strive for this year? Let me know in the comments below.

I LOVE Postcards

I've collected postcards for many, many years. At first, I wanted to have my postcards brought back to me from wherever the person who gave them to me had gone. But since I have joined Swap-Bot and have been a pen pal with League of Extraordinary Pen Pals I have wanted to swap them "naked". The first time I heard that term I was like WTF, really? And like a total noob I had to ask, "What's naked mean?" I certainly didn't think that they were going to want me to write them while I was naked because no one but my boyfriend would want that! So what does it mean?

NAKED: Mailed to the recipient written on, stamped and sent through the mail. You do NOT put the postcard in an envelope. 

Normally I buy my postcards on Ebay, Amazon, yard sales and thrift stores. I have been known to sneak into a local Chamber of Commerce and ask if they have any postcards that they are giving away. Sometimes they will give you as many as you want for free; sometimes you end up paying a nominal fee. I prefer the FREE way as it is one of my three favorite four letter F words. If you would like to know what they are, leave a comment below and I'll fill you in.

Just recently I was searching Google for something pen pal related and came across someone's blog post (I should have saved the link, so sorry guys - but I thank that person for the information) that described this service called AmazingMail.

Disclaimer: I am NOT getting paid to write this post! Not one red penny. I'm not getting a percentage of sales, or a kickback of any kind. This is my unbiased review of something that I am in LOVE with and wanted to share with you.

When I found the site I noticed that they gave you 5 FREE (there's that word again) cards to try out; who wouldn't want to do that? Then if you take a survey telling them about your experience you get one more free card to send. After a few days, I had a follow-up email from a guy named Chris, *waves HI CHRIS*, who wanted to make sure that I had found everything that I was looking for. I realized then that this service was mainly geared towards businesses; I was a little sad. But I emailed Chris to see if he could send me out a sample pack of cards so I could see the quality of what I was sending out to my friends/family. He sent the info pack and I realized yet again that maybe I wasn't in their target market. Don't fret my friends, I got over that fact quickly.

After reviewing their site more closely and looking at the price (I hadn't even bothered until then) I saw that you were able to buy the credits for the cards in quantities of 1-9 or higher. So this product could be for me. I just had to use it properly. Click HERE to see the full pricing and the discounts you get for each level, you'll have to scroll down about halfway to see them.

Here's a list of what buying a credit will get you:

• Postage
• Full Color - Premium Coating
• Next business day print & mail
• No minimum order

What more could I ask for?

• International postcards? GOT THEM!
• Greeting cards? GOT THEM!
• Great customer service? GOT THAT TOO!

Call me skeptical, but I'm still digging around to find a fault in these guys, but so far this pen pal hasn't dug up any dirt on them. I even looked them up on the Online Better Business Bureau and they have a flipping A+ rating and they are accredited. 

So here's the deal, try these guys or don't - but know that I'll be using them. And if you do decide to use them Chris was able to get us a promo code for 20% off on your first order but only if the discount is $200 or lower. :)

The promo code for that my dear readers is: PENPAL17

But another disclaimer make sure to check their website first for a banner on the top of the page that may be showing any promotions that are currently going on. Because at the time of this blog post there was a discount of 25% on your first order with a max discount of $250 (for you ballers out there with some dough in your pockets).

The promo code for that is: POOLPARTY17

Now, for those of you who are a little skeptical of what's going on, and the quality of their cards, if you comment below and send me an email to penpaladdict.blogger (@) gmail.com (don't use the (), I just don't want nasty spammers emailing me, I'll send you the sample card that Chris was able to send me. You'll be absolutely awed and amazed by the quality of these cards. 

Well, off to send out some postcards in swaps that I have going on right now. That way, I can finish filling up my photo box with postcards and start another.

I look forward to your comments and emails.

Huggles to you all, and have a great day!

Washi Tape Addiction

Much like pen pal letters, washi tape tends to grow like weeds. I feel like sometimes they grow like bunnies. I swear I don't go to the Dollar Tree, or to Michaels or any other store that carries it and blindly put it in the cart because "it's on sale" or "I have a coupon for that". They have their own little cute babies.

Being a pen pal most likely involves a bit of mail art, even if it's only through a bit of washi .I've gotten some mail that makes my mail art look like a kindergarten school kid made it.

My envelopes will sometimes have the washi tape on the bottom, or in times of real inspiration, I'll go diagonally. You can see that these envelopes have address windows on them. When I get a bill in the mail I take the envelope that comes with it and put it in a pile. Supplies for this hobby can get expensive, so I save as many envelopes that I can so I don't have to buy them for as long as possible. When I get them I make sure to cover any barcode that happens to be on there (you can see this on both tops of the envelopes) so they won't go through the mail and get to the recipient looking too much like a bill coming in. 

Now back to the point at hand, washi tape! 

Some of the places that I find the best washi tape are:

• The Idea Owl
• Wish.com
• Dollar Tree
• Michaels

I do quite a few swaps on a website called Swap-Bot. And in these swaps people will send along wonderful little extras. Some of those extras are washi tape samples. Most of the samples that are sent are about 18" long so that you're able to get a few good uses out of them. Many people place these samples on playing cards or other forms of study material in which the tape won't stick and peel the delivery method.

I enjoy putting them on:

• Playing cards
• Fake credit cards that are sent to you when credit card companies want you to apply for their cards. I put packing tape on them if the card is not made of a plastic material.
• Or washi sample templates that I get from blogs that I follow. Check out this one: Click Here I will take these templates and put them on heavy cardstock and then laminate them.
  
  

I've found that there are two types of washi tape. There is the type that is very much like masking tape and the one that is more plastic like. My favorite is the masking tape kind, I'm just not quite a fan of the plastic kind, just makes washi seem "off".

How much washi do you have? Which is your favorite? Give me a link to where you buy your washi tape. I'd really love to know. You can never have enough.

My beginning to pen pals began with Swap-Bot

My beginnings to pen palling (paling?) began with my Swap-Bot membership. It's a great place to get to know people and to swap things that mean things to you. I'm learning about people's music "ear bugs" by hosting a swap there entitled It's Stuck in My Head. I thought you might be interested in hearing what's stuck in my head this month.