Incoming: Texas

Amanda's parcel kicked off a series of delightful mail that arrived this past week, and I've decided that she is officially my happy mail fairy!

Can we take a moment to admire her incredible mail art skills? I actually debated whether I should open it up because I didn't want to ruin all that pretty washi tape! If you browse through her Instagram, you'll notice that she has an amazingly unique collection of stamps. She also weighs all her outgoing mail by herself and plugs it into the USPS calculator to figure out how much postage she needs. This woman is a mail Goddess!

Everything was perfectly bundled between pages from an old dictionary, which I thought was particularly clever!

The first (pink gradient!!) envelope contained a beautiful Polaroid card, pretty paper, and striking printable gems that she glued onto colored cardstock.

In the second envelope was another card with eye-catching typography, pretty hand-punched hearts (the glitter ones are to die for!), and more charming paper goods. 

Packing various things neatly in an envelope is something that I often find difficult, so Amanda's idea of tucking goodies in cards is particularly inspiring. See what I mean about her being a mail Goddess?! You can just tell that she's thought everything through. (Also, how cute is that "take flight" badge?!)

I've recently dived into journaling, so all these paper goods will definitely come in handy. She also included a fun list of her favorite colors, cuisine, beverage, music, and season, as well as a sweet note in such pretty handwriting!

Amanda, thank you so much for your beautiful mail! It was truly a pleasure opening each of the lovely envelopes and finding one surprise after another. You have been so generous with your parcel, and your creativity absolutely blows me away. I am so glad to have had the opportunity to exchange parcels with you!!

P.S. To see what I sent Amanda, click here and here!

Incoming parcel from the Netherlands

I've received my first parcel! Janine (@janineve1 on Instagram) from the Netherlands was kind enough to send me something first, and I am absolutely blown away by her creativity and generosity!

I received some beautiful stationery, including amazing paper strips and labels, numbered paper clips, and a sweet notebook.

Delicious tea (of course!) and samples of her favorite hair products, which I thought was a brilliant idea!

A delightful quote card that is just perfect (I'm all about love!) as well as a precious keychain. I can't help but wonder if everything in Netherlands comes wrapped in such wonderful paper. It's just so different, and so delicate!

I cannot fully explain how much I love this matchbox. It is beyond perfect, and I will think of this quote every time I have some coffee. I lust love this so much!!

Janine loves crocheting, and she's clearly fantastic at it! You can't really tell, but nestled between the knots is a piece of her dog's fur! I squealed in excitement when I noticed it, not only because I love dogs, but also because it's almost as if I went over to her house and picked this up myself!

And of course, a little note.

Isn't it just amazing how much thought and effort she's put into this parcel? I usually write my notes on plain old paper, but Janine went so far as to send me a card, and such a pretty one, at that! I only wrote her a short sentence about my likes, but every single gift that she sent was absolutely perfect, as if we'd known each other for a long time. It was all so intricately packed and labeled, and I just cannot get over how beautiful it all is. Janine, you have completely raised the standards and I hope to send you something equally magical. Thank you, truly. I'm still beaming over your parcel and have spent a few tea breaks looking over everything again and again. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to continue staring longingly at all the pretty paper that you've sent me.

EDIT: Janine wrote a lovely blog post about the parcel that I sent her. To read it, click here!