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March Pen Pal With Me Letters 2023

Art

It’s been a while since I’ve made a Pen Pal With Me post, but I’m finally at a place where I can send a few letters to my close family and friends. The recipients of these letters are my Cousin Kola and my bestie Kendra. They are both very special to me and I really wanted to send them some pretty happy mail.

Image by Deborah Hudson from Pixabay

After a lot of thought, I finally settled on a few themes for my letters. It took me a while, but I was able to come up with two very different designs that stretched my creative skills. I decided to wait til my spring break to design my snail mail in order to give myself time to make something unique for the two of them.

The Design Process

Kendra’s Letter

For Kendra’s letter, I was going for a vintage vibe. My initial idea was to use the craft paper envelope as a background for vintage stickers, washi tape, and scrapbook paper. However, as I started going through my stash, I quickly realized that I didn’t really have a lot vintage supplies to go with my theme. Therefore, I had to come up with another idea that fit with the supplies I had to work with.

It took a long time for me to land on a different idea, but I finally stumbled upon some washi tape that was the foundation for my design. Ultimately, I decided to do something very classy and glam based on the colors gold and black.

Envelope Art

For the envelope, I created a grid pattern using the washi tape. I based this design on a video by Cat’s Planner on YouTube. Once complete, the pattern turned out to be a wonderful backdrop for the black and gold stickers I used to embellish the envelope. The addition of the flowers, hearts, and phrase really made the design pop.

Kendra’s Black and Gold Envelope Art

The Inside Pocket

The pocket was simple to create. First, I measured and cut the black backing to fit the size of the envelope. Second, I made the pocket out of a gold metallic patterned cardstock that I had in my collection. I affixed it to the backing using my tape gun, pressing it down firmly to ensure that it stayed in place. Finally, I decorated the pocket with black and gold stickers for a polished final touch.

Black and Gold Pocket

Kola’s Letter

The theme for the second letter was spring flowers. This letter was much easier to complete because I had all of the supplies necessary to create this design (I have flowers of all shapes, sizes, and colors coming out of my ears). I was able to easily decide on a floral pattern scheme based on the washi tape that I used for this project.

The Envelope

I used the same grid pattern on Kola’s envelope that I created on Kendra’s. It turned out just as pretty as the first design. However, it had a different vibe because of the floral pattern. After I finished the grid, I decorated the rest of the envelope with white flowers and a blank pink and blue area to add her name.

Kola's floral envelope art.
Kola’s Floral Envelope Art

The Inside Pocket

The pocket for Kola’s letter was fairly simple to make. I used the same process to create the envelope using pink cardstock for the backing and a floral patterned piece of paper for the pocket area. Since the pattern on the pocket was a bit busy, I chose not to add any additional embellishments to the pocket.

Floral Pocket Design

Letter Contents

The Letter

Inside each envelope, I placed the following items:

  1. A personal letter.
  2. A set of questions.
  3. My answers to the questions.
  4. A fun random fact.
  5. A playlist of songs that I’m currently listening to this month.
Goodies in Kendra’s Letter

The Pocket

Inside each pocket, I placed the following items:

  1. Stickers
  2. Scrapbook paper
  3. Stationery
  4. Washi tape samples
Goodies in Kola’s Letter

Note: I was a little nervous to add the crafty materials to Kendra’s letter because those items aren’t really something she uses often. However, in the end, I thought it would be a cute idea to send them anyway. I wanted her to have the full experience of what it’s like to receive one of my letters full of goodies. Hopefully, she can use the items to create other pen pal letters or find other craft projects that could use some fun decorations.

Final Thoughts

Although it took me a while to create these letters (3 days to be exact), I truly adored how each letter turned out in the end. Kendra’s letter looked retro and classy, while Kola’s letter looked soft and feminine. I can’t wait for them to receive their letters and get their reactions.

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March Pen Pal With Me

Crafts

Compared to my February letters, my March pen pal with me letters seem drab. Nevertheless, the show must go on.

I only created two pieces of happy mail for the month of March. I decided to keep things simple and use the same green botanical theme that I used for my March bullet journal design.

Take a moment to check out my snail mail ideas for the month of March below.

Envelope Art

The art work which appears on the envelopes for this month are an extension of the art I created for my March bullet journal. For my Aunt Linda’s envelope, I drew vines and leaves in green and black all around the envelope.

Envelope art for pen pal

For my Cousin Kola’s envelope I went with panda and bamboo art.

Envelope art for pen pal

Snail Mail Flipbook

For Kola’s happy mail this month, I created a bifold flipbook. A flipbook is basically a folded piece of craft paper which is decorated with various stickers and other embellishments. The idea is that the recipient can “flip” through the hand crafted book and find all types of goodies inside.

Flipbooks can be created in a variety of ways. View the video below to see how some pen pal flipbooks are made.

Since the main color for this month is green, I made sure I used the color to create the flipbook. I added touches of pink flowers and patterns to round out the design.

Additionally, I added pockets to both sides of the bifold flipbook to hold the letter and stickers which I added to the letter. The end result was a lovely pink and green card filled with small gifts for my cousin.

pen pal flipbook

***Special Note***

Even though these letters are considered “flat” and fit nicely inside of a regular mailing envelope, they still cost more than a basic stamp to send. Be forewarned, the more paper and embellishments you add to make your letter visually appealing, the heavier it weighs. Therefore, you will always have to go into the post office to see how much postage needs to be added in order to mail your letter off.

Final Thoughts

I’m happy with the snail mail I created this month. I learn a little bit more each time I create and send my pen pals a letter. I’m also pleased with the fact that I was able to create something new this month and use up more of my scrapbook supplies. I’m looking forward to creating something new and different next month.

What do you think of the flipbook? Tell me in the comments below.

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February Pen Pal With Me

Crafts

Since my January pen pal letters were a success (despite my Minnesota mail not arriving), I decided to send another batch of happy mail to my family. My February pen pal with me themes centered around Galentine’s Day and mermaids.

In addition to the envelope art, I decided to include a few goodies in the letters that I sent to Kola, my nieces and nephew. This time around I experimented with creating pocket letters to include in each envelope. I found examples of this idea on both Pinterest and YouTube.

What Are Pocket Letters?

Pocket letters are made of plastic trading card sleeves which you can buy from any office supply store or online. The pockets of each sleeve are then decorated with stickers, scrapbook paper, and other embellishments in order to make it pretty.

Once you have finished decorating the pockets, you can add items or gifts to each pocket. The idea is to add something thin or flat to the pockets so that it can easily be folded and placed into an envelope in order to send flat mail, not a package. Some items that can be added to each pocket are gift cards, letters, playlists, stickers, washi tape, and photos.

As usual, after falling in love with the pocket letter concept, I found every video and post on the idea and saved it to my accounts. I found a bunch of videos on YouTube showing how to create a pocket letter. It was amazing to see how creative you can be with decorating a pocket letter. The possibilities seemed endless.

Kola’s Pocket Letter

I designed my cousin’s pocket letter using her favorite color purple as part of my theme. I looked high and low through my supplies to find purple paper and embellishments to add to her pockets. To my surprise, I don’t have a lot of purple in my stash. So, I had to make due with the few items that I had.

Fortunately, I was able to work with the few purple supplies I had. I did a mix of plain paper matched with an animal print paper that I found in one of my boxes. Finally, I added a few stickers which complimented the color scheme and added a little more razzle dazzle to the design.

purple pocket letter
Front of Kola’s Pocket Letter

The surprises which I placed in each pocket were pretty simple. I added my current music playlist, stickers, a fun fact, a recipe, sequins, washi tape, sticky notes, questions, and a tea bag.

Back of Kola’s Pocket Letter

Although I wish had more to decorate the pocket letter with, I think the end result looked pretty nice for my first attempt at this craft.

Mini Pocket Letters for the Kids

I created mini pocket letters for my nieces and nephew. The mini pocket letter only consists of one row of the original sleeve. Therefore, I cut up one sleeve into three equal parts. Giving each child three pockets each.

Kage’s Mini Pocket Letter

For Kage’s mini pocket letter, I continued the merman theme. I used solid blue colors as the background for each pocket. Then I decorated each pocket with pictures of sea horses and Neptune.

Front of Kage’s Mini Pocket Letter
Back of Kage’s Mini Pocket Letter

Inside Kage’s letter I placed money, a playlist, and would you rather questions.

Ayla’s Mini Pocket Letter

I did a classic pink and black theme for Ayla’s mini pocket letter. I added some rhinestone embellishments, pink stickers, and white flowers to the outside pockets in order to finish the design.

Front of Ayla’s Mini Pocket Letter
Back of Ayla’s Mini Pocket Letter

For gifts I added some washi tape, stickers, and additional black and white embellishments.

Noelle’s Mini Pocket Letter

Noelle’s mini pocket was vintage pink. I actually used the same paper used to create her baby scrapbook four years ago. I finished the design with two soft pink flowers and a heart on the front of each pocket. I added the same gifts of stickers, washi, and embellishments to her letter.

Front of Noelle’s Mini Pocket Letter
Back of Noelle’s Mini Pocket Letter

Envelope Art

Since it is February, I decided to draw hearts on the envelopes I created for my aunt and cousin this month. I found these designs on Pinterest and recreated them on the envelopes I created. They were easy to draw and turned out cute.

Heart Themed Envelope Art

I decided to do a mermaid theme this month for the kids’ envelopes. For Noelle and Ayla, I drew mermaids surrounded by stars, hearts, and bubbles. Each mermaid fits their personality.

Ayla’s Envelope
Noelle’s Envelope

Kage’s envelope is the trident symbol. I found an example on Pinterest and I think it looks good on his envelope and fits his style.

Kage’s Envelope

Final Thoughts

I had a great time creating my happy mail this month. The pocket letters were a hit with all of my pen pals. Plus, all of the letters arrived to their recipients without a hitch this time. I can’t wait to send something new and different next month. I have so many ideas I want to try.

What did you think of the pocket letter idea? Have you made one before? Tell me in the comments below.

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Envelope and wax seal
5 Mins Read

January Pen Pal With Me

Crafts

During the pandemic, I was inspired by a post I saw back in 2020 to do pen pal letters. The actual post was a news story about nursing homes on the east coast asking people to send letters to their residents because they could not have visitors and would enjoy reading letters from anyone who would take the time to write to them.

I thought that their request was such a cool idea. Unfortunately, by the time I saw the announcement, they had already received hundreds of letters from people across the country and really didn’t need any additional letters. So, I decided not to send a letter and put the idea on the back burner.

Fast forward to fall of 2021 and I decided to explore the pen pal idea again. This time, I decided to do it with a few family members that I thought would enjoy receiving some happy mail in their mailboxes. Once the fire was lit in my spirit, I started researching pen pal ideas and didn’t look back.

Who Would Be My Recipients?

The first thing I needed to figure out was who would I send my letters to? I thought long and hard because I wanted to be sure I sent my letters to people who would enjoy receiving them and would send one in return. I finally landed on the idea of sending them to a few family members. My list consisted of my Aunt Linda in Chicago, My cousin Kola in Maryland, and my nieces and nephew in Minnesota.

The Pen Pal World Has Changed

Once my recipient list was complete, I began searching for creative ideas on Pinterest. Of course, I set up a snail mail board and immediately started saving ideas. I had no idea how much the pen pal world had changed since I was a child. People are now sending the most elaborate pen pal letters to people around the world.

I was in awe of how imaginative you can be when it comes to sending a letter. Even though sending a traditional letter is still appropriate, you can now do so much more. It seems like the art and pen pal worlds have collided to form something wonderfully new and different and I’m totally HERE FOR IT.

My First Set Of Letters

For my first letters, I chose to design envelope art for each recipient and do an “All About Me” letter. Since I sent my aunt’s letter in December, her envelope art reflected the holiday. I also added my favorite tea and a few family photos to the envelope as keepsakes.

The Envelopes

Aunt Linda’s Letter

The rest of the letters were sent out in January and each had a different theme. For example, my cousin’s envelope was a drawing of a snail representing the idea of “snail mail.”

snail mail envelope art
Kola’s Envelope

Finally, the envelopes I designed for the kids consisted of a unicorn theme. Each child’s envelope had a drawing of a unicorn which reflected their personality.

Envelope Art
The Kids’ Envelopes

The Letters

The actual letters were pen pal forms that I created using Canva. I saw similar examples of these forms in my research and crafted them to fit my needs. The first form just talked about all of my favorite things

All About Me Form

The form for my niece Ayla was designed for her age group and reading level. It was simple enough for her to read and respond to independently.

pen pal form
Ayla’s Pen Pal Form

Finally, since Noelle is only 4, I created a letter for her that had a lot of graphics she would understand with some assistance from her family. She would be able to easily respond to it by just circling or coloring her answers on the blank form I sent in the envelope.

toddler pen pal form
Noelle’s Pen Pal Form

The Outcome

After I completed assembling each letter, I mailed them off at the post office and crossed my fingers. I prayed that they would arrive there in one piece and that my family would get a kick out of receiving a letter in the mail.

My aunt received her letter first since it was sent in December. She responded rather quickly. I received her letter two weeks after I mailed the original letter. I was so happy to see her letter in the mailbox.

My cousin got her snail mail by the third week of January. She was tickled pink to receive a letter in the mail. She posted pictures of the letter and its contents on her social media. She also promptly sent me a beautiful card back which she created on her brand new Cricut machine. I loved it!

Kola’s Card and Letter

Sad News

Unfortunately, my nieces and nephew didn’t receive their letters. According to my sister-in-law, their mail hasn’t been reliable this past year. They haven’t been receiving all of their mail or packages. Apparently, my letters were victims of this issue. So, I sent her an email with pictures of the envelopes and forms so they could at least see the art and letters. They loved the unicorn drawings and used them as screensavers on their devices.

Final Thoughts

I truly enjoyed making and mailing happy mail for my family. This has turned out to be a fun creative outlet for me. Plus, my family liked receiving something positive in the mail that lifted their spirits. I’m definitely going to continue this activity next month. I can’t wait to come up with new themes and ship them off to my family.

Have you sent pen pal letters recently? Tell me about your experience in the comments below.

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