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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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Envelope and wax seal
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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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