Wow, is it February already!? Hi! I’m Michelle and I run Busy Weekends. As you learned last month, Mary and I are posting on each other’s blogs all year about the progress of one of our creative goals. Mary’s Peacock Vow is to consistently expand her business, and she’s sharing her thoughts and reflections over on my blog today. Mine is to create beautiful mail throughout the year, not just for swaps and challenges, but for penpals too!

I’ll have to get better about photographing my outgoing mail! In January I was part of a few parcel swaps (&&A Happy New Year hosted by Papered Thoughts and Secret Penpal Scavenger Hunt hosted by Wreck This Girl), but I sent a few gift packages on my own. Not much outgoing in the way of actual correspondence, but as I get more settled in my new apartment I expect that will change.

I hope I’ll have more pretty mail to show off next month!

Create Your Own Unique and Beautiful Stationery!

This month I’d like to share just how I’m making each letter I send uniquely beautiful: I’m working on a tight budget, so instead of buying stationery sets I’ve been using different materials to make each letter I send special.

You’ll need all your usual mail art materials, like washi, stickers, rubber stamps, your favorite pen, blank or lined paper, patterned paper or cut outs from a magazine, and so on.

Lay at least four sheets of your paper out in front of you. If you write very lengthy letters, make sure you prepare more pages than you think you need. Why? Whether or not you write front and back, this gives you plenty of paper to complete your letter with some extra. You can include the extra in the letter for your pen pal to use, or set it aside for a future letter of your own– and with stationery already done, that one will take less time!

Lately I’ve been into making washi banners by cutting triangles into the edges, and since my stationery set is very simple I put a few of those on the pages, of course! I also added two rubber stamps in blue, some vintage postage, and a nice header block using the stamp pad and a piece of lace.

Add a few other embellishments, and here’s my stationery!

I’m all about keeping things simple, so my stationery isn’t going to have a lot of fluff or business. How did yours turn out? Don’t forget the envelope!

I ended up making enough to send two letters, and they were well-received!

Well, that about wraps it up for me today! How have your creative Peacock Vows been going? For those of you who are joining the Peacock Brigade, we’d love to see what your progress has been– add a link to your Peacock Vows blog post with a comment and we’ll check back with you next month! We’ve already got a few enthusiastic birds, including Olivia and Erica!

It’s Giveaway Time!

Interested in receiving a postcard through the mail? It’s as simple as this: Email us your address and you’ll receive one! Send a message to peacockbrigade@busyweekends.com and let us know about the creative things you’ve gotten into so far this year and what you’re working on in the upcoming month. Please make sure you include your full mailing address, even if you think we already have it!