lettterwriting – The Writer of Letters

DIY Pen-pal pocket envelope hurries to make more

Hello! How are you today? Welcome or welcome back to my blog!

Today I’m back with a super fun post, that includes pen-paling so it’s gotta be awesome! I’ve been having a ton of fun sending out (and receiving) Christmas themed mail and although this isn’t Christmas themed, you can definitely make it more festive! Anyways, I got the idea for this from a collaboration I did this summer with the lovely Karen from her Etsy shop, HanjiKraft. The Inso for this project came from her happy mail kit she sent me and I absolutely loved hers so I decided I wanted to try it myself! Here’s a link to my post I did about her product, just in case you missed it 🙂 Anyways, I figured this would be a fun post and I hope you enjoy it! Let’s begin!

Supplies!

2 envelopes, that are the same size and shape
washi tape
some fun patterned paper and ephemera
scissors
glue

So, first step. Take two of the same envelopes, make sure they’re the same size!

Now, cut off the flaps on both envelopes. I know, I know. If you’re any bit like me and treasure each and every envelope, this part can be a bit sad. But I promise the end result is worth it!

Now, tape the envelopes together with the pockets showing face up, so it can fold like a card! I taped both sides, the inside and out and I just taped it with a cute washi tape!

Next, grab that cute paper and ephemera I mentioned in the supplies list and flip over and fold your envelope pocket. Tape or glue the paper like a college on the fun part, sticking whatever you want, wherever you want! This is the real fun part, be creative!

Ta-da!!! Here’s how mine turned out, I really really like it 🤩 I also used a white gel pen to create the dots on the back of the envelope, just to add a special unique touch. And that’s all! What’d you think? I love how this turned out and it’s so so cute and easy, literally only took me like 15-20 minutes to make and now I have a cute little envelope pocket thing to stick in a letter! It’s also super fun to fill up the pockets on both sides with your letter and extra goodies and etc. All around just a fun little diy!

And that’s all for today! I hope you enjoyed, and let me know in the comments what you thought of this post! I had a lot of fun creating this, DIY penpal stuff is always so fun to craft and create ❤

Have a wonderful day and thanks so much for reading, it means the most 💛

x, Jasmin

Review of snail mail kit from peachandpoppyco + pen pal with me! Spins in a circle

Hello beautiful people! How are you doing today? I’m doing well and I hope the same for you 🙂

Today I have an exciting post for you all- a review of a lovely product from Megan’s Etsy shop, peachandpoppyco!

edit/update: I’ve used this product a lot more now ( 5/24/19), and can officially say: IM IN LOVE. It’s so handy and cute and my kit is almost gone and I may have to buy another soon 🙂

I recently reached out to Megan on Etsy, not realizing/processing that I followed her blog and when she replied she mentioned that she also blogged and I was like, “oh! I do know you then!” 🙂 Anyways, I reached out to Megan to see if she would be interested in sending me a product to review and she kindly agreed! So I want to give a big thanks to her, Thank you so much for sending me a product to review and for being so willing and helpful in this collaboration! Megan is so sweet and her Etsy shop is full of adorable snail mail and pen-paling things, I wish I could buy it all! Make sure to check out her shop right here! Now onto the review!

I received this snail mail/pen paling kit and it is the Travel Snail Mail Kit which is absolutely my favorite. I love the aesthetics and ahhh the traveling vibe is so cute and I overall love it. The kit includes 12 stationary sheets, 1 sticker sheet, 4 envelopes, 2 rolls of Washi tape, 4 cutouts, and 3 postcards.

Isn’t it all so cute?! Just looking at it makes me happy xD

I especially love the vintage-y looking postcards, they’re so aesthetic and pretty and vintage. so duh. They’re pretty cool. The Washi tape is really cool because I don’t have enough Washi tape so I was super pleased to get more! And I love the cut-outs and stickers, super cute and I love sticking them on envelopes and letters!

The packaging was so cute, and everything was packaged very nicely. The package had this sticker on the back which is adorable and I just needed to show you because I love it so much! I kinda want to peel this off and re-use it on a envelope ;)))

Anyways, to review them, I decided to do a pen-pal with me type post, so here is what I sent to my friend, Sydney!

These cutouts are some of my favorite things, I glued them onto some envelopes and I thought they turned out quite cute! They would also be fun to stick in envelopes.

To decorate her envelope I added some Washi tape and I glued one of the cutouts in the corner and I thought it turned out super cute! Also I covered the address with a piece of paper because ummm private info xD

I wrote Sydney a letter using the adorable stationary and then I also sent her some dried flowers in a small bag I made, which was not included in the kit. I did use the Washi tape from the kit to decorate the bag!

On the back of then envelope I used some more Washi tape ( can u tell I love that stuff xD) and I also used a sticker to add some cuteness 🙂 I labeled it quarantine mail because I know Sydney in real life, she lives like 20 minutes away from me, but we’ve been sending each other mail during the quarantine, which has been quite fun!

My rating: ★★★★★

Pros: I love how almost everything is included that you need to write a letter/ it shipped extremely fast-only 2 days!/ it’s all adorable and super aesthetically pleasing/ Megan is so sweet and a gem to work with/ overall it’s beautiful 🙂

Cons: The price was a little to much for me, but I’m also a cheap skate so I don’t know. and that’s all.

Update on Cons: I don’t think its actually that expensive when you compare how much the envelopes and Washi tape and postcards and such would cost individually so I’m going to reevaluate and say, there’s no cons. So go buy this kit. Because it is awesome 🙂

Make sure to go check out Megans shop right here! It’s lovely, isn’t it? Again, thank you so much to Megan for being willing to work with me, I appreciate it more than you know and I hope you all have a lovely day!

How are you? Are you enjoying my letter writing/ pen-pal posts? Should I do more? Have you ever gotten something from Megans shop? What’s your favorite flavor of icecream? Talk to me in the comments, I’d love to chat!

xx, Jasmin

The real reason for Christmas

Hey dudes! CHRISTMAS IS IN LESS THAN TWO DAYS. I can not believe it!!!

Today my post is about the REAL REASON for CHRISTmas. Everyone (including myself) gets really caught up in the holiday bustle and cheer and giving and recieving gifts and many people don’t really remember why we celebrate Christmas.

We celebrate Christmas because God sent His one and only son, Jesus, to be our savior. God sent Jesus to save us from our sins because He loves us. Imagine giving up your so for everyone in the world. Jesus didn’t want to be hung on the cross but he did just for us. So we could be saved. Anyways 😉 I’m getting a little of topic.

God sent His one and only son Jesus to be our savior. Joseph and Mary were ‘espoused’ when they found out the virgin Mary was great with child.

Luke 1:30-35:

30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

Meanwhile, A decree from Caesar Augustus went out that the whole world should be taxed. So since Joseph came from the house and lineage of David, Him and Mary went to the city of David. It was a journey to David and they had to go slower because Mary was pregnant and so with time it became time for Mary to give birth.

Luke 2:1-6

1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem and they stopped for the night, as Mary was about to have Jesus and They went from inn to inn looking for room. But alas, all the inns were full and there was no where to stay. So Joseph and Mary went into a stable and there Mary birthed the Savior. They named him Jesus.

Luke 2:7:

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And God sent angels to the Shepards that were out in the fields tending their sheep to tell of the saviors birth and he put a star in the sky to lead the wise men to Jesus.

Luke 2:8-20

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

And the wonderful story continues in the Bible but that’s all for my post today :)) Hope u enjoyed and have a wonderful Christmas! Don’t forget why we celebrate it though 🙂

Xx, Jasmin

Making a gingerbread house yummmmmm

Hey dudes/dudettes! Last night my friends came over and we did our secret Santa gift exchange and we made gingerbread houses! Instead of gingerbread we used graham crackers because then we didn’t have to bake them and it’s just overall easier 😁 So my sister and I had two friends over and we decided to have a gingerbread house contest! We split up into teams of one friend/one sister, made some rules (you can’t use the internet to come up with ideas, no leaving the kitchen, no peeking at the other team etc.) and we gave ourselves around 3 hours. Yᴇs ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪs ᴀɴ VERY ʟᴏɴɢ ᴛɪᴍe ʙᴜᴛ ᴡᴇ ɴᴇᴇᴅᴇᴅ ᴀ ʟᴏᴛ ᴏғ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴇ ᴏᴜʀ ᴍᴀsᴛᴇʀᴘɪᴇᴄᴇs sᴏ ɪᴛ’s ᴏᴋᴀʏ. Anywhoooo we set up our counter and whipped up some icing/edible glue to create our buildings with!

We had lots of candy and a good amount of it got used up! We kinda ate just as much as we put on our houses but it’s okay 😂

We used a random recipe for the glue/icing and it was cream of tarter, egg whites and powdered sugar. It was really nice glue and it really stuck/ is sticking everything together!

We went for the slanted roof look and it was an actual struggle but we did it by stuffing paper towels into the building to support the roof! Also we cut the graham crackers with some knives and that was hard but we managed 😀

This was my sister/friend’s teams creation! It’s actually really cool and super creative! My favorite things about it are the little tower thing on top, that’s supported by Charleston chews (idk what it’s called 😂) and I like the little Christmas tree they made in front! It’s cute and cozy and Christmas-y!

Here is mine and my friends!! Taaaa daaaa! I’m quite proud of ourselves, I feel like a proud parent 😂 my favorite part about it is probably the ocean with the little dudes surfing in their tubes (otherwise known as peach rings) and I also really like the roof and the door! We could have added more candy but we ran out of icing/glue and our feet were tired (ik, ik, we’re getting old welp) but overall I really like it!

We also decorated the back but we didn’t spend much time on it! I LOVE the m&ms on the roofline, they give a Christmas light look and it’s great!! Also both the houses tasted amazing 😂

So that is all for this post! Hope u enjoyed! I can not believe 2020 is in like 10 days and Christmas is in 4!!! I’m so excited!

Comment which building is ur favourite! Have you ever made a gingerbread/ graham cracker house? What’s ur favourite candy?

Xx, Jasmin 💕