The Stainless Steel Letter Mailbox at Lushpad is a ”sleek and graphic mailbox, handcrafted out of marine grade stainless steel for a clean modern look, and tough to weather the elements. Featuring a real full-length piano-style hinge. The segments are welded together, and then the edges are hand-buffed.”

Sonhei que meu porteiro me entregava um envelope de papel pardo com caracteres estranhos escritos nele. O porteiro mesmo admitia que sabia que era pra mim por causa do endereço, porque era o único que ele entendia, visto que até os selos pareciam absurdos.

De fato era um envelope estranho, e na portaria mesmo eu comecei a abri-lo, mas quando eu me sentei já não estava na portaria e sim na sala do estúdio em que trabalho.

Dentro do envelope estavam vários postais de paisagens estranhas e de lugares que não eram do Brasil e todas tinham dedicatórias e levavam meu nome nelas, só que em caracteres que nunca vi, de maneira que não entendia nada do que diziam.

Fiquei com a sensação estranha e ruim de que fosse o espólio de algum ente querido que estava longe e havia morrido.

Acordei com muita enxaqueca.

Ok. These pictures have bad lighting but I wanted to post them anyway.

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I had an idea: Why not presenting a new 5U Module to the crowd out there every weekend like my music collegue aliens-project is doing it every month for synth pr0n ? So. Here i start. First Module: Multi Stage Envelope. For more info, visit my site here

I know I just posted a ModCloth purse last week, but this new release on their site is worth a mention.

Just this week the Jolly Post Clutch became available.  What makes this clutch so unique is that it looks like an envelope that has traveled the world.

“Designed to look like a letter, complete with sewn-on, stamp-style patches and printed postmarks, this gold bag would be the letter the postman delivers to the fun-loving, fashion-savvy girl,” is how it is described and I’d have to agree.  This clutch would be a fun and interesting addition to any outfit, and at only $37.99 it’s fairly affordable as well.

Please tell me I’m not the only one who loves this bag?

[Source:  ModCloth]

Designer jeans and handbags are out. So what’s in? Bacon of course. The past few months I’ve heard about all kinds of products and foods that are jumping on the bacon bandwagon. From a bacon bra to bacon-flavored lollipops – I thought I had seen everything. Until I ran across this story – http://www.weirduniverse.net/blog/permalink/bacon_again1/.

Apparently, someone invented envelopes with glue that tastes like bacon. I thought it was crazy at first…but then thought for a second and realized that I’d rather taste bacon than actual glue.

What’s your favorite use for bacon?

I think I have a tree fetish. I always doodle them whenever my mind wanders…

Science journal letter set by Present and Correct

Blue ship stationery set by Squeedles

Mini flower note set by Ruby Press

Faux Bois letter set by Donovan Beeson

I can’t resist a sale on stamps. It’s simply impossible. Which is why when I went to Joann’s the other day on an entirely different errand, I had to pick up this guy and put it to work:

But it didn’t stop there. I remembered some old music books for piano that I had saved during our last cleaning purge.

And I’ve never met a pun I didn’t like.

Ta da! Stamp sale + salvaged items from my house = gift tags and stationery!

Mail Call

3 cards came in the mail today, so birthday week continues.

The day began grey
I trudged to town, poor, jobless.
Then your sweet letter,
Its sakura envelope
Covered in Autumnal dew.

While email communication is commonplace in the 21^st century, it is never a mistake to send a handwritten note to someone. In fact, according to David Masello, the “Social Graces” editor of Town and Country magazine, it may be more valued by the recipient.

Textured Note Card

David told the story of a previous boss who kept a file drawer filed with blank notes. Upon returning from a lunch date, she would immediately pull a card out at random, scrawl a fast note of thanks, and put it in her inbox. It is a habit he has learned.

People remember a handwritten, stamped, mailed note. It is guaranteed that what you write will be more heartfelt and memorable than anything in an email or text.

In a recent New York Times interview, Pamela Fiori, editor in chief of Town and Country magazine said: “In a world increasingly uncivilized, it’s important that we have some ties in tradition. And I honestly think that what we are losing with e-mail are our memories.”

What better way to send a note of thanks then with the new handcrafted notecards from Luxury Invitations. Available in boxed sets of 8 using many of our unique textured papers, the notecards can also be customized to your liking. Contact us at www.luxuryinvites.com for pricing and availability.

Here is an SVG file for a 3×5″ envelope with a shaped flap.  Set the height at 6.5 inches to cut a 3×5″ envelope.   The layered file has a layer for scoring with solid lines.  The SCAL1 file does not have score lines.

The download includes a layered svg for use with SCAL 2.0, a single layer svg for use with SCAL 1.0, and the png file for printing and hand cutting. These files are for personal use only. Feel free to link to this post, but the files are not to be shared or distributed in any way.

Download the files from here.

Anyone who knows me fairly well, knows that my favorite color is purple. So this weekend I’ve been working on journals for the show and several of them are purple. YEAH! Just thought I’d take a moment to share the pics with you and to wish you a fabulous week.

Dream

Important Stuff: White silk flowers (Oriental Trading Company); Sketch marker, V-09 Violet and Air Brush System (Copic); Glue Dots (Glue Dots International); Metal cream label holder (Making Memories); Bind-it-All coil binding system (Zutter); Lumiere Purple metallic paint (Jacquard)

Other Stuff: Purple ink jet paper, 9×6″ white envelopes, Mini letter stickers, Glitter glue, PVA Glue, chipboard

Life

Important Stuff: Wizard™, S4-117 Petite Scalloped Circle SM, (Spellbinders); La Paperie patterned paper (My Mind’s Eye); Purple Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels), Letter Sticker (BasicGrey), Bind-it-All coil binding system (Zutter)

Other Stuff: Ribbon, chipboard

Tulip

Important Stuff: Wizard™, S4-209 Tulips Pendant Die Template (Spellbinders™), La Paperie patterned paper (My Mind’s Eye), Bind-it-All binding system (Zutter), Platinum Stickles (Ranger)

Other Stuff: Ribbon, PVA Glue, Purple ink jet printer paper, White 9×6″ envelopes, chipboard

Hey, as always, thanks for checking this out. I really hope it is inspiring and you may find some creative energy seeping into your bones.

Happy Creating, Eli

Here is an SVG file for a 3×5″ pocket.  Set the height at 5.5 inches to cut a 3×5″ pocket.   The layered file has a layer for scoring with solid lines.  The SCAL1 file does not have score lines.

If you don’t use the scoring layer, score at the dashed lines shown below.

The download includes a layered svg for use with SCAL 2.0, a single layer svg for use with SCAL 1.0, and the png file for printing and hand cutting. These files are for personal use only. Feel free to link to this post, but the files are not to be shared or distributed in any way.

Download the files from here.

Client Profile: logo/identity development, stationary and postcard design
The Hammer team are real estate agents in San Diego specializing in the high end Carmel Valley, Del Mar Heights and Torrey Pines area. Their image needed to appeal to and reflect the sophisticated tastes of the clientele in these neighborhoods. A strong  logo and elegant monthly updates allowed the Hammer Team to stand out from the rest of the agents in the area.

Client: the Hammer Team

Client: the Hammer Team

Client: the Hammer Team

I do love butterflies. Today I’m sharing another journal. This one has some funky elements in it like half page envelopes (most of the rest of mine are full sized), colorful tabs and of course, pages that are lined on one side and blank on the other. If you look near the bottom of the journal, you’ll also see the charms that are at the end of the bookmark that is attached to the top of the spiral…I love it when I can’t actually LOSE the bookmark.

The butterfly medallion is made from tw0 die templates S4-233 Labels Nine. I just used two consecutive sizes and placed their points on the four

The center panel was created using Spellbinders™ Impressabilities™ templates. I used a color core paper, embossed it in the Wizard™ using the I2-1002 Butterflies template and then sanded the top of it to bring out the color core. I love that it has a rich yet rustic look. Let’s check out the inside.

Here you see the half envelope on the bottom with a little inking on the edges, a sticker embellishment, a tab and a beautiful butterfly stamp. Fun stuff!

Now check out the side image of the pages and envelopes together. I think it is fun to see it from this angle sometimes…how many envelopes do you see?

I can’t count them either. Finally, the back cover.

So if you want to create something like this, here’s what you might need:

As always, take care and happy creating! Eli

Order form

The inclusion of an order form in your advertised offer, like the reply envelope considered below, is less an inducement than its absence is a disincentive. Without it, the customer must find some paper to write on, work out how to say what he wants, and make sure he writes it down clearly and unambiguously. For most people, these are not among the most challenging tasks in the world, but for some they are. And for everyone, an order form that may need no more than the writing in of one’s name and address definitely simplifies the ordering procedure. All the customer needs is a pen. He may be able to complete the form immediately he has read the ad. No need to go in search of other materials, risking being sidetracked by a demanding cat, a chatty child or by any of the other siren voices that seduce prospective customers from the straight and narrow path that leads to your order book.

Envelope

You can provide an envelope for your customer in a number of ways, and all of them offer at least a marginal advantage in cost and convenience to him. Equally, they all add to your own costs, and, as with so much else in mail order, the balance of advantage in any particular case is only to be ascertained by testing.

Printed unstamped envelope. This is the simplest and cheapest offering you can make. The customer will still have to find a stamp, but he is saved the chore of finding an envelope and writing out the address.

Printed stamped envelope. This is the next simplest but by far the most expensive of the offerings you can make. By putting a postage stamp on the reply envelope you enclose with your advertising, you exert a slight moral pressure on the customer, possibly making him feel that it is ‘only fair’ to send you a reply since you have gone to the trouble of sending him a stamp for the purpose. But if that moral pressure is resisted, you have done nothing but push up your advertising costs by 13p a prospect. It may still be worth your while if you’re selling an expensive product with a substantial profit margin, but probably not otherwise.

Business Reply envelope. For a licence fee a year the Post Office will accept your pre-printed envelopes — subject to their design requirements — without requiring the sender to pay any postage. You pay the full postage plus 0.5p for each Business Reply item you receive. This is significantly cheaper for you than pre-stamping reply envelopes as you only have to pay postage on items that actually get posted to you.

You can opt for either the first- or the second-class post for your Business Reply envelopes, but whichever you choose, your post will normally come in the second rather than the first post of the day.

Freepost envelope. The annual fee and the per item cost are exactly the same for the Freepost service as for the Business Reply service. The Freepost service, however, is more flexible. While you can, if you wish, provide your customers with your own printed envelopes — as with the Business Reply service — you can also quote your Freepost address in your advertising so that the customer can use it when writing to you on his own stationery. This means, for example, that you can use a Freepost address in your classified advertising.

There is a slight risk in a Freepost address in that it is available for anybody who wishes to write to you on any matter, even if they are doing so just as a joke or to make a nuisance of themselves, and you have an open-ended commitment to pay for all replies. With the Business Reply service, on the other hand, the only people who can use your stationery are those to whom you have deliberately chosen to supply it.

Customer’s stamped addressed envelope. In two-stage advertising, you may wish to consider asking the customer to supply you with a stamped and self-addressed envelope (SAE) for your reply. Such a request would hardly be an inducement for people to write in for further details — indeed it would be a positive discouragement for them to do so. But there are times when a negative inducement of this kind does serve your purpose.

As always, it comes down to arithmetic. The cost to you of sending replies to enquirers will sometimes be a significant part of your total advertising bill. It may be that if the customer pays the reply postage, an unprofitable advertising campaign can be turned into a profitable one. This is most likely to be the case if your product is very low-priced, and you find that the number of enquirers who go on to make a purchase is rather low. It could be that the first stage of your two-stage advertising is attracting too many frivolous enquirers, people not seriously in the market for your product who send off for details out of idle curiosity and because it costs them so little to do so. Requiring them to send an SAE for details may be just enough to put them off, and so improve the overall quality of your enquirers and therefore the percentage who go on to make a purchase. Thus, asking for an SAE may in some cases help you to target your advertising more effectively.

So I’m wondering if I should start updating my blog again … maybe I’ll just update when I feel like it and see where that goes : )

Today I came across these beautiful envelopes created by JK Keller.  Insecurity Envelopes are a series of laser-cut envelopes that are based on the patterns printed inside security envelopes.

Aren’t they awesome? I would so buy these if they were on sale … I just love snail mail!