Well.... We finally made it to Friday!!! Yea!!! I have to say I'm a little sad that this week of Giveaways is coming to an end! I've had so much fun getting to know all of you & so thankful to you for allowing me to share my heart with you!!! You will never know how much that means to me!
Today's Giveaway is something that I've absolutely fallen in love with & wish we as a society did more of! Simply put...It's a set of 6 of my hand-lettered greeting cards! Before everyone begins to judge me, allow me to defend my case....
I love making cards and writing letters. I think I should have been born in a time before email because I don't quite understand technology and quite frankly, picking up a pen comes easier to me than trying to figure out how to attach something and forward it. Mail is fun, it's personal, & it's special! It sends a message that says "I care enough about you to take ten minutes out of my day to devote this piece to you!".
Have you ever received a piece of mail that was completely awesome? Maybe a wedding or baby shower invitation that was so beautiful. Maybe a hand-written letter or a home made card from your grandchild? The picture below is my most favorite postcard EVER! It's from my best childhood friend Hattie. Hattie and I grew up in the little town of Bushland, Texas. We did everything together growing up. When we graduated Hattie went to college and I went to Crazyville. She graduated college then went to grad school where she's gotten to travel every where (she's about to head to Paris, France...not Texas!). This postcard is from when she in Scotland. My favorite thing on this postcard was that the message part has little doodles of inside jokes and things we've done together. I keep it by my bed as a reminder to step out of the box every once in a while and live life like she does, care free and happy. I'm a very rigid schedule follower and rarely stray onto the path of the unknown, so I consider this is my reminder just to do something that scares me every now and then.
Along with fun postcards from life-long friends, I've also received lots of things that are so cool on the inside but the envelope is lacking in the "awesome-sauce" department (insert sad face here). I'm a HUGE fan of color! I love it when I get something in the mail that I can tell the sender took so much time to put the entire thing together so nicely. I'm a believer that the outside being pretty makes the delivery as a whole so special (kinda like the old saying "you never get a second chance to make a first impression"). I ordered a shirt once and the shop (prince ink co.) wrote my name in calligraphy on a kraft tag, tied it with bakers twine, and wrapped it in paper. Can you imagine the time & effort that went into that packaging.... & just for a t-shirt?! It was magic & I loved it almost as much as I loved my shirt!
My point is, try to take pride in the outside of your envelope. Include something fun to make the receiver want to keep not just the letter but the envelope too. I have stacks of cards, letters, and envelopes that I've received over the years and they are things I look back at when I need a little boost of love!
Making pretty mail art is easy even if you aren't awesome at hand lettering. Draw a picture or doodle by their name, write the name large and address it in multiple colors. Stamp it with a fun stamp, use stickers, or put washi tape all over that bad boy! (I'm a huge fan of washi and have way more rolls than I need...but I'm more than ok with that!) Here are a few pictures of some fun envelopes I've made!
This is what it looks like when I make mail art. Embrace messy!
How to Enter: All I need for you to do is leave a comment below telling me about what the best piece of mail you've ever received. It can be ANYTHING!!! A letter from a long-time friend you haven't talked to in a while, a birthday card from your Great-Grandma, a letter saying you just won a SUPER AWESOME GIVEAWAY (shameless huh?! haha!)! There are no wrong answers!
***FOR ADDITIONAL ENTRIES***
#1: Sign up to receive my Exclusive Email Specials! (I promise not to fill your Inbox with needless junk!)
#2: Like & Share my page on Facebook: "Valerie Wieners Art" https://www.facebook.com/ValerieWienersArt
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#4: Follow me on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/valeriewieners/
(So I know to enter your name again, please leave an additional comment below letting me know which ones you did! And like I tell my 5th graders..."Nobody likes a cheater"!)
A winner will randomly be chosen next Monday, October 7th & announced right here on the blog, so make sure you come back to see of you are the lucky winner!
Just a friendly reminder...if you haven't had a chance to enter the other 4 days of my Giveaway, you still have time!!! All you need to do is go back & double (or triple) check that you've done everything you can possibly do to get your name entered more than once for each of the 5 days! Who knows... you could be the winner of 1, 3, or all 5 Giveaways!!! And if you don't mind... PRETTY PLEASE tell ALL your friends about our Giveaways!!! The more the merrier! Have a wonderful Friday everyone!
Ohhhhh.... one more thing! Just between you & me... I may or may not (but I'm leaning more towards definitely) be having a BONUS GIVEAWAY sometime this weekend so make sure you check back on Saturday or Sunday! Let me just say that if I were to have a "BONUS GIVEAWAY" it might (or might not) be something to help get you ready for the FALL!!! OK... no more clues! I hope to see you & all your friends this weekend!!!
~ Valerie