Letters to No One

The project I've been working on for the past month is writing letters. I've always wanted to start writing letters but I always hesitated. What hindered the progress was fear. Fear of not knowing what to write. Fear of someone other than the recepient reading my private and personal thoughts. And lastly, fear that my letter would go unanswered.

I've had some past experience with letter writing as a child. I wrote while I was in Western Australia to my cousins and I think to Tuyen (I asked my cousins to pass her the letter but they never found her...). Another was when I moved back to Victoria and wrote to maintain the friendships I made. I also wrote to my year 6 teacher who moved to Brisbane.

For a period of time, the letters came regularly but eventually, the waiting time became more spaced out until the inevitable came. It's a pity that I couldn't keep in contact with my friends, but that's just life. Fortunately, due to the rise of social networks, I can be a stalker and be up to date with everyone's lives! YAY! But even with such amazing tools to "quinch" my thirst for stalkerish details, I wanted more. Something that was more intimate. More personal. And well, letters was the obvious answer.

I've always lamented the disapperance of letters and letter writing (probably not as much as the Post Office). I still remember what it's like to check my mail box to find a letter by someone I know, who has taken time from their busy day to write to me. Now a days, I only recieve bills or advertisements.

After some deliberation with myself, I decided to stop lamenting and remincising about the past and plan for the future. I went on an eBay rampage (aka my arts and crafts rampage) to find cute writing paper, envelopes, stickers and most importantly, a wax seal. I would like to blame the wax seal on my recent re-visiting of Pride and Prejudice. I've always wanted one, and now I have one in my possession!

The second part to my project was Hogwarts acceptance letters. I'm a Harry Potter fan. It was part of my childhood and a series that I treasure. Growing up, I was one of those kids that constantly waited for their Hogwarts letter to come, despite being older than 11 years of age. The Hogwarts letter took some time to "make". It wasn't difficult to find a template, the problem was the address for the envelopes. I wanted my letters to be as authentic as possible, but I had trouble describing the location of everyone's bedroom. After much deliberation, I decided against the envelopes. Another factor contributing to this decision was my obstacle of finding the right coloured sized envelopes. Something else I'm unsatisfied with is that they weren't printed with green ink. I just hope that despite the weaknesses it won't ruin the overall affect of receiving a Hogwarts acceptance letter.

In total, I spent about $60 on envelopes, stickers, stamps, inks, sealing wax and the seal. Unfortunately, the stickers, stamp and inks haven't arrived and I just really wanted to finish my first batch of letters. I could always use them for any future letters, right? Still lamenting how I couldn't finish the letters before July 31st so that the Hogwarts letters would be more... fun. 

All letters were delivered by me. On Friday the 10th, I managed to deliver Tuyen's and Sophie's letters. I would've been able to deliever everyone else's if it wasn't because of the bus. I waited for an hour and none of them showed up. By the time it came, the sky was pitch black, and the chances of getting lost trying to find Alyssa's house was pretty high. So on Saturday, I spent 3 hours walking to everyone's house. Forgot my wallet so I couldn't bus it to Keysborough...

I was planning on wrapping the letters with purple tissue paper and a ribbon bow.
It didn't turn out too well so I discarded the idea.
Unfortunately, I didn't have enough of the brown envelopes
so three people got pink envelopes instead~

Letters are inside the envelopes and are sealed.
If it's broken, your letter has been tampered with!

A close up shot of the seal with the initial S.
The first couple of seals didn't come out well.
But I eventually got the hang of it!

A glimpse of the Hogwarts acceptance letters.

Everything bundled up and ready to be delivered.

LINHee's 365 DAYS

I've always wanted to do the 365 Day Project. I started it twice in high school but I never really took them seriously because a camera was never readily available. Most people I know are using the app on iPhone/iPod. Unfortunately, my iPod does not have a camera and therefore, I must settle for creating my own blog exclusively made for a picture I shall take everyday.

I contemplated between using Tumblr or Blogspot but eventually settled with Blogspot. Though Tumblr would be more ideal, I use blogger more.

A new hobby?

After my visit to a very neat little store* in the city, I've started going on an arts and crafts rampage. I've searched eBay for anything related to cute stamps, stickers, pens and what not. In the process, I found a little blog about penpals and I'm seriously considering finding one for myself.

I'm also seriously thinking of starting an acrylic stamp collection. Acrylic stamps defer from rubber stamps because you can see where you're putting them. This is because acrylic stamps have a clear mount, where you stick the clear stamp, put on some ink and voila! After you finish using them, just clean the stamp and put it away. It seems so easy to manage because  you can just put them in a folder. I'm guessing it will also save storage space.

Apparently, the clear acrylic mount can be used with unmounted rubber stamps, but it's such a hassle to buy and prepare the cushion and vinyl cling. Guess I'll just stick with the acrylic stamps if I ever decide to start my collection.

With my recent surge of interest for arts and crafts, I thought I'll finally get started on doing some scrapbooking. I bought all (if not most) of the material I needed to get started back in year 12, but I never felt motivated enough to do it. I had so many ideas but I didn't know where to start. After much contemplation, I now know where to begin. From primary school.

I was hesitant to start with primary school because I only have one photo from that period of time. A photo at camp with Karen. However, while I was cleaning my room, I found some beads, a t-shirt and other random items that serve as a reminder of some special moments in primary school. I can't wait to get started. Just gotta go to Big W to print off some pictures.

Anywho, apart from my scrapbook project, I'm also in the initiation phase of another project. I've just bought most of the items I need on eBay and can't wait to get started. This one, however, is a secret until it's completed. I will definitely post pictures as the projects progresses.


* For anyone interested, the store was in the Flinder's Station subway. Karen wouldn't go with me cause she says it's a place where people get raped :(