Happy Mail Craftalong 2021 ~ Monthly themes and Birthdays too!

Who loves happy mail? Sending, receiving, plotting, etc :wink:

Happy Mail is any mail sent/received with the sole purpose of making someone happy :slight_smile: For this craftalong we’ll focus on crafted happy mail. Some crafty happy mail might be a handmade postcard, decorated envelope, handmade card or stationery, small crafted gift, etc.

Each month we will have a theme to inspire us and I’ll keep track of Birthdays also. Please note that the theme is just for fun if you want to try, but if you’re not feeling inspired or you want to do your own thing that’s A-Okay too!

If you have a birthday in the month we’re in or the next month you can post in the thread or send me a message.

Share your address with me if you like and I’ll share it with anyone that wants to send you a surprise Happy Mail / Birthday Wish! (If you trust me to share your address please make it abundantly clear in a private message. Say something like “I give you permission to share my address with anyone that requests it for the Happy Mail craftalong”.) Or you can ask people to contact you directly :slight_smile:

When you first join the craftalong please consider sharing something about yourself and the kind of happy mail you enjoy sending/receiving :kissing_heart: I’ll try to keep the Happy Mailers & Birthday lists current. Please message me if I need to change anything :slight_smile:

New to Happy Mail? Want to join without reading a thousand messages? :flushed: Follow the link next to the monthly themes to jump to the start of a month :kissing_heart: June Starts Here

Themes by month:

Current Happy Mailers:
:love_letter: :love_letter: :love_letter: Happy Mail Happy Helpers are @Bugaboo and @susieoregon - If @Reinikka is ever away they have the masterlist of addresses to share :love_letter: :love_letter: :love_letter:

:birthday::birthday::birthday: Upcoming Birthdays & Special Requests: :birthday::birthday::birthday:
*Refer to the above list if you need an address. For special requests please contact the @person for details. (2021 birthdays and special requests have been removed)

The fine print (bolded for your attention): We are all friends here! If you ever feel that you are not receiving your “fair share” of happy mail you might be in the wrong place :wink: All happy mail is given freely without the expectation of mail being sent in return. Ask each other for addresses, feel free to say “no”, and you share them at your own risk. This is not a swap! Lettuce Craft and myself take no responsibility if someone fails to send or delays sending anything There are no “points” or swap credit, this is all just for fun :slight_smile:

:mailbox_with_mail: :earth_africa: :earth_americas: :earth_asia: :mailbox_with_mail:

Some Helpful Info About Mailing Prices
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I stole the first two themes from @Magpie :kissing_heart:

Let’s have fun! :grin: :leafy_green: :email:

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Sounds like fun!

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I edited the craftalong description with some Happy Mail examples and the fine print :wink: Take a quick look and make sure you understand before jumping in! I don’t want any hurt feelings over here! :kissing_heart:

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So hi! I’m Reinikka :slight_smile: I live in Washington state and I love sending random gifts that I think someone will enjoy, random ATCs, and pen pal letters. I love receiving pen pal letters, cards, anything! I’ve been getting to know some people through letters recently and I find it more enjoyable and personal than facebook :smile:


April Update:

Hi again! Here is some more “about me” stuff :slight_smile:

I tend to jump around a lot when crafting and I’m an expert at starting projects! I’m still working on the finishing part for bigger things! lol… Lately I’ve been focused on paper crafting, especially masterboards and ATCs. I’m addicted to postage stamps and can’t seem to have enough! I love using them in ATCs. I love little paper craft goodies but I also already have a ton! I really am happy with a pen pal type letter or little note, no extras are ever expected but always appreciated :heart:

I also sew on occasion but try to stick to cotton and natural fibers. I have a hand stitched English paper piecing quilt in the works as well as several machine quilts that I just can’t quite finish (did I mention I’m great at starting things!). I can crochet a mean washcloth but that’s about it when it comes to yarn. I would like to learn cross stitch and/or embroidery someday and I would also like to get better at watercolors. I swoon over even the simplest of watercolor paintings :heart:

Some of my favorite fandoms are ElfQuest, Lord of the Rings, Princess Jellyfish, musical theater, Star Trek, and Doctor Who (although I’m far from caught up). I collect skunks :skunk: (I just don’t like Pepe Le Pew [he’s kinda a creep, lol]) and used to dream about having one for a pet, I have a small collection of Moomin stuff and along with that I love anything that has to do with Finland :finland:. I also love jellyfish imagery and artsy fish :fish: have been growing on me this past year. Fox things remind me of my kiddo because I used that motif when he was a baby, but he has his own opinions now. Some of his favorite things are rainbow anything, stars & “outer pace”, eggs, cats, pizza, pineapples, Minecraft, Paw Patrol, Baby Shark, and PJ Mask. He’s preschool age and also likes helping Mommy make gelli prints. I’ll freely share his name and age in a letter but prefer to keep that info off the public side of the internet.

I’m an introvert and letter writing comes easier to me than talking in person. I love community theater and used to be involved with a local one until pandemic and politics and drama kinda ruined it for me… I’m more of a techie than an actor but I’ve dabbled in almost everything (I was learning to program the soundboard in 2019…)

I didn’t expect to write so much about me! :sweat_smile: lol… I think I better stop there or there won’t be anything for me to write about in letters! :smile:

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Hey, I’ll go next. I’m Laura and I live in rural Ohio. I love to take pictures of my backyard birds and turn them into cards. I have a great big huge humongous stack that are looking for new homes! @Reinikka I’ve received random happy mail from you and it always brightens my day! I’ve been trying to send out more myself, so this craftalong is perfect! I’d love to do pen pal letters, as well!

Let’s make mailboxes fill with happiness!

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I am taking a break for the summer but will be back to crafting in autumn!

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Ooh, fun! Can I put my kid in for February B-days? She loves pink and gold and magic and basically all animals. (probably avoid kid TV shows/movies that aren’t Frozen or My Little Pony, tho, as most other things seem to have gone out of favor) You can address cards to Megatherium, or pm me for her real name. :green_heart:

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I added the info to the Birthday list :partying_face:

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I’m Cindy and I live in central MA, in what was just designated the snowiest city in America (but I’m not sure I believe it, in spite of all of the snow we get… surely Buffalo gets more than we do!). I love science, and nature, and books, and mysteries. I have an obscenely huge collection of rubber stamps (and polymer stamps) that are itching to be used to make cards. I love getting things in the mail, and so maybe by getting Happy Mail, I won’t shop online as much :wink: So, you’d all be helping me to save towards a new kitchen :smile:

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Hi, I’m Ren.
I’m in England. The only mail I get is boring stuff and junk. I’d love some happy mail. I was in a FB group many years ago and remember someone sending me a ribbon bracelet with a stamped metal bit with a quote from my pinterest. It came at a really low time and brightened up my days.

I need a distraction from the endless lockdown tv that I am (not really) watching, just sitting in front of! Happy to chat and make things to bring cheer to others.

I’m settling into my flat so happy to accept lovely things as decoration. My walls are a plain grey colour with the plan to brighten them up with ‘stuff’.

For reference: I don’t like chocolate or slugs and snails, the creepy crawlies give me a physical reaction even in picture form. Ugh!
Also, I don’t drink caffeine, stopped last year when we went into lockdown because I never drank enough tea at home to use up the milk and that was an issue. A week’s long headaches on stopping and massive headaches when I accidentally drank a cup of tea (after a fire a few doors up and I couldn’t get back into my flat so went to a friends for a cuppa as we Brits do), has kept me off caffeine!

ETA: you can ask me or @Reinikka for my address if you want to send things

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Hello! I’m Susie and I live in Oregon (USA). I love receiving happy mail of all sorts so artist’s choice is always welcome.

I love all colors, but tend to lean more towards bright colors and b&w prints. Artists I enjoy are Edward Gorey, Michael Sowa and Sunny Buick. Some randoms: I love pressed flowers, re-purposed material, poetry, quotes, true crime and clocks. I am single and have a dog. I love sweet, I love snarky, I love creepy, profanity is encouraged!

I may, on occasion, send you a (very cool) store bought postcard in lieu of something handmade (in case I’m feeling unmotivated, but would still like to participate - COVID sometimes sucks all the life out of me and it’s hard to feel inspired.) So feel free to send me the same!

You can either pm me or ask @Reinikka for my address.

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Oh my goodness, I love this idea so much! I am obsessed with happy mail and love sending/receiving it.

I’m Erika and I live in Massachusetts with my husband and our tiger cat, Tuukka. When I’m not crafting, I’m working as a writer (professionally) and puttering in my garden (my second biggest hobby/obsession.) We started keeping bees this year, so that’s been pretty cool. I have a PEZ collection of an embarrassing magnitude, and no, I don’t display them all. Our backyard birds have been pretty spoiled this year since we have been working from home, but I love wildlife of all kinds. If I didn’t live in Massachusetts I’d live on Sanibel Island in Florida. (My dream location.) I love to make anything with paper/mixed media and have started playing a lot more with my sewing machine. I love the Golden Girls and am probably a Dorothy. (ha.) This has been a hard year for everyone, and I love the idea of making things that can help us cheer each other up!

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I’ve had a couple people ask about the theme and if it’s required to play. I say it’s not required because we’re all here to have fun and spread some happy :slight_smile: So I added this to the first post:

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Can we make a list on the top post where you use the emoji to let us know if we need to ask the craftalonger for their address or if you have it so we can be sneaky if we are sending just random non-birthday mail?

I like surprise mail so I’d be a :gift:!

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Sure! Anyone that wants to trust me to hand out their address can let me know :slight_smile: I’m about to pick up my little guy from pre-school so I’ll add that later tonight or tomorrow :grin:

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Ok guys I updated the craftalong description again. Take a quick look and let me know if anything seems off or needs improving :slight_smile: I also added a list of everyone that has expressed interest for quick reference

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I am a snail mail junkie! I am quite obsessed with Informed Delivery…it is the first thing I check each morning as I drink my coffee. I sign up for magazines and subscription services just to get mail! My hubby can tell you how disappointed I am when there is nothing!

I also love to send out mail…usually, it is random when something comes across my feed or I get a tidbit of some news that might need a card to be sent to a person. I also like to make random things and share my stash when I can…I am truly trying to reduce my stuff to a manageable size and do projects I really love, like painting, sewing, and hopefully, making some art and junk journals.

I live in North Carolina with two black cats and a great cook named Jim. He is my warrior hunter/gatherer…he does the shopping and cooking and even laundry, leaving me lots of time to do what I like. I live 15 minutes from the beach, so a lot of my time is spent there in warm weather or if I just need a moment to feel small and humble in this universe.

You can ask me for my address and I will also give it to Reinikka…if you show up at my door, I will know how you found me… :laughing:

I like just about anything and don’t care if I have to pay for damages to my craft room wall, I am putting up all the stuff I like and receive on the wall to enjoy…

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If anyone would ever like to send some happy mail to my mom, please pm me and I’d be happy to send you her address! She lives alone 2000 miles away from me with a lot of health issues, my brother doesn’t communicate with her, and she is really lonely since my sister passed away last year. She is approaching the 1 year anniversary of my sister’s unexpected death (March 7), so I know she’d really appreciate any cards. Religious cards to her are special, but she would be so grateful for anything. (Just mention you are my friend so she knows.) She always tells me when she gets any mail from me, so I’d definitely be able to let you know.

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PM me her address…I get loads of religious cards from various charities and could enclose blanks for her as well!

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