Thank you @Bugaboo and @Cindy for my very happy mail day. I was waiting for a phone call on hospital test results today (they confirmed the lump on my thyroid is benign, but that I have to repeat the tests in 3-4 months time 
), so they were both most welcome spots of happiness in my day
So, unlike many on this thread, I’m not a Happy Mail making machine! I do a few at a time.
I have typically sent to those who have sent to me and then I created a spreadsheet to work through everyone else. (My paper scrawl got too messy too quickly!!)
I don’t feel bad about leaving people out because they are on my ‘to do’ list 
Do what you find easiest and least stressful, this is truly a no pressure craftalong.
@LadybugsAndBees and @madebyBeaG it’s totally up to you. It’s happy mail, not obligation mail! 
Some send big batches of cards to everyone, others just a few. I send a just a few cards/letters at a time, and eventually I will make my way through the whole list and start again (I’m in New Zealand, so it’s all international for me). Some can’t send a lot of mail, for whatever reason, but still would appreciate receiving some happy mail, and that’s totally fine - there’s no expectations, you just send whatever would give you joy to send.
For myself, I will never feel offended/left out if someone doesn’t send mail to me - to me happy mail is purely a gift and I would never want anyone to feel bad or obliged. I am very slow at mailing my mail out 
Thanks, everyone!
I’ll definitely start a spreadsheet, so I can keep track of whom I sent what, and from whom I’ve received.
Yay! I’m so glad you received good results. 
You guys. I am all over the place with happy mail. I make small batches of cards and try to send to new people first. I do find myself sending happy mail more often to people who have sent to me more often, but I think that is normal.
I’m terrible about keeping track - I keep meaning to, but then mail them out and wonder - did I send to such and such? Grrrrr.
My intro. @Reinikka
I would LOVE to receive Happy Mail!
Reinikka can provide you with my address (or just ask me).
My name is Bea, I’m from The Netherlands, but moved to Belgium in 2007.
(See my profile to learn more about me, if you don’t know me yet.)
I’d love to receive handmade cards (or cards that are somehow connected to you), with little personal notes inside.
I am interested in many things, so any theme goes, but most of all I like books and reading, creative writing, art and nature.
Don’t feel obliged to include extras! Seriously! I’ll be very happy with ‘just’ your card/note.
But if you want to include something, here are some suggestions: English book pages, paper ephemera and decorations for art making and card making, postage stamps, book marks.
I would also like to receive some Happy Mail for my MIL Yolande, who will turn 90 in June!
Cards only, no extras, since she’s always clearing out, because of her age…
She still lives semi independent and she loves flowers.
You can send it to me and I’ll make sure she gets it (she would get confused receiving mail from unknown people).
I’m going to echo a few things for clarity.
This is meant to be a no pressure atmosphere
Send as little or as much as you want! Send to who you want! No feeling bad is allowed 
Send 20 cards to person X and zero cards to persons Y & Z. Send one card to everyone, send no cards to anyone. It’s all 100% up to YOU how you play
I started this craftalong because I enjoy sending Happy Mail and apparently other people do to! I personally wanted a list of people that I know would appreciate random mail. I definitely love getting mail in return but I don’t want people to feel like they have to send something in return.
I kinda-sorta do a rotating system but some people might get more from me because I connect with them in a way that I want to send more, longer letters and/or crafted items or craft goodies or whatever. Sometimes I write a lot and sometimes I write a little. I definitely want to do more than I am doing, but I’m not letting myself feel bad about what I’m not doing, instead I’m letting myself feel happy about what I am doing
Each month my system changes and maybe someday I’ll have one that sticks! Right now I have everyone on a page in a mini binder. When I have cards ready I go through and put one card with each page. Anyone left over gets moved to the front of the binder and I add new people to the front as well. Then when I have my next batch of cards I will repeat the process so that the new people and skipped people will be at the front of the “line”. I also have some plastic pockets throughout so I can add little things I want to include next time I’m sending to certain people. Each person’s page has their intro pasted in with their mailing info and I keep track of what I’ve sent to them.
Thanks for explaining to us newbies!
I love your binder idea!
I am a slow crafter so I make one card at a time. Sometimes I make a series of few similar cards, sometimes just one single card. And then I send to whoever I feel like sending it to! That can be person X who I think will like this particular card, or person Y who is going through a thing, or person Z because they sent me a nice card the other day.
I do try to make sure that I send a card back to every person that has reached out to me, and I’ll get there eventually, so I don’t feel bad because everyone will get something in the end. Some people get handmade cards but sometimes I send store-bought cards. I’ve received a nice mix of handmade and bought cards.
I love getting mail from all over the world, but it would be great to have more participants from Europe. I sent something to @Ewulotta in Germany a while back and I think I had a reply within a week! International mail is very slow. Mail from the US to the NL usually takes about a week, but my mail often take weeks to arrive in the US.
@Reinikka I just noticed that @seeuudee is in the UK! I didn’t know that, there are more international senders than I knew of. Could we maybe include a little flag on the list in the first post for those participants outside of the US? That way we can quickly find back other members that live close to us and are easier or cheaper to send mail to. If people want to of course. 
I received from @bluebird … I’m going to share a couple of the stickers with my grand daughters (one is almost 3 and the other recently turned 2), they will love the airplane and helicopter!
I received a postcard with a pretty pressed flower from @susieoregon (I think it was delayed because my postal code was omitted so the p/o plastered a large sticker on it that covered most of the message. Thankfully it came off easy)
Glad it arrived. I messed up my list of who I sent to this month, I was pretty sure you were getting one and now I know for sure.
Are you saying @Magpie and I are crazy 
I plan to be there … if I’m not with my grand babies and if I’m not building my house … I imagine it will be late enough here when it starts that I’ll have those things done for the day.
Great idea! I’ll try to get that done soon-ish 
How do you make the little flags in the text?
Like all the emoticons, you type : name of the emoticon and : again (without spaces) or you type : and click “more” to see all the options. The code for is :[remove]netherlands: and 
is :[remove]belgium:
Thanks!
You learn something new every day.
(I never use emoticons, so that’s why I’ve never noticed them.)
Thank you everyone for your answers!
As far as mailing internationally, I sent two to Canada and one to New Zeland today and with the other domestic ones I was sending, it only cost me $5 and change. It wasn’t expensive at all.
