Mail is a precious commodity these days, so I appreciate those friends of mine who make the effort to send cards, letters, and small packages of goodness to my mailbox every now and then. These faithful correspondents, who eschew email in favor of more arcane forms of communication, are responsible for brightening the days of everyone who receives one of their letters. To encourage more letter writing in your circle of friends and family, I've found some postcards, notepads, and stationery that will be sure to delight any letter writers on your wish list.
Laurie Mee and Carrie Siegel, the co-owners of
Two Trick Pony, create delightful card designs that are screen-printed by hand on 100 percent post-consumer waste recycled paper with water-based inks. I love the retro look of their designs, and the straightforward perfection in the cards' sentiments.
Since I'm in the middle of writing thank-you cards to our
wedding guests, my eye was particularly drawn to these
thank-you cards ($16 for six cards and envelopes).
The next time you're attending a
housewarming party, once you've built your
housewarming bucket, you'll need a cheerful card to wish your friends or neighbors well in their new digs. The
Hello! Lucky Welcome Home Greeting Card ($4.50) will fit the bill and then some.
I've written in the past
about Iomoi stationery and how I think it's important to have cute personalized stationery for those occasions when you need to write a hand-written note. But, there's no reason you shouldn't write on smart-looking paper when you're jotting notes to yourself! Iomoi has released
a new memo pad ($48) in a variety of stylish patterns, 250 five-by-seven-inch pages set in a custom-designed Lucite tray.
When sending a hand-written note, it always pays to have
cute stationery. But, what about multipurpose stationery? Why just send a card, when you can send a small packet of seeds along with it?
I'm not big on sentimental central quotes on cards, but I couldn't resist the adorable mod living-room design on this
Welcome to Your New Home Card ($4). I wouldn't mind moving right into this living room; you know I adore the lime green and raspberry color scheme. It's pretty much the perfect housewarming card for all those hip new homeowners you know.
Sometimes I think there's not enough "dropping a line" in the world. Good old-fashioned notes, updating your friends on what's new in your life, and asking about theirs. Yeah, there's prolific Facebook wall and Myspace commenting, but a part of me feels that that's all for show.
Shopping for gifts is one of my favorite activities; I even prefer it to shopping for myself (probably because I'm too easy to please). Finding the ideal gift for a friend is a challenge that I really enjoy. So, when it comes to shopping from a
wedding registry, I get kind of bummed.
Since most of my correspondence occurs via email, I want my notecards to be timeless and versatile. It's always nice to bring a smile to a friend's face with humor, but when I buy a box of notecards I want them to be appropriate for more than one person, and not to lose timeliness like the set you picked up at the Musée D'Orsay on your most recent trip to Paris might.
B Designs Boxed Historic Patterns Notecards ($12 for six cards) fit the bill with their decorative floral and classic patterns with a contemporary color palette.
Candy-colored
butterflies and girl-y medallions are the sort of thing that I love in small doses like the
First Press Note Cards ($15-$18). I wouldn't
wallpaper my walls with the fluttering creatures,
tattoo my butt cleavage with them, or name
an album after them, but I'd certainly send a note to a girlfriend with these debossed, lushly designed notecards in their matching envelopes, and I'd be delighted to receive one. And, when all 10 of them have been signed, sealed, and delivered, I can use the decorated box to "wrap" my next
eco-chic gift.
