Mail Monday

Hello everyone! Did you guys have a good weekend?

Mine was pretty awesome. For example, I was finally able to go see one of the Michaels craft stores that are open in Quebec! There isn't one close by to where we live, so it was a rare treat. I basically spend a long while picking out papers for the custom wedding invitations I'm making. So, it was pretty great!

On the mail front I continued my experiments with the translucent tracing paper snail mail. I tried a few new things and still love working with it. You might still see a few in the future, but I am also trying to come up with new ideas for you to see!

Outgoing

 

Vintage comic book, superhero snail mail. I mean, what's not to love, right? I decorated the sheets of tracing paper with doodles of Superman, clipped out some images from a vintage comic book and stuffed them all in the translucent envelope. Of course it's all topped off with a speech bubble address label. I even took a photo of the back of the envelope, since I feel like it turned out pretty fun too.

Sometimes when I make these odd crafts of mine, I know immediately who it needs to go to. I just knew this one had to go to Jessica.


Another transparent envelope that's going out to Susanne. On this one I continued with the fashionable 1920s peeps theme, but added this dapper gentleman. He's looking all snazzy in his fancy suit and hat, marvelling the paintings, but secretly he's dreaming of being home, playing his guitar.

Sometimes the mail tells a full story.

On this one I wanted to experiment further with layering the paper and trying to add texture to it. It's tough to get a decent photo of it, but it's quite heavily textured.

Incoming

I got this amazing mail from Jessica. She's used a page from a calender to make the envelope and it was such a treat to get it in the mail! Thanks Jessica! As you can see, the answer is already on it's way! This happens very rarely that I get a chance to answer to something this fast. This time it just so happened that I had everything ready and I already knew what I needed to send.

Have you received anything fun in the mail recently?

Friday Inspiration - Pastel hair

I can't help it. I've been thinking about it for a while and even talked about it since last fall. I want to dye my hair some awesome color. Most likely pink.

Source: icanstyleu.com via Marissa on Pinterest

Source: longhairstyleshowto.com via Taejha on Pinterest

Source: yeyethings-eng.blogspot.com via Dori-Kay on Pinterest

Source: lapetitefashionista.blogspot.com via Naomi on Pinterest

Source: s3.amazonaws.com via Michelle on Pinterest

If I end up trying this out, then I promise to share a photo or a few. I don't like getting my photos taken, but maybe I can suffer through for a good reason...

No promises though.

Vintage stamps

I'm not quite sure I can adequately express how excited I am right now. I spent an obscene amount of money on vintage stamps and couldn't be happier! Just look at this!


I've really loved that look of coordinated stamps on invitations or letters and finally can start experimenting with it!





Woohoo! Just wanted to share!

Easy dinner - potato gnocci with balsamic mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes

I haven't posted any interesting recipes here recently, for the simple reason that I've started some corrective measures in my diet. I am more than happy to talk about eating healthier and loosing a few pounds in the process if anyone's interested, but for now, there is one recipe I tried and absolutely loved.

 

Potato Gnocchi (salad) with balsamic mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes

It's again a recipe that looks and sounds rather impressive, but is super easy to make. This one, I'm proud to say, I came up with myself. Often I find recipes online that I like and make my own version of them, but this one came from to fruition simply I really felt like having gnocchi but didn't want to do my usual recipe of gnocchi in tomato sauce. To make this version, you'll need

Package of potato gnocchi
Sun-dried tomatoes (to make them at home, try this recipe)
Mushrooms (balsamic vinegar and salt for cooking)
Green onion

Dressing
Lemon juice
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Please note that you could add anything you like in the dish. I'm thinking fresh tomato, basil and mozzarella cheese would be amazing.

Start by frying the mushrooms. I have one specific way of cooking mushrooms and I use it all the time.


Basically quarter the mushrooms and start frying them on medium heat with a little bit of oil. After a while the mushrooms start releasing the liquid. Sprinkle them with a little bit of salt and cook until almost all of the liquid has evaporated, then drizzle them with a few tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Cook for a few more minutes so that all of the vinegar has been absorbed by the mushrooms. The results are amazing and so much better than plain ol' mushrooms. I fry up mushrooms like this for a lot of different recipes, I just find it adds a little extra.

While the mushrooms are frying, cook the gnocchi. It's very easy. Bring a pot of well-salted water to boil. Dump in gnocchi. They are ready once they gnocchi floats to the surface. This won't take more than 5 minutes. Prepare the dressing by combining equal amounts lemon juice and balsamic vinegar, half of that of olive oil (for example, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoon of olive oil), add a little salt and fresh pepper.

Combine the gnocchi, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes and dressing. Mix together and sprinkle with finely chopped green onion.

I actually served this room temperature as a posh-sounding potato salad, instead of hot, but it works both ways.

Enjoy!

Monday Mail

Hello, hello and welcome to the latest edition of "Monday Mail", the segment of Brinnertime where we talk about all the random things I've sent though the postal system last week!

In this week's episode we'll see more trasparent mail, quite a few awesome postcards and airmail-y goodness.

Outgoing

I continue with experimenting with the transparent and translucent mail. This time the entire letter, both paper and envelope, are translucent. The first one has hand-drawn illustrations of fashionable ladies from the early 1900s, some washi and lace tapes and finally some vintage postage stamps. This one is for Tami lyn who left a comment in my birthday post.

The second one is a little bulkier. It's going to Andreia in Portugal, she was my swap partner in the SPSH (secret penpal scavenger hunt, organized by Fab). Without going too much into detail what's in it, I can tell you that the envelope is sturdy plastic. I made it using these instructions. There's a translucent letter, also decorated with those fashionable ladies and a mix of new and vintage stamps.

The third letter is actually the first one I wrote and it's for Laura. I experimented with translucent address labels, so when you remove the letter from the envelope, you can see that the address is written on several layers of translucent paper. This one also has vintage postage stamps. The letter might not have hand-drawn pictures, but I really needed the space to discuss very important matters that might, or might not, be specific plans in case of a zombie apocalypse...




Did you really think I would send out a week worth of mail and none of it was encrusted in washi tape?? Well, of course not silly! At least this week I cut some of it in little flag shapes. And the banner address label made a comeback too!

Incoming

Looks like I was extra good this week! I got postcards and letters! This first postcard is an adorable Moomin one from Mary, who recently went to Finland.


I got these two postcards the same day. I had to take a photo of them together. Doesn't it look like they belong together? They have such a similar vibe to them, both picture funky, pastel-y colored buildings in the evening with the lights on outside. They are not even remotely from the same place though. The one of the left is from my parents and shows the tram museum in Helsinki and the one on the right is from Jess and shows the  Phipps Conservatory and Botanical gardens in Pittsburgh. Quite the coincidence.



Then I got an airmail explosion in the mail. I admittedly go overboard on the airmail-y goodness, so this time I got something similar in the mail myself. This one is from Susanne and it's a response to this


And finally, I got mail from my favorite librarian Lynn. She sent me some super cute spring mail with comic strips and an adorable Peter Rabbit card.

Thank you everyone!