How I Discovered Mail Art

I started sending letters to penpals when I turned 10 years old, and came back to it
decades later when I met like-minded individuals on social media. ​
A love of penning long letters and adding a little art to envelopes has led to a series
​of fortunate encounters and a renewed passion for the lost art of snail mail. ​

A photo posted by Katherine (@plancultivatecreate) on Mar 13, 2016 at 1:19pm PDT

​As an avid planner and collector of all things stationery, I soon discovered others who shared the same, rather unique interest on social media. What started off as trades - sending hard-to-find items to people all over the world, and receiving the like in exchange, led to sharing stories and thoughts through little notes sent in the packages. We deepened our friendship offline, and although we no longer sent actual items in the mail, I still wanted to bring a smile to the recipient's face when she received my letter. So, I decided to decorate not just the stationery, but the envelope itself. 

A photo posted by Katherine (@plancultivatecreate) on Jul 1, 2015 at 6:35am PDT

​It has since turned into my main hobby and has led me to connect with people all around the world who create art and send it off to a new destination. Sharing the process and the final results online is a way to capture the artwork and share it with a wider audience. 

A photo posted by Katherine TheMinimalistPlanner (@ladykat528) on Oct 12, 2014 at 11:04am PDT

​​
​And that is what finally led me to submit my favourite piece of (below) to Somerset Studio, a magazine devoted to paper crafting, art stamping, and the lettering arts. They Published it in the March/April 2016 issue.  ​

​I share these happy pieces of mail over on Instagram (along with a myriad of nature, animals, and art journal posts). I hope this mail art inspire you to send a little Happy Mail this week. 

​xo
​Katherine