Gift Guide for Snail Mail Addicts
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I’m I am a total nerd for all things snail mail. The early iteration of the Connection Club I started in 2020 was all about writing letters to friends.
My love of handwritten cards and letters was spawned in high school when my friends and I would pass handwritten notes in the hallways between classes — way before texting and smartphones and orders of magnitude cooler.
This love of handwritten notes was later solidified when I made my first cross-country move, and as a going-away gift, a few friends gifted me a big, colorful, bound-paper address book for keeping in touch with all the friends I was leaving behind.
Snail mail is simultaneously one of the world's most antiquated and revolutionary services. The fact that I can have a message on a piece of paper delivered directly to my friend’s front door across the country for less than a dollar is a novelty that never fails to amaze and excite me.
In this blog post, check out my favorite snail mail gear that I use to make my letters, cards, and packages more beautiful and exciting to open. These goodies make snail mail more fun for me to make, and more delightful for the recipients to receive. (And if you want can’t-fail formulas for gifts for any kind of person, check out my mega thread on gift-giving.)
If you’re stumped on a gift to give the creative people in your life, you can use this entire page as a Gift Guide. 😉
First up, one of my favorites, cherry blossom Midori Stationery from Japan. I have yet to meet a Midori stationery set I didn’t fall in love with. The paper quality is exquisite, and the designs are tasteful, creative, and delicate, more akin to tiny works of art. Pictured here is the Midori cherry blossom paper pad with long envelopes, on top of the Midnight Garden paper pad by Recollections. I couldn’t find link to these exact paper pads since I bought them at my local stationery store, but this link will get you close to the paper pads, plus tons of similar beautiful floral stationery sets. To make opening the envelope an indulgent, formal affair, use a wax warmer and wax sealing stamp kit to keep your secret notes safe. Sparkle up your desk with gold and pink thin felt-tipped U Brands pens. Don’t forget to add a retro touch with vintage postage stamps — these come in a wide variety from “it’s old and you can still use it as active postage at its face value” to “it’s old and was already used as postage so it cannot be used as active postage today” to “fake stamps that look real but are just for decoration.” Make sure you buy the right kind for your needs.
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Behold my well-loved wax melter, which has been the source of a burn for many pretty wax-sealed envelopes.
As a total plant nerd and nature lover, I fell head over heels for this set of antique botanical illustration postcards because how can you not? As a gift they pair beautifully with a leather-bound journal (or pleather if you’re vegan) notebook. Paper mail is always better than an email, and this cheeky Better Than An Email rubber stamp by Wit & Whistle on Etsy delivers smiles before the recipient has even opened the envelope. Also shown: Gold felt-tipped pen from U Brands, gold and green metallic thread (yes you can sew with it and I do), washi tape with multiple vintage postage stamp designs, wax beads with wax melter and brass stamps, solid wood cutting board to use as a weight when adhering items, and rosemary from my garden.
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Is it obvious yet that I’m obsessed with plants? This spread is a combo of beauties from two different stationery collections: Succulent Garden (20 notecards with envelopes) and The Flower Box set of 100 postcards illustrated by ten women artists from around the world. Also in this photo: Magenta globe amaranth flowers, vintage postage stamps, blue and green washi tapes, aqua blue ribbon, and vintage admission tickets from my personal collection. Fun fact: If you’re mailing a square envelope, it’s considered “non-machinable” because the length and width are the same dimensions, so the machines can’t tell which way to orient it for automated processing. If you’re mailing a square envelope, you need to use a 70¢ stamp, like the yellow and black California Dogface Butterfly USPS stamps linked below.
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The only thing I love more than plants (and 65% dark chocolate with salted Marcona almonds) is textiles: fabric, sewing, yarn/fiber arts, and art made from something as simple as string. These Otomi notecards (set of 12 with envelopes) aren’t actually made with threads sewn through the paper, but they’re beautifully embossed so that the artworks are lifted just so off the white background. It’s as close as you can get to feeling like you’re touching embroidery when you’re actually touching paper. I also like that the set of included envelopes give you a pop of color when you open them: slightly rusty red, mustardy yellow, and blue-ribbon blue. Also shown: wax sealing kit with brass stamp heads and wax beads, U Brands pens, magenta globe amaranth flowers, and orange Carthamus tinctorius (safflower) flowers.
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Did you gasp with delight (like I did) when you saw these incredible floral butterfly illustrations? These beautiful die-cut butterfly notecards are from Lady Jayne Ltd. This set includes 20 flat note cards (blank on one side to add your note) with coordinating full-color envelopes and gold foil accents. Each card measures approximately 7" x 5". Also shown: vintage sticker labels, vintage international postage from around the world, wax melter and stamper with brass stamp heads, marigold flower, magenta globe amaranth gomphrena flower, dried yellow craspedia flower, and vintage washi tape of antique maps, and rosemary sprig from my garden.
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If you’ve got a playful vibe, or you’re penpalling with kids, the Midori geometric letter set is great for bringing an energetic, artsy vibe to the mailbox. The set comes with 20 sheets of blank, smooth-finish paper and 10 envelopes (5 pairs of two; each pair is a different geometric design). The paper is a nice size for a note, approx 8” x 6”. I like to pair these with the most playful postage stamps I can find — and stock up if you see something you love because stamp designs go out of circulation very quickly. I’ve been slowly dwindling down my set of these monster stamps from last summer. I’ll link you to some other cute stamps below because these monsters are already gone. Fun fact: If you place multiple orders for stamps online from USPS.com, they’ll automatically subscribe you to their Philatelic magazine for stamp collectors. When my copy of Philatelic showed up in the mail, I felt simultaneously deeply understood and slightly offended (“Oh, so I’m a geeky stamp collector now am I???? Yes. Yes, it appears that in fact, I am. And have you seen these gorgeous stamps?!”) Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
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Diehard Classic Art & Writing Supplies
Before I wrap up this bonanza of a post, I want to share a couple of my final favorites that I cannot live without at my letter-writing, art-making, craft-creating station. We’re talking about the basics: ink, adhesives, cutting tools, writing tools, and packaging that elicits joy. I’m a Virgo-rising so I am very particular about using The Best. The Best doesn’t mean the most expensive, it means the most-functional and least-annoying supplies possible. I stick by this stuff (pun always intended). But fair warning: If you use these, you’ll probably end up loving them as much as I do and it will be hard for you to get by with crappier supplies afterwards. 😉 Click any picture on this page to get more details.
Writing: The best pen ever made for neat, precise handwriting and ink sketching is the Uni Jetstream 0.38 Ballpoint pen. I carry them with me everywhere I go. The ink never bleeds, and it writes with a smooth and intensely precise line, with no skips, jumps, or bumps. The ink dries very quickly to prevent smearing, which is great if you’re left-handed. It comes from Japan and is frequently out of stock, so when you see them, get them while you can. I also highly recommend buying the Uni SXR-38 refills for these, instead of chucking the whole thing in a landfill when it runs out.
If you like to write on dark paper as I sometimes do, then you probably know that finding a reliable white-ink pen is a challenge. Usually, either the ink is too watery to show up bold and white on a dark surface, or they dry out in the pen near-immediately. That’s why I’m devoted to the Uniball Signo Broad Point Gel Pen in White; these also come in metallic gold and silver which are also delightful. The Sakura Gelly Roll 08 and 05 white gel pens are also good, but they will dry out faster than the Uniball. And when I absolutely positively need to blast something with a chonky-and-somewhat-precise flow of white ink, I turn to the old-school Presto Fine-Point Jumbo Correction Pen. It’ll obliterate anything you lay it down on, and the fumes will get you slightly high at the same time.
Chop it up and lay it down: I’m breaking a cardinal rule here on purpose because my goal is precision. The Loop & Threads Sewing Scissors Set is supposed to be for cutting threads and fabric (as the name implies) but they’re magnitudes of order sharper than regular paper scissors, so I keep a designated set for paper crafts. 😈 They are wicked sharp, and the tiny blades are excellent for cutting out very precise or small shapes. They’re a budget pick that works like a primo item: only $9.99 for a set of four at Michaels. But remember what I said about the sharpness — I accidentally cut myself just removing them from the packaging. Keep these bad boys away from your kids, I am not kidding. When you need to cut perfectly rounded corners on your beautiful cards, envelope edges, and notepaper, the most reliable and precise corner cutter (aka corner rounder, corner punch) is this one from Creative Memories. Did I watch a 20-minute Youtube video demo-ing seven of the “best” name-brand corner cutters? Yes, I did, so you don’t have to. I tried this other one that sucked me in with its promise of three different corner radius angles, but it always leaves a torn snaggled edge and pisses me off; I don’t recommend that one. The Creative Memories corner punch is truly the best. If Amazon is out, look for it on eBay.
Ok, so now that you’ve cut out your beautifully precise images (and applied any necessary band-aids), now you need to stick your stuff down. Have you ever wondered why glue sticks don’t come in a skinnier size for gluing tiny things? Me too. But guess what, THEY DO. Like all things that are wonderful, you have to get them from Japan. Mine is the THINKing Glue Pen and it does exactly what a glue stick should do: put the glue only where you want it and nowhere else, then leave that stuff stuck down. I originally found it at the endlessly adorable Kawaii Pen Shop, but Amazon carries it too. I suggest ordering a set of refills at the same time. If you’re getting regular size glue sticks, it’s gotta be Elmer’s Extra Strength Craft Bond or Uhu Stick.
Say what you need to say: If you haven’t indulged lately in the satisfaction of smashing a rubber stamp into a big black ink pad, then pressing out a message using the weight of your body, I promise you that it is at least 147 times more satisfying than tapping a backlit keyboard on a smartphone screen. The Wit & Whistle shop on Etsy meets all my needs for rubber stamp mail puns, plant-themed cards, and blockprint-style throwback cards. And my little wooden box of rubber alphabet stamps makes me feel a tiny frisson of the excitement that Gutenberg must have felt after inventing movable type. Speaking of which, if you’re ready to go completely off the deep end, then join me at The Lounge for People That Are Unreasonably Enamored With Vintage Typewriters. I’m a regular here. That’s my personal booth in the corner with my name engraved on it. My count is up to four vintage typewriters so far, representing the 1930s, 1960s, and 1970s. Why do I own the Remington Ten Forty above in both teal and white?? Because I have zero chill when I’m browsing the world’s selection of beautifully-designed office-and-art supplies. Now you know my kryptonite. Please be kind.
Pack it up: Ready to send your exquisitely-made snail mail to your homies? The easiest and cheapest path to gorgeous envelopes is to make them yourself (especially if you just emptied your wallet buying vintage typewriters). Grab a phat stack of pretty papers: You can veer into the scrapbook world for a thick pad of 12” x 12” paper, or you can grab a roll of thick, sturdy wrapping paper. The wrapping paper prints at Society6 are especially gorgeous (three samples shown here).
Click here to get $15 worth of free wrapping paper or other beautifully-printed stuff at Society6 using my referral link. Then use these seriously charming wooden DIY envelope templates by Agoni on Etsy to create your own envelopes. I like to spice mine up with social justice messages from Postage Stamp Protest like the RBG and Say Their Names stamps; just be sure not to put these in the actual stamp corner location because they’re not real postage.
Small notecard for a friend, using a vintage stamp as the inspiration for a painting made with watercolor pencils.
A small handmade zine I made for a friend, using a different vintage stamp as the inspiration for each painting. On top of each painting, I added a fact about that country from the approximate year that the chosen stamp was released.
Putting it all together: During the last couple years of the pandemic, one of my favorite ways to weave all of this together has been to make zines, notecards, postcards, and sketchbook mixed media pages deriving inspo from the artwork on vintage stamps and the world around me. I use Derwent watercolor pencils when I feel like precision painting or my travel watercolor kit that comes with a handy water-brush pen, which is the easiest to toss in my bag on the go. I don’t like to carry a ton of pens and pencils with me so I stick to my trusty Jetstream 0.38 black ballpoint, and a few colorful Sakura Gelly Roll or Muji pens (these are a nice substitute now that Muji’s closed all its U.S. locations)
Alrighty, I think that’s quite enough for now. If you have any questions, drop me a line.
XO,
Kat Vellos, author of We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships
