Mail Time!

If you come to my house, you'll find "letters" written by a certain now-four-year-old everywhere. Pages of scrawlings, drawings and painstakingly executed chicken scratches.... folded into incongruent shapes, and stuffed into envelopes. Sometimes she asks me to really place them in the mail (uh... sure, honey...). Other times she tapes them to a wall or a surface of her choice. Currently the interior of our front door has about 3 "letters" on it. Many of these letters, as endearing as they are, accumulate into a nondescript pile and end up en route to a new life via the recycling bin.

When Susy's godbrother received a mail toy for his birthday, Vasi was more than intrigued. She cried because she wanted to stay at the party and play with the plastic envelopes and the little push cart. I thought, really? That's kind of a baby toy... But it made sense. She plays "mail" all of the time!

So, I revisited this tutorial I found at Sew Mama Sew.. Back in Feb. I had made one of these fabric keepsake envelopes for my parents' anniversary. Then I thought I'd add some custom touches to make a set of reusable fabric envelopes for Vasi and her prolific letter-writing... and a whole concept was born!

First... the envelopes.
Then, stamps (squares of white felt with pinked edges, a decorative fabric square and a velcro on the back).



We filled each envelope with birthday greetings. I also stuffed an envelope with "real stamps" for V. Mainly, a sheet of .01 cent stamps we never used, and some leftover complimentary Nativity seals that Goarch sent out this past year.

But I couldn't stop there.... Every mail kit needs a mail bag! And a mailbox... An unused Ikea storage box we had on hand (Kassett, I think). One of those impulse Ikea buys that ended up going unused... until now! I cut a mail slot in the top with an x-acto knife and painted the surface with acrylic craft paint.
(as you can see, it's already been defaced a bit... the surface isn't so compatible with "real stamps" or stickers! Eek... Oh well. It's already well-loved, right?)I included a pack of unused stationery cards in the mail bag.
Today my little postal worker has been busy making letters and invitations and delivering mail up and down the driveway on her scooter. We were playing outside when our own mail carrier came, and Vasi showed her new treasure to him. I wish I'd had taken a picture! It was so funny seeing them talking to one another with their blue mail messenger bags slung across their shoulders. :)

This project was so FUN and so worth it, even if it ended up being more involved than I thought. Mainly due to the hand-stitched edges on the envelopes and the buttons (4x over!). But, it gave me something to do when I had to lay down/ veg out and take a break from the sewing machine (which requires a posture that isn't so fabulous for long stretches when you're 8 mos. pregnant). I'm so glad that V. likes it, I would do it again in a heartbeat.