Happy Mail

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It’s a lovely thing to get unexpected gifts –  and my life is rich in them at the moment.

Just prior to Christmas I received an email from another blogging friend Katyoparty over at ArtOutWithYourHeArtOut telling me she had a few spare gelatos and they were winging their way to me, along with ‘a few other bits’ she thought I might quite like.

If you aren’t an arty-crafty type, gelatos are a newish product somewhere between a pastel, a crayon and a paint.  They come in something resembling a lip gloss tube, are richly pigmented, easily moved about with your finger and are water soluble.  You can use them like a crayon, an oil pastel or watercolour paint.  They are a lot of fun and in my part of the world anyway, exorbitantly expensive.

I was very excited – I didn’t have any gelatos and had never received ‘Happy Mail’ before.

The courier delivered a box to my door a few days ago.  It was battered and beaten and torn  open at the top – it looked as if it had been round the world twice and through a few storms along the way.

The first thing I saw was a beautiful wooden box – a cigar box, just perfect for altering.

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And here is what was inside the box or packaged alongside it, all piled on the little table for my delighted eyes to feast in.

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There is an array of flowers large and small, pretty papers, sundry embellishments, templates and masks……… and of course the gelatos.

Here is the pretty hand made card Katie sent and just peeking out from beside it is – I’m guessing – some of her own delightfully hand painted paper.

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And here are more embellishments and masks and some die cut flowers and sundry bits and bobs:

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It quite made my day!  I sift through them as I go about my daily art task of recording a word a day – I’ll show you some of those in another day or two.

So, many happy thank yous to katieoparty – it was a real treat!  Do check out her blog and her videos if you get a chance.

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did 🙂

42 thoughts on “Happy Mail”

  1. I thought gelatos were cigars, Pauline…lol…I’d like to try these gelatos. I’ll check out the Hobby store for them. We have a lot of empty cigar boxes, great to share your thoughts on these too, Pauline. I only have to start..that’s the hardest part 😦 Pawkisses 🙂

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    • In Italy they are icecreams – 🙂 In the arty-crafty world they are colour sticks ….anything can become anything else these days. Boxes are fun to dress up – there are lots of ideas on you tube… Have a look and I’m sure you’ll get inspired!

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  3. Hi Pauline you sweet soul! I hadn’t realized you’d written a post about this. I am very happy you liked your happy mail and it’s contents and that it made its way across the world mostly intact. I hope you are inspired by some of those bits and bobs!

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  4. Ah, I love how you put it, “happy mail”. Nothing beats happy mail…it puts a smile on your lips and laughter in your heart. Enjoy your gift. Thanks for the explanation on gelatos; this is new to me.

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    • I didn’t invent the term Elaine – it is used quite freely by crafters who happily send assorted bits and bobs all around the world to help and inspire their crafty friends…… It is a wonderful custom and I am now an absolute fan of it…… and I shall be indulging myself by sending some stuff out somewhere sometime soon.

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  5. Joy! Isn’t it fun. I love those masks and can just imagine how great they’ll be on one of your art works. New Zealand does seem a world away so I’m certain any parcel will get well handled by the time it arrives on your doorstep. I’ve only know (and love) the lovely gelato’s that come in a bowl. I ate my way thru Venice and really love the Lemon Gelato after dinner…mmm mmm good. Have fun with your new goodies!

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    • I just mentioned this in the post I put up 5 minutes ago – I was in an Italian restaurant last night regaling the Italian waiter with my memories of food in Italy – and then we had the most wonderful truly Italian food – but no gelato – we went for the torte and tiramisu instead!!

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  6. Wow! What a great haul and such a nice gesture. I love getting ‘snail mail’ and must say that blogging (all internet, all the time) has conversely brought gobs of high-quality mail. Who knew!? So much fun.

    Can’t wait to see what you create.

    I was thinking of you today. I took a two hour, mixed-media class. It was so much fun.

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  7. How gorgeous and what a treat for you! I have not heard of gelatos and will be interested to see how they work for you. As soon as I saw that word I thought food and “But they’d be melted – what on earth…?!” And I love that box!

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    • Ah, ha-ha!! Gurgle!! There you are, I would think the same if I didn’t know what they were ….. Ditzes unite!! I’ve used them already on a couple of my ‘daily words’ project. I love the way they are creamy and malleable and rich in colour. I’ve tried the water colour painting technique too and they work really well for that….. by the time I’ve finished experimenting I will know whether it is worth spending the huge amount of money to buy more – So you can imagine how grateful I am to Katyoparty for allowing me to play and find out!

      Isn’t the box great! I’m looking forward to doing something spectacular with it 🙂

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      • Yep, ditzes unite lol

        They sound lovely to use, and what a very nice thing for her to do. If they expensive I doubt I’ll be getting any but look forward to seeing your creations 🙂 The box is really lovely.

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    • I am so enjoying it Dani – and I absolutely agree with you – the blogging world is full of wonderful people – I still find it absolutely mind boggling that so many great souls wander in here and stick around – What fun we are all having!

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  12. What a wonderful box of goodies and how generous of katieoparty to share :). Don’t you just LOVE the blogging world? Sharing is the best thing 🙂

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    • I ADORE the blogging world!! This is like the cherry on the top of a rather rich and fabulous serving of chocolate torte [I was at an Italian restaurant last night and am still under the influence of the stunning array of Italian deserts that I devoured with my eyes and my memory of past taste delights….] But I digress. I am busy learning how great it is to be the receiver of gifts at the moment…….. Who knew a life lesson could be so much fun?

      You are right too, katieoparty is a very generous and kind and lovely person – I’ve seen it many times on her blog and in messages she has sent. She is also talented!

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      • You can’t beat generous and talented. Much like yourself 🙂 Gotta LOVE those Italians. Not only do they make you swoon your pants off over their desserts, their sexy men and their pasta but they also know a thing or two about vegetable gardening, making wine and generally being incredibly useful at that. If Steve ever buggers off with someone else, the next one will be Italian! (And chained to a stake 😉 )

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          • You LUCKY BUGGER! One of my bucket list wishes that is highly unlikely to ever come true is to go to Italy and eat my (not inconsiderable) weights worth of Italian food 🙂 It is highly likely NOT to come true because I swore, after we headed over to the U.K. and back on Air France that I would NEVER set foot on a long haul flight again. 24 hours of little French kids kicking you in the back was enough for me and when we sat down and noticed that the control panels for our seats were all broken and that we could see bits missing from the wing I started to twitch around about then…I think I am too old for that amount of stress and to come out the other side mentally intact. I fear the Italians are going to have to do without narf7 adoration and will just have to accept that I am adoring them from afar 🙂

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            • If the Italians knew of your adoration, I am sure they would come to you. You know I hoot with laughter every time you yell at me that I’m a lucky bugger – whenever I feel unlucky I just have to find your comments and all will be well in my world!

              I think the long haul to Italy well worth the effort.

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              • I don’t. If the French tried to kill me, and they are arrogant lazy bollocks, I can only BEGIN to imagine what Air Italia and the most inventive Italians could do to my fragile sanity and you ARE a lucky bugger :).

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  15. Wow..what a beautiful gift:-) time to get in the flow… “die cut anything” perfect for creative time…what a sweet person to send you a gift filled with artistic treasures:-) Just like christmas! I love magical boxes filled with things to create!

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