Hi dearest reader!

June was a lovely month for letter writing, zine-making, and painting for the bookmark.

So, the USPS machines can't handle envelopes with wax seals, and our mail club has been getting away with hand-sorting for free so far. Oops! I'm grateful for the postal worker who chased me down at the post office to let me know. 😆

I learned that envelopes with wax seals actually cost $0.49 cents more than a regular stamp because they need to be sorted by hand and can't go into their machines! The postal workers were super nice and taught me what I need to do from now on. 

I've had to make some updates to the shipping costs: more on that below. (Luckily, they have specific stamps for us to use from now on!) 

new stamps for hand-sorting

Starting in July, envelopes will be posted with these gorgeous butterfly stamps that include the cost of hand-sorting. These are called "non-machineable stamps."

Here's the price breakdown. These stamps cover the cost of regular postage + hand-sorting: $0.78 + $0.49 = $1.27

I think this is the best solution so I can still send your envelopes with hand-pressed wax seals, which gives an official, personal touch. Wax seals are such a classic epistolary keepsake, I can't imagine sending your envelopes without them. :)

what else I learned this month

Each envelope takes time and care. I appreciated the meditative quality of folding zines, cutting letters, gluing together envelope inserts and more. Usually I listen to an audiobook, but this time I found myself enjoying the peacefulness of the act itself. 

Of course June's mail was completed with many sessions over the month, and so I also had to learn (again) about time management skills (again). 😅

the bookmark

June's bookmark is the beginning of including more original art with the club, which so far has had a focus on my writing. I can't wait for July's bookmark too. (Sneak peak: I painted a sailboat!) 

I've been painting on Procreate with their oil painting tools by using a stylus and an iPad. Learning the software and how to format files for print has been the BIGGEST challenge this month and was quite a learning curve. I'm still figuring it out. But I'm desperate to paint and create my own art for the club so I'll learn anything I can. :)

paper memories

The zine was extra fun this month with the "activity corner" I made inside, hopefully to get us collaborating more together. All in all, June's snail mail was my favorite to make so far. I think lavender and yellow are legendary colors to pair together. Such delightful energy.

I had a blast writing to you and sharing all the literary and life knowledge I have. :) 

See you soon to make more of our epistolary dreams come true!

Love,

Amani