Snail Mail by Michelle Mackintosh, is a gorgeous book that celebrates the art of handwritten correspondence. In this digital age, receiving a handwritten letter, card, or personalised package is a wonderful treat. There is something special about receiving a one of kind note or package that someone has gone to the trouble of handwriting that always lifts your spirits. I guess I have always love brown paper packages tied up with string …. When I was in primary school I had a number of penpals in the USA, Singapore, and Queensland. I used to love checking the letter box after school to see if I had received any mail. So if you love receiving mail as much as we do, you will adore Snail Mail.
Snail Mail is a comprehensive and inspiring guide to letter writing. Teaching us to get the most from our post, Michelle shows us how we can improve our handwriting, craft the perfect letter; put together care packages for loved ones who need a bit of TLC; romance someone the old-school way; and craft beautiful mail art for any occasion.
For crafty types, the book shows how to make you own paper, envelopes, wax seals and pressed flowers. as well as lots of creative ways to decorate your package/envelope. The instructions are really clear and there are plenty of photographs to guide you through the creative process. With a little time and effort you can create thoughtful snail mail which will bring delight to the recipient.
We love everything about this book – the beautiful photos and styling, the matt pages and hard cover, the sweet ideas to help you create the perfect handwritten note. There are also stickers at the back of the book that you can include in your letters. Michelle was inspired by Japanese stationery and letter writing culture, and the book has a zakka feel that you find in Japanese craft books/magazines. It would be a great addition to a craft library (especially for those who love to participate in craft swaps) and would make a great gift for a crafty friend. It is the sort of book that you will enjoy reading many times – on each occasion you will learn new tips/tricks to use in your letter writing.
Hardie Grant are generously giving away a two Snail Mail prize packs to A Spoonful of Sugar readers. The prize pack (pictured below) consist of
- Snail Mail by Michelle Mackintosh
- Buttons A5 Journal designed by Michelle
- Buttons 3 Mini Notebooks designed by Michelle
- Buttons Boxed Notecards designed by Michelle
To enter, simply log into the rafflecopter giveaway box below with your email address or facebook account. Do as many of the giveaway options as you wish – if you already follow A Spoonful of Sugar on facebook/pinterest etc, just click the button below for an automatic entry. Giveaway is open world wide until April 18, 2015 . The winner will be notified by email and announced here on the blog. Good Luck!
Book Details:
Publisher: Hardie Grant Books
Format: Hardcover, 224 pages
ISBN: 9781742708775
RRP: $29.95
Available from Booktopia.
I like to write to my nieces and nephews that live far away.
These are so adorable!!! My college roommate and I have a deal to write a letter to each other every month!
This book is so lovely! I love TANGIBLE mail of all kinds!!! (besides junk ads and bills of course!) 😉 My Great Aunt has sent me hand written letters since I was a small child. She always includes doodles or stickers or special newspaper clippings. I have always LOVED receiving mail from her and as a young woman began writing her back. While we aren’t as regular as we once were, we still enjoy sending hand written letters to one another, so she is definitely the first I can think of that I would write to. Thanks for a beautiful intro post to this book and the chance at the giveaway, fingers crossed!
I love snail mail. It’s such a fun way to make time to be creative and interact with people all over the world. And who doesn’t love a pretty envelope in their letterbox.
Thanks for the great giveaway,
much love,
Jana
I love to write to my 92 year old auntie and also send cards and notes to my grandchildren.
I don’t write often enough (even though I seem to collect stationery items)! I do send little packages to my Internet friends from time to time. And I’d like to be better about sending mail to my grandma. Thank you for the chance, and for sharing about this lovely book!
Getting snail mail is the best, and putting in some effort to the things you send is even better!
Fantastic book! I would say a dream book for a girl like me who likes to write snail mail and send people whom I love surprise packages. 🙂 Thank you, thank you for the lovely give away!
Looks like a great book. I follow on IG.
I write to my Sister, 2 Daughter’s, Grangirlie’s, 2 Auntie’s, Brother-in-law & his Wife, and several Friends!
My BFF of 26 years and I write letters. My husband and I moved January 2014 450 miles away to care for my ailing FIL. My friend asked for us to write instead of email. It’s like getting Christmas in the mail each week!
I love to write to my brother. He is also a letter writer so appreciates a handwritten note.
I like to write to my mother, who is now 87 years old. I also love making and sending greeting cards. I make and send at least 150 cards throughout the year!
I love this…and my daughter would love it even more. She writes good, old-fashioned letters all the time!
I always write a short newsy letter in each birthday card I sent through snail mail. I also always write thank you notes to generous family and friends!
I have always loved writing since I was a little girl….oh SO many years ago…..In every birthday card I send to my friends….a letter goes along…and at Christmas….most everyone gets a long letter! Thanks and cheers, sincerely, Valerie 🙂
My bestie and I have been writing back and forth with each other ever since she moved away. 🙂
I love snail mail and correspond with my nieces, my mother, my sisters, my daughter, and my twin granddaughters. The twins who are five seem to love snail mail as much as I do.
I still send cards to my sister and cousins also my four grand blessings!. And now I’m in a couple of quilt block swaps. This would be so much fun to have to make my swaps even more special. I’d love to make pretty things to send to my grandblessing’s also.
I write to my sister who lives in another state. 🙂
I like to write to my elderly aunts. I have 2 that have been like Mother’s to me. They are amazing women.
I like to write little love notes to my hubby,
I would love this! I have a pen pal I’ve had for 40 years!!
I love letter writing and keep in touch with our in-laws this way. I also have a dear friend who I exchange letters with. Such fun! Thanks for the chance!
I love writing to my grandson. I want him to know the joy of giving and receiving personal notes and letters.
I loved writing to my auntie, now my cousin and I keep up the tradition:)
In this electronic age there is something extra special about sending and receiving an item that has taken tine to make/create/decorate and then send off S.W.A.K.
We moved over 1200 miles away from family in July. So the kids and I enjoy writing to grandparents and cousins and old friends. It has been wonderful to write to them and receive mail back as well. Our trips to the mail box help us feel a little more at home.
I write to my best-friend-from-grade-school, who lives in Berlin, Germany.
This book looks great!
I should be writing to family overseas.
I would write to my best friends in Italy who love all things vintage and handmade!
This past November I started writing a letter a day to family members and friends. People just do not expect that personal correspondence anymore, so the letters have been much appreciated! Most people do not write back, but many will contact me and let me know how much they appreciate the thought that went into their letters. Who doesn’t smile when they find a real letter in their mailbox?
Oh beautiful!
Most of all I like to write to my son. OK, maybe this is more of a feminine book, but I like to send him sweet, silly things sometimes that harken back to the fun things we shared when he was a kid. The book sounds and looks wonderful, as do all the items. thanks!
I love writing little notes on pretty paper and tags, decorated with bits of ribbon, buttons and lace, colorful string and sweet little stickers; then tie them with a bow to a little package and leave it as a surprise for family and friends. Makes them smile and makes me smile
These are wonderful. I write 2-3 letters a week. To people I know and don’t know. People in the service, my family, old friends, my grandchildren, all kinds of people. It’s a lost art these days.
What a wonderful idea to get everyone writing letters again,it is such a treat to receive snail mail.
I Love to send a hand written note to my daughters frequently. They really love it in our day of emails, facebook and Twitter, a special note from Mom gives them a smile and a warm fuzzy feeling. I also do handwritten Thank~you’s, and Thinking of you notes to family and friends~
This book looks beautiful and very special!
I have to admit. I love e-mailing people. I also love texting. And Whatsapp. Oh, and Skype ofcourse. The speed of communication is awesome and I love it. But nothing – and I do mean NOTHING – beats that feeling of receiving a hand written letter or a card. I used to write loads of letters all of the time. To friends I saw every day at school. To friends I saw once in a blue moon. To people I did not know, but needed some attention. Basically to everyone that would be able to receive it. I would like to return to that. Not completely obviously (duh), but now and then. Thank you for the chance to win!
I have 11 pen pals and I would love this book for ideas on how to decorate envelopes and improve my letter writing.
This book sounds beautiful. I’ve always loved writing letters, and whilst I was ill, any small amount of happy post was gratefully received. I love it! I just wish more people my age understood the joy writing can bring.
What a beautiful and lovely book.
I’m sad that it’s not available in Germany.
I love hand writing letters and receive them.
Greetings Stephanie
That looks really fantastic!
Thanks for the chance!
Rike
I love snail mail. Since we don’t live in the same city and I travel to my family abroad a lot I sometimes exchange letters with my boyfriend. It’s a little odd with skype and email and facebook and talking to each other almost daily anyway but it’s always nice receiving them anyway. I love putting flower pressing and feathers in there too, it makes the letters little treasure chests. And there’s just so much you can do with snail mail!
Elisa
I still like to send mail to my sister and prettily decorate the envelopes!
I love to write to anyone who needs encouragement — and in today’s world that is just about anyone. My daughter is the snail mail artist in our family and she writes almost daily.
I write to my sister and her children and also to my almost 94 year old Nana.
I haven’t written a letter in quite some time. I would love to start again. I still have relatives in other countries and I am on the lookout for a pen-pal. Great giveaway. Fingers crossed.
Love this! My Grandmother always believed in the beauty and love of a snail mail. She always sent thank you cards, letters etc. She has passed that love on to me. There is nothing more personal that a letter or note that someone has taken their time to write personally to you.
My husband works away for months at a time, so my son and I love to write to him with the news from home (and of course little drawings or pieces of ‘writing’ from my son who has just turned 4). Yes, we do Skype, phone and SMS regularly, but we love the feeling of receiving and sending mail.
i would write to my relatives in France!!!!
I love sending little notes and cards in the mail, esp. now that so few people actually send snail mail. I try to be good about sending thank you’s and remembering my elderly family and friends.
I love to write – and write my three brothers who live out of state often!
I like to send little note cards to my grandchildren. I cherish my handwritten letters from my grandmother so my hope is they will some day cherish my notes. Thanks for the cute giveaway.
I would write to my grandmother.
I have always appreciated receiving handmade cards and reading wonderful letters from my friends and family!
I hope with this “new age” of electronics, that our future generations will not forget how important the hand written messages are!
Thank you.
nettiecrain@live.com
I love to write to my grandson!
I like to write to my daughter at college! Many thanks for a chance at this lovely book!
I write to my sister who lives in Scotland. I write to my nephews and niece too.
I live for mail! I love sending birthday cards and unexpected goodies.
This is an amazing crafty book! Would so love to win this.
My close friend and her family are moving to another state at the end of the school year. We are both creative types and we want to start sending letters to one another.
This book looks so good, it’s basically everything that I have been looking for.
Let the Snail Mail Fun Begin!
I love the art of hand written notes and letters. I write to my old girlfriends from “way back when” often and they love it!
I try to hand-write one little note/letter/card each month and send it to a different friend. It doesn’t seem to matter what I send or say, the recipient is always happy to get some ‘real’ mail!
I love to write to my son who is 1,000 miles away.
I like to write to my mom!! I’d LOVE to win!
I like to write to anyone in need of encouragement!
I love to send cards to people. I also love to write lists and have several notebooks for them.
With today’s technology and social media, hand written letters, notes, and messages seem to have fallen by the wayside. It takes more time to think what to write and then write it down. I think it is proper to write your Thank yous, get well wishes, birthday, and special day messages to the ones you love. I have cherished notes and letters from relatives of long ago. I would love to review your book and get new ideas!
I love to write to my daughters who have both flown the nest. They love receiving post! Thanks for the chance.
I write to my sisters.
I love recieving handwritten notes, and would like to find the time to write more myself. Sounds like an interesting and good book 🙂
I love to write to my brother in Vancouver.
what a nice giveaway
I would love to write to my friends and family – thanks!
merryorganic@gmail.com
I like to write to my mom.
I love writing a note to folks who might be facing a difficult time to encourage them! Thanks for taking the chance to play : )
There is nothing better than the excitement of receive pretty mail.
I write to some of my old friends and I still have two pen friends that I first started writing to in the 1960s!
love writing thank you cards
I like to write to my sisters and daughter.
What a lovely and inspirational book. I would write to my brother who is quite a distance away and unwell at the moment. Phone calls are fine but there’s nothing like receiving some special mail that someone has put some personal effort into.
I like to write to old friends I don’t see very often.
I love to write to all my blogging friends- who doesn’t like to receive snail mail!
I like to write to friends, old or new, and penpals.
I love to write to my granddaughters. They live far away and it is a way to get to know them intimately without being there physically.
Thanks, Elaine
labedaelaine@gmail.com
this book sounds beautiful thank you for sharing it with us. It is definitely on my wish list! I love to write to my family. We are spread out all across the country and in Europe and I love a handwritten card, note or letter. Thanks for the opportunity.
My friends that live in other states.
I love writing letters! For quilting bee swaps, and my church young women I oversee…and family, and anyone else I can. This book sounds SO dreamy.
I like to write to my granddaughter who lives in Hawaii. We don’t get to see her often, but we like to keep in touch by mail.
I write to my mother. I love to get mail in the post, so I keep her supplied with beautiful stationery. I then, of course, have to reply.
I still write to my Grandma and my Mum and I encourage my kids to write letters to their cousins. They love writing letters and receiving them in the mail
I am not good at sending snailmail, but I really need to improve so that I can set an example for my six year old daughter.
My mother. She lives in Brazil, and although we talk on the phone all the time, I still send her cards and letters. There’s something about the handwritten that makes snail mail much more special!
this book look so fabulous… I so hope I win!
I have a quilting pen pal and a college friend who I like to write to.
Oh, I LOVE this! I like to write surprise fun notes / letters to my children (ages 11 and 7), and secretly mail the letters to them at our house! They love checking the mailbox with me, and always ask if there is anything for them! They are so happy when they get something. I haven’t done it in awhile, so this was a great reminder! I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to win this! 🙂
There is nothing more insightful personally when one writes a note, a letter, a heartfelt sentiment. The power of a friend or a relative writing simple words like ‘thinking of you in a difficult time’ is uplifting and goes a long way to let the sunlight in again. Handwriting itself is like the measure of a person’s wish to be there with you in the flesh, but a handwritten letter is the next best thing. I’m all for letter writing, card writing and children putting pen to paper. A wonderful book.
My favorite things to write are cards to my daughter who is away at college.
I love getting letters in the mail and feel it is a dying art. What a wonderful inspiration this book would be. I love reading old postcards when we go antiquing and always wonder about the people who wrote them. The handwriting is always so lovely too. They always make me wish I took the time to send notes to loved ones. My grandmother would love to receive a special note like the ones you have posted.
I write to 3 elderly ladies, an elderly couple, and an elderly man, They are all in there 8os. I do it for my mother who passed away at age 89. She loved to write letters and receive them. She wrote to both my brothers everyday during Vietnam. She also wrote me everyday while I was in college. I know my friends love getting cards and letters., one lady even writes me back, It means a lot to me too.
I absolutely ADORE this book, and I’m way too excited to get my mitts on this. I love how much work Michelle has put into this book and I myself am obsessed with cute stationery. Fortunately I own an Instagram account and I think this week I’ll do a search for a penpal. She’s inspired me to send heaps more snail mail!
Thank you for this gorgeous giveaway xx
For the giveaway comment prompt –
I used to have a South Korean pen pal! We would write letters and send each other little treats from our own countries. It was absolutely fantastic, and i think I will send a letter to someone on Instagram soon!
I write to friends and family in the UK, Canada and NZ but usually only at Christmas. I would love to have time to do it more often. Thx for the great giveaway!
Lovely giveaway,thank you for the chance to win it.I would write my friend in Sweden and other in USA.Have a lovely week.
I like to write to old school friends!
I love sending TLC packages and letters to my daughter who lives in Atlanta and I only see about 4-6 times a year. As my grandson grows older I will send him packages and letters. I started a diary with him when he was born, that I will keep writing in till he can write back then we will take turns writing to each other in it. This looks like an awesome book to raise my love of sending mail and packages to the next level.
thanks.
I like to write to my daughters.
I write to my lifelong best friend who lives across the country.
What a wonderful book and what a generous giveaway!! I would use the ideas from this book to make my correspondence more fun to receive. I try to write four encouraging notes to friends/family each month, plus I try to send cards for birthdays and other occasions. I should write to my 5 faraway grandchildren (on the other side of the US) far more often. You’re right … who doesn’t love finding a “real” letter in the mailbox, especially if it looks as happy as this?
My friend of 35 years, and it’s always so good to get a return snail mail from her!
I like to write to several young ladies I’ve collected as penpals, whether it be snail mail or email. Beautiful book!
HI. Looks like a lovely book. I’m all about snail mail. I write to my best friend from college who has been living in the UK for about 7 years, some friends in Seattle, several letters to friends around Christmas, my nephew, my pen pal for the past 25 years who lives in Brussels, among others!
Lovely concept and book 🙂
I need to write my dearest oldest friend from High School ! I also would love to write my Gboy now that he is learning to read!
I used to like to write to my grandmother but she passed away. 🙁 My daughter sends letters to her friends who are now living elsewhere in the world.
Wife. Poems and messages of heartfelt emotion. She really enjoys receiving them, all tucked away somewhere in a shoebox.
I love writing to my Mum.
I love sending snail mail to my mum she loves it says it makes a nice change to the usual bills she receives
My best friend and I have been swapping hand-written letters since highschool, when we used to bridge the monumental gap between recess and lunch apart by writing to each other and swapping notes to read when we were in separate classes again! I’d love to rekindle our tradition and send her a beautiful hand-penned artwork 🙂