Alice-mania

It's been a while, I have to admit. But we had automn holiday here in Belgium, so there was a lot to to (well, lets say, there where a lot of friends who had some free time to spend with mee, couse since I'm still jobhunting, I have time in overload right now). Best thing this holiday? Book Fair in Antwerp!! How I love to watch, read, feel, and buy books there! Just like a little kid in a candystore, with the same big eyes, I pass by every stall, hunting new treasures.

It's the biggest and most visited Book fair in Belgium, I guess. A lot of writers and illustrators come over to sign their books, there are demonstrations and workshops, and a lot of visitors ofcourse. Wich means: queuing! There was one place where you could print the frontpage of the newspaper of your birthday. I queud half an hour there while there where only five people waiting for me. Just didn't know they where printing newspapers for their whole family. When it was finaly my turn, I was so excited to see the articles and stories. Big bummer: the text wasn't sharp at all, so I couldn't read anything...

But I forgot all of that when founding this lovely treasure...

A box full of Alice postcards! when walking by, they whispered my ear 'please, buy us, we're the last box...' So I couldn't refuse.  I set a goal to fill the box with 100 written Alice cards. For every card I receive, I can send an unwritten one again. Welcome project of a lifetime! Let's start imediately ;)

Pay it forward...

Ever since I came up with the idea of making the special 'scratch a wish' cards, I enjoy leaving them behind everywhere I come. There are always some of the cards in my bag, ready to be droped somewhere. I would love to travel the world and leave them everywhere I go, but that's going to take me years and years (not that I mind, I love to travel).

Then I thought it might be cool to spread the word and let others help to realize this dream! How lovely would it be if the cards just appear everywhere in the world...

If you would like to help me out, just make some cards, take a picture of a card with a remarkable monument of the place you left it in the background, and send me the picure! I would love to post it here, on the blog if that's okay.

So, this is where the cards have been so far:

Bruges - BELGIUM

Ghent - BELGIUM

With love
Inow. x

DIY - Scratch a wish cards

It took me a while to finish this post, but I promised you some explanation on how to make the "scratch a wish cards". And here it is! My very first DIY tutorial :)

I took pictures of every step in the proces of making both the cards and the envelopes.
Let's start off with the cards...

Step 1: First you'll need to cut your piece of paper. Ofcourse it can be any size you want. Mine are 8,5 cm to 7 cm. The background can be a small illustration in some light colors. Wanterpaint is grat to use when creating the background! Let the colors blend with some water, and you have a great result in no time...

Step 2: Design your letters. I made the layout with indesign, but you can use any program you like, or you can just handletter the words. If I may give you a great tip, go to dafont.com where you can download a lot of cool lettertypes for free! It makes handlettering so much easier...

Step 3: Take a piece of carbon paper and print the words to your paper. Don't forget to mark the corners of the boxes where you will write your wishes. I'll make it a lot easier to draw the later.

Step 4: Check out if you copied everything.

Step 5: Use a black pen to color the letters on the card. Make sure the printing isn't visible anymore.

Step 6 & 7: Now connect the corners of the boxes with your pen.

Step 8: Look up three beautiful wishes you would love to sent anyone. write them in the boxes you just drew.

Step 9: If you want so, you can leave a message behind on the back of the card. I ask the finder to let me know where he or she found the card and wich wish was scratched.

Step 10: When you're happy about everything you've written and drawed, you can laminate your cards. It's absolutely necessary to do that. Otherways you an not add a layer to scratch away (wich is the point of the scratch cards ;) )

Step 11: Time now for the finishing touch. Give the wishes a coat of  typex to hide the messages. It covers well and is easy to scratch away. Once dry, make sure you can't read the messages underneath. If they're still vissable, just add an extra coat.

Step 12: tadaaaaaam! Ready to hide away :)

I think you can just copy all the cards, and that wouldn't be any problem, but it just gives me a great feeling to put so much effort in it.


Once you get the cards, the envelopes aren't that difficult anymore. Here's a little help to make them succeed...

 The start is probably the toughest part. I made a template in hard paper to reuse.
format: 11,5 cm x 11,5 cm.
Once you cutted out that square, just add the diagonals. Now draw a rectangle as big as your finished 'scratch a wish' card in the square.
Try to fold that into an envelope.

 Now you can draw the square on some paper you want to use to make your envelope. When folding your template while it stays in the same place, you can draw the folding lines on your paper.
That gives you an idea where you will have to fold your paper.

 Like shown here. First you have to cut out the square ofcourse. Then fold your paper on the lines you've drawn.

 One side of the envelope must be glued.

Grab back the carbon paper so you can put your design for the back of the envelope on the envelope (afterall, you want people to know they can pick the card up!)

 Now, just like you did with the card, colour the letters with a black pen.

 Hooray! The envelope is ready to use!
Since I noticed people sometimes look at the cards, but don't pick them up, I recently added a 'please pick me up' line on the bottom of the envelope...

Now put your cards in the envelopes and spread your wishes!









I would be very glad to see your results if you made some cards yourself! And it would be so cool to know where you left the cards behind :)
If you have any questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to contact me! I'll love to respond your messages!

With love
Inow. x

About golden treetops and miracles

When I look out of my window, I see the forrest. It always seemed to be a dark and scary place to me. When I was a kid, I had nightmares of a werewolf, climbing up my window and trying to eat every piece of my body that wasn't under my blanket. I checked my closet every night to make sure he wasn't hiding there, ready to attack. Then I snuggled in, making sure I was all covered and hidden for all my scary fantasies that where living out there.

But sometimes, when we expect it the least, there's the sun, turning the once so dark and stark treetops into golden leafs, who seem to sparkel on a autumns day.

Miracles do excist...

Enjoying that view, I opend a new package I received from the Netherlands. A thick envelop with the message 'hope you'll like it' on the back. Inside I found an old paperback edition of 'the notebook'. Time made the pages turn yellow, and I could smell the hands and tears of the readers who loved the novel before it came to me. Since the moment I noticed that, it became one of the most precious books of my collection...

I have that thing with old books. A visit to London, for example, is never complete without a stop in my favorite second hand bookstore in Camden (and a cider in the Hawley's arms ofcourse). To me, it's like second hand books don't only tell stories, they've become a story themselves, which makes it more valuable for a dreamer like me.

I started reading that same night, and I almost finished the story by now. As always when reading books, there are some words I cherish in head and hart...

"I am a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough." (Nicholas Sparks)

I hope to feel the same one day, when I'm old and wrinkeld.
But as told before:

Miracles do excist.

With love
Inow.

Do you hear the letters sing...

Another historical day in my postcrossing adventure today. I participated my first Round Robin. Thats when you have to sent cards to some people, and receive cards from the same persons. The challenge was to send a black and white postcard and to write some lyrics on the back.
Since I'm a huge musical lover, I've written down some lyrics from my favorite musicals.

But that wasn't all. I decided to try out some 'mail art' and to decorate the envelopes I would use. So I bought some lovely brown envelopes who where just perfect for this job :)
I started drawing, painting and hand-lettering, and came up with these artyfarty results.

Do you recognize the musicals they refer to?

My dad did quote a good job guessing, especialy since he's not a musical lover at al...




Maybe try taking a closer look to the lyrics I wrote down ;)

How lovely, a little music on a card. I sent a letter with to explain why I love these songs so much. Now just hoping the receivers will apreciate it! "Fingers crossed"

With love,
Inow.

postcrossers sunday...

 Sometimes, I really wished to be Harry on sunday...

I don't think uncle Vernon is a postcrosser ;)

Scratch a wish...

Once, a friend of me found some cute envelope in a London tube. A message on the back asked to pick it up, so that's what she did. In the envelope was another enveloppe, and in that one was another envelope, and you'll never believe it but in that envelope was another envelope,... I think there where about ten envelopes in there, getting a little smaller every time. When you finally opend all the envelopes there was a little message hiding inside which told her to never regret anything. she kept it really close to never forget those words and it made her smile for a while.

I really loved the idea of surprising random people! That's why I came up with the idea of 'scratch a wish'.  By making a small and cheap message to leave somewhere for passengers to accidentally find it. So I started crafting while the rain was hitting my windows and the man on the radio was telling more about terrorism and war. So I started crafting even harder because I believe the world deserves some happiness!

After a long day of trying and failing, I came up with this cute cards, and I smiled! On every card there are three wishes, but the finder has to scratch just one! (it's a bit like finding a magical lamp and asking the gost for one wish).

So I was ready to leave them behind, hoping to be found. First city to drop them: Bruges! I had to be there for some groceries and took the little cards with me. I left them in the city and I really hope someone picked them up by now, and scratched a beautifull wish to warm their hart! next time, I'll tell you guys more about how I made these cards, so maybe you can make some yourself to share. It's a little like postcrossing but without the stamps. Sending out letters to make other people smile...

With love,
Inow.