Dutch Kawaii

A couple of months ago a friend sent me a letter and a box full of goodies, the postman came to deliver it but nobody was home. That's not a problem we'll go and collect... my husband went and they said we can't find it, I went and they said we can't find it... I lost my patience with the worker as we all spend a fortune on letters/packages so you'd expect them to take care of things. He said he was there until 6pm and would look for it but we got no phone call, then Saturday came and went but nothing... I came home on Monday from work and was going to phone when my mum told me that they had telling her they found it... yippee!

 

It's a good thing that they did as it contained a looo>>>oong letter and these amazing goodies from DutchKawaii. Oh my friends sure know how to spoil me!

Letter Paper

Postcards

Stickers

Letter Paper

Postcards (There were 5 but I used one as soon as I'd finished drooling over everything

Stickers

There were also some A4 sheets of images of these 2 kawaii characters that you could cut out and craft with and I didn't photograph those but I did make this postcard...

It is such a cuteness overload and I can't wait to use everything but also I'm a bit stuck as I don't want to use it all up either.

oh my!

This year with not feeling so great, things just don't seem to get done around the house but there are 4 other people who can deal with that but my bedroom was something else. I had orders sitting on the bedroom floor waiting to be put away. Things I'd put down on my desk were growing so it ended up looking something like this....

Yikes! I know. I couldn't cope with it being like this so yesterday morning I got up and put all the clothes in the washing machine. Dumped everything on the bed so it looked quite similar to my desk and got sorting it out... that it eventually looked like this.

My desk was always as tidy as this so I need to get back into that routine again. I only have my stickers, pens, envelopes, a letter I've made a start on and some decoupages for cards I need to make as well as some other bits. At least my desk can breath now. I usually have a plain sheet of paper on my cutting mat as whilst I write letters I tend to doodle a bit too.

 

I also organised all my tapes and as someone asked to see them I took a photo of all my tapes.

I put all my washi, paper and fabric tapes in to this box which I received my yozocraft order in. The diddl are the smallest tapes that I have.

I only had one draw full before my last purchase from angoo-mart but now I have 2. I decided to organise the tapes in to themes... hearts, stars etc... because that is how I tend to choose my tapes when decorating my letters and envelopes anyway so its best to have them all together so that I can see exactly what I have.

I have got 2 of some tapes and most of these are still closed so some of them may end up as gifts or in giveaways. Also quite a few of them are almost finished especially the transparent ones as they don't have much on them but they were from my very first order 4 years ago and I don't like the designs all that much which is probably why I still have them. I will try and use them more often though so that I can clear some space.

I have put some of my tapes with my letter sets also and that was already organised as I think it was in December my younger brother and I went to the local store and bought lots of boxes as my previous boxes had no lids so all the dust was collecting in them. I have one for envelopes, craft supplies, letters, rubber stamps but need to get one more for my craft paper.

Here is what my letter set/pad and now my big rolls of deco tape are kept.

Do you always have a tidy desk and are you organised?

I couldn't help it....

I had to get a few things in a box again....

 It all started because I decided to order...

some origami lucky star strips. I was surprised at how small these containers were but they are still so cute. I was disappointed that there weren't all that many different designs of strips that I liked so I ended up making a purchase on Etsy for those as I've been making stars a lot lately and hardly have any strips left. I decided to order these plain ones as they'll look great mixed in with pattern ones.

 

Since I was ordering anyway I might as well get some stationery too....

I guess I have a thing about bears, some of these have been in my wish list for some time now so I'm glad that I now finally have them. The last one is a letter pad and its one of the cutest I've come across, I actually wish I bought 2 but I'm going to really enjoy writing on this one.

It wasn't all bears though as these 2 sneaked in too.

Again though my size bearings were out as I assumed the hello kitty bags were the little ones but these are big... its turned out ok though as I'm sure I can use them for something...

The brown ones I received as a free gift so someone will probably get something in it one day.

Lastly I couldn't resist

getting some stickers too...

I only hope to make one more tape purchase (I know I have a lot already but I have a voucher to spend) and then that will be it for this year if I can help it.

 

I'll have to apologise as always for my seriously bad photos but I'm sure some of you can understand how bad the lighting is still at this time of year... still this morning when dropping my niece off at school it was nice to walk her there in the sun even though the darkness has a special feeling to it also.

 

Have you made any great purchases lately?

We are united...yes!

Before Christmas I received a box full of goodies and my friend told me they were just for fun gifts and my real Christmas gifts would come later....

We waited and waited... she thought it was probably lost forever so contacted the seller. The seller told her to tell me to get in touch with the mail company on my side to find out where it was. I had no idea who to contact as we have Royal Mail and Parcel Force ( as well as a few other companies but these 2 are the ones used by the seller). So in the end I got in touch with the seller and got the information I needed. This was Saturday, the UK postal service and banks are only open until 1pm at the latest or not at all so it was a fruitless attempt at phoning Parcel Force as I just got a cheerful, nice but I can't do a hell of a lot for you assistant. I was all in a panic, maybe even made myself a little ill from it as I wasn't sure how on earth on Monday I was going to get in touch with the mail company due to my working hours and breaks. At some point my younger brother let it slip that he had the day off, I asked him if he would deal with it which he said he would if I left all the details. I ended up feeling so guilty as he ended up wasting his whole day sorting out Parcel Forces mistakes.

Basically whoever came to deliver the parcel on the 12.12.12 found no one home at the time they attempted to deliver it. The thing is I know my mum is home at that time as she teaches some of the neighbours to read the Qu'ran and they are here between 2pm and 3pm and they attempted to deliver it in that time...supposedly. The deliver driver left no card to alert me of where the package was, which really makes me wonder if the package was taken straight to the post office instead. I have never had problems with Parcel Force before, if anything the drivers are so friendly and compared to Royal Mail actually attempt to get your parcel to you, they usually always come to the back as we are a corner house so it baffles me as to what went wrong.

Anyway as I didn't after 2 weeks attempt to get the parcel, the Post Office sent it back. With it being a Wednesday and Post Offices being open for half a day only except those in the city, it was taken to one there so there was no chance of my local one at some point putting 2 and 2 together, as sometimes things work in weird ways that get a connection even though they don't know me by name. I would have been happy to collect it from the post office as the city center is not so far away from me so that wasn't a problem. The Parcel Force office is another matter entirely as it would mean going in to the next city and depending on the location it would take 30 minutes to a hour to get there.

To make matters worse, the person who collected the parcel didn't scan it in when they got to the Parcel Force deport so when my brother phoned they had no record of it and were trying to send him on a wild goose chase but finally they realised they had no leg to stand on so some poor soul had to check all the parcels for mine. Eventually they found it, as they weren't kind enough to make the journey to get it to me that day my brother had to arrange for it to be left at the post office as no one would be home.

Imagine my absolute delight at finally getting the package but my annoyance at them sticking a sticker on demanding for me to pay £1 for their mistake.

Convenient Delivery my a***. I was thinking to start with that my year was supposed to be a positive one but how can I stay positive about something like this. Then I decided that this is something that happened last year so I will stay positive that after a month of being on its voyage it will not get sent back to the seller and I will receive it. I did receive it and love everything.

 

My niece had her fingers in everything telling me its hers, in the end I agreed to her having the pencil tin which she took home to put all her pens and felts tips in.

 

Hopefully you have had some great mail days also. I did get a card as well but forgot to take a photo of it.

Yes! A Mail Day Again.....

A friend told me she had written to me so I was anxiously waiting for her letter as I've hardly had any mail this month. I opened the envelope to find these 3 amazing items and  I felt a little guilty. My friend sent me a great birthday present but I just mentioned about receiving some piggies because as a muslim we just don't have anything to do with them. She felt bad which wasn't my intention so sent me even more things with a birthday card, so it felt like my birthday all over again which was nice of course.

 

The stickers have the same thing going on on the back, which is great as I have a couple of fruity letter sets I can use them with. I also received a wizard of oz letter pad which I didn't even know existed so I feel even more spoilt and it will definately take some time before I use this one too.  The pen my niece has decided its hers even though for now I still have it :)

 

I'm sure once I go back to work next week (where has the time gone!) all the letters will begin to flood in.

 

When you post letters do you use themed stamps or what ever the post office will use?

Only in Wilkos

Today I needed to go into the city to sort some things out at the bank again. So on the way back to my car I decided to go in and have a look at wilkinsons stationery for some gift ideas and I ended up falling in love with all their ranges that I could have bought the whole lot back home. I really need to find some journal projects so I've got an excuse to buy some note books at least.

Here are the ranges they have on offer...

Photography

I bought the playing cards as they will be great for ATCs if I ever make any as you'll have that image on the back of each card.

Sweet Shop

Nostalgia

Skyline

I even liked the Cats and Dog Range

Have I got you tempted too? Like I said I wanted it all but thankfully I was good. I wish these were there when I was looking for a journal a couple of weeks ago even if I would have been spoilt for choice.

And theres still more...

This was the first birthday presents that I received 3 weeks ago. It arrived on a perfect evening as I really needed cheering up after a super long day at work due to parents evening and some other problems.

I was really good and allowed myself to only open one thing which turned out to be the perfect thing to use on my reply to the wonderful letter that I was able to sit and read that day. Here's a sneaky peek at the paper and tape that I used even though I know my friend will pop by at some point to read this but hopefully it will just make the letter all that more exciting to receive.

This has to be one of the nicest sets that I've had the chance to write on as it had just the right amount of lines with equal spacing on each sheet. I thought it did justice to my writing which usually I hate.

Anyway I better get on and show you what I was a lucky person to receive. I got super duper spoilt here and even the wrapping paper was too beautiful to open.

As I mentioned I opened one thing but in order for the spaces to be filled I had to add the tape back in so just roughtly wrapped it... you'll understand in a minute why I use the flower one....

Drool away because these are as wonderful as they look. I still can't believe they are mine. I received a collage set, 3 letter sets, 1 flower tape, 1  super soft hand towel and 2 sticker sacks all in the theme of roses.

When writing once I mentioned on one or two occasions I've ended up sending themed presents as I had letter sets that matched the object that I had chosen. So my friend decided to create a themed package for me and I just loved it.

Of course it didn't end here... don't be silly I'm being spoilt!

I decided to leave this packaged as it is so that I can use it when I have a house. I haven't bought any mugs yet so this is a start.

Last of all the wonderful card!

I couldn't thank you enough for such a wonderful and cheerful package. Now I need to think of something wonderful for you. It's going to be a tough one.

Have you received or sent themed presents before?