send them some love

It seems my secret plot is working!  My hope that by making my art into cards, more people will send real mail!  My cards are selling fast at two local shops (Artzi Stuff in Nanaimo and Village Foods here on Gabriola).  Tonight I am packaging up some new cards to take to the stores and hoping that this is not just a Valentine’s trend, that people will continue to share their love and words through mail, real old fashioned mail.

This week we mailed off our own love notes to our family, including my grandparents.  I enclosed some old photos to honour their love, a love so big that it still holds them together in their nineties.  Even as my Granny’s mind cannot remember what day it is or where she is, she knows my Grandpa.  To her, he still is “such a great dancer….such a dreamboat”. Though she no longer writes to us, she still gets joy from our notes and photos.  She cannot navigate a phone or computer anymore, but she can still hold our letters in her hands & “hear” our stories through our words.  All thanks to good old-fashioned mail.

my grandparents, now in their  nineties

Yes, I will continue to hope that my plot to keep real mail alive will work.  I hope that when I am old and grey there will be letters and photos coming to me from my far flung family.  I know I will continue to write to them as long as I am able.

P.S.  Don’t you think this new card design is perfect for Valentine’s Day?  I am pretty sure that oystercatchers exchange periwinkles with their loved ones…..they seem to be the perfect intertidal bonbon!

morning snack

valentines to go by OWL POST

My hubby has been reading the Harry Potter series to my girls since October.  They are completely enchanted by this world of magic and cannot get enough of it….”Can you read now Dadda!?” is the most common request around here nowadays!  They are on the sixth book right now and loving every moment.  I am a bit surprised that my 7 year old is not finding parts of it scary, but she insists it is fine and the only issue she has is that she has to stop Dimitri every once in awhile for a word definition.  I love to see them enjoying this world with their dad and am thrilled to see him reading to them with such enthusiasm (sometimes for hours at a time!).

They are reading together on the couch right now, Harry Potter snuggles by the fire.  This is something I know they will remember for always.  Perhaps that is why I decided to make owl Valentine’s this year?  Maybe I was inspired by all the talk of receiving a letter or card in the Owl Post?  Was the universe helping me along in this direction when a random online search for Valentine’s printables led me to this collection of owl cards?  How perfect!

owl valentines from a fanciful twist

On Friday morning, I will tuck these cards into the wings of the handmade owl stuffies my dear friend Jane made for the girls.  When they wake up they will see that they have some OWL POST waiting for them (and it will be full of my love!).

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