on letter writing swap effectuated

A while back Denise at A Bun Can Dance came up with the brilliant idea of a letter writing swap for interested bloggers. As the lovely artform of a proper handwritten letter seems very close to obliterated in these days of emailing, blogging and instant gratification I thought the initiative was simply irresistable.

I missed (and miss) those years of a close to every day letter writing on pretty stationery to family, friends and penpals all over the world. It was such a delight every time a handwritten letter from some remote corner arrived in the mail, a letter someone had poured a lot of thought and a little piece of their soul into, sealed and sent to me. I hope and think that the recipients regarded my handwritten pages in a similar way.

These days I'm like most people my age group and younger, dependent on emailing - so darn quick and convenient I don't know how we survived without? - and instead of writing long letters filled with thoughts and tribulations to many, blogging for one and all is the one convenient thing that gets me and my many overflowing thoughts going. These days.

But I miss those other times. A lot. Hence I signed up for the letter writing swap. And some days later I met my letter swapping partner. And what a partner it was. Her name was Alex and her blog was Lola Nova, a wonderful, colourful blog buzzing with vibrant pictures and inspiring creativity - what can I say, Denise certainly seems to have a fingerspitzgefühl and eye for matching letter writing people.

We decided that our theme for the letters would be, not surprisingly, our love for crafting and how that came to be. Of course we would also share some edible things from our respective places as well as something handmade by ourselves. Oh this was gong to be so much fun, getting a parcel and a handwritten letter, things just don't get much better than that!

Deciding what to send was reasonable easy - even if I could have gone on and on with this and that and then some - but the actual writing. By hand. On paper. On pretty stationery. Oh my. That was actually so much harder than one would think. I don't particulary like my handwriting these days, it's so not what it used to be. And the facts that one really can't erase and rewind a handwritten, cut and rearrange the handwritten letter seem to be (at least initially) ginormous obstacles.

In due time the letter was written. The obstacles overcome. The parcel sent (care to see some of it, look here). And then one day a parcel arrived from Portland, Oregon to Stockholm, Sweden. And there was joy in reading and unwrapping of gifts. Grand, wonderful gifts like teas with magical names,

~

a crochet hook holder was just the thing needed actually! As was one of her truly word inviting notebooks (which also can be found in shop).

Needless to say I love the little acorn hidden in the back of the notebook. And the handmade chocolate.

From the reading of the handwritten letter I could see glimpses of a lovely woman on the other side of the big pond, with words, music and love in her heart. With thoughts, kindness and craft in mind. I thoroughly enjoyed the read, I throughly enjoyed the gifts and I wholeheartedly applaude the initiative of a letter writing swap and thus the first step of reclaiming what has been sadly, but hopefully not irrecoverable, lost in these days and age of massproduction and keypad written matters.