Easy-Peasy Occasional: Scribbled & Glued Greeting Card

Welcome to Scribbling Glue‘s very first Easy-Peasy Occasional!

What is an Easy-Peasy Occasional?  So glad you asked!  Sometimes the hardest part about trying something new is not knowing where to start, which can lead to not starting at all.  So, I’m going to occasionally share some simple ideas based on what I’m sending out to people.  Each EPO will be a mini-project that can be accomplished in a short amount of time without any special supplies or skills.  My intention is not to provide a step-by-step cookie cutter craft, but to offer ideas that will hopefully spark your imagination or inspire you to give something new a try.

An Easy-Peasy Occasional: Scribbled & Glued Greeting Card

Here’s what you need:

• a greeting card (Note: don’t go buy a new card!  You can reuse one that was sent to you, re-purpose a left over holiday card, use one you got as a “gift” for donating to an organization, find one for 10¢ at a thrift store, or choose one you bought ages ago but have never found a reason to send.)
• scrap paper
• scissors
• glue
• a pen or marker

It doesn’t get any easier than this!  First, a card is small, so you don’t need to write much.  Second, it doesn’t matter what kind of card it is, because you’re going to cover up any parts you don’t like.  Third, you can play and be creative even if you’ve talked yourself into believing you don’t know how to make things.  Take a look and how simple it is!

Go ahead and try making a card even if you’re thinking, I am not artistic.  I can’t make things.  Why do I say this?  I know for a fact that YOU are creative.  I really mean it.  You may not have an outlet for it right now (or you might be so accustomed to your own brand of creativity that you don’t realize you’re being creative), but everyone has some creativity bouncing around inside.  Consider this Easy-Peasy Occasional an invitation to let it out!

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The P. O.

“The P. O. was a capital little institution, and flourished wonderfully, for nearly as many queer things passed through it as through the real office.  Tragedies and cravats, poetry and pickles, garden seeds and long letters, music and gingerbread, rubbers, invitations, scoldings, and puppies.”

from Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, chapter 10, “The P. C. and P. O.” 

•••••

In case you’ve never read Little Women, let me provide a bit of context for this quote.  The “P. O.” in question was a martin house repurposed as a small post office and set up in the hedge between the March family’s home and the house of the boy-next-door, Laurie.  With padlocks on the doors and each household in possession of a key, the P. O. became a place where “letters, manuscripts, books, and bundles” were exchanged between the denizens of the two houses.  I was enamored of this idea when I read (and reread) Little Women as a child.

♥I still love it.♥

What’s not to like about a post office designed to deliver missives (not to mention fascinating bits of miscellany) from dear ones?  No bills.  No junk mail.  No ad fliers.  Nothing but mail that makes you smile, laugh, blush, get a bit teary (in a good way), and know you’re loved.  The idea of a personal P. O. delights me in the same way that Little Free Library makes my book-loving heart go pit-a-pat.  They are both intimate institutions that bring people together to connect with each other, with ideas, and with a sense of fun.  Excuse me for a moment while I skip around with great glee over the mere thought that such things exist.  What joy!

If you love the idea of a personal P.O. and just cannot wait until the idea catches on, you can capture the coziness of the experience by hand-delivering a note to someone who lives close by.  Don’t panic.  I promise this is easy as pie and won’t take much of your time.

To illustrate:

When a friend recently ran her first 5K, I slipped by her house on the morning of the race and left this on her porch:

I could have sent her the same message as a text with 100 characters to spare, but it seemed to me that her effort and accomplishment deserved a little extra effort of my own.  The beauty of it is that while it took slightly longer than texting, it was so simple to pull off.  The note was written on a piece of scrap paper and the flowers (snipped from my garden) were arranged in an old mustard jar.  Easy-peasy!  Now it’s your turn to give it a try!   Just scribble a note, drop it off, and make someone’s day a little bit brighter.  Let me know how it goes, okay?

Oh, and if anyone wants to help kick-start the personal P.O. movement or become a benefactor and fund a Little Free Library, my front garden would be an ideal location for the establishment of such institutions.  Hey, who knows what dreams might come true if I put the idea out there, right? :)

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Begin at the beginning

It is because of my sister that I am a letter-writer.  I was in third grade when she went off to college and I missed her like crazy.  I started my first letter to her almost as soon as she pulled out of the driveway.

When I came up with the idea of Scribbling Glue as a 30 Day Challenge project, I hauled out a box of letters from long ago and tried to find the first letter I remember receiving.  No luck.  What I did find from my early days of scribbling were the letters my sister had sent me when she was in college.

Almost every single letter included thanks for recent mail I had sent to her and some variation on the request “Write to me!”

 

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So, I did.  And that’s how I became a letter writer.

When I shared my idea about starting Scribbling Glue, my friend and fellow 30DCer Elloa messaged me, “There is an art to letter writing that is fast being lost in today’s emailcentric world, and you are one of the pioneers reinvigorating it!“

This not only made my day, it helped me define my mission: To start a revolution and inspire people to connect with each other through the simple act of scribbling.

I’m very fortunate to have a number of scribbling friends, but there are people out there who have forgotten the thrill of a friendly letter in the mailbox, the delight of a love-filled line or two scrawled on a piece of scrap paper, the excitement of a note folded just so and passed across a classroom.  I’m dedicated to bringing back that thrill, delight and excitement.  And I’m daring you to join me!  That’s right, I want YOU to write letters, too.  Does that feel scary?  Old-fashioned?  Too much like school?  Slow?  Not your thing?  Hang on, hold tight, and stick with me, because we’re going to throw out the rules and make it fun!

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