Send Tropical Mail

My recent mail swap reminded me of how much I love sending pretty mail. While my creative mail project two years ago was loads of fun, without a monthly deadline I've really gotten out of the habit of sending mail. I know, I know! 

I'm going to try to make an effort to be better about it without setting any specific goals - I want sending pretty mail to be something that I do when inspiration strikes and I have time to play around rather than feel that it's an obligation. So, in that spirit,  here's some tropical mail I just packed up to send. Featuring ideas for a hand drawn card, cute washi tape sampler and wrapping, I think there's plenty of ideas here to play with even if you're not a snail mail fanatic!

I always like to start with one image, idea or colour combo and build my pretty mail from there. This time my starting point was Bananas so a banana-covered doodle card was in order.

A blank card and a few paint markers are all you need to make colourful doodle cards. It's fun - you should try!

Of course, (wo)man cannot live on bananas alone - though there is a corner of the internet where the raw vegans may try to convince you you can - so I expanded from the bananas to a tropical colour and fruit theme to build the rest of my pretty mail package.

A washi tape sampler dressed up like Carmen Miranda - or is that Carmen Miranda dressed in washi tape? Either way - I'm pretty smitten with her!

Layered doilies, solid colour twine and a mini collage of washi tape strips dress up a small parcel.

Washi tape stickers - my favourite - packaged simply with a pretty header card. Plus some other lightweight treats that slide easily into a colourful paper bag sealed with tape and a glittery sticker.

All bundled together with another piece of twine and an extra blue doily to tie in the original colour scheme.

Basic manila mailers deserve a little love too! A paint marker doodle and a sprinkling of washi tape dots make this mail pretty from all angles.

Ready for her close-up! Maybe I should've called this post "Send Carmen Miranda Mail" or "If you need me, I'll be shopping for fruity hats on Ebay".

And there it is - a pile of tropical fruity goodness ready to be mailed. I hope the recipient enjoys it as much as I enjoyed putting it together!

Have you sent any pretty mail lately?