Mail For Me!

I was disappointed tonight when all I got from the mailbox was a splinter from running my hand along its empty wooden bottom in the dark.  Then I stepped inside and realized that hubby had slipped home at lunch time and brought the mail in with him.  There was....

....a little package!  For me!

Now, the contents were very cool all by themselves.  But, much like that famous computer company that I love so much (rhymes with Schmapple, perhaps you've heard of it), the creative packaging turned what may have been a one-photo blog post into a full out slideshow.  Here goes...

 A recycled box with a post-it notification of what it didn't contain.

 (A very cool recycled box that slid open, all fancy-like.)

Inside, more post-its applied to a carefully flattened origami box folded from a Stratford-on-Avon map.  (Different Avon. :) Figured that one out without a post-it note! Yay, me!) 

And carefully wrapped in tissue paper, this very cool pendant...

 ...made from a Scrabble tile!  (This is where it gets spooky, because just two days ago I was staring at the box of Scrabble tiles on my craft shelf wondering what they might become.  Then, just one day ago, I was madly pinning Scrabble-inspired items to my "Monogram....Monogram.....MONOGRAM!!!" Pinterest board.  Bonus points to those of you who get the Simpsons reference here. )

"N."  For "necklace." ;)

Spookier still, the blue butterfly perfectly matches my blue floral print shirt I'm wearing today.  So I popped the necklace on and merengued off to dance class.

Also in the box was a note card.  This, in addition to the post-its and carefully addressed envelope, were all penned in what I thought was my friend Jenn's unmistakable neat handwriting.

A cutesy card enclosed in a coordinating envelope.  It just had Jenn's name all over it.  Except that actually it didn't.  As I read the note, I became more and more confused about why Jenn was writing about herself in the 3rd person.  I had to read and re-read the letter before I finally picked up on one important detail.  It wasn't from Jenn.  Well, it was from Jenn, but it was delivered via her mom, Janet.

It's a good thing that I know Jenn was such a good girl growing up.  With cloned handwriting like that, she would have had such an easy time forging notes for her teachers!

The full back story, for those who need to know those sorts of details was that I was walloped with a 24-hour virus when Scotland friends Jenn & Matthew were visiting the area over Christmas holidays and I missed my chance to see them.  Thoughtful Jenn had prepared a little gift in an origami box for me.  When she didn't get the chance to see me before heading back across the ocean, her thoughtful mother put the gift into something a little more sturdier for mail travel and sent it my way.

Like mother, like daughter...to the core...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...and these are two good apples... I'll stop with the fruity phrases now. ;)

Inspired by the creative packaging and the nifty gifties, I'm motivated to get cracking on packing the tickle trunk of hats for my little Northern pixie friend.

Here are the hats, clambering into a box, eager to travel.   (Hats are eager creatures.  After all, it is their sole duty to "go on ahead."  Go on a head.  Get it?  Oh, people should pay me to be this corny.)

A lovely end to a busy day.  And busy means un-crafty, but that's okay on occasion.  The only thing I'm going to make today is popcorn.  Off to do that now. ;)