Chocolate Letter Writing

Today as I savored my little piece of Dove Extra Dark Chocolate after lunch, I looked inside the foil wrapper to see what words of wisdom were written there.

The little piece of foil said:

Discover something new about chocolate.

Hmmm. That's an interesting thought. So, I did an Internet search for "Chocolate" and "Letters." Well, that got me lots of hits for Dutch Saint Nicholas Chocolate Letters. That's something I never knew about chocolate, but not what I was looking for.

So, I searched "chocolate" and "letter writing." (Yes, I know. At some point, this letter writing thing becomes an obsession.) And, that took me to the Victoria and Albert Museum Shop Web site. The museum is located in London, and the online shop has stationery, rubber stamps, notecards and lots more!

But, here was my connection...the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Writing Set.

Chocolate Letter Writing!

The set features envelopes and writing paper featuring Quentin Blake's original illustrations for "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" by Roald Dahl. The set also includes a sheet of Chocolate Factory-themed stickers. Oh, what fun awaits everyone who purchases this delightful letter writing set!

Stationery Print-outs

If you've ever searched online for something cute to print out for kids...coloring pages, paper dolls, etc., you've probably come across Activity Village.

I recently discovered the writing paper and stationery print-outs on the Web site. It says they're for kids, but I think they could also be used to send letters to children. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, even parents can print out the stationery sheets and use them to write letters to the kids in their lives. As an added bonus, print out a few extras and send them (blank) to the kids so that they have something to write back on.

Activity Village has many different cute designs online! Check them out!

Looking for some new stationery?

I came across this Web site today for making a self-mailer that doesn't require scissors, tape or glue.

It's a cute little mailer, and the site has templates that you can print out.

Have some fun this weekend and send out some letters!

Beautiful Crane Stationery

I received some very beautiful stationery from Crane & Co. A little bit of research showed me that the company is quite fascinating, so I sent a few questions to Peter Hopkins, Media Relations Consultant and Historian for Crane & Co. He was very kind to answer them all in detail.

Peter has a blog called The Crane Insider. Right now, he's blogging about the National Stationery Show.

Here is the Q&A interview with Peter:

1. What type of products does Crane & Co. offer?

Crane offers a wide variety of boxed and personalized stationery for everyday use, thank-you notes, and for announcements and invitations. Crane makes its 100 percent cotton papers from fibers recovered from the textile and garment industries - not trees. Crane stationery can be personalized by lithography, thermography, engraving and letterpress, but the best form of personalization is with a pen.

2. Can those products be ordered online? Are they sold in stores, too?

Crane products are available online at www.crane.com or through a network of more than 2,000 stationers across the country. There is a "Find a Retailer" function at crane.com.

3. What does "fine stationery" mean and what does it mean to personal
correspondence?

I don't think there's a dictionary definition of "fine stationery," but certainly there are distinct differences in the levels of quality found in stationery. For Crane, it can take several forms, such as cotton-fiber papers, hand-lined envelopes, fine-line engraving, hand-brushed borders, gilded and beveled edging, substantial envelopes and personal attention to every step of the personalization process.

4. Tell me a little bit about the history of the company.

Gosh, how much space do you have? Crane traces its roots to 1770, when Stephen Crane and his two partners took over what had been the first paper mill in the Boston suburb of Milton. This was just two years after the British occupation of Boston and less than 10 miles away, so you could guess their political leanings, as they named their business The Liberty Paper Mill. The ledger book from The Liberty Paper Mill reads like a who's who of revolutionary patriots, including Isaiah Thomas, Henry Know and Paul Revere. Not only was Paul Revere a paper customer, he pastured his horses there in case he needed to take a ride......

Stephen's youngest son, Zenas, worked for the great printer Isaiah Thomas at his mill in central Massachusetts for a few years before striking out on his own. In 1801, Zenas found the perfect location on the banks of the Housatonic River in Dalton, Massachusetts.

The company still calls Dalton its home. Crane now manufactures fine stationery, industrial and technical papers, and paper for United States currency and international banknotes. The company employs 1,300 people worldwide. It is still owned and managed by members of the Crane family.

5. Is Crane & Co. environmentally friendly? How?

The most obvious environmental attribute Crane demonstrates is the make-up of its papers. Crane stationery papers are made with 100 percent recovered cotton fibers. United States currency paper is made from recovered cotton and linen fibers. I recently wrote a booklet called "America's Greenback: An Environmental Perspective," which describes Crane's environmental profile in more detail:
http://craneinsider.blogspot.com/2009/03/americas-greenback-environmental.html


6. Tell me aout Crane & Co.'s role in U.S. currency. Is Crane & Co. the only company that makes currency paper?

Crane is the only company that makes paper for U.S. currency. Crane first won the contract in 1879, and has been fortunte to have won the bid ever since. The first currency paper the Crane family ever made was in 1776 for Paul Revere. In addition to being a silversmith, Revere was an engraver, and he purchased paper from The Liberty Paper Mill to engrave Massachusetts colonial currency to help finance the American Revolution. In addition to making the paper for U.S. currency, Crane makes paper for international banknotes both at Dalton and at its paper mill and printing facility in Tumba, Sweden.

7. What is your favorite Crane & Co. product?

My favorite has to be "calling cards." These little pieces of paper were once a staple of Victorian society, used within a very strict code of social conduct. They pretty much disappeared for a while, but have made a significant comeback with the advent of e-mail and cell phones. That probably sounds counterintuitive, but when you realize that there are no cell "phone books" or e-mail directories it makes sense to have a convenient and stylish was to pass along contact information. Calling cards are the fastest-growing segment of personalized stationery at Crane. Here's a link to lots of examples:
http://search.crane.com/?search=calling+cards

8. Do you think letter writing is important? Why?

Of course, I'm biased, but letterwriting is indeed important. Especially when you think about the quality of personal relationships. Yes, we can easily keep in touch with e-mail, text messages and tweets, but these forms of communication are necessarily shallow and fleeting. Has anyone ever saved a tweet for posterity? Has anyone ever cherished an IM? Once they're read, they're gone. Letters, on the other hand, require a certain amount of focus; focus on the person to whom you are writing. Letters show great respect for the person so whom you are writing. There is meaning to your words as they play out on paper. Writing a letter is an intensely personal experience. And it is equally rewarding for the writer and the recipient.

9. What can letter writers do to make their letters better?

The great golfer Gary Player has said: "The more I practice, the luckier I get." Just like so many other things in life, the more you write the better you get at it. I think the best advice I can give to anyone is first to have the necessary materials at hand: stationery, pen and stamp. My favorite letters to write begin with: "I was thinking about you today." What a wonderful introduction. And what an easy way to make your way into the second and third sentences. Pretty soon, you've written a letter

10. Do you have any advice for new letter writers?

In addition to the "I was thinking about you today letter," the way to get under way is with thank-you notes. Sincere and timely thank-yous make lasting connections with friends, family and colleagues. They only take three or four sentences; they only take a few minutes, but they are a great way to get started.

One of my favorite letters

Even before this year and this project, I've written lots of letters.

When I was a kid, we moved several times. So, I wrote to friends in Muskogee, Oklahoma; Monroe, Louisiana; Plainview, Texas; and, Winnsboro, Louisiana. I also wrote to family...my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...after I left for college, my parents and brother and sister. Even though my husband and I have rarely been apart for long in the 20 years we've been a couple, I've written quite a few love letters to him. And, in my daughter's almost-nine years, I've written several letters to her.

But, I must say one of my favorite letters to write was the one inviting friends and family to our wedding in May 1991.

We didn't have what many people would call a traditional wedding. Our ceremony was in a park in Lubbock, Texas, on a bright spring morning. Lace and pearls really wasn't my style, so I had a simple but beautiful wedding dress made from a cream-colored cotton brocade. Instead of a veil, I had my hair up in a bun and the bun was encircled with cream-colored roses and baby's breath flowers. Those same fresh flowers made up my small bouquet. They also decorated our wedding cake, which I made myself. We didn't intend to have a wedding cake, but my mom insisted, so I said, "Well, if I have to have one, I'll just make it myself." And, I did, from a recipe we found in Country Living magazine. Instead of traditional music, our friend, Lubbock-based musician D.G. Flewellyn, played the guitar and sang. I walked down the "aisle" with my parents as D.G. sang "The Wedding Song (There is Love)." We wrote our own vows, of course. Afterwards, we all gathered at my little duplex for barbecue and wedding cake.

With all of that planned, fancy, engraved wedding announcements would have been out of character. So, I found some nice cream-colored stationery with a pretty deckle edge. And, with my cartridge/calligraphy pen loaded with brown ink, I hand-wrote each invitation in the form of a letter. At the time, it had been a few years since I had done much calligraphy, so I was a little out of practice. Additionally, with our less-than-formal style, we didn't want an overly flowerly lettering, so I combined a few different scripts until I came up with a Celtic-like look we wanted.

Those letters were a joy to write, inviting our closest friends and family members to a very special day for us. Many came to celebrate with us, and this year we'll celebrate 18 years of marriage.

Stationery Shops

As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I have lots of stationery. Much of it is quite a few years old. I haven't purchased new stationery in years.

I figure as this project goes on, I'll start using up all the paper I've accumulated over the years.

But, I'm not familiar with the best stationery sources anymore.

What are your favorites? Tell me where you like to buy stationery and why.

I'm looking forward to your advice!

Demise of hotel/motel stationery

Last month, our little family took a little trip to Little Rock, Arkansas, and stayed in a couple of motels during our short trip. When we travel, the first thing my daughter does when we get to a motel/hotel room is look in all the drawers. Then, she unpacks everything, even for a one-night stay.

This trip, one thing was obvious, there was no stationery in the bedside drawers. Now, I'll admit, we weren't staying in the ritziest places, but once upon a time, just about every motel and hotel had some type of writing paper and envelopes in each room.

I'm sure the nicer places may still supply their guests with stationery, but even the last higher-end hotel we stayed in had only a few sheets of been-there-a-while paper.

I guess we've traded fancy hotel stationery for free wi-fi and Internet access.

Encouraging young letter writers

After I wrote yesterday's post, I got to thinking about how to encourage kids to write letters. Oh, I'm not anti-email or anti-texting...I just think that there's some value to knowing how to write a "real" letter, some joy in receiving a piece of snail mail, some satisfaction in dropping an envelope in a mailbox.

The best way to encourage kids to write letters is to write to them first. Write a letter to your kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, cousins, etc.

Try to make the letters meaningful, something they'll want to keep and re-read. Congratulate them on a recent accomplishment, tell them how proud you are. Then, add in a little something about yourself, maybe mention how you enjoyed playing basketball, too, when you were in school, or maybe how you always struggled with math but that once you took geometry, you really enjoyed it. Ask them some questions, something to reply back to. Maybe ask about their pet or their plans for the summer.

Speaking of replies, one way to encourage the kids you're writing to, to write you back is to send them stationery. With your letter, include a piece of stationery, an envelope addressed to yourself and even a stamp. Find or make some fun note paper and envelopes, depending on the age of the child you're writing to. (See the fun envelopes I made, at left.) Don't forget...stamps can be fun, too! If your local post office doesn't have the ones you want, order them online.

Another way to make letter writing fun is to send postcards from places you visit. You might encourage a new hobby — postcard collecting, stamp collecting, etc. — as well.

Now, go write a letter (or two)!

Next generation of letter writers

I'm the leader of my daughter's Brownie Girl Scout troop, and we've been working on the new badges that the organization has developed. The latest step in our project was to study the concept of "connect" — how we connect with each other. We played some games, such as having a three-legged race, etc. But, I wasn't sure I was getting the point across about how we connect with the others around us, the people in our lives.

Then, I thought of letter writing! Well, nowadays, I think of letter writing all of the time, it seems. But, I thought of it in terms of a Girl Scout meeting this time.

So, I started out the meeting by having the girls pick out stickers that represent something about them and their lives. We have a big box of stickers that was donated to our troop, so the girls always have great fun digging through all the stickers. Some picked out animals for their various pets; others chose peace signs, religious symbols, pictures of food, whatever was of interest to them. Then, they all told why they picked out the stickers they did.

Then, I started the discussion about how we connect with other people. They're just in the third grade, but they caught on quickly.

As many of us would expect, they listed off many electronic ways of connecting with people....e-mail, text messaging, instant messaging, cell phone, etc. Finally, one little girl (not my daughter, who is very familiar with letter writing) thought of "writing letters"!

So, we talked a little bit about writing letters, and the girls decorated some lined paper with the stickers they picked out.

We've been distracted for a couple of weeks with our annual Girl Scout Cookie sale, but we'll be back on track soon, and the girls will write some letters that we'll mail out. They already have some ideas about who they want to write...a little girl who recently moved away from our community, the Obama girls, grandparents...

I'm happy to pass along the craft of letter writing to a new generation!

Pens and paper and cards!

One thing that seems to be common among letter writers is our love for all the trappings that go with writing letters...the paper, the pens, the envelopes, the stamps...and the cards, oh my, the cards! It's all just so much fun!

I have my favorite pens, including a silver Parker pen that I gave to my grandmother and then I inherited after she passed away. No one else likes to write with it because it's skinny and slick; they think it's hard to hold, but I never have a problem with it. I don't like rollerball pens; I never can get the ink to flow smoothly. But, I do love a good fountain pen. Problem is, right now, my fountain pen leaks ink, and I haven't figured out out to solve the problem yet.

On the other hand, I also find it hard to pass up fun pens. In my purse, I have the Parker pen and a collection of very inexpensive colored pens. And, just yesterday, I splurged and bought a large package of multi-colored Sharpie brand pens. I don't yet know what I'll do with them, but I couldn't resist the "Limited Edition Cafe Colors"! Who can walk past pens with names like "Earl Gray" "Pomegranate" and "Mocha"?

And, the paper. Oh boy do I have paper! I'm hoping this 365 Letters project will help me whittle down my stationery collection. I have lined paper, plain paper, hotel stationery from places I've never even been, special "onion skin" paper I bought way back in high school when I had all the overseas penpals and needed thin paper to cut down on postage costs. I haven't bought stationery in years, yet, still, my paper and card collection fills to overflowing a large under-the-bed box!

Speaking of cards...who can resist them? I have the standard greeting cards — Happy Birthday, Hope You're Feeling Better, Sorry I Missed Your Birthday, etc. And, then I have notecards, blank cards with pictures or drawings on the front and lots of room to write on the inside. And, just in case I ever run out of decorated notecards, I have plenty of really blank ones that are just waiting for me to decorate.

I'd say envelopes are the least exciting part of my letter-writing paraphernalia. When I was a teenager, I worked for American Greetings, keeping up the card rack at a retail store. When cards were damaged, lost or stolen, the envelopes were left over, so I built up quite a collection of odd-sized envelopes. Nowadays, my daughter and I enjoy making our own envelopes from magazine covers, calendar pages, old books and even yellow legal pad pages.

Hopefully by the end of this year, I'll have used up quite a bit of all this stuff...then I'll go shopping for more!