Recipe for Happiness ...

I wholeheartedly agree with this card. Cakes are truly the recipe for happiness. It was cute to get this one because not only are my friend and I sharing the asian love, we also both love to eat! (Cake in particular)... I thought it was pretty wonderful, complete with some little rhinestones on the cupcake she's holding (aww). And so true--when in doubt, eat cake! Haha.

This card's from good old fashioned Papyrus. I can guarantee you if you've ever bought a card, you've bought one from Papyrus. They're huge and absolutely fabulous and for a company that seriously mass produces cards, they do very well. And plus, their tag line is "Papyrus believes that life is a celebration", so I think that is pretty cute. You should check them out. They've got some great stuff for any occasion--especially when spreading the fatty love from one best friend to another! :)

My Spiritual Home

I am sorry that of late I have not been spreading the card-love with the infrequency of my posts, but I have a very valid reason: I have been away for a week in England! My mother lives there, so going there (although this sounds very jaded) is nothing really new or special for me, but this time it was different. I brought a friend along, and we went traipsing across the English countryside--including a stop in Oxford. And so it was that I found my spiritual home, or at any rate, my spiritual college. I literally fell in love with the place, and it actually pains me that I don't go to college there. It's so wonderfully historic--J.R.R. Tolkien (I adore Lord of the Rings, this was huge for me) and C.S. Lewis both taught there, Lewis Carroll went to school at Christ Church College--I was drooling as we strolled around the streets, and especially being a history major, I became insanely jealous of everyone who went there. Not to mention that they have the cutest card shops (definitely check out Blackwell's Poster Shop if you go). Heaven, much?

I picked up this postcard. Very touristy, I know, but I still enjoy it--it gives you an idea of how gorgeous the place is. I sent it to a friend in Vermont because I know he would love it too--just the right balance of pretentiousness and history, and still small enough to be sweet and cozy. Also, the students' rooms are absolutely beautiful--some are old and some are new, but they are huge and gorgeous, with big windows and cute little chairs and some even have dining tables!?! Are you jealous yet?

These got from Alice's Shop in Oxford. The real Alice (Alice Liddell) lived in Oxford, she was the daughter of the Dean of Christ Church College! Isn't that so cool? The shop I bought these in is where she used to buy her barley sugar sweets over 140 years ago, but now it's just filled with Alice paraphernalia, which is cool too! ;) I think these are wonderful, and because I am selfish and can't bear to part with them, they now live on my wall with my vast collection of postcards and pictures! I hope this makes you want to go galavant off to Oxford--drop me a line if you do, I will definitely hide in your suitcase!

Happy Birthday!!!!!

About a week ago it was one of my best friend's 20th birthday! To keep things interesting (and extra special--I mean a birthday card should be far more exciting than just any old card!), I made her this card because she was scared of turning the big 2-0 so all these pictures and random magazine clippings are "Twenty Things to Look Forward to in the Next Twenty Years Because You're Turning Twenty". I thought that was cute ... You can see numbers 1-19 in these photos... but I'll leave number 20 up to your imagination. ;)

Another brilliant Edward Monkton card--no matter the occasion, he always comes through. This card was quite giant, but I stuck so much stuff in it I still had to paste in extra bits of paper to act as flip-outs. It was a pretty epic card, if I do say so myself.

1. Keeping it blonde! Always and forever!

2. Having a really cute dog.

3. Finding a wonderful, well-dressed man.

4. Who thinks ...

... and isn't afraid to act on it. (Image from leloveimage.blogspot.com)

5. Owning many, fabulous and expensive bags.

6. Having a gorgeous apartment in one (or five) amazing cities around the world.

7. Living in New York--going to cute bakeries, skating in Central Park, doing things When Harry Met Sally style.

8. Being swept up, off your feet and away by love.

9. Looking fabulous in reading glasses.

10. Eating many, many birthday cupcakes in the future.

11. Changing the world. (You can't see the picture, but it is there!)

12. Wearing glamorous cocktail dresses to high-society functions.

13. Traveling the world, galavanting from one exotic place to the next.

14. Always having fresh flowers to smell.

15. Going on a spiritual pilgrimage on camel to see the Dalai Lama.

16. Buying adorable china to have in the adorable apartment!

17. Going green, saving the trees!

18. Baking (and eating) bushels of delicious Christmas cookies.

19. Always having some wonderful and awesome friends to keep it crazy with.

And this is just a little something I found highly appropriate (after I edited the speech bubble just a tad). Is this not every single girl's birthday wish?

HAPPY TWENTIETH!!! Hope all your big dreams come true, and that the giant hat of cleverness serves you well.

Sealed with love ... :)

Cards = Love

He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven

Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths,

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

--William Butler Yeats

Give someone your dreams. Or, at the very least, give them a card. Because to me, cards equal love--even if they are cliché and overused and you can buy them in one million tacky different formats--because to me, when you lick that envelope and seal it (with love)--you're sending off a little bit of yourself to someone else. And I think that's just about as good as sending off your dreams.

Here are some cards about love--I know they come by the hundreds and thousands, but these are just a few of my favourites. :)

From California With Love

Got this in the mail on Friday. It's been a while, I know, but school is crazy and I wish all I had to do with my life was scan and post cards on the internet and send them to people and just spread the love, but unfortunately, I have to go to school. One day, I suppose, I'll have to get a real job that pays me more than $7.33/hour. Although, I guess in some respects that's a good thing! Haha ... Anyways, this is a card from my friend in California. Beautiful, random as anything, and a source of great jealousy.

Letterpress card by Blue Barnhouse. I am in love, their site is awesome and absolutely loaded with crazy, inappropriate, saucy cards. All beautifully letter-pressed, of course. :)

And as lovely as that card is, this article is the true source of my jealousy!! John Krasinski at Pomona College? I am woebegone that I was not there to experience it. I don't know about anyone else, but the Office is the best show in existence on TV. How can you not want to sit down and laugh for a half hour? I just have to say, I don't know if anyone saw it last week, but Jim and Pam's wedding was the cutest thing ever, one of the top ten Office episodes I've seen. Sigh. You should definitely check it out if you haven't already, because it gave me goosebumps. And made me wish I was married to John Krasinki.

Sometimes, you just want to fly.

I find that certain things give me inexplicable joy. I don't understand it, and I don't understand why these certain things do this to me, but it's just this intense feeling of happiness--complete with goosebumps and sighs and even sometimes tears pricking my eyes (which is very cliché, I understand, but I can't be held responsible for the actions of my tear ducts!) Usually, it's the most random thing, too--a newspaper article, a book cover, the way someone's dressed on the street. And one of those things that makes me really, intensely happiness and contented with life is this card:

Does this not make you want to fly? As a child, I was extremely whimsical and imaginative (and still am) and so I feel like this card typifies all my childhood fantasies. I definitely at one point or another believed not only that I would one day be friends with a unicorn, but that I could fly. Apparently, it's possible, according to Quint Buchholz, the artist behind this card (the image is called "Ausflug", and I have no idea what that means, but does it really matter?!?!). If you like this one, you should definitely check out the site of the company that makes these cards--there's plenty more whimsical and romantic cards where this one came from. I hope you too can find a card that makes you want to weep with happiness!

Ok, so I know Where The Wild Things Are is not card related, but it's just another one of those things from which I experience inexplicable joy. (Sorry it's kind of cut off, by the way--I am technically challenged and can't fix it, but you can always go here and see it in it's full size and glory!) The first time I saw this trailer, I literally almost cried. I was with my best friend in the movie theatre, and she said to me, "Are you serious?" All I could do was blubber back at her, "Doesn't it make you want to go on an adventure?". You should definitely watch it--I hope you get some goosebumps too. :P

Isn't life just ...

Just got this in the mail from one of my best friends. Cute, eh? It's from Tall Cow Hand Printed Greetings, something I haven't heard of, but if you check out their website, it's pretty cute (will definitely be spending some money here later. Just got my paycheck!). I love this one. Their cards are really random, yet wonderful--I really feel like people should start sending cards for absolutely no reason at all. It makes it that much better.
This magazine clipping came tucked inside. Again... why am I in Ohio and not galavanting off to all corners of the world? With or without a sexy lover (although with would definitely be a plus)--traveling is vastly superior to hanging around here. I suppose I'll just have to continue to daydreaming and of course, looking for cards, sealed with love. :)

I wish I was ...

... anywhere but here! I am in Ohio. Yesterday it was 7 degrees celsius--IN SEPTEMBER?!?! Today it was a more bearable 11, but still. It seems a little ridiculous to me, as a native west-coaster and lover of temperate rains and relatively warm winters. And so I find myself dreaming of elsewhere (the romance of Paris, the exoticism of Beijing, the ruggedness of Uluru, the blissfully mild weather of Vancouver, Canada!) on dreary days like this, and naturally, when things get depressingly dark and cold, I go card shopping (is there a happier activity on the planet?). I haven't bought anything new recently (sad, but true) but here I just have some cards I've gotten in the past that make you want to jump up and go somewhere else. Enjoy. And take care to daydream.

Yea, yea, it's a postcard. But it's an awesome postcard that makes you really jealous when you pry it from your mailbox with shivering hands in the dead of winter, wishing desperately to be anywhere else. I mean, as I've said before, England is absolutely awesome--bleary English weather or not, how can you pass up the sheer oldness of it?
Sadly, I have never been to Paris (although I have studied French for 15 years. Crazy, right?). I have been to Estonia (I know, I know, where and what is Estonia?! It's a pretty awesome little country next to Russia. Very cute.) but never to Paris, the city of light! My friend sent me this, and as she has never been either, we vowed to go together one day! Just a little reminder of our wondrous future plans. (Think "We'll always have Paris", Casablanca style. Wouldn't that be just divine at this moment?)

Now, this is ultimate jump-up-and-go-somewhere-awesome card. It's basically saying to you, the minute you open it--where would you like to go? About what city would you prefer to fantasize today? Perhaps you'd like to sail to Stockholm (a lovely Swedish man at the helm, of course), or if that's not to your liking, you could always go indoor skiing in Dubai, or if all else fails, just some good old broadway-ing in New York, New York? Sigh. Too bad I have school. ;)