My First Month of Snail Mail 🐌💌

Well… I just dropped off my very first month of Snail Mail at the post office.  

And honestly? I’m not sure if I should celebrate, cry, or frame the receipt as a historical artifact.

When I dreamed up this little mail club, I pictured myself sitting at my desk, surrounded by cute paper and stickers, casually putting together happy little envelopes for people to find in their mailboxes.

What I did not picture was becoming personally acquainted with the United States Postal Service’s weight requirements, questioning every envelope I’ve ever purchased, and developing a complicated relationship with my printer.

But here we are.

Things I Learned This Month:

1. One ounce is apparently VERY specific.

I now know more about 1 oz Forever Stamps than I ever thought a person could know.

There is a magical little threshold between “Cute! One stamp will do!” and “Congratulations, you now owe the post office more money.”

And let me tell you… when you're mailing cute paper, stickers, goodies, that ounce adds up FAST.

2. Do not cheap out on envelopes.

I repeat:

DO. NOT. CHEAP. OUT. ON. ENVELOPES.

I thought an envelope was an envelope. It holds things. You seal it. You mail it. The end.Wrong. Some envelopes are sturdy little soldiers. Others apparently have one job and still manage to fall apart emotionally before they even leave your desk.

After this month, I have officially developed envelope standards.

3. Printers are my mortal enemy.

Nothing humbles you quite like spending an hour getting everything perfectly designed, printed, trimmed, organized, and ready to go…only for your printer to suddenly decide it has never seen paper before.

Lines? Yes. Wrong colors? Absolutely. Paper jam? Obviously.

Printing beautifully for 27 pages and then choosing violence on page 28? Naturally. There were definitely moments when I stared at my printer wondering if this was really my calling. But then I would look at the pile of finished Snail Mail sitting on my desk and remember exactly why I started.

4. Packing Snail Mail is THERAPY

I hauled all my finish products papers, stickers, bits and bobs down to my moms house and layed it all out on her dining table. We sat for a few hours packaging everything because I obviously ordered enough Snail Mail (100) to be exact so I could send some to my friends, family, and do mail swaps!!! I AM MOST EXCITED ABOUT MAIL SWAPS.

Anyways, folding paper, and putting stickers on things is basically my calling in life, so sitting down to pack up all my blood sweat and tears into these envelopes was extremely fulfilling and rewarding. 

I won't lie there is a part of this process that made me want to explode in the tiniest stomp my foot and cross my arms type of way. Once you have everything wrapped up bundled and you're trying to shove it all in the envelope but the edge of the paper continuously catches on the envelope and refuses to go in.... Yeah its a thing, a very frustrating thing. 

And Then There Were 11 💌

For my very first month, I officially had 11 subscribers.

ELEVEN PEOPLE. That might not sound like a huge number to some businesses, but to me, it feels enormous. Eleven people decided they wanted to receive something I dreamed up.Eleven people trusted me to show up in their mailbox with a little paper, a few stickers, and hopefully a little bit of joy.

And I am genuinely so, so grateful.

Starting something from scratch is exciting, but it's also a little scary. You put an idea out into the world and have absolutely no idea if anyone else will think it's as cute or fun or special as you do.

So to everyone who subscribed, shared my posts, told a friend, encouraged me, or simply followed along while I figured this whole thing out—

thank you.

You helped make this little idea real.

And now, as I officially drop my first month's Snail Mail into the postal system, I'm feeling a strange combination of pride, excitement, exhaustion, and the sudden urge to buy approximately 600 different envelopes.

This is just the beginning.

There will probably be more printer meltdowns.

There will definitely be more lessons about postage.

I will continue to obsess over paper, stickers, envelopes, tiny details, and whether something is just slightly over one ounce.

But most importantly, there will be more happy mail.

And I can't wait to see where this little snail takes us. 🐌💌

Thank you for being here at the very beginning.

Love,
Dear Darling ♡