Best Snail Mail Ever

With most communications being electronic, a physical letter has become a bit of an indulgence.  And with the ongoing Postal Service drama, the writing is on the wall:  that informal letter is going to become a 'special delivery'.

Which is great!!

Just like the automobile freed up the horse to become an object of sport and pleasure, the added cost of sending a note will make each mailed item precious.  So let's decorate!

I used to work with putting together specialty invitations and one of the biggest trends (fastest way to drop an obscene amount of cash) was to add some extra character to one's special event with updated calligraphy.  Something more lively and energetic than the traditional lettering fonts.  I really like doing addresses this way.  It is pretty easy to do for a few reasons.  The big one is that since the whole thing is purposefully unstructured and doodle-like, you don't have to worry about spacing and keeping things straight.  Any mistake is correctable; just add an extra flourish.  Errors in alignment add character and that hipster whimsy which people are swooning over.

I always start addressing with a pencil sketch.  It is good to have a rough idea where you want everything to be but, more importantly, this is your last shot at proofreading.  Personally, I am a dreadful speller and as such, I get performance anxiety anytime I have to spell out something.  You know that feeling where you stare at a page and all the words just don't look right?  So this is how I hedge my bets.

The only limit to your creativity here is... it has to be legible.  This is the time for 'form follows funtion'.  If the Postal Service can't read the address, no one will ever see your artsy awesomeness.  Make sure the information is more-or-less where it 'should' be in traditional orientation, don't let your flourishes obscure the writing, and chose an ink that is visible on top of the envelope.  Do have some fun with your ink.  Just try to choose something fast drying and waterproof to reduce smearing while writing and in transit.