Mail just a few days after Christmas

Heyy! I just came back home, I was in Stockholm with my godparents and my godmother's niece.

Here is some outgoing mail from the first few days after Christmas !

First, two flower themed chaincards (Instagram) I sent to Malaysia and Japan (my shadow looks so funny in this picture!):

Also I sent a letter to Shine, China:

The envelope I sent her letter in (notice the Christmas tree a.k.a. the prettiest shooting background ever):

    --> And then to the incoming mail!

First, a beautiful Christmas present from Daria, Germany:

 Unfortunately the paper had torn a bit in mail but no damage inside! I love the decorations!

She sent me a lot of pretty stationery, cool candy, a notebook, tapes, a keychain, a card.... Oh, and a thing I don't know the name of in English. A key housing perhaps? If someone knows how to call it, please tell me! :D

This pretty little one is from Chloe, Hong Kong:

Inside the envelope I found this Christmas card...

...which turned out to be many cards put together as a letter! I love the idea! My friends are so creative :)

Inside the little 'envelope' in the picture below were...

...three coins from Hong Kong! I love them!

Also there was another cool little pocket in the 'letter' with stickers from the Hong Kong Disneyland inside ^^

Thanks, girls! <3

Mail before Christmas

Christmas is now over and I thought of coming here to show you some of the mail I sent and received before the holidays! :)

A little Christmas present to Daria, Germany (I loved putting these together! <3) :

A letter to Tabby, USA:

And a letter to Haruka, Japan:

See you soon with the mail sent and received after Christmas! :)

A small birthday package to Germany!

Hiii! I haven't had any time or motivation to send mail lately... soo here is a small parcel I sent out to Germany and which is already received! :)

My penpal had birthday and I wanted to send her a little something because she also sent me a gift when I had my birthday. Here's what I sent her:

Chocolate (I mean, seriously. :D), chewing gum, a pen, shower gel, other candies, erasers, stickers, a nail file, magnet, brochures... It was really nice to put those together! And my penpal also seemed to like them which is of course the whole point :) 

Unfortunately I certainly had no time to take a picture of the package itself (as I was literally running to the post office after school haha) but I decorated it with light green Moomin gift wrapping paper. :D

Loads of Dumles

Awhile ago I sent these sweets as a gift to my friend in Poland. He told me that finding Dumles (=Finnish candy brand) is really hard in Poland so I wanted to send him some. There are too many Dumle related food in even the smallest Finnish grocery stores that I had a hard a hard time picking the sweets I wanted to send. :D There are lollipops, donuts, hot chocolate drink powders.. I just decided to keep it simple and send those sweets in the picture. But I couldn't help myself adding a bar of Fazer chocolate and a small box of Salmiakki a.k.a salted liquorice. :D

That's all for today, see you soon with another post! :)

Turkey ✰ Part three

Here's the Part three of my exchange story! This is about my return home and all the feels and my souvenirs and... I don't even know yet :D

The exchange was only for three weeks but it certainly felt like three months. Every single day I experienced something new and it was amazing, like every day was a new adventure. At first everything felt too surreal and I couldn't even believe I was in Turkey. Then, when I had finally understood my new life and adapted to Turkish culture, I had to leave my host host family and head for the camp. It was hard but it was something I just had to do. The camp time was amazing and I couldn't even believe it was over until I walked through the security at the airport. It was a strange feeling when I found myself sitting in the airplane and heading to Finland. Only then I realized I was leaving Turkey. I didn't know should I be happy for seeing my friends, family and home or sad about leaving my other home and my life in Turkey with all the people I met there.

I really feel like I left a huge part of me (including my heart ;) ) in Turkey and I will be visiting Turkey sooo many times in the future! I met the best people in the world and I wouldn't be more grateful.

Souvenirs ♥ :

1. Some sweets, of course.. ;) 2. During the camp we also went to hamam a.k.a. Turkish bath which was.. interesting experience. xD We got those little packages from there and 3. there were a small towel and soap inside 4. An ornament we all got from one of the camp leaders, a snow ball (is that the name? xD) from Dolmabahce Palace and some playing cards from Istanbul 5. When I took this picture I really thought that here was all my souvenirs but.. no, not even close. I found so many other things when I unpacked my suitcase :D Anyway, I think you can see the majority here! Here's also all the gifts I got from my amazing host family ♥ One of my favorites is that hali (yes, my Finnish fellas, hali means a carpet in Turkish!) I got from them. :) 6. You could find those small pouches EVERYWHERE so of course I had to buy some of them, and I find them so cute! 7. These bracelets were for my cousins, they loved them ^^ 8. Turkish tea!! I totally fell in love with it! In Finland I don't really care about tea but the Turkish one was great so of course I had to bring some tea with me 9. My favorite necklaces at the moment ♥

Mail that was waiting for me when I came back! Actually I was quite surprised that I didn't get more than two envelopes in three whole weeks. But it's good that the lack of mail happened when I was away because I couldn't even have time (or possibility) to reply to them :D

1. The envelopes were from Xavier, China and Fab, Italy ♥. 2. The SPSH 2015 was a fail for me this time, but you can't be lucky all the time. But I was lucky to receive these goodies from Fab as a replacement 'package', I really like them! Thank you :) 3. Xavier sent me Vietnamese money (so beautiful!) and a card with '8' because why not ;) 4. Chinese stamps ^^

These are more recent pictures (even though it's already been awhile since they were took)!

I don't think it's necessary to put the numbers here.. It's just me enjoying my Finnish life with my family and cousins. :D Picking wild strawberries from our backyard, playing, laughing and flying kites. I can't remember the last time I would've flown a kite so it was funny haha :D

After the three weeks of hugging strangers, hearing language that you desperately wanted to understand but just couldn't, drinking tea every day and living in huge cities, my life in Finland felt surreal for once. But now I'm here again, everything went so safe and sound and I wouldn't be more thankful. ♥

More outgoing! (China, Russia + Germany)

Yesterday was the first day of my last exam week this year. Today was chemistry, I honestly have no clue how it went. I wish for the best and prepare for the worst I guess. Anyway, I was able to left school at noon (I just LOVE exam weeks because of that haha :D) and now I have time to show you three of my outgoing letters to China, Russia and Germany!

Here is a letter I sent to Daria, Germany. I would say I was feeling kind of pink that day but you probably have already noticed that :D I sent her a mini notebook and Moomin lollipop, pink of course.

And this letter I sent to Shine, China. You can't see the tape very well I think, but I love that floral dark blue fabric tape I used decorating the papers. :) 

Of course I haven't taken a picture of the letter to Russia. :c Well, the writing paper was the same set with the envelope so it's the same cat pattern. :) Here's how the letters to Olga and Shine looked on the other side. 

I have only seven days left until the summer vacation (I'm still surprised about that). What about you? When will you have the well deserved vacation? Or are you already on the vacation? :)

Last weeks mail (#13)

It's such a great way of starting this week by showing you what was inside my mailbox last week, isn't it? :) 

In the beginning of the week I received a letter from my Russian friend Olga, a few days later arrived this a bit thicker letter (which I found out was also from Olga :D) and on thursday I got a letter from Shine, China (check out those heart-shaped stamps!)! Let's get a closer look! :)

Inside the (first) letter from Olga I found two beautiful cards (my birthday was a month ago, it seems like the postal service has been extremely slow this time.. But I don't mind, it's great the letter finally made it to me!) and a short letter! *__* <3

And in the letter / small parcel that arrived just some days after were these two chocolates as a small birthday gift  ^^

I'll show you the letter from China by this little collage! Shine sent me a card showing traditional Chinese art, three Japanese stamps (so pretty!!), a bus ticket and the actual letter of course. If you see this post, Shine: Thank you! :)

Let's see what amazingness I'll found from the mailbox this week, have a great (mail) week everyone!!

SPSH Swap 2015 - outgoing to Italy!

Yey I'm so excited to write you about something cool I participated in about three weeks ago; the Secret Penpal Scavenger Hunt hosted by Fab from Snail Mail Love blog!! 

According to Fab, SPSH is "a swap aimed two connect to strangers via mail by having them randomly paired, and exchanging a package full of wonders!". This was my first time joining the swap and I really love the idea! :)

Even though I'm still waiting for my own parcel to arrive (soon, I hope!!), I wanted to show you what I got for my partner, Barbara from Italy! Below you can see everything I sent her in small packagings. 

 We had to pick five items from this list to find/craft + a gift:

• the City Explorer's Kit: take a day off and collect little things of your city for your partner. Can include, but not limited to: maps, flowers & leaves, postcards, tiny souvenirs, photos, interesting newspaper clippings & pamphlets, etc  - just don't grab a bunch of random junk within arm's reach, put some effort in it; 
• Something that represent you: for example - are you an artist? Send your partner a little painting. Do you love to knit? Send your partner a hat.. and so on;
• A mix CD with your favorite tunes. (Pro Tip: create a cover for it);
• the Postal Freak's Kit: Can include, but not limited to: postal goodies such as address labels, used stamps, envelopes, stationery, a mail art kit etc.
• the Bad Day Survival Kit: assemble a kit of nice things that may help your partner to feel better when they're having a bad day. (Ideas: your favorite candy, a poem/story, bubble bath, a list of  happy songs/movies etc);
• Something quirky;
• Something with - your partner's - monogram on it;
• Something oddly shaped;
• Something old fashioned;
• Something to read;

• + a gift for your partner!
• 
  

As soon as I saw the list I had a lot of ideas what to do, totally inspired! :D

The first thing I picked from the list was this, 'the Postal Freak's Kit'. I included some cardstocks, envelopes, papers, tags...

...and this small bag/envelope filled with stickers, used stamps, priority labels etc ^^

 For 'something quirky' I decided to send something Finnish and sweet; Angry Birds treats (2 lollipops + liquorice)! Maybe not the quirkiest thing ever but ohwell, at least my partner liked them which counts the most, right?

I loved to put this one together! It's 'the Bad Day Survival Kit' where I put some candies, Finnish chocolate (who wouldn't need some chocolate on a bad day?), Moomin tea, perfume...Oh, and a list of cheerful (Finnish) songs!

For 'the City Explorer's Kit' I found some brochures and maps from multiple cities instead of just one. And added a few photos (they look strange in this picture because of the lightning) :)

And for the gift I decided to send Barbara a bit of Finnish design! 

Now I'll continue looking forward to my SPSH incoming mail... Can't wait! :)

Giveaway prize from Thailand and a letter! :)

Osallistuin vuoden lopussa ihanaan arvontaan Lilyn blogissa ja yllätyksekseni voitin! Söpö paketti Thaimaasta saapui meidän postiin perjantaina ja mun oli pakko hakea se heti sieltä. Paikallinen posti on aika pieni ja tiskillä seisoessaan näkee kaikki paketit, jotka siellä on odottamassa hakijaansa. Katselin paketteja sillä välin, kun odotin vuoroani ja huomasin tuon puna-ruskean paketin ja ajattelin, että "Tuon on pakko olla mulle!" - ja niinhän se olikin. :D Kiitos paljon, Lily!! Paketista löytyi tosi paljon kaikkea ihanaa. jotka listaan postaukseen englanniksi. :)

I took a part of an amazing giveaway (here) in the end of December and surprisingly I won! This lovely package from Thailand arrived to our post office on Friday and of course I had to get it from there immediately. :D

It's my first time receiving something from Thailand and obviously I was super excited (still am, though). I really like those stamps (even though the ink of the post marks have smudged and it's hard to see for example that yellow-ish stamp)! :)

I got bunch of cool things and instead of filming all of them in one single pile I decided to take pictures of them in smaller groups or pairs. :) Firstly the box included these two snacks: Seaweed snack with a small bag of popcorn and octopus chips. I have to say that the package of that seaweed snack is just too adorable, I can't handle it!! I wish we had more packagings like that in Finland :D

Then there were Wasabi Coated Green Peas, Plum flavoured candy and Tom Yum Kung Pretz (spicy shrimp flavour). I already tasted those hard plum candies and they were actually really good, so tasty! And I think the packaging is also very pretty. ^^

Two adorable notebooks (Stitch and Rilakkuma), Frozen stickers, magnet and a card! 

And last but definitely not least, Fisherman's Friend (mandarin flavoured!), four Dilmah tea bags, lovely airmail envelopes, cute decoration tape (I must be very unusual person but it's my first time seeing that kind of tape - and I love it!) and Durian milk candies. Those candies are so cool! I was warned to 'eat and open them at my own risk' which obviously made me really curious haha. :D I haven't tried them yet but I surely will - soon! 

I 100% love everything! I wasn't expecting to get that much stuff so thanks again, Lily! :)

On the same day I received this pinkish letter from Daria, Germany! It included origami papers, stickers, tapes... Danke! ^^

Pikkupaketti Kiinaan / A small package to China

Heissan! Tässä pari kuvaa pienestä paketista, jonka vein postiin maanantaina. Paketti on Kiinaan, Xavierille. :) En ole ihan varma, mutta luulen ettei Xavier katso kovin usein tätä blogia, joten uskalsin postata paketin jo nyt. Ajattelin ensin, että lykkäisin postausta hiukan, mutta en millään malttanut! Ja lisäksi laitoin paketin menemään 2. luokalla, joten saa nähdä kuinka kauan sillä tällä kertaa kestää... Viime kerralla kun lähetin hiukan isomman kirjeen Kiinaan, sillä kesti 7 viikkoa! :O

Pakettiin laitoin kirjeen lisäksi siis:

- Esitteitä

- Isoja suomenlipputarroja

- Auringonkukan siemeniä :)

- Angry Birds -purkkaa

- Pikku suklaalevyn Milka-suklaata

En huomannut ottaa paketista ulkoapäin kuvaa. :/ Toivottavasti paketti on mieluinen ja se löytää ennen pitkää perille! ^^

Iso kasa postia! / Bunch of mail!

Heissan! Tänään postinkantaja toi meidän ovelle tällaisen hirveän kasan postia ja voitte vaan kuvitella, kuinka innoissani olin... Kuvasta ei näe kovin hyvin, mutta tuossa on yhteensä 7 erilaista pakettia tai kirjekuorta! :D Täytyy myöntää, että osa oli vain tylsiä lukiokirjoja, mutta ei se ainakaan mun intoa pilannut. ;) 

Mutta esittelen teille yhden noista paketeista, joka on Jadelta Kaliforniasta! 

Ihan mahtavasta paketista löytyi kasvonaamioita, Baby lips (!!), vihreällä teellä päällystettyjä keksitikkuja, ihana kukkakuvioinen paita, glitter-washiteippiä, juomapusseja ja snickers. :)

Lähikuva teipistä ^^

Thank you, Jade! I love it so much :)