Chill Sunday

I have to admit I'm a huge fan of days without anything planned. I've written about the ever-filling schedule before, about how there's always something going on. I love seeing my friends and we always have a good time, but sometimes is just nice to not have anything planned for the entire day. It's probably needless to say that today's one of those days.



I have a whole lot of things planned for the shop and I am frantically working on some holiday decorations. Christmas decorations to be specific. It sounds early, but I need to be prepared for the holiday season. I'm also making some Halloween items, but that's more for personal use than the shop.

Oh, random thought, but sort of related... I went to Dollarama (man, how I like that place. Randomness galore!) and right next to all the Halloween decorations they were putting up Christmas items. I know I start early, but in my defence I make everything by hand and I need to have stock for when the season starts in full swing. But at the dollarstore? Here the Xmas decor comes out right after Halloween...

What's your take on this? How early is too early?

The photos are of some Halloween cards I made from book pages (available in my shop if you're interested)

On the crafting desk

It's been a while since I've shown you even a glimpse of what I've been working on. Admittedly, I was in a creative rut for quite a while, but I have that feeling starting from my toes that I'm slowly starting to get over it. (Did you know that creativity starts from your toes?) I certainly hope so. It's been really frustrating.

Seeing the colour combinations on the desk (ok, I lied. This is not on my crafting desk. It's on the dining room table. *) it's probably pretty obvious as to what I'm working on. That's right, Halloween. As you might know by now, I love halloween. I think it's partially because we didn't celebrate it when I was growing up. It's a North American thing. Halloween was slowly making it's way to Finland when I moved here, but there isn't that tradition.

I'm such a huge fan... I love the feel, the scary-creepy-pretty movies (Tim Burton, I love you), clever costumes and obviously a ton of candy.

Anywho, I will write a lot about Halloween as we get closer, but I am in full swing of crafting. This actually poses a bit of a dilemma. I would like to show everything I'm working on to you guys right now. But the fact is that I know a few people I'm making something for read this blog. So, I obviously don't want to ruin the surprise. (I even debated if I should say anything, but I felt that if I start with that, my posts will eventually only concern the weather)

Oh, right! I wanted to ask you since I actually don't know...

Is Halloween mail *a thing*? Like, say, Christmas cards.
[I do realize several of my readers are snail mail enthusiasts like myself, so the answer might be a bit biased. Doesn't matter though...]

And if you're not North American, do you celebrate it? Or send some Halloween mail?

*) I don't know how to make this work! I have a crafting desk in the office and yet I still make most of my things on the dining room table. Maybe because I can see the TV from there. Nothing like crafting and some good (or bad, depends how you view it) TV...

Friday Inspiration

Happy Friday everyone!

Before I get into our scheduled programming, which is the weekly inspiration post, let me just say something...

Thank you everyone who's come by and left a comment either over at the giveaway post or at any of the other ones. I'm squee-ing of happiness every time I see another comment. It makes me super happy to see so many people visiting my little blog. Thank you for your lovely comments! And good luck to you all in the giveaway! (If you didn't sign up yet, do so HERE)

Alrighty then; inspiration.

As you guys know I am a snailmail nerd and crafting geek, but did you know I have a weakness (besides washi tape and Venezuelan arepas) for beautiful lettering as well? Typography would probably be the correct term, but whateer it's called, I go weak at the knees for beautiful handwriting. (Some of you might have seen mine already, and we can probably agree that, even though it's hardly beautiful, it is... I dunno... weird?) Anywho, given the background story (and I always feel like giving one (also using brackets)) you can only imagine how much delighted squee-ing was going on when I found Dana Tanamachi

Source: danatanamachi.com via Jessica on Pinterest

She's a "custom chalk lettered". That's a thing? Holy moly, though... She's just phenomenal. I mean, seriously?

Source: inspirationfeed.com via Daniel on Pinterest

I'm just staring at her work in awe...

Any other typography nerds out there?

Stamps galore!

- Did you sign up for the giveaway yet? Do so HERE! You can win some cool stuff -

Apparently October is national stamp collecting month. (I'm fully aware that "national" in this case does not refer to a country I am from or currently living in. That's besides the point) I actually have a couple of ideas relating to that, the first one is to show you some cool stamps.

No! Wait! They are actually pretty cool... Not in the nerdy way I get excited about things, but... Ok, maybe a little in that way.

As you know, I send a lot of mail. And After a while I got really bored of the regular stamps available. So, I've actually got to a point where my regular post office ladies know this and often help me out with finding some cool new ones. (You know they 'get you' when you ask for new stamps and she actually says, and I quote, "Yeah, we just got some new ones, but I don't think you'll like them". And, more importantly, she was right)


I did recently find some super fun ones... Roadside attractions! Seriously! How awesome are these?

Yes! It is a giant squid! And the world's largest lobster. And the big potato (I don't know how it places on the 'largest potatoes of the world' scale, but I bet it's pretty high up there)

I now have three booklets of roadside attractions, each has 8 stamps, 2 of each design. There's also a booklet about national parks (the stamps have the same picture as the cover of the booklet, how cool is that?). I had to get that as well, since they had such an awesome retro vibe! I've already sent a bunch and can't wait to use more of them!

Kudos for Canada Post!

Do you pick and choose which stamps to use in your mail? If so, where do you get your stamps?

Giveaway - Win some awesome stuff!

- this giveaway is now CLOSED! -

I figure the best way to celebrate the first birthday of the HipsterCurious blog is to host a giveaway where you can win all sorts of awesome things! I've put together a pack of things I've talked about over the year.

The rules to participate are simple:
1. anyone can take part, no limitations based on geography or if you know me.
2. to participate, leave a comment below (Give me some feedback on my blog, or just say hi. Totally up to you). I will pick a winner using random.org
3. This ends on Sunday October 14th at midnight (eastern), any entries added after that time will not be included in the draw

- It doesn't matter if you've never left a comment here before. Just do so now! -



You could win this lot of paper and other awesomeness

A set of upcycled map stationery, just like the photo from my first ever blog post
A couple of transparent envelopes, like the ones from this post
A few bags of different teas, like the ones I sent here and talked about here
A roll of washi tape, like the ones I use with my journal or was inspired by here
Some old-fashioned stickers, like the ones you can see in my snail mail kit or on these envelopes
A pack of stamp stickers, just like the ones here
A pack of Korean stickers, I ordered some for myself here and got another set for a prize

There's also a few vintage postcards and some cute little bandaids. And perhaps a little surprise...

Good luck everyone!