It’s beginning to feel like summertime here. So to celebrate, today I am going to the post office and mailing a shovel to a little girl I know. My local post office is starting to know what to expect from me, and all of the workers have a great sense of humor. But if they look at me strange, I’ll just explain that tomorrow, I will mail a bucket.

If you decide to give this a try, you can print postage at home and just drop your shovel in a mailbox, but it’s so much more fun handing it to a postal worker and waiting for them to say, um, I guess there’s nothing liquid, perishable, or potentially hazardous?

UPDATE: Just as a little FYI, the shovel was $1.22 to mail. Not bad. And the postal worker didn’t even flinch when he had to find a place for the postage sticker. The bucket goes out tomorrow.

And in case you’d like to print off some quick summery labels, I’ve included them as a download.
Summer Labels (235)
(helpful hints: You  might have to right click and choose “save link as” or “download linked file.” Also, you can resize these once downloaded by inserting them as a picture into a Word document. And finally, if you need printable label paper, I bought this kind and have been very happy with it.)

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If you’re just joining, today’s post is from a series I’ve started on GiversLog that has become a favorite for me. I’ve been mailing gifts that are 13 ounces or less (because in the U.S., they qualify for inexpensive, first class postage). If you come up with any fun mail and send it for 13 ounces or less, be sure to add it to the flickr pool, we’d all love to see.

I love May. I’d love to spend the entire month outside. In honor of May I thought we’d do a project that is reminiscent of May poles and of frolicking in the spring sunshine. We put together some DIY ribbon sticks.

When I first saw these clear tubes from Garnish, I was giddy with the possibilities. So I ordered a few.

Then I pulled out some leftover craft supplies: a few jewelry fasteners, leftover ribbon, one-foot wooden dowels, and some tacks I found out in the shed.

I started putting it all together. Ribbons sewn to fasteners and fasteners nailed to dowels. (If you don’t want to sew, tying knots works just as well). My fasteners allowed for three ribbons on each stick, which I thought was just right.
We did some test frolicking. The best ribbons are definitely the light, silky ones. (And as a side note, I decided to do this tutorial during my all-things-wedding weeks, because I can’t help think that a bunch of little girls frolicking with ribbon sticks would totally add to the scenery of any wedding. Or picnic. Or backyard barbeque. Or school yard. Or anything.)

Then we packaged up our creations in our tubes and added some labels (available for free here). We’re excited to spread some May sunshine. We’re off to the post office to see how the mail clerk likes them, but more importantly, the little girls who will be receiving them in the mail.

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If you’re just joining, today’s post is from a series I’ve started on GiversLog that has become a favorite for me. I’ve been mailing gifts that are 13 ounces or less (because in the U.S., they qualify for inexpensive, first class postage). If you come up with any fun mail and send it for 13 ounces or less, be sure to add it to the flickr pool, we’d all love to see.

My brother and SIL are the coolest. For my kids’ birthdays this year they sent this.
Bubble wrap hopscotch. And what do you do when you receive a package of bubble wrap hopscotch in the mail? There is only one thing you can do. Tear it right out of the package and get hopping.

So save your bubble wrap, because this is such a great thing to get in the mail. Writing the numbers is easy, just make sure you’re writing on the bubblewrap’s smooth side.
You might want to make a set for yourself.
Then just package it up and send it off. Ours looked a little like a bubble wrap sandwich.
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If you’re just joining, today’s post is from a series I’ve started on GiversLog that has become a favorite for me. I’ve been mailing gifts that are 13 ounces or less (because in the U.S., they qualify for inexpensive, first class postage). If you come up with any fun mail and send it for 13 ounces or less, be sure to add it to the flickr pool, we’d all love to see.

Ever since high school, I have always carried a blank notebook with me almost everywhere I go, for recording bits of inspiration as they strike. I also like carrying a black pen and a pencil. And only recently did it occur to me to have a pencil sharpener to carry around too. It’s the simplest but greatest thing. To have a sharpened pencil anytime I need it is such a joy. So we recently started giving pencil sharpeners to other people too (you may have noticed it in this post). We found it to be the perfect teacher gift, and with teacher appreciation day fast approaching (it’s May 4), I thought you might like the how-to.

I simply decided to buy wooden pencil sharpeners and follow the directions for making a scrabble tile pendant. Here’s what you’ll need:
—A wooden pencil sharpener
(I was turned on to KUM pencil sharpeners after reading this hearty endorsement)
—Modge podge
—Diamond glaze
(can be hard to find, so shop around in advance, you can also use epoxy resin, which is more permanent and is water resistant, but you won’t want to use it around kids)
—A piece of artwork to add to the pencil sharpener

It’s true, KUM sharpeners are the best.

We’ve used a couple different kinds of artwork to apply to the pencil sharpener. I printed an initial for one, and my son drew a picture for his teacher for another sharpener. I took a photo of it and reduced its size.

I sanded off the paint from the sharpener.

I painted the surface of the sharpener with Modge Podge, then added my artwork and painted again with Modge Podge. I decided to give the sharpener a little extra time to dry.

I flipped over the sharpener and used a craft knife to trim the overhanging edges of the artwork.

Then I added the diamond glaze. This part can be a little tricky. I added a bead of glaze the size of a dime to the center, then tilted the sharpener until the glaze covered most of the surface. I used a straight pin to guide the glaze to the corners of the surface. And finally, I set up the sharpener on a bottle cap so the sharpener was perfectly level as the diamond glaze dried (which takes a few days, so be prepared to wait).

Once the glaze was dry, we had a personalized pencil sharpener ready to go.

Don’t you think everybody should get their own fan club? Really, on some days, wouldn’t it be great to have your own cheering section? Or maybe…to open your mailbox and find fan mail?

You might want to try sending some fan mail this week. We thought we’d send some, and had a lot of fun doing it. Incase you want that fan mail to take the form of a foam finger, like ours, here’s the how-to. And if you have no occasion to make a foam finger today, trust me, there is going to come a time when you are going to want to make your own. And when that day comes, you will know how.

This has to be one of my favorite projects yet. We started with some leftover foam we’d bought at the fabric store. Thinner is better. We snipped out the appripriate shape, a front and a back.

We used a permanent fabric glue, Gem Tac or Liquid Stitch both work, and glued the front and back pieces together, then let them dry.

Next we pulled out our acrylic paint and mixed up some pink, fabric paint works too.

We made a few discoveries about working with the medium of raw cushion. It has to be damp to be painted. Aren’t you glad you have me to fill your mind with such important details? So we got the whole cushion wet and squeezed it out so it was just damp, painted onto the surface, then squeezed it out again.

I was very pleased the ty-died effect. You like?

Then, while the finger was still wet, we painted on our special message. If you’re planning to mail, remember to give this days to dry. You want it to be fully dry before you fold it over on itself.

And finally, the result. This goes out to all my readers, the very coolest readers and dearest friends in the world! I’m your fan.
If you’re just joining, today’s post is from a series I’ve started on GiversLog that has become my personal favorite. I’ve been mailing gifts that are 13 ounces or less (because in the U.S., they qualify for inexpensive, first class postage). If you come up with any fun mail and send it for 13 ounces or less, be sure to add it to the flickr pool, we’d all love to see.

Thanks to all the Idea Room readers who stopped in yesterday. If you’re just joining, today’s post is from a series I’ve started on GiversLog that has become my personal favorite. I’ve been mailing gifts that are 13 ounces or less. And thanks to a few brilliant readers, we’ve come up with some fun things. Like today’s idea. I know it is going to have you running to your recycling bin and pulling out any waterbottles you can find.

This idea came from the lovely Miss Cocoa of Chocolate on my Cranium (can you guess what Cocoa and I have in common? A complete and shameless love of chocolate, maybe?) When I first started this series, Cocoa told me about how she did this. After my friend heard about it, she suggested a bottle exchange. Such brilliance. We exchanged a few emails and agreed we’d send anything that could fit in a water bottle. So first, here’s what I mailed.

Have you ever tried a kneedable eraser? I love the things.

I used free printable labels from here and here.

And now, here is the happy mail I got in return. (Thanks, Sherry, you rock!)

Notice any similarities? We were both all grins when we opened our mailboxes. It turns out we both like turquoise, just a little.

For any of you who are still here, and haven’t run for your water bottles yet, I invite you to join in. If you have any fun, real mail that weighs 13 ounces or less, snap a shot and add it to the flickr group. We’d all love to see it.

We had a lot of fun with our latest package.

We couldn’t resist trying to bounce the whole package once it was all wrapped up.

It’s pretty sturdy, incase the postal workers aren’t able to resist.

We’ve been having a lot of fun with this series. And I’m really excited about the next couple ideas we have coming up. Stay tuned.

For more gifts that mail for 13 ounces or less, visit the flickr group.

One stack of rainbow sticky notes, all packaged up and ready to brighten the mailbox of my little sister (shh, don’t tell).

For more gifts that mail for 13 ounces or less, visit the flickr group.

I was looking for a the perfect Valentine to mail and I found it. Look at these! Did you know Junior Mints come heart shaped in February? This alone is cause to celebrate. (They would go perfect with a sappy love movie, any recommendations?) Plus it could get messy mailing Junior Mints in the summer. So I’d better mail them while I can. I’m off to the post office!
Check out 13 ounces or less on flickr for more mailable fun.

Coming next week:
My biggest giveaway. ever.
Kuddos to a couple men who gave really great gifts.
One more freebie.
And much more Valentine fun.

Wow. It will really be a good week. Can’t wait to see you then.

If you haven’t had a chance to stop by my first ever flickr group, 13 Ounces or Less, I hope you will.

And to make it official, here are the group rules. (I feel so important, making up rules. This feels just like making a club at recess.)
1. Real mail
2. that weighs 13 oz or less (368 grams)
3. sent to make someone’s day.

Simple enough, right? If you have an Etsy shop and are sending off something pretty, or if you’re mailing a clever save-the-date or some fun Valentine or birthday surprise, you’ll think of me and snap a picture, won’t you?

a few shots in the group from paper pastries, whisker graphics, and jengee

And while we’re on the topic of packages that weigh a little and delight a lot, have you heard of the garland of the month club? I first saw it on Wide Open Spaces. I’m sure you know by now that I love garland. So I was so thrilled to hear when Nicole of DeliaJude came up with this idea. If you stop by her shop, for $36 she will mail a garland a month for six months to the lucky person of your choosing. I already know where I’d hang mine.

My friends. I thought I’d better bring this idea to your attention. I know you really wouldn’t want to miss this, am I right? Last week Courtney stopped by and told me she had mailed a frisbee. That’s right, a bare frisbee and a label (Courtney, you are brilliant.) Naturally I couldn’t wait to try it myself. I have mine all ready and am headed to the post office this morning.

here it is with the mail, all set to go

(UPDATE: Mailed this off for $1.73. Not bad. More about this in Friday’s post.)

I am getting more excited about this 13 ounces or less series and all of your great ideas by the minute. So naturally, the only thing to do is to start a flickr group (my first ever!)

Introducing the 13 ounces or less flickr group.  I hope you’ll upload a photo or two of happy things you’ve mailed or received for 13 ounces or less (that’s 368 grams or less). With Valentines day around the corner here, my head is spinning with the possibilities. If you mail a sweet valentine you’ll remember to take a picture, won’t you?

If you need a little juice to get you thinking about care packages of lighter weights, you may find what you need at my gift guide page for 13 ounces or less, or check out the beautiful mail already on the flickr group. A few super talented people have been gracious enough to post already.

Here she is, my first official mailing of 13 ounces or less. I thought mini m+ms should go out with a mini garland (i did a paper version of this one by PurlBee). I packed it, wrapped it, and mailed it off for $1.57. It’s so cheerful looking, don’t you think?

mmm, chocolatejust enough space
even the scraps are cheerfulpacked and ready

A few of my favorite things you can mail via USPS first class, that is, they weigh 13 ounces or less.

the smile mask card

DIY flipbook

a post card you can carve your innitials into

DIY mini boomerang (I’m totally trying this)

assemble-able post cards, found via here

custom silhouettes available here

magnetic paper dolls, via here

pretty hair pins

pretty socks

your own personal hot air balloon, available here or get the DIY here (found via here)

magnets that turn your fridge into an aquarium

the hexbug, found this guy via here

The postal workers have been seeing more of me lately. I’ve discovered that you can stick postage on just about anything and the good people of the USPS will mail it for you. I have walked in there with two pretty small packages and a round package and I have yet to stump them.

My favorite is when the package weighs 13 ounces or less. I hand them my package and wait in suspense while they flop it onto their scale. If it’s under 13 ounces I try not to act too excited, then I send it off first class and pay only a buck or two. Really, a buck or two to send something delightful anywhere in the U.S.? A buck or two so I can have a SIL open her mailbox and find a sweet little round box jumbled in with all her more serious mail? I’m curious about weight limits elsewhere? Australia? Europe?

I’m very wrapped up in this idea, and decided to add a whole new category to my gift guide. Visit here and you will find several gifts that weigh 13 ounces or less from clever bloggers and shopkeepers out there. Word of warning, the category is based on estimates from my own brain. I did not pull out an official postal scale.

And incase you don’t find enough in the gift guide, check back tomorrow. I’ll share several other favorites that I estimate weigh in under 13 ounces.

What have you mailed for 13 ounces or less?