Cottage Letters: Fun mail is here again.
The short story is that I have a new letter subscription. It’s called:
Letters about life, the seasons, and gardening.
It’s not excessively sweet or sentimental. You know I don’t do saccharine very well. I’ve got too much of an edge for all that. And I’m an enthusiastic gardener but not a good gardener. I’m also not an old lady. But this title Cottage Letters seems to be completely adequate and also vague enough to encapsulate what I plan on getting up to with these letters: Talking about life, the seasons, and thoughts I have in the garden. Plus I like the double TTs in both words:
Veranda Letters? I like saying VER-AN-DAHHHHHH. Maybe. I might change it. So many ideas come from sitting on my veranda. Basically it’s Letters from Janice but that is about the most boring title ever. Cottage Core reminds me of Cottage Gore. I’ve asked around. We’ve net out at Cottage Letters. (Please leave a comment below with other suggestions.)
My aim with these letters is to write the most beautiful encapsulation of the month and add ephemera that makes the package a treat to receive.
If you don’t want the long story but do want the letters, head over to my Etsy shop.
Now for the long story.
As you know, I finished up the Paris Letters subscriptions at the end of 2020. Just in time to release another book, have four (!!!) MORE surgeries, Lyme Disease, plus the fresh delights of brain fog experienced by ladies of my certain age. HONESTLY, I ask you.
I focused on painting because my writerly brain was on hiatus. I painted Paris storefronts, I did a line of notecards for Chronicle Books (out in 2026), I made collages… I puttered aimlessly looking for The Thing. I got art crushes on Urban Anna and Katie Daisy.
As I look back, I see all these as training ground. My inner Mr. Miyagi hard at work getting me in shape for the next big event.
Then we had postal strike. In December! And it lasted four long weeks. It was a bit disastrous for my ol’ Etsy shop. Since I use the regular mail with regular stamps and most orders come in December, I was stuck. To use another service would have wiped away my profits, so I put my shop on vacation mode and accepted the sour reality.
Forced vacation. Gross.
When you’re in the well and all you have to eat is lemons, you take the lemons. You eat the lemons. You accept the lemons.
Photo: Annie Spratt
During this hiatus, I asked myself a very simple question:
What if I made the letter subscription of my dreams?
It would:
Include an exquisitely written letter… as many pages as it takes.
Include fun ephemera… some created by me, some by others… ephemera is Found Things after all.
Have matchy matchy envelopes, seals, and stickers to make it pretty.
Have fancy lettering.
It’s not like a Paris Letter, which are illustrated letters. Paintings, really, with a letter written on the painting. I was really into the illustrations when I was in Paris. Now I’m really into the writing and creating an exquisite letter package, which won’t always be an illustrated letter. It might never be. I’m not sure. I don’t want to limit myself to a small section of a page to fit a letter within. No more boxing myself in!
Here is the anatomy of the January 2025 Cottage Letter…
Voila!
This letter includes a letter (three glorious pages long), a botanical postcard AND a card from Jessica Roux oracle card deck… another art crush. Every person will get a different card from her deck. Sort of a January-resolution-future-seeing surprise for everyone.
I did have some concerns. Reservations, if you will.
I even went to the envelope shop to talk to the wall of envelopes. I’m not even kidding.
“Are we doing this again, guys? Is this happening?” The response:
Nothing but smiles looking back at me. I guess we’re doing this.
I’m back, baby. It’s gonna be epic.
This is what I want to spend the rest of my long life thinking about:
Creating amazing fun mail that brings all the writing and artistry together in one very lovely package. Month after month. Year after year.
I asked Christophe about it and he shrugged. Perfect. He did the same when I told him about Paris Letters and look how that turned out. His reaction was never important. My reaction to his reaction was what was important. You shrugging at this?!?!?!?!? Fine, I’ll show you.
That’s all the fire it takes, apparently. And a wall of envelopes who want to follow you home.
There is a 12 month subscription, a 6 month subscription, and you can also buy just one letter if you want to check it out.
Get your letter subscriptions over in my Etsy shop.
Thanks!
