Introducing our “Curious Travellers Collection”

Today I’m excited to finally reveal that we have a new range of lifestyle products available in our web shop! Our “Curious Travellers Collection” features four cute animal characters in some of my favourite European cities and all the artwork has been lovingly illustrated by myself these past few months. It has been a true delight putting this collection together and I can’t wait to show you…

Meet Fifi the Fox, Murphy the Meerkat, Rita the Red Panda and Gina the Giraffe! These adorable characters are featured in Santorini (Greece), Barcelona (Spain), Paris (France) and Tuscany (Italy). I chose these locations because they truly are absolute gems and I hold them very close to my heart.

So if you’re creatively curious, please visit our exciting online shop:

https://www.gracefulavenue.com.au/curious-travellers-collection

We currently offer Free Worldwide Shipping, too. Please let me know – what are your thoughts on our newest collection?

xx Naira

Founder of Graceful Avenue

DIY Washi Tape Swatch Sheet

I have been loving putting pen to paper for a few years now and really enjoy making beautiful friendships through the disappearing art of letter writing. With each letter I send out I simply love including a few extra things in the envelope such as stickers, die-cuts, gift tags, little cards or notes but have never really included washi tapes (since they are so bulky) until now.

For this mini DIY project you’ll need:

• Polypropylene sheets
• Washi tapes
• Cutting mat
• Craft knife
• Corner cutter
• Scissors
• Permanent Markers (for optional decorating)

Step-by-step Process:

• Cut the polypropylene sheets to the size you want. If you’re planning on sending this in your snail mail make sure you make it small enough to fit into your envelope!

Round off the corners to eliminate sharp edges. Scissors may also be used to cut the corners.

For this next step you can decorate the swatch with markers that are smudge-resistant for a creative touch! This is optional of course.

Now the fun part – choose which washi tapes you’d like to stick on the swatch and wind the tape around as many times as you like. The more tape, the heavier your letter will be.

And there you have it! Get as creative as you like, there really are no rules for this DIY.

InCoWriMo Challenge Completed

The idea of handwriting one letter for each day in February actually really scared me in the beginning but I’m proud to report that I’ve now completed the InCoWriMo challenge as of yesterday, and really enjoyed myself in the process. International Correspondence Writing Month connects hundreds of people from all around the world with a passion for the written word. You choose 28 people from the list to write to and post one letter each day. There was just something so relaxing about writing, engaging my mind with thoughts, and of course the creative part of decorating the envelopes and picking out which stationery to send alongside the letter.

I waited until I had a whole bunch of letters written before posting them so that I could take some cool photos first then release them out to friends and strangers in all corners of the world.

So let’s take a photographic look on the experience I had writing and sending 28 letters in February.

I’ve had an absolute blast taking part in this challenge and would like to thank everyone that sent me some snail mail as well as the incredible postmen and postwomen who work so incredibly hard in all weather conditions to get our mail delivered. Thank you!

 

Letter Writing Challenge

Happy 2019, dear readers! If you are wondering how we are almost at the end of January already, I’m shaking my head right beside you in disbelief. At least we are a few days away from February, which starts off “International Correspondence Writing Month” (InCoWriMo). The concept involves putting pen to paper and writing a letter a day for each day of February, resulting in 28 letters or postcards in total. I’ve signed up for my second year of this challenge and you can still sign up until January 31st right here.

For a stationery lover like me, I look forward to not only revisiting my own handwriting style, but also sending out cute stickers, postcards and illustrations along with my letters. While there are many different ways to choose your 28 recipients, I’m treating this as a way to make friends in countries that I love and virtually travel to my favourite cites. I hope you can join me in this InCoWriMo challenge for a much needed step away from technology and back to traditional ways of corresponding.

AliExpress Stationery Haul

As a stationery designer it’s always such a treat to be able to order some cute stationery for my own ever-growing collection. I love to shop on AliExpress as there’s always a great variety of products at a great price, usually with free shipping to Australia. In recent years I bought lots of different items from this popular site that offers everything from technology to clothing, homewares to beauty and everything in between!

Just the other day an order arrived from the “house of novelty Official Store” in China and got me all excited for the totally adorable stickers I received. Let’s take a look:

These are probably my favourite stickers of all time and I just adore them! I’ll definitely use these to decorate my letters and envelopes as well as sending a bunch to snail mail friends.

These travel-themed stickers are giving me major wanderlust! Their small size makes them ideal for inclusion in my outgoing letters and their quality is simply great.

Cute animal stickers anyone? I can’t wait to send some of these to my friends with young children who are going to love them!

So there you have it. You can click on the images of these products to be taken to the ordering page on AliExpress. Happy shopping!

Disclaimer: I was not paid to post about these products. All opinions are my own.

Introducing “Mail my way”

Snail Mail has truly experienced a comeback in recent times and we’re so thrilled that more and more people are putting pen to paper in our technological age. So today we’d like to showcase our newest product range called “Mail my way”, a series of illustrated letter writing sets to encourage you to send more mail and write on some very cute paper and envelopes. This first one is the “Mishka Edition” and features our signature panda.

Design process: Mishka is always hand-drawn first to start the ideas flowing. Then we use a bamboo stylus pen and create illustrations directly in Adobe Illustrator, add a pop of colour and the result can be seen below!

What is included in this pack:

• 6 x A5 lined letter writing paper
• 2 x envelopes
• 2 x envelope seals
• 1 x paper clip

All this for $10 AUD plus shipping.

“Mail my way” packaging is professional and our product is of a high quality.

Visit our online shop to get your “Mail my way” kit today!

We’ll be at The District Makers Market this Sunday, 17th of June so you can shop directly from us then if you’re in Melbourne!

Snail Mail Challenge

I participated in a letter writing challenge as part of International Correspondence Writing Month (aka InCoWriMo) where we had to mail out a postcard or letter every day in the month of February.

I wanted to share some of my outgoing mail with you and say I really enjoyed taking part but feel like we really have become a society too dependant on technology. It felt so great to pick up a pen and write to a stranger or friend. I look forward to trying this again next year!

Happy snail mailing!

Best Moments of 2017

This year was quite memorable and eventful for me. From holidays to concerts, leisurely bike rides to reading and writing long hand-written letters to friends, I’ve truly enjoyed most of what came my way this year. It’s almost time to welcome in the New Year, but before that let’s take a look at my favourite memories from 2017!

In January/February, I returned to my favourite city of Barcelona for a month-long visit! During this time Montserrat and Cadaques were also covered on day trips and overall this holiday was everything I could have ever wished for!

In March the superstar that is Adele came to town for an unforgettable summer’s night of raw emotion and a powerhouse vocal.

In July, I was fortunate enough to attend the concert of one of my favourite singers – Gavin DeGraw. Meeting him after the show was such an honour and his show was truly something special.

That same month one of my favourite musicals “My Fair Lady” was also playing in town at the Princess Theatre. I absolutely loved it!

Taking a bike ride along Port Melbourne’s foreshore never ceases to impress me.

I’ve absolutely loved making new friends through the art of handwritten letters and re-connecting with old friends.

This year I launched our “Cute Parcels” concept and recently was a market vendor at Carols by Kingston! Thank you to everyone that has supported us over the years!

This year I also took the time to engage with nature more, practise my photography and spend more time with the ones I love.

Just this month I was in the company of two more “One Tree Hill” alumni when Tyler Hilton and Kate Voegele came to Thornbury. They brought the house down!

So thanks 2017! You’ve been a pretty great year.

Bring on 2018!

Christmas Events

Sorry for the lack of updates on here, dear friends. Somehow time just got the better of me.

I’m excited to share that this month, the very last in 2017, we’ll be at two Christmas events in Melbourne where you can buy our products. The first is happening this Sunday December 10th, at Sir William Fry Reserve in Highett. The event is called Carols by Kingston and for the first time we’ll be selling from inside a marquee!

We’ve been super busy getting everything ready for what promises to be a very exciting night filled with handmade goodies, gourmet food, cheerful carols and celebrity appearances. Please come along if you can! We’ll be there from 6.30pm until 10pm.

These are just a handful of products that you could expect to find when you shop at our stall. Your support means the world to us and we always get such a kick from interactive directly with our customers.

The second event this month is happening at Clarinda Community Centre on Friday 15th of December from 5pm – 9pm as a twilight Christmas market. We’re just as excited to be part of this smaller event.

Hope to see you at one of these great events soon! Have a lovely weekend!

Naira

Cute Parcel of Birthday Love

We’ve shown you our other two themes for “Cute Parcels” and today we’ll showcase the Birthday-themed goodies you can choose from to make your very own cute parcel. Remember, you choose one item from each category (four items in total plus we include a special FREE GIFT), then securely checkout with PayPal. We’ll create a lovely package of your selections and ship it to you worldwide. It’s very simple!

For the “Cute Parcel of Birthday Love” we have these products for you to pick from…

Greeting Cards:

Stickers: 

Mini Cards:

Gift Tags:

Has something caught your eye? Don’t forget that you can add a “Cute Parcel” to your shopping cart and mix it up with other products from our Online Shop before checking out! We sell stickers, postcards, greeting cards and wall prints on our website too.

Take me shopping!