Opening my holiday swap for Pencils of Promise

I was going to wait until Christmas Day to open my holiday swap for Pencils of Promise package.

I had every intention of putting it under the tree in the corner of my living room, with the rest of the gifts from family and friends.

But then a neat, brown box came through my letterbox with a beautifully addressed front and US Postal Service stamp and temptation got the better of me!

I’m not ashamed to admit that I got a little emotional when I opened it.

Jeanette Huang – also known as salt.and.ink on Instagram, where the holiday swap participants were recruited from – put a colourful collection of goodies together for me and I loved the quotes she chose.

The first was from AA Milne, creator of Winnie the Pooh, and it was written in modern calligraphy lower case and printed upper case letters in a beautiful blend of colours.

The second was cake-related, which I certainly approved of, and had been foiled, which is also something she did with my name and Instagram address on a hand-painted and hand-lettered card.

She also included a notepad printed in the US by Rifle Paper Co – perfect for list-making – and some trinkets from US stationery store Paper Source.

These were a set of 25 compliment cards, which I’ll definitely be sharing around my friends, and a compact mirror reminding me of my apparent awesomeness.

I will treasure them and add them to the inspiration wall I’m putting together for 2017!

I’ve had so much fun taking part in the holiday swap for Pencils of Promise.

The ‘secret santa’ for calligraphers was the brainchild of a group of calligraphers on Instagram.

They teamed up to form Letter for Good and #LetterforPop was their first campaign.

You can read more about the background in my previous blog here and also see what I sent to my swap match here.

You can follow me on Instagram @creativecallig and check out @letterforgood and search #LetterforPoP to see what everyone else has been sharing this Christmas.