Behind Cycle 5

Every month Mail Club gives me an excuse to try something new.

For this month's postcard, I ended up taking one of my favorite photos I've made in a while. It's a macro photograph of me holding a red cherry. Simple enough. But when I loaded the image onto my computer and zoomed in, I couldn't believe how much detail was there. You can literally see the ridges of my fingerprints. Didn't even know my camera could do that.

"The beauty of the natural world lies in the details." -Natalie Angier

The bookmark came from another one of those moments. My boyfriend made a chainmail pillow completely by hand, and I became slightly obsessed with the texture. Every time I walked past it I found myself staring and it and playing with it.

Eventually I put it on my scanner just to see what would happen.

The scan picked up every little ring. I like transforming things from my real life into patterns. I knew immediately I wanted to share it with Mail Club.

The sticker this month might be my favorite part though.

I drew a prince character with pink star eyes.

He started as a doodle in my journal. Then he became a sticker. Now he has become an entire little world in my head.

I think what I love most about him is that he exists because I stopped worrying about whether people would like my sketches.

A year ago I probably would've kept drawings like that to myself.

I would've convinced myself they weren't good enough. Not polished enough. Too weird or personal.

Mail Club has slowly changed that.

Every month I have to make something.

Every month I have to put it out into the world.

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One thing I've learned from this project is that people don't connect with perfection nearly as much as they connect with sincerity.

The thing that seems to resonate most every cycle has been the letter. I have gotten endless comments and messages from people about them getting emotional reading my letter. That has got to be the most rewarding feedback I've gotten since starting Prince of California. Never expected that kind of connection with people, but what else could I really want? It is so cool to connect with people all around the world.

This month's theme is about not being afraid to be seen trying.

Not waiting until you're the finished version of yourself before you go for it.

Not waiting until you're confident before you make the thing.

Not waiting until you're certain before you share it.

Because the truth is, most? all? of us are figuring it out as we go.

The artists you admire. The people you look up to.

The people making the things you love.

They're all just trying too. And maybe that's the whole point of life??? TRY the thing you want to try?? IDK! Why not, right?

Anyway, thank you for being here and listening to me ramble.

AND if you have been a Mail Club member at all the last 5 months...thank you for giving me a reason to keep making strange cute little things and sending them all around the world every month.

I'll see you in Cycle 6.

-Parker🜲

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Mail Club Cycle 3

I’m writing this on the sofa right now with my mini goldendoodle Harley curled up next to me. She’s 9, still acts like a puppy, but I call her a grandma because she’s getting so old. Time has been moving fast lately. Three days ago my boyfriend and I celebrated 11 years together and I keep having this feeling like I need everything to slow down just a little.

Cycle 3 of Mail Club is out into the world and I still don’t fully know how to process that.

What started as an idea has turned into something real. Not just something I’m making and sending out, but something people are actually holding, opening, and using in their own lives. That part means everything to me.

I love creating things for creative people. I love that this isn’t just something that sits on a shelf. It gets used. It gets cut up, glued down, written on, layered into pages that tell someone’s story.

That’s what Mail Club has become and what makes it feel alive to me.

What Cycle 3 looks like

This month was a little different.

I don’t usually show myself in my content, so creating a self portrait for the postcard felt unexpected. It pushed me in a direction I don’t normally go, and that’s something Mail Club has been giving me space to do more of.

To try things. To revisit parts of art I’ve always loved. To not overthink it.

Every envelope this month has a piece of that inside.

Journal prompts for Cycle 3

If you’re sitting down with your Mail Club this month, here are a few ways to use what’s inside:

Writing prompts

• write about something you’ve been overthinking and what it would feel like to let it go

• what is something in your life you wish would slow down

• document a moment from this week that you don’t want to forget

• write a letter to yourself one year from now

• what does “feeling present” look like for you right now

Collage prompts

• create a page using only pieces from this Mail Club

• layer textures without worrying about placement, let it feel a little messy

• build a page around a single word that stands out to you

• cut things up and rearrange them into something new

• make a spread that feels like “right now” in your life

There’s no right way to do any of it. That’s the point.

Why Mail Club exists

Mail Club exists because everything online moves fast.

This is the opposite of that.

It’s paper, ink, envelopes, time.

It’s something that shows up for you, not something you have to go find.

It’s something you can hold.

And the fact that there are now 500+ people choosing that every month is something I don’t take lightly.

Cycle 4 is open now

Cycle 4 is April, which also happens to be my birthday month, and I already know I want to make it something special.

If you’ve been thinking about joining Mail Club, now is the time.

You can join here: princeofmail.com

Limited spots are open right now and I would really love to have you in it.

Thank you for being here, whether you’re already part of Mail Club or just watching it grow.

This has turned into something I care about more than I expected.

Xoxo -Parker and Harley 💌

PRINCE OF MAIL: Update

We’re heading into Mail Club Cycle 3, and right now I’m in that strange in-between stage of waiting. Waiting for the postcards, waiting for the stickers, waiting for all the pieces that eventually come together into the package that lands in your mailbox.

Waiting is my least fav moment in the process. The designs are done, the ideas are there, and the envelopes in my studio are ready to be filled… but everything is still scattered across production timelines. It is set to start arriving tomorrow...but I am still feeling antsy!! lol

And honestly, I’m so excited for this month.

Not just because I love what’s coming in this cycle, but because something really unreal is happening behind the scenes.

We are about to hit 500 Mail Club subscribers.

I still can’t fully wrap my head around that number.

When I first started Mail Club, it was just an idea I thought a handful of people would be into. I never imagined that after only two months we would already be approaching five hundred people.

Five hundred mailboxes.

That honestly blows my mind you guys!!!!!!

Running Prince of California full time can sometimes feel like I’m just sitting at my desk making things and sending them out into the void. But every time I see someone using the stickers in their journal, sharing their spreads, or showing the Mail Club envelope arriving in their mailbox, it reminds me that these little things I’m making are actually becoming part of people’s creative lives.

Seeing the way you all use the goodies in your journals, and the way you support what I’m building here, means more to me than you probably realize.

This community is truly the best.

Right now I’m refreshing tracking numbers and waiting for deliveries so I can start assembling Cycle 3. Very soon the studio will be covered in stacks of paper, stamps, stickers, and envelopes before everything gets packed up and sent out into the world again.

If you’re already part of Mail Club, thank you for being here.

And if you’ve been thinking about joining, you can sign up at princeofmail.com. I usually keep signups open for the current month until the 15th, then pause them for a few days while I pack and ship orders. After everything goes out, signups reopen around the 20th for the following month.

Your mailbox deserves something fun.

— Parker