First Letter From a New Penpal!

I find that one of the most delighting experiences is receiving the very first letter from a new penpal. Here is a very creative envelope from a new penpal of mine on the Eastern seaboard.
I believe that my penpal made the envelope out of doubled over wrapping paper, with the edges protected by folded over clear packaging tape. Given the theme of the paper, I thought that the clear tape was a brilliant artistic as well as "architectual" design element. It felt like I was opening a well worn, traveled and patched suitcase, covered in stickers from all the places it had visited.

I was more than happy to oblige the message on the flap of the envelope.

It was a very nice first letter and I've already got a few good ideas for my return letter to this new pal.

As a post script, she added this note:

As you can tell, and I will report to her, I totally dug the envelope.

Lastly, as a courtesy practiced by most fountain pen users, she left a footnote about the pen and ink combination she used to write my letter:

I really like that Galileo Manuscript Brown, offered exclusively through the Fountain Pen Network.