Friendship Books "fb's"
Friendship Books (called "FB's" or "fb's" for short) are traded and exchanged among pen-pallers.
They are small, handmade booklets that get mailed from one person to the next, each one adding
their own name and address (usually with a stick-on return address label), often adding stickers
or other decorations, and then sent on to another. Often people will write bits of information
about themselves, including age, hobbies, etc.
When the book is full, it is sent back to the person who started (or made) it, and they can see all
the places it has travelled, often around the world, to different states or countries.
My own interest in Friendship Books has to do with combining three things I love: writing and
receiving letters, stamp collecting, and making quilts. It may seem impossible to combine such
varied hobbies, but it is actually quite possible, and fun.
Not only are there stamps
issued to honor letter writing (of course, LOL), also honoring making quilts. That is one part of
combining these wonderful hobbies, but an even more fun and exciting, in some ways, is to
actually build a quilt with the friendships and people who share any of my FB's.
Please send me a 6-inch (15 cm) square of fabric, so I can make an international patchwork quilt,
and in exchange, I will send you 5 beautiful fb's of your own, that you can then send to your
friends, or penpal exchange partners. If you have stick-on return address labels, please include
them, (and I will make as many fb's as you send fabric for, in other words, if you send me 10
squares of fabric, YES, I will send you 50 fb's.
OR, send me 5 used commemorative pictoral stamps from your country (including the USA),
and I will match you 1:1, sending you an fb for each stamp) For stamps, please do not exceed 10
stamps, unless you include one square of fabric as well, thank you.
There are some "pointers" that I find important in the use of Friendship Books, listed
below:
1. Send any FB that you receive to someplace it has never been before. It is more fun for the
person for whom it was made for.
2. FB's should be made of good quality paper, as they will put on a lot of miles, before making
their way back home!
3. Do not return the FB to the person it was made for until it is full.
4. An FB should not have too many pages, or its journey may take a very long time. Also, the
risk of it getting lost along the way is greater.
5. Do not keep an FB not made for you, send it on. Even if you do not choose to sign it, perhaps
put just a note saying something like "Joe Smith from Paris sends this onward", to let the owner
of the FB know it was in France, and also just to be friendly!
6. Include in your FB what interests you - especially if combining stamp collecting, and sending
it to other stamp collectors. Perhaps listing your areas of interest, or other hobbies, without
taking up too much room.
While some of the "jargon" is the same for penpalling as it is for computer
communication, there are some differences, that you may see on fb's that return to you. Some
are listed below:
*A/A = answers all
*A/M = answers most
*A/S = answers some
*A/O = answers only (..... whatever....for example "married women")
*BBFN = bye bye for now
*BD or DOB = birth date or date of birth
*FB = friendship book
*EMS = email soon
*ICR = I can return (people willing to return the full fb home)
*LL = long letters
*LLP = long letter penpals
*LLO = long letters only
*LSASE = long self-addressed envelope
*N/M = no men
*NNPP = no new pen pals
*NPW = new penpals wanted
*PC = post card
*SNNP = sorry, no new penpals
*SWA = swaps with all
*SS = swap soon (meaning fb's)
*TTFN = ta ta for now
*W/A = wedding anniversary
*W/S = write soon
*W/W = world wide
*WBSP = write back soon please
Please click on the house below, to read about the Buick! Project. My address is also given
there, for you to send the fabric square, and also to understand what the Buick! Project is. Thank
you, and I hope to hear from you soon. You can also email me at [email protected]
if you would like more information.