Alpaca Mail, or, a Llama letter

I don't blog about kawaii stationery very often, because in truth I'm very fussy about what kawaii I like, but I think this Q-Lia Notumotu Alpaca Llama Letter set is pretty darn awesome. I mean, fuzzy wagging alpaca butts? How can one resist?



You can see this went to a friend at camp. I think a Llama letter makes some fine camp mail.

Bats + dragons = a good Postcrossing week

Sometimes Postcrossing can seem like a fruitless desert of boring touristy postcards, but other times it's full of lovely surprises. This past week has certainly been the "feast" in the "feast or famine" cycle.

Above we have the fabulous US-1779560 from the USA / New Mexico. The sender, Dan, said he hadn't figured he'd ever be sending a bat postcard to a Postcrosser, but he'd picked it up because he loves nature. This is a southwestern desert-type bat with a scorpion in its mouth. LOVE! I really like the realistic yet colorful artwork, and of course the bat is wonderful.



Dan was so thoughtful that he even used a bat stamp! This is from the "pollinator" series from a few years back... when the first class rate was 41 cents.



Then, to continue another of my favorite themes, Helen in the Netherlands sent me NL-1328714 from the Netherlands. I hope you can tell by the size of this photo that the postcard is filled with wonderful dragons! The dragons and knights are covering a fantasy-styled old map that looks to be burned at the edges, and the ornate text at the bottom reads "Dragons of the World." The postcard is called "Dragon Map" but I don't see any artist credit on it. Helen works in a bookshop and she loves to read. She mentioned that her son loves Christopher Paolini's Inheritance cycle, which is a dragon fantasy series. I loved that series, too.

And speaking of dragons, I have a confession to make:

I've been spending a ton of time reading this summer. I always read a lot in the summer, but I've become completely engrossed in George R. R. Matin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. I started the first book, "Game of Thrones," at the beginning of the month, and read it in a week... and I was totally hooked. While on vacation I read "A Clash of Kings," and now I'm in the middle of the third book, "A Storm of Swords." I am completely, totally loving it - one of the best fantasy series I've ever read, I think, and I've read a lot of them! - but it is, of course, eating up a lot of mail time. But it's the summer and I've got a fair bit of time, and I am loving the luxury of hanging out in my hammock chair for hours at a time, getting lost in a good book.

So I note all that side literary information by way of explanation, and perhaps apology, for why I've not been blogging as much!

So for now, go write a letter or read about dragons, and have a lovely Sunday.

I'm home!

I'm back from vacation, refreshed and relaxed, and have finished reading a week's worth of mail. I wrote a bunch of postcards on our cabin porch when I had some down time, and this adorable baby red squirrel kept hopping around me as I did so. Those of you that receive a postcard that references the squirrel, now you can see the culprit.



The cats were very happy to see us, and as usual, Soda claimed my suitcase as hers as soon as I walked in the door. (See the little brown mouse with pink ears on the floor to the left of the suitcase? That's hers, too.) Now I'm all unpacked, and I've finished the mountains of laundry, and my etsy shop is fully re-opened... but I've got house guests coming tomorrow, so diving into mail wholeheartedly will have to wait a little longer.

Vacation is coming...

I'll be heading off for my annual summer nature getaway soon, and my etsy shop will go on vacation with me. I plan to close the shop sometime early afternoon on Friday, July 13, and the shop will probably be closed about a week or so. Don't worry if you don't see blog posts, I'm just off gallavanting in the woods. (Cross your fingers for good weather for me?)

5 (fabulous) new postcard designs

Zesty French postman postcard

I am ever so excited to announce that I've finally finished FIVE new postcard designs in my etsy shop. I am really happy with these new designs, and and eager to share them with you all now.

First, we have the Zesty French postman postcard. This charming vintage-style French postman will bring zest to any mailbox he visits! Meta mail, anyone? He's got a bag full of letters - and he's offering a wax-sealed letter to you! Vintage-style French postage and a French mailbox grace the top of the design above the quote. The quote reads: "As long as there are postmen, life will have zest. - William James"

Unanswered correspondence: Do it Now! postcard

A lovely vintage graphic of a woman writing letters with a dip pen graces this stylish postcard. Her mail sorter is labeled "UNANSWERED CORRESPONDENCE" and the text at the top encourages "DO IT NOW!" I get inspired to write just by looking at this. Doesn't it just make you want to pick up a pen and send some mail? Hopefully it will inspire anyone to whom you send it to do the same.

Swallow's Garden Air Mail postcard

The colors on this one are even brighter in real life, if you can believe it... I think of this as almost Victorian day-glo. This design features a vintage graphics collage with a graceful flying swallow. The lovely bird bears an air mail banner, flying high above its day-glo lakeside garden, with an envelope gracing the corner - what's a mail enthusiast not to love about this postcard set?

WRITE: a letter is better postcard

This postcard can serve as encouragement, or a gentle reminder - put pen to paper (or postcard) and WRITE! An altered vintage postcard graphic featuring artwork with a letter writer dipping a feather quill pen into a bottle of ink, plus a dripping dip pen, the quote reads:
"WRITE
No news is good news,
but a letter is better."

Letterbird postcard set

Last but not least, a matching Letterbird postcard to coordinate with my existing Letterbird sticker seals.

Via airmail, via letterbird - par avian, anyone? This vintage-style swallow brings a new twist to airmail as it carries an envelope in its beak - and the envelope in its beak is sealed with red sealing wax and a sprig of flowers. The swallow is swishing through a blue sky with clouds, as I sometimes fancifully imagine my letters flying on their journeys... the bird presenting the envelope in its beak captures the excitement of the letter it seals.

I hope you all love these images as much as I do... and if you really love them, consider visiting my etsy shop and picking up some for yourself.

Zesty French postman postcard

Unanswered correspondence: Do it Now! postcard

WRITE: No news is good news, but a letter is better postcard

Letterbird postcard set

Swallow's Garden Air Mail postcard

If you want a variety, I also sell Combo packs of 5 postcards, and you can choose any combination of designs you like.

Have a great mail weekend, everyone!

4th of July was a good mail day...

...for outgoing mail, I mean! This is all the mail from yesterday that is about to head off to the post office right now. Yay mail!

If you look closely, you'll see a glimpse of one of my NEW POSTCARD DESIGNS (can you tell I am excited?) that will debut in my etsy shop either later today or tomorrow.



Here's a closer look at all the stamps. I had fun putting those Star Wars stamps on the Star Wars postcard.

Happy summer mailing, everyone!

Hello darling!

I took this photo of a glittery rose sticker on the back of a pink envelope with a scalloped flap (from the French Kitty Breakfast at Tiffany's correspondence set) just because I liked the way it looked.

And I hoped it would be a very cheery thing for the recipient to pull out of her mailbox.

A candid glimpse of my writing desk in action

Last night I wrote a long-overdue response to a letter from blog reader The Real Miss Monogram. She asked me a lot of questions about my letter-writing and mail habits, and one of the last questions was about my writing desk. She thought the photos I posted of it looked "too nice," and wanted to know if it really looked like that.

I think what she was getting at was that it looked neat and organized. HA! Looks can be deceiving... but it is fairly organized. As I wrote to her in my letter, I need to have a clean writing surface beckoning to me in order to be encouraged and inspired to sit there and write. But I did admit that I usually take photos of it right after I've tidied it up - and the tidying process is a constant one, given my shifting supplies and moods. In any case, I told her I'd take a photo RIGHT THEN in the middle of the letter to show what a "candid," or at least unplanned, untidied glimpse of my writing desk would reveal.

This is it, Soda and all.

And now it's time to go back to that writing desk and get some mail going!

Happy Independence Day!

Vintage WWII Patriotic stationery

As my American readers all know, today is a big holiday in the USA: Independence Day, also known as the Fourth of July. We celebrate our independence (from big bad England, way back in 1776) and it tends to be a day of patriotism... and picnics and fireworks!



No picnics or fireworks for me today, but I'm certainly enjoying the holiday - and I thought I'd share this vintage WWII patriotic stationery with you. It's one of those things I thought I'd blogged about long ago, but was shocked to discover today that I haven't blogged about it at all! These sets are copyright 1942 and are the real deal WWII originals, and of course I fell head over heals for the slogan on the package:



"It is your patriotic duty to write to the boys in our armed forces!" I have a few of these left in my etsy shop: Vintage WWII Patriotic stationery.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day today!

Red, white, and blue

I thought some good old red, white, and blue was in order for the season.

This is a letter I wrote last night on some vintage Wessel "envo-letters" stationery. It is WWII era, dates around the same time as the V-mails, but notes in packaging that it can be sent anywhere, not just to and from U.S. troops (as was the intent for V-mail.)



And yes, I do use the stickers I sell in my shop for my own correspondence, too.

To all my American readers, have a wonderful 4th of July holiday!