Back in stock: I jump for joy over snail mail!

After being sold out of this postcard for over a year, I finally have it back in stock in my etsy shop.

"I jump for joy over snail mail!"

Does a good letter bring you joy? Do you jump up and down with excitement when you pull promising snail mail out of your mail box? Okay, maybe there aren't too many of us who are THAT geeky over mail, but you can show your love of good old fashioned snail mail with this vintage graphic of a girl dancing on a snail. What's not to love?

Along with "I jump for joy over snail mail!", I also have 10 other postcard designs for the postal enthusiast.

May your weekend be filled with good mail!

Roses and unicorns: new sticker seal designs

I'm very excited to share with you three new envelope sticker seal designs I've just listed in my etsy shop. First, as seen above, we have a magical unicorn!



Who wouldn't want to seal a letter with a unicorn? Okay, I can think of some people who wouldn't, but I am not among them.



Next up, a lovely bright seal with a single red rose in full bloom.



I love roses in real life and in artwork, and this large, lush red rose bloom in a vintage illustration is one of the loveliest I've seen.



Last but not least, there is a vase of blooming roses, overflowing with blossoms in yellow, pink, and red.



I really enjoy the colors in this old-fashioned vase of roses, which is more subtle than the single large red blossom.

These three new sticker designs - unicorn, red rose, and old-fashioned vase of roses - are the new additions to my other three sticker designs - postman, To get a letter, write a letter, and letterbird - which have been around for a while but have proved fairly popular. I hope there are other letter writers out there who may enjoy these new designs, too.

Vintage Christmas stamps

We know I don't use Christmas stamps, but... I've just listed some lovely vintage Christmas postage stamps in my etsy shop.

Above, vintage 1982-1983 Christmas stamps, 8 1982-1983 20-cent stamps. Four have artwork of Santa Claus, and four have artwork featuring outdoor winter scenes.



These stamps are in a vintage 1989 Christmas stamp booklet with Carracci artwork from the National Gallery. The booklet contains 20 25-cent stamps, all in mint condition.

From Arago:

"Lodovico Carracci’s “The Dream of Saint Catherine of Alexandria” begins to move into the Italian Baroque style esteemed by Samuel Kress, who donated this and other paintings from that period to the National Gallery. The stamps, designed by Bradbury Thompson, were issued in sheets and books of twenty: a new format for Christmas stamps (Postal Bulletin, Oct. 19, 1989).

The lithographed, engraved design for the stamp represents only a portion of the composition of the painting, which includes Mary and angels above the sleeping Saint Catherine, for whom the painting is named. The scene illustrates the “mystic marriage” of Catherine, who dreamed Jesus “placed a ring on her finger to signify betrothal,” and indeed, she wears a ring in the painting (De Grazia 1996). While the luminous colors of the painting are not communicated on the stamp, the elegant forms of the mother and child are, with Jesus appearing more child-like in this version than in many other Christmas stamp images (De Grazia 1996)."

From the next year, I also have the Vintage 1990 Christmas stamp booklet with Antonello artwork. This booklet also contains 20 25-cent stamps, all in mint condition.

From Arago on this stamp:

"The stamp depicts Antonello da Messina's (c. 1430-1479) "Madonna and Child," which is housed at the National Gallery. Designed by Bradbury Thompson, the stamps were issued in panes of fifty stamps and booklets of twenty. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing printed the stamps by the offset/intaglio process."

Finally, a mixed lot of vintage unused Christmas postage, with the following items:

1 - 29 cent Jack in the box Greetings stamp, self-adhesive
2 - 20 cent Fra Filippo Lippi National Gallery Christmas Mary and Jesus painting stamps
1 - 22 cent Luca della Robbia, Detroit Institute of Arts Christmas Mary and Jesus on blue
1 - 6 cent toy train Christmas stamp

I know a lot of folks send holiday or Christmas cards, and if you're looking to dress up those items with some themed postage, these may be right up your alley.

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!

"To Get a Letter, Write a Letter:" new round sticker design

When I listed my "To get a letter, write a letter" square envelope seals in my etsy shop, a number of my blog readers and pen pals commented that they would like the sticker better in a round design.

You know what? I do, too.



Now you can get this design in either the original square with rounded corners, or the new round / circular design.



Sealing an envelope with this sticker is an excellent reminder that the best way to get mail is to send mail!

Vintage stationery for sale

I've got a bunch of vintage stationery items for sale in my shop right now, and I just thought I'd share a few of my favorites with you here in a clickable treasury, above. Any of the photos will lead you right to the listings.

The three I'm most excited about:

Teen Tattle vintage 1950s stationery (sold)

Vintage 1980s Cabbage Patch Kids cards

1940s Vintage Basildon Air Mail paper

All three of those are original, one-of-a-kind items, so if you like it, grab it, because I don't have multiples of those!

Lots more vintage stationery coming...

One of this summer's big themes for me will be listing a lot of vintage stationery for sale in The Missive Maven etsy shop. I've been collecting stationery all year (of course!) but it takes a long time to photograph and list it properly. If you're into vintage stationery, stay tuned to this blog, my twitter feed, and of course the aforementioned etsy shop, because I'll be listing multiple items each week.



One of my most recent listings is for this lovely complete set of Vintage Current Meadow Medly notecards. I've got an awful lot of Current stationery items to list, so if you like vintage Current, you're in luck!



I'll also be listing some lovely older vintage items from the 1940s and 1950s. Literally as I was writing this blog post about a lovely 1940s stationery set I just listed about an hour ago, it sold. So I won't tempt you with more photos. But if you're into some of the older stuff, again, keep an eye out! I guess I'm pricing things well because they're selling really quickly.

I'm off to the post office soon to mail some etsy orders AND pick up the new Miles Davis and Edith Piaf stamps just released today - yippee! I'm as excited about these new stamps as for any released in 2012.

Vintage Current Berry and Jam Notes

I just listed some lovely vintage/new summer stationery in my etsy shop: Vintage Current Berry and Jam Notes. It's a complete pack of 12 vintage Current notecards and envelopes in their original packaging, from the 1970s or 1980s, featuring summer berries on the front and a recipe on the back for how to make jam from that fruit. The pack includes 3 each of 4 designs: strawberry, blueberry, currant, and blackberry.



Do you get hungry looking at these ripe summer berries? I do! They put me in mind for summer letter-writing. I'm not a cook myself, but it seems like a double gift to send a letter and a recipe all in one with these cards.

Edit: oooops. That was fast! They're sold out already.

Postman sticker: we have a winner!

We have a winner!



Thanks so much to everyone who rang in on my request for feedback on two different Postman sticker designs. I heard from folks in blog comments, on Twitter, on Flickr, and in personal emails, and I appreciate everyone's opinions.



Formerly known as "Design 2," the guy without the obvious text was the very big winner, and he's now for sale in my etsy shop:

Postman stickers, set of 8


For those two of you who preferred the version with text, and the few kind souls who liked both, I may sell them separately soon, and I will definitely put together a combo pack because I have a couple of other random sizes floating around, too. You were all so helpful in making this decision, especially the suggestion of the combo pack, which honestly would never have occurred to me.

So now my sticker selection includes two options:

Postman stickers, set of 8
To Get a Letter, Write a Letter stickers, set of 8

I would never have even started selling stickers without feedback from readers and etsy customers (many of whom got "preview" versions of the stickers as freebie extras with orders, before I was ready to sell them), so thank you, thank you again!
Now, it's time to go write a letter...

Handmade envelopes: dreams and fantasies

I've been listing all kinds of new items in my etsy shop over the past couple of weeks, but two of the humblest are those of which I'm most proud, because I made them myself. I've had the urge to make some handmade envelopes for ages now, and I finally sat down and went on an envelope-making spree.



First we have a set of envelopes from The Twelve Dancing Princesses, a classic fairy tale. The artwork in this children's book took my breath away, and when it came into my hands, I was so excited to make envelopes out of it.



Each page has a beautiful, ornate border that I incorporated into the flaps on the back. I can't get over how rich these colors are...



Also, from the classic children's book, Where the Wild Things Are envelope set.



Max cavorts in his wolf suit with some Wild Things, terrorizes his dog, watches his bedroom become a forest... the fun of the book comes back to me as I look at these envelopes.



I managed to get a nice green tree inside the flap of one of the envelopes, a treat for the sender, too.

Both sets include 5 envelopes, and they have a water-reactive glue as an adhesive sealant, so all you have to do is moisten the flap and it will seal. No adhesive required!

Twelve Dancing Princesses upcycled/handmade envelopes

Where the Wild Things Are upcycled/handmade envelopes

Rainbow pens are back...

I thought they were gone for good, but I stumbled on some more of these great pens. I now have a few more of these awesome Zebra super marble rainbow gel pens back in my shop... which I'm also using a lot of myself! They're great on postcards, and the rainbow colors really stand out. I was kicking myself because I sold my last pens and didn't save any for myself, so I'm doubly glad I found some more of these!

Vintage Current notecards

Now that I'm coming out of my horribly busy winter season, I'm jumping back into lots more letter-writing... and also listing some items in my etsy shop that I've been meaning to list for months. I just listed some lovely vintage Current notecards in their original packaging. My favorites are shown above: vintage Current housecat notecards. There are 9 cards in 4 different designs, in their original packaging.



I also have a lovely combination pack of vintage Current thank-you cards. This one also has 9 cards, but in 3 different designs. (The butterfly pictured is far and away my favorite.)

Letters in the Mail: from famous authors, to you

I have never been a fan of the "buy a letter from me" gimmick that some folks employ, though really, - to each her own. However, this new little gimmick from The Rumpus looks pretty intriguing. Their Letters in the mail subscription gets you a letter from a famous author "almost every week." No, the letters are not personalized - everyone got the same letter from Margaret Cho, for example - but it is still an interesting idea, and a great way to give quality writers a little extra income between their publications, no? (I'll give you a little secret: those of you who know me very well already know that my best beloved is a writer, with a real-live hardback novel coming out in future months... but don't worry, I'll tell you ALL ABOUT IT when it's closer to publication. So I'm pretty down with supporting writers.)

Want to know more? I definitely did. Here's an interview with author Stephen Elliott that tells us all a little more about it.

I might try it. I haven't decided yet. [I admit it - curiosity got the better of me and I already signed up!] If you're a reader or a literary type, you might be interested, too. Anyone who's subscribed to Letters in the mail already? I'd love to hear from you about it.

New shop section: vintage postage

So y'all probably know I have a lot of stamps. I am rich in vintage postage, both from my Grandpa's old stamp collection as well as my many purchasing ventures. I'm now putting a few for sale in the new vintage postage section of my etsy shop.

Many of you also know I'm Jewish, so I'm not going to use the many Christmas stamps that have come my way in various stamp lots. I've just posted two different listings for holiday/Christmas stamps that people other than myself will probably be a lot more interested in.



This Vintage holiday greetings postage book is in excellent unused condition, with 20 29-cent stamps. Perfect for the current postcard rate! They are glue-backed, so you do need to moisten for the adhesive.



Also, a smaller lot of 6 unused individual Christmas stamps.

I'm on the fence about selling some other stamps. The Christmas ones are the only ones I have that I know I'll never, ever actually use. But I've seen a lot of folks selling vintage unused postage on etsy lately, and it seems to be pretty popular. I'm considering selling some of my other postage that I have a lot of, even some of the letter-writing themed stuff...



...like the stamps pictured on this postcard. What do you think? Would you be interested? Should I sell other vintage stamps? Feedback most appreciated!

All 6 postcard designs in my etsy shop: Sandbook article

I'm honored to have been asked by Sandbook.net magazine for pen pals and swappers to be featured in an upcoming issue of their magazine. I've been in touch with the very accommodating Raia, and she suggested a lot of great possibilities. Since I'm so excited about all my new postcard designs that I'm selling in my etsy shop, I jumped on that option. I'm writing this blog post to double as a magazine article, featuring all 6 of my postcard designs. A lot of my blog readers have asked if I designed these postcards myself, and it seems I haven't been as clear as I could have been, so let me proclaim it here: these postcards are all of my own designs, using either vintage graphics or my own photographs that I manipulated using GIMP graphics software. The genesis of these postcards stems from me searching etsy for snail-mail related postcards... and when I didn't find what I was looking for, I decided I'd just go ahead and design them myself! The six postcard designs, all printed professionally by Vistaprint, are as follows.




1. "Solitude and good company: Lord Byron letter-writing quote postcard"

I have always adored this quote by Lord Byron -- in fact, it's the very first item I put on this website when I was designing it a few years ago! -- and decided it was high time to design a postcard that featured it. The quote is at the bottom in white script on black, below a photo I took of three wonderful vintage stamps from the 1974 "Letters Mingle Souls" issue.

The text reads:
Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company.
-Lord Byron



2. "I jump for joy over snail mail!"

When I found this graphic of a girl dancing on a snail, I knew I had to put it to postal use.

Does a good letter bring you joy? Do you jump up and down with excitement when you pull promising snail mail out of your mail box? Okay, maybe there aren't too many of us who are THAT geeky over mail, but you can show your love of good old fashioned snail mail with this vintage graphic of a girl dancing on a snail. What's not to love?



3. "Vintage Postman postcard"

Reproduction of a beautiful vintage postman illustration. Meta mail, anyone? Check out his snappy uniform. Look at his bountiful bundle of packages and letters - and he's offering a letter to you!



4. "Snail Mail: Not Dead Yet"

Don't you hate it when someone says "snail mail is dead" or "no one writes letters anymore" or something like that? I do! I put those sentiments to work in my slightly creepy, goth-inspired, Monty-Python-quoting design. The postcard reads "Snail Mail: Not Dead Yet" alongside a black-and-white graphic of a skull holding a letter, accented with a red seal on the envelope.



5. "To Get a Letter... Write a letter"

The phrase "to get a letter, send a letter" predates my generation by many years, but it is a great motivator for anyone who wants to receive more mail. If you want it coming in, send it out! I have seen this on vintage labels as far back as the 1950s. The slogan on this postcard is slightly modified to match the vintage graphic of writing hands; it reads "to get a letter, write a letter." I hope it motivates some letter writing and postcard sending!



6. "Email: when you care enough to send the very least"

For this design, I have faithful blog reader (and etsy customer!) Joe Chapman to thank. He suggested this pithy phrase in a comment after I debuted my Snail mail: not dead yet postcards.

So... in response to all those who have fallen into the habit of emailing thank-you notes, or corresponding via email instead of proper snail mail, this postcard thumbs its nose! The postcard reads "E-mail: when you care enough to send the very least" set inside an ornate baroque frame, with the email "@" symbol highlighted in the internal frame.



All the postcard backs have the vintage postcard graphic design as shown above...



..and the frame on the back is a perfect fit for the current design of 29-cent postcard rate stamps, the correct postage rate if you're sending domestically within the USA. (I realize a lot of the readers of Sandbook are from outside the USA, so I hope the frame fits some of your own postage stamps nicely, too!)

By the way, I used some of my own fountain pens and stamps to "pose" in photos with the postcards... the etsy listings include only the postcards, and not any fountain pens or stamps. All the postcards measure 4.25 x 5.5 inches, and they are sold in packs of 5 for $5 USD; shipping rates vary by country. Each design has a high-gloss image side, and the writing side has a more matte finish that is great for writing with any kind of pen, including fountain pens.



They are also available in combination packs of postcards so you can mix and match your favorite designs. You can get any combination of the 6 designs:
Snail mail: Not Dead Yet
Vintage Postman
To get a letter... Write a letter
Email: when you care enough to send the very least
I jump for joy over SNAIL MAIL!
Solitude and good company: Lord Byron letter-writing quote

...just make sure to specify in "notes to seller" how many you want of each design.

I hope some of you have as much fun with these as I did - I have certainly been enjoying sending them off myself!

Thanks to Raia and Sandbook.net magazine for this opportunity to crow about my postcards. I hope Sandbook readers might check out MissiveMaven.com, and my blog readers might take a look at the great Sandbook blog, too!

3 more new postcard designs in my shop

The creative juices are flowing fast this summer, and I am having a ball creating the postcards I wish I could find. So I've got three new designs up in my etsy shop!



1. "Solitude and good company: Lord Byron letter-writing quote postcard". I have always adored this quote by Lord Byron -- in fact, it's the very first item I put on this website when I was designing it a few years ago! -- and decided it was high time to design a postcard that featured it. The quote is at the bottom in white script on black, below a photo I took of three wonderful vintage stamps from the 1974 "Letters Mingle Souls" issue.

The text reads:
Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company.
-Lord Byron



2. I jump for joy over snail mail postcard. When I found this graphic of a girl dancing on a snail, I knew I had to put it to postal use.

Does a good letter bring you joy? Do you jump up and down with excitement when you pull promising snail mail out of your mail box? Okay, maybe there aren't too many of us who are THAT geeky over mail, but you can show your love of good old fashioned snail mail with this vintage graphic of a girl dancing on a snail. What's not to love?



3. NEW re-designed Postman postcard. I was unhappy with the red-bordered old design (which is now discounted at 7 for $5 in case you liked that design with the poem better), so I cleaned up the graphic and removed the poem, and placed it all on a soft cream background.

Reproduction of a beautiful vintage postman illustration. Meta mail, anyone? Look at his bountiful bundle of packages and letters - and he's offering a letter to you!




I've updated my very popular combination pack of postcards to include photos of all 6 designs together, too. In sum total, they are:
Snail mail: Not Dead Yet
Postman (new design on cream with no borders)
To get a letter... Write a letter.
Email: when you care enough to send the very least.
I jump for joy over SNAIL MAIL!
Solitude and good company: Lord Byron letter-writing quote

I hope some of you have as much fun with these as I did - I am certainly going to be sending some of them myself. :-)

Now, in other shop news -- I'm going on vacation next week. I will be in the woods again, my annual pilgrimage, and I'll be far away from my shop. I think I will probably put my shop "on vacation" so that no one orders items and then gets disappointed that they won't ship for a week. But when a shop goes on vacation, the items disappear until the shop returns. So if you're thinking of getting anything from my shop, do it before Monday, or wait until the shop and I come back online on July 18.