"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!

Par avion, or par avian? Letterbird seals

I've just listed a brand-new item in my etsy shop:

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.



The letterbirds are sold in packs of eight (8) self-adhesive glossy round circle sticker seals. They are 1.5" square, full color printing of a vintage-style bird with an envelope in its beak. You can use them to seal envelopes, spice up mail, or decorate letters - an excellent mail art tool!



If you like mail-related envelope seals, you can check out all 3 designs I currently offer.



Happy mailing, and write on!

Wax seals don't make it, sometimes

I don't use sealing wax myself, but a lot of my correspondents and fellow letter-writers do. I've posted many times about beautiful wax seals I've received, but sometimes they don't make it through the mail. I gather there are more modern, supple kinds that are made to be flexible in our modern mail sorting machines; sometimes the old-school stuff is fine and sometimes it isn't.



This time it didn't survive very well... just an FYI for what it can look like when it gets smooshed by the sorting machines.

Dragon seal

This fine wax seal - is it a dragon or a gryphon? - came to me from a wise correspondent who puts seals on the inside of an envelope, right on the page of the letter, so that they don't get mangled in the mail sorting machines. Love this one!

I am rich in letterbats

In the same week, I got another bat gracing an envelope - lucky me!! This one came with a fine glittery gold wax seal, too, and sound effects from the bat.

Meep
(That's echolocation.)
Fwap, fwap, fwap
(That's the gentle sound of a bat flapping its wings, of course.)

Wax seals, how I love them...

This came from a correspondent in the UK. The photo doesn't do it justice - the wax is metallic, a swirl of copper and bronze - just gorgeous! By the smell and feel, I'd say this is real wax and not the imitation plastic stuff. What fun to receive a letter sealed with wax!



One of my more creative UK correspondents has a toucan wax seal, which he has named Eric. He wrote me a letter a while back in which Eric got mangled in the post, but his second attempt to send me an Eric seal was successful.

I don't know why I've never managed to get into using wax seals myself. My husband even has a seal and some sealing wax that he's offered to let me use. I guess I feel like I already have too many addictions around letter-writing (stationery, fountain pens, ink, rubber stamps, stickers...) that I don't want to set myself up with another one.