Giveaway: Edward Gorey Evil Garden 2014 calendar

What better way to end the year than with a giveaway? One lucky blog reader will win this 2014 Edward Gorey Evil Garden Calendar. There's nothing wrong with it except for a slight rip in the plastic wrap (which you can see in the photo above), but it's still in its original packaging.

Why am I giving it away, you may wonder? Well, my mother-in-law is awesome. She knows me and my taste so well that she gave me the gift of this calendar, which is the very one I had already purchased for myself. I am looking forward to hanging my copy above my writing desk on January 1, and this one is for someone else to enjoy.




THE INEVITABLE RULES

1. HOW: To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post. One comment/entry per person, please.

2. WHO: No anonymous comments will be approved. You need a blogger profile to enter this giveaway (simply because I need to know who you are - I'm not going to count through "anonymous #7"), and if you don't have a blogger profile yet, just make one. It's fast, easy and free, doesn't require a blog, and I think only requires a valid email address. Also, you must provide a valid email address in your comment. If your comment/entry doesn't have a blogger profile with a valid email address, it won't even get approved, lest it throw the numbers off for the random number generator when I do the final pick. Lastly, keep your eyes peeled for this magical phrase after you submit your comment/entry: "Comments will be visible after blog owner approval." If you miss that and comment twice, or three times, or more, I'll delete duplicates.

3. WHERE: Due to postage costs, I must restrict this to USA only. Apologies to my international readers... I will do a giveaway JUST FOR YOU sometime in the future, but not this one.

4. WHEN: I'll make the selection on Monday, December 30, 2013. Get your comments in by 12pm EST that day.

Good luck! I'm so glad to pass this on to another Gorey lover.

UPDATE: Winner selected, congratulations to #2 - lucky Ambrosia - and thanks so much to everyone for your interest! I am deleting comments so your email addresses will not remain visible.

I missed my blog's 5th anniversary!

OOPS - how did this one slip by me? This blog turned 5 years old on December 16, 2013. I do not have a fancy graphic, or anything else fancy to say, except that I just noticed it and felt I should acknowledge it!

Time is a strange thing. In some ways I feel like I've been doing this blog for ages, but mostly I can't believe it's been 5 years.

To celebrate, I'll share a random selection of a few of my favorite posts over the years:

Why not use a return address?

2011: a year in mail

Dialing for stamps

Last mail art of 2012

Mail art thank-you

The amazing cat pouch letter

Envaccordion!

Curb your dog

I am also nearing my 1000th post, and if I can get off my duff and post more than twice a month, I should achieve that in 2014.

Finnish Postcrossing stamp

Here's another fine postage stamp I've received via Postcrossing: the new Finnish Postcrossing stamp! As far as I know, two three countries have an official Postcrossing stamp: the Netherlands, Finland, and (in a week) Belarus. I've gotten quite a few fine Dutch Postcrossing stamps (have I never blogged about these before??) but this is my first Finnish Postcrossing stamp. You can read more about them on the Postcrossing blog. Not sure what I think of the one with the mouth...

I think it would be wonderful if the USA would issue a Postcrossing stamp, but I somehow doubt that is very likely to happen.

V-mails are back!

I'm pleased to report that I now have Vintage WWII V-mail stationery sets back in my etsy shop once again. These fantastic vintage papers were used by American soldiers and their loved ones in World War II to correspond via letters.

You can read more about V-mails in a previous blog post, or go have a look at them on etsy... and happy letter writing!

Book giveaway: "Revolutionary"

I have shared before how excited I am about my beloved's debut novel, "Revolutionary" by Alex Myers, due out from Simon & Schuster on January 14, 2014. (Eeek! That's just two months away!!) Now, at last, there is a real opportunity for others to read it! If you are one of the amazing, gung-ho folks who have already pre-ordered the novel, you are incredibly awesome. But if not, you have a chance to win your very own copy in a Goodreads giveaway. My caveat to you is that I am not a Goodreads member, I know nothing about the rules and requirements (I'm a loyal LibraryThing gal myself), but I know a lot of my blog readers use that service and I believe it's pretty easy to join. This particular giveaway is being offered in the USA only.



Of course the novel has an epistolary element, so that should definitely be of interest to my friendly blog readers. They are giving away 4 copies, and you can enter any time between now and November 22.

Enter to win "Revolutionary" on Goodreads - good luck!

And if you're hungry for more of Alex's writing, you can also check out his blog at alexmyerswriting.blogspot.com or his Facebook author page.

A redesign was long overdue...

Welcome to my new look! I was so sick of the old design I barely even wanted to look at it. A lot of my wonderful blog readers gave me excellent comments in the past when I mused on the idea of re-designing my blog. What I'm doing today is by no means the finished product, and I'm still very much playing with it, but I hope this design is a little more up-to-date and friendly with more current platforms.

Unfortunately a lot of the elements from all the previous posts - such as photo sizes - were set for the old design, but we'll just have to live with that. Moving forward, I hope to play a lot more with the look. I'd love your feedback - I'm always interested in what my readers have to say!

It's Fountain Pen Day!

Happy Fountain Pen Day! I had no idea it was Fountain Pen Day until I saw this blog post (which you should really check out because it has some great links and giveaways) - thanks for letting us know, Julie! I'm all for celebrating the fine fountain pen, especially as it is employed in writing letters.

Happy Halloween 2013!

Happy Halloween!! I have gotten much fine bat mail so far, but I have not photographed it yet, so today's image is a Vintage Halloween postcard courtesy of The Graphics Fairy. You can go there to download the graphic, too.

Watch out for ghosties and ghoulies in your mailbox!