Snail Mail Love: Vintage Stamp Postcards

As well as getting back into the rhythm of stitching and designing stuff, I've also been adding lots of lovely vintage bits and bobs to my shop!

I've been selling vintage things for a couple of years now and I absolutely love it. It's such a joy finding gorgeous and interesting items and then sending them off to their new homes - particularly when customers tell me their purchases are going to be a special gift, or are something they've been looking for for years. 

As the months go by, I'm working out what sells and what doesn't and also what I'm most enjoying selling. I blogged a while back about my new-found obsession with vintage tea towels (I love them so much I've set up an Instagram account devoted to them!), and obviously I'm drawn to all kinds of vintage crafty goodness... but one of the other things I'm really into is vintage stamp postcards.

These cards are known by collectors as "PHQ Cards" - PHQ standing for "Postal Headquarters" because they were originally issued by the Post Office here in the UK (more recently they've been issued by the Royal Mail). 

The Post Office (and later Royal Mail) have been publishing them since the early 1970s: a new set of postcards for each new set of stamps. 

 

I've loved postage stamps since I was a kid and I absolutely adore these postcards. 

They're great for anyone interested in stamps, of course, but they also make fab gifts for people born in the year they were issued, or anyone interested in the theme of the featured set. Pretty much whatever you're interested in Royal Mail have produced stamps connected to that theme!

 

I'm selling sets of totally unused postcards, so you can send a lovely bit of snail mail to your friends. The Christmas and winter-themed sets would make great Christmas cards. 

The cards would also look great framed, either individually if there's a particular stamp design you adore, or as a set. Super affordable vintage art!

Visit my shop to see the postcard sets I currently have available, and do give me a shout if there are any designs in particular that you're interested in as I have plenty more to photograph and list!

Post Office Posters

UPDATE: I'm now sharing my collection of Royal Mail advertising posters over on a dedicated Post Office Posters blog. 

One of the things I'm lucky to have inherited from my grandparents is a collection of old Royal Mail advertising posters, from the days when they ran a village shop and Post Office.

 
If you've been reading my blog for a long time, you might have seen some of these posters before as I had a few of my faves framed and on display in my old flat. I only have wall space for a few of them, though, and I thought it might be nice to have a space to share the whole collection, so...

... I've started a new Instagram account for them: Post Office Posters.

 

I'll gradually be photographing and sharing all the posters over the coming weeks and months, as and when I have time to do so. If you're a stamp nerd like me, are interested in typography or poster design, or just like old stuff then do follow along!

Busy busy

Out of nowhere this week has turned into one of those crazy hectic rush around ticking things off the to do list at the speed of light weeks.

Lots of sewing, lots of parcel packing, lots of admin, lots of website tinkering, lots of domestic chaos (involving a plumber and an electrician)... but not a lot of time for blogging!

Two quick things before I head back to my to do list:

1) It's now less than 7 weeks until my book - Super-Cute Felt - is published here in the UK! Eeek! I'm starting to get quite nervous now...

and 2) Look at the huuuge stash of airmail stickers the ladies at the Post Office gave the boyfriend the last time he posted some parcels for me:


Fifty whole sheets of them! I wonder how long it'll take me to get through that lot?

Postal Love

I am completely in love with the new(ish) labels the Post Office are using for parcels - they're like giant first class stamps!


(See how big they are next to those ordinary 2nd class stamps?)

I know that printing postage is much, much more efficient than sticking on lots of stamps for parcels and overseas mail... but the old white postage labels the P.O. used to use made my parcels look so boring. The oversized "stamps" are just so quirky and full of character in comparison.

I've heard they might be discontinued due to printing problems, but fingers crossed they'll be around for a while yet as they make me smile whenever I see them.

I Love My Local Post Office...

... especially when they give us free mugs:The boyfriend (a.k.a my postal assistant) came home with these yesterday after posting a big pile of parcels. We post so much stuff that they gave us one each - his'n'hers mugs to drink tea in at the end of a long afternoon packing and posting.

Postal geek that I am, I think they're rather snazzy!

Packaging and Parcels (C365, days 321&322)

Apologies for the lack of a blog post yesterday - I was planning a quiet evening of emails and blogging and other internet-y things in the evening but the boyfriend reminded me we had people coming round to dinner! Oops :)

The day before, I'd spent my evening cutting out some pictures to use for making thankyou notes (to send out with my shop orders) - this lot are taken from a 1950s childrens book, some seriously cute pictures!
Then before I was reminded about dinner, yesterday afternoon I devoted myself to packing up some orders:
(The silver packets are felt bundles wrapped in tissue paper, in case you wondered!). My week doesn't have enough of a pattern to it to have fixed shipping days, so I end up doing a bit of packaging here and a bit of posting there but I am becoming increasingly organised with my shipping system. Over the past year I have turned into a serious "postal science" nerd, boring everyone with the correct way to address mail, "interesting" (to no-one but me) facts about customs regulations, and learning exactly the right time to go to the Post Office to avoid queues (not foolproof but spot on 90% of the time).