I’m so happy to share these new postage ornaments with you! I have been wanting to make this happen for a long time and this year (of all years!), it finally worked out. I have suspended unused postage stamps in glass and metal hanging frames that measure 3 inches high by 2 inches wide. I love the classic, no-fuss look of them and how it ties both vintage and modern styles. I hope you like them too! Please find them in my shop.
Mail-in Ballots: a brief history
I just wrapped up my mail-in ballot for the 2020 election. My ballot came in the mail with a nifty little “I voted by mail” sticker, which got me thinking: what’s the deal with mail-in ballots? The whole process was quite organized, leading me to think absentee voting must have a long history. I did a little research and found out through this article that people have been voting in absentia (specifically, soldiers on duty), since 1775. WOW!
The article also explains that large scale mail in voting really started during the Civil War, as so many of the nations eligible voters were away from home (remember, it was only white guys who could vote then). However, you officially had to have a “real” reason for a mail-in ballot, like serving your country, until the 1970s, when California allowed people to apply for mail-in ballots without a reason/excuse.
Every state handles this differently, and 2020 is exceptionally unusual. 5 states are holding all mail-in elections, and other states still require a valid excuse for a mail-in ballot. However, one statistic really surprised me: about 25% of voters in the 2016 election cast their votes via mail-in ballots.
How will you vote in this election?
Masters of American Photography
The Masters of American Photography sheet recently came up when a client asked for one of the stamps for her Halloween cards. I’ll let you guess which one, as many have a varying degree of creepiness. However, it was a delight to review this sheet. I kept asking myself, why aren’t more people talking about it? There are truly some gems here. Many would look so elegant on correspondence envelopes.
I hope this post encourages you to re-examine stamps you’ve overlooked for a while. We are lucky to have such an abundant postal history with thousands of stamps to enjoy.
This sheet was issued by USPS in 2002 and features 20 different self-adhesive stamps. Text about each artist and their work is on the back of each stamp (scroll to bottom of post to see).
Stamp Collecting Month + A Giveaway!
Good news, friends! We start a new month today. One step closer to rounding out this crazy, whacky, awful year! Also, October is National Stamp Collecting Month.
Stamp Collecting also goes by the fancier name of Philately. The word was coined by Frenchman Georges Herpin, who took the Greek root word φιλ(ο)- phil(o)-, meaning "an attraction or affinity for something", and ἀτέλεια ateleia, meaning "exempt from duties and taxes" to form "philatelie".
Stamp Collecting a fantastic hobby because there’s no point to it… but I mean this in the nicest way possible! It’s something people do purely for the enjoyment of it. Stamp collectors are continuously learning and therefore growing. There are no rules to how it’s done either; what may be appealing to me is not appealing to others, and vice versa.
I am a collector of Olympic stamps, that is: stamps with the olympic rings printed on them. Almost every country has these, so it’s a fun trip around the world to collect them all. I sort my collection by olympic year, so I will have multiple countries represented on each page. Would you believe me if I said it’s fascinating? actually, don’t answer that!
Anyway, to kick off stamp collecting month, I’m doing a giveaway of a strip of the 1986 Stamp Collecting postage stamps. These were issued to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the American Philatelic Society. You can enter the giveaway on my instagram but I’ll have a few available in my shop as well.
Postage Set: A Florida Bride with a Postponement
I have loved working with a particular Florida bride on her save the dates, wedding postage and, unfortunately a set for her postponement announcements. She happens to love the same colors and themes I love, which is a sweet little bonus!
This bride contacted me requesting we incorporate one specific stamp, but otherwise, she was open to my suggestions. Easy enough, right? I was coming to this set with the knowledge that this bride liked blues and greens, so I incorporated as many of those as I could. I initially sent five designs for her to choose from, but four of them, while beautiful, were not as beautiful in her eyes as the final. I want to note that I love the Homer stamp of the sailboat on calm waters. It’s what I used on my very own save the dates 9 years ago! Anyway, the final choice turned out to be perfect. Scroll down to see her picture of the final product on the envelopes.
I hope you enjoyed this peak into my process for creating custom postage sets. If you’re interested, please email me!
This is the stamp we build the rest of the set around. From 1998, it was printed with 19 others on the American Illustrators sheet.
All the rejects. Lots of beautiful stamps here, but none of these sets were “the one” for this discerning bride.
The final choice! Really awesome to see how the labor day stamp makes the rest of the colors pop.
The bride sent me this picture of the stamps assembled on the envelopes. I think they look incredible!
Transportation Series 1981-1995
The first time I saw a transportation series stamp was the 1 cent Omnibus from 1983. I knew it was something different and special. First of all, it only comes in a coil. Second, it’s from the 1980s but is only one color (multi-colored printing had been in practice since the 1960s). I thought it was worth investigating.
What I uncovered was a whole series of stamps that were produced as postage for bulk mail, which is mail that is produced and processed in bulk quantities in exchange for lower postage costs. The transportation series coils are a group of 51 designs produced from 1981 to 1995. Each features a simple image of a form of transportation found in the US after independence. They range from the expected (locomotive, conestoga, school bus) to the unexpected (baby buggy, circus wagon, elevator).
These stamps were issued in denominations from one cent to one dollar. Many have decimals in the face value, like the 24.1 cent Tandem Bike or the 5.2 cent Sleigh. They’re also quite small, with the vertical side measuring one inch and the horizontal just under an inch.
I love the very “vintage” look of these, and hope you do too. You can find many of them for sale here.
