Nerdy Stamps Galore!

Hey guys! Happy Friday! Well, blogging is going just great for me this month, isn't it? :D Oops! I've been full of a cold and the seasonal changes in temperature are starting to have an effect on me already! I feel like I have been in a constant state of brain fog this past week, and so productive Sarah has gone into hibernation and sluggish Sarah has taken over my life XD I need to find a way to get my productivity groove on again! Any tips?

So anyway, a few months ago  (yeah, it's taken me that long to share!), I bought some fabulous nerdtastic stamps!! For those of you who don't know already, one of my hobbies, that I've been partaking in ever since I was in my early teens, is penpaling/ snailmailing/ good old fashioned letter-writing. I just love it!! I mean, who doesn't love receiving fun mail? And I find a lot of joy in brightening up someone else's day with my mail! One of my favourite things about getting letters and postcards from all around the World is the fact that I get to see so many different stamps :) There are some gorgeous, excellent designs out there, such as The Moomins stamps from Finland and Disney stamps from North America! Did you know that we also have 'fancy' picture stamps available here in the UK? Today's post is going to be all about two of my absolute favourite editions of stamps that we've had since I first started this beloved hobby of mine. I hope you all enjoy reading, as much as I enjoy telling you about them! 

I usually hold off sharing a photo of the contents of my blog posts until later in the post, so that it doesn't show up as a the cover photo/ thumbnail/ whatever it's called, and thus give away spoilers before you all have a chance to read it. However, I really love how this photo turned out so I couldn't resist! How gorgeous are these stamps though!? Keep reading to see them up close :) 

Before I talk more about these fabulous stamps, I wanted to tell you guys all about the types of stamp sets that are available on the Royal Mail website (and at some post offices) and the sort of prices you can expect. The Royal Mail release several purchasing options when it comes to their new stamp editions. My favourite to buy are 'Presentation Packs'. By buying these, not only do you get one of every stamp in that collection but also the most awesome packaging, filled with artwork and information about the stamp theme, that you can use to keep your stamps in. These cost £11.20 each, but you get fifteen 1st class stamps typically, unless the stamps in that particular collection are valued at more than a 1st class price (such as £1.25 stamps, and so forth). There is also options to buy smaller design-specific set, such as a sheet of five individual 1st class stamps from that collection. I don't know if I'm explaining that well, but I will show you guys an example in this post :) These are £3.70 (because 1st class stamps are now 70-something pence each!). 

That's enough rambling... I don't want to bore you all :D On with the stamps! 

The main reason that I did this haul in the first place was to get some of the Game of Thrones stamps. I wasn't sure if there would be any left, since they had been out for quite a while by the time I had the cash available to buy them. I was very happy to discover that they were still online!! (Although I don't think they are now, sorry guys!). I already had a book of the GoT 1st Iron Throne stamps that I bought from my local post office a few weeks before to keep in my wallet and use whenever I needed to post something, but I wanted all of the picture stamps to keep and never use :) I, of course, opted for the presentation pack, and LOOK AT HOW GORGEOUS IT IS!! 

Inside this pack, you get fifteen stamps! These ten character stamps above, and also the other sheet which includes four giant stamps of the Direwolves, Giants, Dragons and The Night King and his White Walkers, plus a little standard-sized stamp of the Iron Throne. These stamps are honestly so stunning, even better in person! Every stamp is so detailed, featuring a background behind each character depicting a scene/location related to them. 

My favourite are Tyrion and Arya, but I might be a little bias since they are my favourite characters from the TV series and the A Song of Ice and Fire novels. Behind Tyrion, we get artwork showing wildfire burning bright green during the Battle of Blackwater Bay. I really like that they chose this scene because even though it was tragic for those on the receiving end of it, it showed that Tyrion had great skill when it came to battle tactics and his talents really got to shine in the scene! Plus green is my favourite colour so it's nice that my favourite character has been paired with it. As for the Arya stamp, it's fantastic that she's got her trusty needle in hand and looks ready to kick some ass, haha! 

My other favourite designs are the Eddard Stark stamp because I just love that they've chosen a beautiful weirwood tree as the background, and also the Direwolf stamp because it has all six one them on there: Nymeria, Shaggy Dog, Summer, Lady, Grey Wind, and a very angry-looking Ghost. I love all of the stamps to be honest, except for the dragon one. I absolutely adore the dragons from GoT, with my favourite being Rhaegal so it's great that he's made it onto the stamp, but for some reason they haven't include Viserion, and the picture that they decided to use for Drogon is really crappy looking in my opinion, out of all the amazing CGI used for them on the show, it seems they have chosen one of the worst... he looks very unrealistic (as far as fantasy creatures can look unrealistic), and it doesn't blend in well with the overall look of the stamp. Would you agree? Aside from that one stamp, I am super impressed! 

As for the presentation pack artwork I mentioned before, inside the Game of Thrones one you get this huge map of Westeros, which is really cool and would look great up on the wall framed! It has detailed illustrations of key landmarks and is annotated. What's not to love, if you're a fan of the franchise!? Also, poking out of the left side of the map, you can see another item that I picked up from this collection, and that is a 'First Day Edition Envelope'. I only recently discovered, thanks to someone posting their envelope haul on Instagram, that the Royal Mail sell these envelopes along with each new collection that features a illustration keeping in with the theme. It only cost me 30p and it's a big envelope! I'm definitely going to be looking out for more of these with future stamp collections :) Did any of you guys know about these envelopes? 

Since I was already buying stamps, I wanted to snap up some from the Harry Potter collection before they ran out. Just like with the GoT stamps, I had already picked up a couple of the stamps featuring Harry himself when I went to my local post office to send some postcards, and I had no idea that there was actually a Professors sheet available!! I bought the presentation pack as soon as I noticed this sheet, and I am delighted to add all of the others to my small collection of stamps (*ones that I want to save, which so far includes an Alice in Wonderland collection and a Beatrix Potter one). As always, you get fifteen stamps in the pack: Hagrid's Motorbike, Ginny, the Triwizard Cup, Neville, the Knight Bus, Hermione, the Hogwarts Express, Harry, Ron and his dad's Flying Ford Anglia, as well as Professor Sprout, Slughorn, Trelawney, Lupin and my main man, Snape. 

My favourite stamps are Hagrid's Motorbike, the Knight Bus, Neville, Ginny, Lupin & obviously, Snape *insert gif of Snape saying obviously* :D Even though Neville and Ginny are not my favourite characters from the franchise, I really like that they have been featured in this collection since I feel like their characters don't get a lot of representation, even though they are integral to the story. Just like many other fans, I feel like the movies really neglected Ginny, when in the books she's an brilliant character! So yeah, it's great to see her and Mr Longbottom getting some love. 

The reason I love the stamp of the Knight Bus and Hagrid's Motorbike has more to do with the backgrounds. As with the GoT stamps, these HP ones have very detailed backgrounds. Hagrid's Motorbike has dementors looming behind Harry and Hagrid, and the Knight Bus has a picture of the Sirius Black's Animagus form. They both feature the moon as well, and I'm a big fan of the celestial aesthetic :) 

The thing that I like most about this presentation pack is second sheet featuring the Professors. I am absolutely lovin' that the background for the sheet is the Marauder's Map and that it has the infamous line, I solemnly swear that I am up to no good. It makes the potterhead in me smile :D Like with what I said about Ginny and Neville, it's marvellous to see some of the other Hogwarts teachers getting more focus. I'd have expected to see a stamp of Dumbledore, McGonagall, and maybe Quirrell or Lockhart, or another stamp of Hagrid. Instead we get Professor Slughorn, Sprout and Trelawney (I really like that she's holding a crystal ball, too) and I think that's wonderful! If you've been following me for a while, you will know that I am a massive fangirl when it comes to Severus Snape, so it will be no surprise to you that I would immediately love his stamp. What I like most about it though is his facial expression; in typical Snape fashion, he looks thoroughly unimpressed. 

The artwork inside this presentation pack is a lot more simple than the GoT one, but not any less awesome. I love the wisps of smoky purples, blues and greens throughout, and how it borders the stills from the movies, especially the train one in the centre. It has information on each of the topics/objects featured on the stamps, which means it's also great for anyone who isn't a fan of Harry Potter to buy and still be able to learn about the subject. 

I said that I would show you all an example of the individual character packs that I was trying to describe at the start of my post, so here it is. The sheet that you can see above is the set of five 1st class stamps that I bought for just under £4. I love that these stamps still come in their own little illustrated presentation card. It's very pretty! I bought these stamps to actually use on my snailmail, and I'm considering using the card afterwards to store any loose stamps that I might happen to pick up from the post office in the future. 

Before I finish up this post, there's something more I want to show you...

And that's stamp postcards!! I first discovered these a few years ago in the bigger post office one town over from my hometown, and I think they are really cool! For each collection that the Royal Mail releases, they also make matching postcards! Of course, they are intended for you to use with the stamps, but I just buy them to use for my postcard swapping hobby. They always feature a huge picture of the stamp, surrounded by a pale brown shade that makes the stamp stand out even more. 

The post office in the town next-door to mine opens up the packets and allows you to buy them individually, but when you order them online, you have to purchase the whole pack. It cost me £7.20 for sixteen Game of Thrones postcards (one for each of the stamps, and then one featuring a picture of the entire sheet with the Direwolves, giants, etc.) Not bad considering that they work out at 45p each! You could send them, keep from or even frame them/stick them up on your wall. I don't know if I will be able to bring myself to use them; we'll see! 

So those were all the stamps and other postage goodies that I ordered a few months ago. I am over the moon with them. They always look so much more stunning when they arrive! I know not all of you will be into stamps and snailmail stuff, but I hope that you all enjoyed reading about them nonetheless. The stamps are lovely to look at, at least :) I cannot wait to see the next nerdy stamp designs the Royal Mail comes out with... I've got some Star Wars ones, and there's even been a Marvel collection this year. It would be fantastic if I was able to bring these picture stamps to the attention of whose who might never have heard of them before, so please let me know if I did! Even if you're not a letter writer, picture stamps can be a nice way to decorate an envelope when you are sending birthday cards to your loved ones and such, so it's worth looking into the upcoming collections. I am looking forward to seeing what this years Christmas stamps will look like! If only we had special Halloween stamps, don't you think? (pretty please, Royal Mail, if you're reading this!). 

I'd love to know which presentation pack you guys prefer: Harry Potter or Game of Thrones? I'm also very curious which individual stamps are your favourite. So definitely let me know in the comments :) 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥ 

Who are the best Game of Thrones characters in your opinion? 

How about Harry Potter characters? 

Also, have you ever bought picture stamps? Tell me about them! 

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Finding my First Cache | Geocaching Photo Diary

A few days ago, I blogged all about my new hobby, Geocaching (find out what it's all about here). As a quick recap or for those of you that didn't see my recent post, geocaching is a outdoor activity that is a cross between treasure hunting and orienteering. Containers, known as caches, are hidden all over the World by people in this almost underground hobby. They even have a name for people who don't know about the geocaching world, they call them 'muggles' and as a Harry Potter fan, I thought this was awesome! There might even be a geocache or five in your hometown just waiting for you to discover. That's what I set out to do today (and yesterday, but I couldn't find it! haha), look for a geocache in my town. I wanted to show you all the geocache I found, along with some pretty things I saw on my walk. I hope you all enjoy it! 

The view above is of the moors over my town and Darwen Tower, which is also known as the Jubilee Tower. It was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. It's been on the hills overlooking my town since 1898! You can see for miles and miles from the top, but it's a tiring trek to get up there. I haven't been for over 10 years now. The next couple of photographs will be showing the geocache that I found, but I can't show you where it was because that's spoiling the game for any local geocachers that might stumble upon my post! :)

Caches can come in all shapes and sizes. This one was listed as an extra small cache, which can be anything from film canisters to pill boxes. Today's find was in a small black official geocaching container with one of those slide on and off lids. Inside each cache, there will either be a log book or if the cache is tiny, a piece of paper. This is for finders to record their names and the date they found it. It would be so cool to go back to a cache you've hidden and see how many people have signed your log book/sheet. My handwriting was so messy because I had to lean the paper against my leg to sign it. It was really nice of the geocache creator to leave a little pencil inside, too. This isn't always the case so geocachers should always make sure they have a pen with them. 

One of the many fun things about this hobby is that geocachers will often leave little trinkets and such inside the caches they find, sometimes for nothing in return and other times to swap for another trinket already in the box. The geocaching app told me that this would be an extra small cache so I brought with me this mini shell and a tiny wooden skull bead to leave behind. The shell was the only thing that would fit. It would be great to go back one day to see if the shell is still there! As you can see, the local spiders have also found this geocache and laid their eggs inside! There was also an Earwig guarding the cache, which my mum wasn't very happy about! haha 

Of course, I had to play Pokemon Go on my travels today, although I only found Pokemon that I'd already caught! I took so many more photographs but I didn't want this post to be more pic heavy than it already is. I had a really fun time searching for this geocaching, although it does drain me, plus the heat today really didn't help. I can't wait to continue with my new found hobby and find some more geocaches. I can tick 'start geocaching' off my summer wishlist now too. 

Thankyou for reading! 

 ♥

Have you ever been geocaching or even heard of it before? 

 Enjoyed this photo diary post, check out some of my others: 

| Sunny Sunday in the Garden |  An Afternoon in the Woods | 

 

 

All About Geocaching

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a lovely today. I went on a walk this morning, took photographs of the local wildlife and caught five pokemon, including an Eevee. Yay! I also saw a massive heron, which was awesome! I spent the rest of the day relaxing in the garden, complaining about the heat :) it was a brilliant day but so hot! Me and hot weather do not go well together. Today's post is going to be all about a new hobby I'm joining in with called Geocaching. I've been wanting to do it now for ages, and so I put it on my summer wishlist and I'm determined to go and find some caches, as a way to get me and about more (along with Pokemon Go). I hope you enjoy reading! 

 What is Geocaching?

I thought I'd tell you all about what geocaching is, because it's one of those hobbies that not many people know about until they meet someone who does it. I first learnt about geocaching on tumblr and I thought it was such an awesome hobby! Geocaching is basically like a cross between orienteering and treasure hunting! All over the World, containers, known as 'caches' to people who enjoy the hobby, are hidden and it's your job to find them using a GPS device. I've wanted to jump on the geocaching bandwagon for years but I've never gotten around to buying a GPS reader/receiver. I studied an animal science subject at university and we were taught how to use one of these readers and well, I was rubbish at it! I thought I'd never be able to geocache and it was pushed to back of my mind. Recently though, me and some of my friends from high school had a little reunion night out and one of my friends excitedly showed us all this new hobby he'd used his phone for. Turns out, it was geocaching! Why I never put two and two together and searched for an app, I don't know! I know that phones have GPS but it just never clicked, silly me! So now, I have finally downloaded the app and can start geocaching. 

How do you find 'caches'?

As I am crap at using GPS readers, I can only tell you how to use the app!  Your geocaching app will show you all of the caches hidden in the surrounding areas of your current location, which are displayed as green circles. Some of these caches can only be viewed by paying members, but there's lots of caches that are available for everyone to find. You can see the name of the road on which the cache is located on your app, then all you have to do is travel to that location and as you walk around, it will tell you how close you are to the cache. It's awesome! The app will also tell you the difficulty of the terrain surrounding the cache and how challenging it will be to find. Additionally, it will include a description from the person who hid the box as well as the size of cache you should be looking for.

What should you expect to find inside a cache? 

Caches can come in all shapes and sizes, some are mini containers and others are big metal boxes. Inside each geocache, there will a log book, or in the mini boxes, a tiny piece of rolled up paper. You need to sign this once you've found the cache. The bigger caches often have 'trinkets' inside which people swap for something of their own. It's nice to have a little keepsake that reminds you of the caches you've found. The kinds of trinkets that you could find inside a cache are keyrings and charms, toys, figures, mini compasses, all sorts really. Some caches contain what is known as a 'travel bug' in the form of a metal dog tag chain. These are special tags that should only be taken from the cache to be moved to another, as the purpose of these is to travel. Some travel bugs have been moved from cache to cache all over the World. I think that's really fascinating! 

What do you need to start geocaching?

Firstly, you will need to download the geocaching app onto your phone and make an account, or if you would prefer to do it the old school way, get yourself a GPS reader. I think you can get a decent one for around £40-£50. Once you are all set up technology-wise, you will need to find some trinkets ready to swap for anything you want to take out of a cache you find. The rule of geocaching is that you must always put something back in the cache if you take something out. For my first cache hunts, I'm going to be taking these two little charms and wrapping them in a little bit of plastic so they don't get ruined if the cache should ever get damaged. An important tip to remember is to always bring a pen to sign the log book. Some of the bigger caches will have pens kindly put inside but most of the time you'll need to make sure you have a pen. 

Some other things that I think are important to carry along with you include, a portable charger as you could be walking in remote areas so you need to stay safe and make sure you can always charge your phone should it run out of battery. I suggest taking water or juice with you as you're going to be walking around and it's important to stay hydrated. Comfortable walking shoes are also great. Take any essentials you may need like medication; I even took some plasters in case my shoes started to rub my feet and some tissues. Pack anything you would usually take on a walk with you. 

Let's go geocaching!

I'm going to do a post all about my first geocache when I find it. I'm interested to see what it will be like. I know that there's one locally and the app tells me it's an extra small cache so I might be searching for ages. I think it's handy that you can view the comments of other people who have found or not found the cache, so you know it's missing or hard to find, etc. Another awesome thing is that geocaching will get me out of the house and exploring in natural surroundings, which always make me feel good especially when it's a nice day and I can take my camera along with me. I'm also looking forward to catching Pokemon along the way! If you'd like to read more about geocaching, take a look on the Geocaching Association of Great Britain's website. 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Have you ever been geocaching? If not, has my post made you curious to try it out for yourselves? 

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I've got mail!

I love receiving mail ♥ 

When I'm expecting something to arrive with the post, it makes me so excited to get out of bed in the morning to go and check! There's nothing I love more than finding a pile of mail waiting for me in the living room, which my mum kindly arranges according to who it's addressed to. I've always enjoyed surprises so receiving snailmail is so fun for me! I've been writing to penpals for almost ten years now & love writing letters on pretty paper and using adorable envelopes and stickers :) It's even more delightful when letters I receive have gifts in them or I'm sent packages from my penpals on special occassions. 

As well as writing snailmail, another hobby of mine is postcrossing (swapping postcards with people all over the world) so I usually get a bunch of postcards every week, too. Online shopping has become another love of mine, especially whilst I was at uni as my campus was in the middle of the countryside so it was easier to order online than to travel to and from the city every time I needed something other than food. So here's what I received through my letterbox over the last two weeks...

I kept seeing this book by Zoella (Zoe Sugg) all over instagram. It's not a genre I'm usually into (my favourite books are fantasy) but I thought I'd give it a read because I managed to get it on Amazon for only £3.85 VS the £7.99 retail price. The overall appearance of the book looks lovely; I especially like the pale blue colour of the cover. 

I also bought two books that I've wanted for ages now! I really enjoy 'art journals', such as 'Wreck this Journal', and love how anyone, even if you're not the best at drawing or painting, can still enjoy art with these books. The book is filled with fun ideas and gives creative instructions on each page. I purchased my own copy in June 2014 after spotting people sharing their Wreck this Journal artwork on tumblr & instagram, so I decided to join in :) 

Through following the Wreck this Journal posts, I was introduced to the 'Anti Journal' by David Sinden & Nikalas Catlow, which is similar to the Wreck this Journal and a product I recommend for anyone who enjoys being creative. On the authors instagram page dedicated to Anti Journal, I spotted that they had created another book so I couldn't wait to get my hands on one. 'Don't eat this book' is available on Amazon for £5.24. It looks a lot more aimed at children so would be a great christmas present idea, but I know I'll enjoy filling it in myself! The other book I purchased is by David Sinden & another author, Victoria Kay. It's a mini-version of one of those adult colouring books that are really popular right now. Since I liked David's other books and I, too, have an adult colouring book, I was interested in trying the 'The Little Book of Calm Colouring' (& considering my love of Amazon, I also purchased this there at £3.85).

Postcrossing is a great hobby for anyone who enjoys receiving postcards as much as I do. I have always loved postcards and remember sending them home to myself when I went on holiday as a child and asking my friends to send me postcards from their holidays. Before I was 15 and went on a school trip with my history class, I'd never been abroad and other than Wales, Yorkshire and  Lincolnshire, I'd  never travelled much around the UK either so receiving postcards was exciting. I loved seeing what other towns and cities looked like and hearing about what my friends had done whilst visiting. 

Around 4 years ago, I started swapping postcards using an official website called 'Postcrossing', where you are randomly provided with an address, along with the users profile, to send a postcard to. Some users list the type of postcards they like, which is handy and it's interesting to read a little about the people you're going to write to. For every postcard you send, your address will be randomly sent to another user so you will receive a postcard in return. Not knowing where in the world you'd be sent a postcard from made it more interesting; I received mail from so many different countries! You could also view galleries on the website and message users to organise direct swaps with them, which was fun. I don't use postcrossing anymore and I do all my postcard swapping through instagram, which is full of fellow postcrossers!

Here are some of the lovely stamps used on my incoming postcards: 

 I hope you all enjoyed reading  

♥  

Does anyone like postcrossing or snailmailing? 

Do you own a Wreck this Journal or Anti Journal?