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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Why I Love Snailmail

Hey lovelies! I hope everyone's been having a fantastic week :) What have you all been up to? For today's post I thought I'd write about one of my hobbies. I have been writing to penpals now since I was around 14 years old and I absolutely love it. I wanted to share why, for anyone who's curious about getting involved in the hobby, and for those of you who are just interested to learn what it's all about. I hope you enjoy reading! 

There were so many reasons why I was first interested in looking for a penpal all those years ago. Mostly it was because of my interest in other cultures, in the customs and traditions of people all over the world. I loved and still love foreign languages and am fascinated by new places. Back in my early teens, I wanted to learn about what life was like for someone else in another place, partly due to curiosity but also because I wanted a glimpse outside of my own everyday life, which I didn't enjoy much at all (I want to keep this post cheerful though so I won't get into why that was today). I enjoyed discovering what was the same for other people my age across the globe, and of course what was different. It was a lovely, and pretty exciting, experience getting to read all about their lives: their school life, their interests, about their hometown. Answering questions about my own hometown, and about my life in general, made me focus on the positive aspects that I did like, and well that made me feel not so bad about things. It was helpful that I was able to just write about all of the things I enjoyed about my life :) 

Another reason why I was originally drawn to snailmail was down to my obsession with two countries in particular. I had always been in love with Japan, ever since I was very young and started watching anime. I adored everything about Japanese culture and I was attempting to learn the Japanese language too, so I longed to find a friend who lived there. One of my first ever penpals was from Japan and it was wonderful experience writing to her! I still have the plushies that she sent me over 10 years ago ♥ 

The other country that I dreamt of visiting and was a little captivated by was Finland. My love for this country was caused by their alternative musicians! I was just 11, maybe even 10, when a song came on a charts music channel that I was just wowed by! This song was In The Shadows by The Rasmus... anyone else remember this song? Before then, I'd never really been exposed to much rock music and thanks to the voice and style of Lauri Ylonen and his awesome bandmates thus began my journey of self discovery. That sounds so cheesy haha! But honestly, I found myself in the lyrics of rock and metal songs, they allowed me to express myself and brought so many amazing people into my life (writing this is super nostalgic! It's bringing back all sorts of memories). Anyhow, after discovering The Rasmus, I found Hanoi Rocks & HIM, thanks to my first Finnish penpal. I also learnt more about this amazing country that made me just love it even more. The forests and lakes there though! They are breath-taking! 

A further reason why I wanted to find a penpal was because of my love for hand-written letters. As a young teen, I obviously didn't get any mail of my own and so I wanted some! I loved pretty stamps and the excitement of not knowing what envelope my letters would come in or what kind of paper they'd be written on. It was so fun waiting for the postman to arrive each day to see if they had anything for me! For years before I started snailmailing, I would always buy letter sets whenever I went on a day trip somewhere. For some reason, I'd only ever see pretty letter sets at zoo gift shops and such! I'm not sure why, haha. I am delighted about the fact you can get them all over the place now. Maybe I just never went to the right stores or something :D Period dramas and historical-based literature have forever been one of my favourite things, and so because of the letter writing that was depicted in these, I was always fascinated by them and dreamt of corresponding with someone by post. 

I've ended up focusing most of this post about why I started to write to penpals, but to be honest these are the reasons why I love snailmail :) I love it because of how it gives me an insight into other people's lives in different countries. I will always love hearing about other cultures and the things people get up to abroad. But the main thing I love about snailmail, now as an adult* (*haha, as a 25 year old human that's attempting to adult) is the friendships I've made! I love the intimacy of letter writing, if that even makes sense. It's often easier to write than to speak face-to-face with people, well it certainly is for me that is. I feel that it allows people to become closer, especially if you've been writing to one another for a very long time. 

My penpals and I have in a way grown up together, from being teenagers to adults and been writing throughout so many of the important occasions in our lives... going to university, self discovery, moving away from home, and one of my penpals has even gotten married!! I think it's wonderful that we've been able to share these things with each other through our words, through little crafty snippets too, such as photos, leaflets, gifts, etc. It's nice just how well they know me :) I really hope that some day when I've worked on my social anxiety enough, that I can meet them ♥

How adorable is this little cartoon that one of my past penpals sent to me though!? 

It's definitely been tough to keep up with penpaling over the last few years for me, since I was super busy at university and then with all of the problems I've had with my mental illnesses, it's been tough to motivate myself to keep taking part in any of my hobbies, even though I thoroughly enjoy them. My penpals have been amazing; they've still kept in contact with me even though I've been such a crappy penpal! They are amazing ladies & I'm so thankful to know them :) It's my aim to get back into regular letter writing in the New Year, and also get back involved with postcrossing (which is the same as snailmail really, but with postcards). Please let me know if you've enjoyed this post and if you want me to blog more about this hobby of mine in the future. I did do a post back in 2015 in my first months of blogging, which you can check out here.

I hope you've all enjoyed reading though and that you have a lovely weekend :) I have decided to take part in Blogmas so I am going to work very hard to keep up and get a new blog post up everyday of December. Last time I joined in with this blogging challenge was in December 2015, and I'm surprised that I've managed to think of another 30+ ideas that are different haha! Yayy, it's basically Christmas for me now since I ate my first leubkuchen today! It will soon be time to put up all the decorations and listen to Christmas songs and get all festive, and omgosh I'm excited :) 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Have you ever sent a hand written letter?

Do any of you guys snailmail too? 

US Candy Swap

Last month, I organised a sweet swap with a fellow snailmailer & blogger, Amanda ,who's from the United States and today, I wanted to show you what she sent me. Firstly, the packaging she used was awesome! It was decorated in a Halloween theme with lots of washi tape and stickers, and she wrote on 'Trick or Treat, Smell my feet, Give me something good to eat!' which reminds me of my childhood halloween so much. My favourite thing about the packaging was the adorable glittery ghost sticker. 

The rest of this post is going to be quite pic heavy, but 'a picture paints a thousand words' and I want you all to see the great things I received. She sent me a few kinds of snacks that are enjoyed in autumn & around halloween, plus some crafty bits I can use for snailmail or scrapbooking. Here's what was inside:

 This morning, I tried all of the sweets, apart from the candy corn. I couldn't resist eating some as soon as I opened the package a few weeks ago because I've wanted to try candy corn for around 10 years now and it was the only candy I asked for (the rest was all a surprise)! The candy corn was really nice, very sweet and I thought it was quite similar to the soft rock we can get at the seaside. I read online that it has a taste like marshmallow, but I thought it tasted more like vanilla. I can see why it's really popular in the US and I will probably have to buy some online each Halloween now. 

 When I noticed I'd been sent m&m's, I was really excited to try them. I love m&m's and I know in the US, they have so many different flavours. Although we can get some of them here in American candy shops or B&M Bargains, I've never seen these before! The sweets are orange, yellow and white in colour and are filled with white candy corn. The candy corn inside the m&m's tasted different compared to the original candy corn that I was also sent, but they are still yummy. I can't really describe the taste but they were very sweet. I wish we could buy them here!  

The next snack I tried was the Reese's peanut butter cup with pumpkin. I'm not a massive fan of peanut butter but I do like the reese's products and I was quite interested to try this because I've never eaten anything pumpkin flavoured before. I love how in Autumn in the US so many pumpkin flavoured foods are available! The taste of pumpkin in this snack was very subtle and I couldn't really taste much more than peanut butter. I've only ever eaten an original Reese's peanut butter cup once before... I think I should have bought one so I could compare the flavours. I still have some of the pumpkin one left so I will look for Reese's when I next go shopping. 

How cute are candy corns!? (if a sweet can be considered cute haha). I love all the little halloween bits that were added to the package. I am putting my Drawlloween Challenge drawings (see them here) into a scrapbook so I can use all the halloween crafty things for that. The sweets in the photo above are called Goetze's Caramel Creams and at first glance, I thought they would be similar to English dairy fudge. I was wrong, the outside of the sweet is coated in a sticky toffee, the middle is creamy with a little hint of a vanilla flavouring and the rest of the sweet has a similar texture to fudge but tasted like toffee. I enjoyed being able to try these but they are not my cup of tea. 

 
 I really love jellybeans! They are one of my favourite sweets & I was so happy when they started selling Jelly Belly jellybeans in the UK :) the only problem is that they are quite expensive if you want to buy a big bag or jar. I like how these jelly beans come in so many flavours, some are great and some are not so great, but this means there will be at least one flavour to suite everyone's tastes. My favourite ones are french vanilla, strawberry cheesecake, coconut & dr.pepper. I love how colourful they are. Me and my niece enjoyed trying to figure out what each flavour was without looking at the label :) 

Here are some of the lovely crafty things and a postcard I was sent in the package. I'm going to use the paper for writing to-do-lists and put the halloween bits in a scrapbook. I love the funky colourful striped envelope that was filled with even more lovely bits and pieces. Here's a photo of what was inside: 

 

 Everything inside the colourful envelope is so pretty! I can't wait to start using it in some of my penpal letters. Foxes are one of my favourite animals so of course I adore these stickers, and I will probably keep them all to myself instead of using them for snailmail.

 Thankyou Amanda for sending me such a lovely halloween candy package! 

 ♥

I hope you all enjoyed reading this post. 

Have any of you from the UK tried these sweets before?
Which other US sweets can you recommend for me to try?