New Canada Post Stamps + Letter Writing Club Updates

If you've followed the blog for a while, you'll know that postage stamps are some of my favourite things. I've spent more time than I'd like to admit on the Canada Post website, Vintage stamps are especially beautiful, but are a bit harder to come by and can sometimes be more expensive, so I'm always haunting the Canada Post website to see what new stamps are out. And this spring, they've got some good ones! In general, I tend to like illustrated stamps (rather than photographic), which is maybe why I like vintage stamps so much, and these latest ones are gorgeous. If you're near a post office, you can always stop by to see what they have in person, but I've found that most post offices don't have a lot to offer - they usually only have the standard ones that are available all the time, or the very latest ones. I've had the most success in selection by looking on the Canada Post website, and The Year of Monkey stamps are one of my favourite of their Lunar New Year releases. I love the design of the entire stamp, the slightly vintage aesthetic, the monkey, but in particular I love the Chinese calligraphy style of the monkey character in the top left corner of the stamp. I also got these Women's Suffrage stamps! Gotta respect everything & every woman along the way that means I can vote now, and a million other things that I take for granted (you know, like wearing pants). And my absolute favourite are these illustrated hydrangeas! Most of my washi tapes have a floral theme (or else are pink with animals, or are brown, or...), and of course I couldn't resist these beautiful flowers. There's a bit of a vintage flair to them, so they'll be perfect mixed up with other vintage stamps to add up to the international or US postage rate. Or really, they look gorgeous on their own. Next time I think I'm also going to get a booklet of these Canadian photography stamps. I think they release a set every year, and the black and white photos are also some of my favourites. Basically, I just need one of everything.

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And on that note, I also wanted to remind you that our monthly Letter Writing Club is coming up this Sunday, April 10, from 2-4 pm as usual. My stack of letters is piling up shamefully, so I'm pretty excited to get going this weekend. I'm hoping to see some of you there! But the big news is that, after this Sunday, we're changing the time! We're still holding our Letter Writing Club monthly, but we're moving the day to the second Thursday of every month, in the evening, from 7pm to 9pm. Everything else will stay the same, coffee and tea, stationery and pens to try, postage for any letters you write while you're here, and of course - still free! We've heard from a few people that would like to try some letter writing on weekday evening rather than the weekend, especially as the summer is coming around, but we've also got some changes going on behind the scene here. As we look at events or classes on Sundays, or eventually increasing our brick & mortar shop hours permanently to include Sunday, it makes the most sense for us to move the Letter Writing Club to a time where it can take place at the same time every month going forward (rather than Sunday one month, Thursday the next). So in May, our Letter Writing Club will be taking place on Thursday, May, 12th from 7pm to 9pm. Because it'll be in the evening, maybe we'll bust out some candles - imagine the romance! Writing letters with fountain pens by candlelight in a pen shop hidden away in an industrial building! Can't wait :)