santa letter found in chimney.

Image from: itv.com

I stumbled upon a great article about a letter to santa found in a chimney that was written more than 60 years ago. The letter was found by builder Lewis Shaw in Reading.

Read the full story here.

christmas present for my mailman.

I like to do something fun for my mailman every holiday season just to say thanks for all that he does all year long!

This morning I left him a nice card with a starbucks gift card and homemade mailbox cookies! I hope he enjoys his special holiday treat!

His present waiting to be picked up from the mailbox!

If you are looking for a card specifically for your mailman this holiday season, Hallmark has a great selection of different ones. 

sent with love. christmas cards.

I was very excited to get my christmas cards done this year as we had maternity photos taken and wanted to include them on my Christmas card this year! Plus, with only have 3.5 weeks left of this pregnancy I needed to make sure to get them done and out in the mail early this year!

All my pen pals should be getting Christmas cards in the mail soon! I went with an ugly sweater theme for theirs this year. 

I hope my card was the first one everyone received for the season this year!

holiday shipping deadlines.

It is that time of year to start thinking of holiday deadlines to make sure your cards and gifts make it to where they need to go on time!

The USPS makes Priority Mail Express® domestic deliveries every day, including Sunday and Christmas Day (Available for an additional fee). And you can count on gifts arriving by the 24th if you send by these dates ( Delivery not guaranteed):

December 19th:
with First-Class Mail® Service

December 21st:
with Priority Mail® Service

December 23rd:
with Priority Mail Express® Service

happy halloween.

This is from a card one of my pen pals sent me:

"Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen, voices whisper in the trees, 'Tonight is Halloween!'"

I hope you all have a candy filled, spooky halloween!

my pets.

Oh boy, do I love my three little crazy cats! They are seriously my world... ask anyone!

Elliott Hobbes Gehring

He was the first cat that Zach and I adopted together when we were just dating. We adopted him from a local animal shelter. He sat up in his cage and put his paw in the air and meowed at us. We knew instantly that he had to be ours. I remember the day Zach picked him up and brought him home... he was so little that even a little collar wouldn't fit around his neck. He has been a great boy through 3 moves, two other cats coming into the house and a little baby human sister on the way!

He is our sociable cat. He greets us at the door as soon as we come home and he has to be in the room if there is a party going on. He loves catnip, toys, treats, bullying his brother and sister and his brown blanket. He loves to be picked up and given hugs. He pretty much lets you do whatever you want to him.




Anthony Arlo Gehring (Tony)

Tony was our second cat that Zach and I adopted together. We had no intention of getting another cat, but you see how that worked out. Ha! I went to Petsmart to buy cat food and I walked over to look at the cats they had for adoption. Tony climbed all over me and was the sweetest little thing. I left and went home, but could not stop thinking about this cat. I cried and cried thinking since he was a year old no one would ever adopt him. Zach finally said it was ok to go back and adopt him.

Now, tony tricked me in the store that day... he is the biggest scaredy cat of all times. He will not let Zach or I get anywhere near him, and he will make sure to go into hiding if anyone even gets close to our house. And boy oh boy does this cat meow A LOT! Even though he is our little weirdo, we love him so much. He loves catnip, cuddling with Elliott, going under the house and french fries.


Sparkie Gehring

I adopted Sparkie when I was in college from someone who had brought a bunch of kittens into the pet store I was working at. When I moved to NY I was not allowed to have any pets where I lived, so I gave her to my grandparents. Once I moved back to VA, they didn't want to give her back so they kept her. Three years ago, after both of my grandparents passed away Zach and I decided to have Sparkie come live with us.

Sparkie is our little old lady. She will be 15 next year. She is a grumpy little lady who hates both of her brothers but loves to cuddle with Zach and I. She spends most of her time out in our garage, as she likes to act out and pee on things sometimes. She loves bacon and hamburger, laying on our bed, hissing at both of her brothers and chasing her tail.

desk tour.

Happy Saturday lovely readers of mine. Today I am going to give you a tour of my little desk where all the crafting and blogging magic happens.

I actually just cleaned the office and my desk last week, so this post came at a perfect time.

Here is an overall view of my desk. I love the bright yellow color of my desk… It always cheers me up when I go into the office. As you can see, I have utilized a lot of the wall space around my desk as our office is pretty small and there are two of us that work in there.

Zach got me this vintage cassette tape holder to store my washi tape in, It works perfectly and each slots holds two rolls. (It looks like I need to buy some more to fill it up.)

I have more washi stored in a jar above my desk along with a container for all of my wax seals and beautiful colored waxes. You can also see a little bit of my clipboard that holds all of my postage stamps.

This is my little cubby next to my desk that holds paper, stamps, embossing papers, pens, etc. Anything I need for envelope art and crafting. 

I hope you enjoyed my little desk tour. There isn't much to it, but it is exactly what I need to be creative!

xoxo

stamps: geometric snowflakes

Image from: usps.com

Celebrate the joys of a winter snowfall with these beautiful Geometric Snowflakes stamps.

Each of the four stamps depicts a different snowflake. When it snows, millions of ice crystals form unique patterns. This infinite variety inspired the designers to experiment with different graphic shapes.

These cheerful stamps will add a whimsical splash to your holiday cards, thank-you notes, invitations and any mailing that calls for a touch of warmth during the coldest months of the year.

The Geometric Snowflakes stamps will be issued in booklet format as Forever® stamps.

You can read more about the Geometric Snowflakes stamps here.

a day in the life of me.

Here is a day in the life of me. (This was yesterday!)

6:30am Alarm went off. Pressed snooze.

6:50am Got out of bed and got ready.

7:20am Packed my lunch to bring to work and drank a glass of milk (A glass of milk every morning is a new thing since being pregnant.)

7:50am Left the house to start my 25 minute commute to work while jamming out to music. :)

8:30am Got my morning cup of joe to wake myself up and now time to start the work day.

8:30am-11:00am Doing some work, doing a little more work. Then took a little mental break to do some blogging! (Here I am! My coworker and I are deciding what we should do on break today!)

11:45am-12:45pm Decided to go to the gym on lunch break. (Working out when almost 8 months pregnant isn't as exciting as it used to be, but at least its keeping me in shape.)

1:00pm Lunch Time. (I went with an evol truffle mac and cheese meal today. Have you had them before? If not, I highly recommend them!)

1:15pm A dear friend and coworker who has been out due to cancer came by the office to visit. It was so great to see her!

2:00pm Baby Gehring starts dancing around in my belly.

3:00pm Had to fill in for our receptionist while she took lunch break, so took the opportunity to make some halloween envelopes (I will show you how to make envelopes in an upcoming tutorial.)

5:30pm Work is over! Driving to my best friend Amanda's house for dinner since the hubby is gone.

6:30pm Amanda fixed a delicious BLT salad for dinner.

7:15pm Drove home from Amanda's and got stuck in traffic. BOO!

8:00pm I worked on my halloween costume while watching Sister Wives on the DVR.

8:30pm Finally put my PJs on and lounged on the couch watching TV

9:30pm Bed Time. 

received with love.

Received some lovely fall themed letters from my pen pals this week! 

my wish list.

Man oh man, do i have an ever growing wish list:

Here are some things I am currently lusting over:

This Pen Pal Letter Badge
from The Scout Project

Pretty much every Wax Seal and Colored Wax
from Back to Zero

This Stamp that combines Cats & Letters
from Amazon










• Cute Planner Stickers for my Filofax

• Vintage Love Postage Stamps

• Tombow Pens

• Washi Tape (Like I need more)

• Colored Envelopes from Paper Source

winter bucket list.

I don't know about you guys, but I love winter. I love fall more, but winter is a close second!

Here is my winter bucket list this year:

• Deliver my Baby Girl!!!!

• Drink Lots of Hot Cocoa with Marshmallows

• Have Fires in the Fireplace

• Make Snow Angels

• Write lots of Winter Letters to my Pen Pals

• Wear Cozy Pajamas

• Decorate the House for the Holidays

• Burn Christmas Scented Candles

• Bake... A LOT!

• Watch Home Alone and Elf

• Quality Family and Friend Time

• Pick out the Perfect Christmas Tree

• Have Maternity Photos Taken at the Tree Farm


What are some things on your winter bucket list? I always love to hear the things other people do too!

one of my favorite quotes.

Since I am not the best hand letterer, I decided to digitally illustrate a quote that means a lot to me at this moment. I am itching to travel right now. I will be glad when my husband and I can travel again and be able to take our little girl on trips with us. We get excited thinking about taking her to places we love and showing her all there is to see in the world. 

Where is your favorite place to travel and why?

playlist of the month.

Letter Writing Mix

"This Is Why We Fight" -The Decemberists

"You Are My Sunshine" -The Civil Wars

"The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" -The Postal Service

"Amazing Eyes" -Good Old War

"I And Love And You" -The Avett Brothers

"Barton Hollow" -The Civil Wars

"Lie In The Sound" -Trespassers William

"Please Speak Well Of Me" -The Weepies

"Take You Away" -Angus and Julia Stone

"Hallelujah" -Leonard Cohen

"Lights" -Ellie Goulding

"Wild" -Royal Teeth

"Chandelier" -Sia


Here are some other songs that I am enjoying a lot this month:

"Can't Deny My Love" -Brandon Flowers

"Little Wanderer" -Death Cab For Cutie

Anything by Jimmy Eat World

"Truffle Butter" -Nicki Minaj

"Chains" -Nick Jonas

"Heartbeats" -José González

favorite books.

I sadly do not read as much as I used to. I have started several books over the past few years to never finish them. I do hope to start reading more at night instead of watching TV, but then again I say that all the time.

But here are a list of some of my favorite books that are on my shelf:

• Any and everything by Nicholas Sparks. His books never disappoint if you are looking for a good tear jerker love story!

• I always enjoy browsing through the pages of "Snail Mail: Rediscovering the Art and Craft of Handmade Correspondence" by Michelle Mackintosh

• Any and all of my Design Inspiration books:
      • Guerilla Art
      • Paper & Craft
      • Any of the PostSecret Books
      • How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer
      • Meet Mr. Product
      • Design it Yourself
      • Sweet Designs
      • 1000 Retail Graphics
      • Handmade Hello
     
• I am currently in the process of reading "Big Little Lies" by Liane Moriarty and also "What to Expect when you're Expecting."

Do you have any books you recommend?

sent with love.

Virginia was supposed to get hit by Hurricane Joaquin this weekend, so I figured it was the perfect time to get caught up on all of my letters! Luckily, the weather ended up being the nicest it has been in over a week and Virginia bypassed another hurricane.

After I wrote all my letters I went ahead and drove them all to the Post Office to get them on their happy mail way!

Be on the lookout pen pals for happy mail coming your way!

xoxo

something I love at the moment.

I tend to be a person that loves the small things in life, so this question leaves me with lots of answers.

• The crisp fall weather that has started rolling in

• Any and all things pumpkin

• Feeling my little bundle of joy kick and move around in my tummy

• A clean desk (both at home and work)

• Exciting news

• Christmas shopping (Yes, I have started and am actually almost complete!)

• Maternity jeans that are actually cute

• Cardigans

• Upcoming local craft fair this weekend

• Being caught up on all my letters to my penpals

• A completed to do list

• Finally blogging again

and the list could go on and on and on.

my inspiration.

Here are some of the things that inspire me!

Blogs:

Letter Writers Alliance

Paper Pastries

Postcrossing

Snail Mail Love

USPS Stamps

Papered Thoughts

Oh Happy Day

Paper Source

Paper Presentation

Oh So Beautiful Paper


Instagram Accounts:

@theresetgirl

@paperedthoughts

@lucy_mail

@michellemackintosh

@backtozeroco

@snailmailmagazine

@uspostalservice

@happymail_

@snailmail_ideas

@marionbcn

@bisforbrookemail

Books:

Snail Mail: Rediscovering the Art and Craft of Handmade Correspondence

Always First Class: The Pleasure of Personal Letters

Good Mail Day

Little Book of Lettering

Modern Calligraphy


I could go on and on about things that inspire me, but this is a good starting point! I hope all of these inspire you a little bit today!

meet the blogger.

Hello!

My name is Ellen Gehring and I am the girl behind Postmarked with Love. I started this blog back in 2011 just for a fun way to share my love for all things mail related. Sometimes I am bad about making posts, but my heart is always in it!

I am 33 and live in Virginia with my husband and our three crazy cats Elliott, Tony and Sparkie. My husband and I are expecting our first baby GIRL in december and we are so very excited!!

Some things I love:
Cats
Sweet Tea
Candy
Anything Pumpkin
Fall Weather
Homemade Sugar Cookies
Homemade Icecream
Washi Tape
My Filofax
Sending and Receiving Mail

For more things I love, read the about me section of my blog!

#DOMOREINOCTOBER

stamps: a charlie brown christmas

Image from: mymerrychristmas.com

On the evening of December 9, 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas, aired on CBS. Over the years, watching the beautifully understated ode to the holiday season has become an annual holiday tradition. The program now airs every year on ABC. 

The stamp booklet will contain 20 stamps featuring 10 still images (two of each design) from A Charlie Brown Christmas.

A Charlie Brown Christmas stamps will be issued in booklet format as Forever® stamps.

You can read more about A Charlie Brown Christmas stamps here.

#domoreinoctober

Image from: snailmaillove.com

I was reading the Snail Mail Love blog the other day and saw this #DOMOREINOCTOBER challenge and I thought it would be a great one for me to participate in.

I think it will be a good way to let my readers know more about me in a fun way. I make all sorts of postal related posts, but hardly ever any personal posts. I will make a post every Monday, Thursday and Saturday! Below is a schedule that I will follow thanks to Snail Mail Love on posts that I will be making.

Oct. 1st: Meet the blogger (A few or a lot of things about you)
Oct. 3rd: Your inspiration (fave blogs, IG accounts, etc.)
Oct. 5th: Something you love at the moment
Oct. 8th: Favorite books
Oct. 10th: Your playlist of the month
Oct. 12th: One of your favorite quotes (illustrate, make a poster, etc.)
Oct. 15th: Your winter bucket list
Oct. 17th: Your wish list
Oct. 19th: Teach us something! (A tutorial, A DIY, a recipe, etc.)
Oct. 22nd: A day in the life (Share a day in your life through pictures, drawings, etc.)
Oct. 24th: Desk tour
Oct. 26th: Something you collect
Oct. 29th: Your pets
Oct. 31st: Free day, write/share about anything you want!

If you think you might give the #DOMOREINOCTOBER challenge a try, let me know!

potato parcel.

Have you guys seen or head about this? potatoparcel.com!

Image from: potatoparcel.com

For the low price of $9.99 you can send an anonymous potato message to anyone in the U.S! 

stamps: united states coast guard

Image from: uspsstamps.com

This stamp honors the United States Coast Guard for its role in protecting the security of the nation and advancing its vital maritime interests. 

An oil painting on masonite, renowned aviation artist William S. Phillips depicts two icons of the Coast Guard: the cutter Eagle, a three-masted sailing ship known as "America's Tall Ship," and an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter, the standard rescue aircraft of the Coast Guard.

The United States Coast Guard stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp.

You can read more about the United States Coast Guard stamp here.

send a ball.

I don't know about you guys, but I love the show "Shark Tank"! They had two ladies come on to present their idea and I thought it was a very neat concept and just had to share.

Send a Ball!

Image from: sendaball.com

Send a Ball is a family owned business based out of chicago that ships bouncy balls to anyone you wish. Just select a theme off their website and they take care of the shipping for you. 

They ship the ball fully inflated, so the person on the other end will have a bouncy surprise waiting for them in their mailbox! 

stamps: summer harvest

Image from: uspsstamps.com

Every summer, some of America's favorite foods are in season. The U.S. Postal Service® celebrates a few of those favorites with four new stamps. Vintage produce advertising, including 19th-and early20th- century crate labels, seed packets and catalogs inspired these stamp designs. 

After America's railroads linked the East and West Coasts in the 1870's growers in agricultural areas could ship their products to locations across the country. To distinguish their wares from other producers, growers commissioned special crate labels from printing houses that employed some of the day's best graphic artists. The artists created designs that featured clever slogans and unusual styles, though the art did not necessarily relate to the produce inside.

Summer Harvest will be issued in a booklet format as Forever® stamps.

You can read more about the Summer Harvest stamps here.

big announcement.

I apologize for the delay in my letter writing to all of my penpals, but it is with good reason.

We are very excited to share the news...

that lil' baby gehring will be coming this December! 

I am starting to get some of my energy back, so I hope to start writing returns to all of your letters ASAP! 

xoxo

stamps in season.

The new issue of Stamps in Season has arrived!

Some of the tips included in this edition of Stamps in Season are:

• To add some style
      • Create envelope liners using colored paper, maps, or magazine pages.
            • Open envelope to use as a template.
            • Cut liner paper to fit, leaving a half-inch margin.
            • Score the backside of the liner paper to align with the fold.
            • Glue liner into envelope and mail!

• Choose a bright envelope and use a white pen to write the address, to complement the stamp design.

• Poetry via Post

      • Start a poem in a letter. Send it to a friend. Invite him or her to add a few lines and send it back. Continue.

• Stay in touch with USPS

      • Facebook:

          facebook.com/USPSstamps

      • Twitter:

          twitter.com/USPSstamps

      • Pinterest:

          pinterest.com/USPSstamps

      • Instagram:

          instagram.com/USpostalservice

Sign up here to get each edition of Stamps in Season or pick up a copy at your local Post Office!

fun fact friday.

Fact:

The first parcel post was distributed in Great Britain in 1883.

post offices of the pacific coast highway.

Last week my husband and I visited San Francisco, CA for a very dear friends wedding! The wedding took place in a small little town on the Pacific Coast Highway called Sea Ranch.

While we were driving along the coast I stopped in a few of the small towns to take photographs of their lovely little Post Offices.

Gualala, CA Post Office!

Sea Ranch, CA Post Office! Look at all of those beautiful vintage PO Boxes.

Jenner, CA Post Office! 

I love seeing all of the different Post Offices when traveling and how each one looks so different from one another. 

tiny treehouse treasure. tilden regional park.

While on my recent visit to San Francisco, my husband and I made the drive to Tilden Regional Park to view the Tiny Treehouse Treasure!

We started to walk where the two paths (Curran Trail and Wildcat Gorge Trail) meet and to our surprise we found it right away! I was so excited I squealed!

Image from: leafcutterdesigns.com

Can you spot the tiny treasure in the tree?

I love this adorable little kitten drawing with a cardboard frame to help decorate the walls of the treehouse.

I left greetings from Virginia with my blog link on a piece of paper inside.

I just love all the little details this tiny tree treasure has to offer. Every time I looked inside I found something else that made me smile. 

The treehouse has changed in appearance since the original blog posting, but I think that adds to the charm of this great find. Some people take some things and other people leave some things, so you never know what you will find in this tiny treehouse in the middle of Tilden Regional Park.

If you ever find yourself in the Berkeley area of CA, I highly suggest you stop by the park and check out this little gem in the middle of the city!