I Bought 500 Postage Stamps!

Whilst searching on eBay for old postcards, I came across bulk listings of used postage stamps from all around the world. I've always loved stamps, and when I sent lots of happy mail I would collect the stamps in a little book.

So when I saw these listings I just had to get one. They were all lucky dips and the prices did range. In the end I decided to get a pack of 500 for £3.00 (total bargain if you ask me!) 

When I shared a photo on my Instagram I got the question 'what do you use them for'. The short answer is, as ephemera.

But I'll use them in my journals, on happy mail, in my art and wherever else I fancy! Some have such beautiful pictures on them, I'm really tempted to cover a notebook in them!

I did in fact count them all, you know, just to check I wasn't being taken for a fool by the eBay seller aha! I received 504 stamps in this pack, there was a massive variety, with stamps from all over the place! It was so much fun looking through them all. I think my favourite thing about these stamps is the fact that they are all used. They all have the stamp on them to show you that they've been through the postal system. The fact that each one of these stamps has been on its own little journey across the world just fascinates me so much!

This one was one of my favourites, it had a holographic image on it. When I found it, it took me back to the days of collecting Pokemon cards and finding a shiny! This was the only one like this I could find, but I'm going to have to look online to see if it was part of a set or something.

These were some of my other favourites that I came across. Of course I picked some of the most colourful stamps in there. But I also loved the tree stamps on the right, they were all still attached to each other and the detail in them is just amazing. I'm going to definitely keep some of these for my own little stamp book so I can cherish them for a long time.

I loved finding stamps from the same collection in there too, there were so many butterfly stamps! In this photo there's two individual sets, which are both equally beautiful. The owls were again another set I'd love to look into, and see what the other ones look like, because they are just so pretty. 

If you are interested in the exact seller I bought them from, you can find a link to their eBay page here.

There's lots of sellers on there with many different sized bulks and prices, so shop around and see what you can find. They really do make great ephemera and you don't know what little gems you're going to find in the pack!

- Daisy X

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DoCrafts Mini Cards & Stamp Set Review

Today I'm going to share my thoughts on these two packs of Mini Cards & Stamp Set's by DoCrafts.

I got to have a bit of a play with them today and I have mixed feelings about them, so if you are thinking of buying them, have a read through this first!

The cards themselves I have absolutely no problems with. The designs are beautiful, I'm excited to use them in my journals and in any happy mail I send out. Also the gold foil detailing on them is such a nice touch. You get six of each card design in a pack, and six of each envelope. For the price I think this is very reasonable. Above is the Geometric Neon pack, I think these colours are perfect for spring.

This is the Geometric Mono pack, the colours are very different obviously. They do still have the gold detailing though, and they have a different kind of winter vibe going on. Again I really like these, I don't have any problems with them. I actually received seven of the cards with 'dream' on, so I got a little bonus in my pack!

Here's the parts I had a little bit of an issue with... A very messy, sticky, pain in the bum, issue.

So the stamps are clear stamps,  I mentioned in my first look blogpost the other day that I could see the stamps had some sort of greasy substance on them, which I assumed was to stop them from drying out or something? But it had made the cardboard they were attached to go really soggy looking.

After using them, they left my acrylic block covered in this sticky, greasy mess, along with anything and everything they touched! I'm not sure if I did something wrong, or what. But I just couldn't understand why they were sooo greasy? I tried using baby wipes to clean them a bit, and sort my desk out, but they didn't help at all really they just kind of smeared it even more.

I did check the clear stamp that came in the magazine my mum got, which is from the same geometric collection and that was a proper clear stamp which had a plastic back and front.

These ones didn't have anywhere to store them. Usually clear stamps have a bit of plastic to stick to when you aren't using them, but they didn't. I luckily had some spare plastic from other stamps, but if you don't have plastic, I'm not sure how you are meant to store them.

As far as the actual stamps go, they were very good, they are detailed and not too squishy. So they stamped clearly. I used the silver ink, and neon pink ink that came with the packs. Then I also tried my Stazon ink. The 'enjoy' stamp was the only one which didn't fully stamp. The dot of the 'i' wasn't raised enjoy so it didn't catch the ink.

They definitely worked best with the Stazon ink, the others were okay but not really anything compared to Stazon. 

The pink ink didn't really apply to the stamp properly. I wiped it and tried again but it did the same, it stamped clear enough, but again it just wasn't great.

Overall I'd say if you are thinking of getting this pack for just the stamps, consider the fact that they are kind of messy, there's no where to store them afterwards and the ink they come with really aren't the best.

The card are really nice, great quality. The stamp designs are really nice, I can see me using them a lot. But of course I'll be using my own ink and this is after I've found a new home for them and cleaned up the mess they originally made.

I was a little disappointed with these, I did expect a little more from the stamps as I've not had issues with this brand in the past.

You can find the new DoCrafts products online:

The Range

Hobbycraft

eBay

- Daisy X

Ankepanke!

Today I have another beautiful package of goodies to share with you all, this time it is from a shop called Anke Panke!

Talk about snazzy packaging ay?! I absolutely love this mailing bag, it’s sooo shiny!

Something I always appreciate with companies is the way they package their products. 

Little touches like the ‘FUN MAIL!’ sticker just makes me smile, and if I’m smiling before I’ve even opened it, then first impressions have gone well!

When I came across Ankepanke on Etsy, I fell in love with her adorable designs and products! I found that she had a website and I just had to get in touch.
The stamp sets I chose, I had just one thing in mind to use them for, journaling!

We've all seen those emoji stamps that are about (I'm yet to get my hands on some), but what's better than summing your day up with an emoji stamp? A CAT EXPRESSION STAMP THAT'S WHAT!
How adorable are they?!

I hoped these Kitty stamps would fit in my Ban.do planner, in the monthly section, and they do! They fit in them perfectly. I was on the fence as to how to use those monthly pages, but now I can just sum up each day with a Cat expression! I'll also decorate the pages with the usual washi and stickers, but I'm so glad I have something fun to use these pages for now!

One of the extras Anke sent in the package were these brilliant Chalkboard word stickers! I absolutely love them they will be perfect to caption photos in my scrapbook, or even on the bottom of polaroid photos, they are such a great size. Another little detail which was just adorable was the piece of card that was in the package to make sure everything stayed flat, it had this little illustration on. Little touches like this that really make me smile!

The other stamp set I received was the Tape Stamp Set, I was super excited to play around with this, I could think of so many uses for it! I especially like the idea of using a lighter coloured ink to stamp them with, then stamping a fun word stamp on top in black ink!

I really loved the variety of patterns there is in a pack, and also the mixture of 'lighter' stamps (like the 5th one down on the left hand side) and 'darker' stamps (like the 6th one down on the left hand side) there is.

They also sit in the monthly sections in my Ban.do planner absolutely perfectly. If you are wondering the boxes in the Ban.do planner are 42mm wide, the Tape stamps are 36mm wide. I can highly recommend the Tape stamps for any planners out there, to fill in gaps decoratively or highlighting things (using a light colour ink so the text would show up obviously haha). 

Of course I had to try them out, and I have to say I'm REALLY impressed. Acrylic stamps can be rubbish quality (they might not stick to the block, or they're too squishy), but these one are proper quality! They aren't too squishy, and I really enjoyed using them.
I think my coloured ink pads need a bit of TLC though, as the Tape stamps didn't come out as well in the colours, but I tried them with the black and they were perfect!

Anke also sent me a couple of her postcards, which again are just as beautifully designed as the rest of her products! I'm going to have to keep the pink one which says 'have an awesome day!', to display on my future studio room when I eventually move out!

Overall, I think Anke's shop is absolutely beautiful, and the prices are very reasonable!
She is based in the Netherlands but of course ships to the UK.

I will link all the products I was sent below:

Kitty Stamps (€9/£6.25)
Tape Stamps (€9/£6.25)
Chalkboard Word Stickers (€3/£2.08)
Awesome Day Postcard (€1/£0.69)
Cake Postcard (€0.50/£0.35)

To give you an idea of how brilliantly reasonable the prices are (especially considering you would be purchasing from a shop outside of the UK)

If you were to order all the products linked above, it works out at around £22.21 for the items, tax and shipping to the UK!

If you were to order just one of the stamp sets, it works out at around £8.64 for the items, tax and shipping to the UK!
(Prices are approx, I used the google currency converter to roughly work them out)

I can assure you that these stamp sets are amazing quality and well worth the money, plus you would be getting a very unique design. Anke's shop is completely beautiful, so even if the above items don't interest you, she has a wide range available so you might find yourself a gem.

Ankepanke UK site

I hope you've enjoyed having a read, I love being able to share beautiful shops like this with you guys. Anke is absolutely lovely and she also has an Instagram which you should definitely check out here!

-Daisy X

*Please note, even though these products were sent to me free of charge, this does not sway my views and opinions. I will always share my honest views on the product and company.

Weekly Incoming Postcards!

So for a couple of weeks now I have been receiving beautiful postcards, from postcard swaps I have done with people. I did postcards swapping a LOT about a year ago, but I stopped for a while as other things took over, work got busier so I had other priorities. 

But I recently realised how much I missed having those little bits of happiness coming through my door!

I thought I would share this weeks incoming postcards with you guys!

As you can most probably tell, I tend to pick out fun/bright/cartoon/illustrated postcards when searching for swaps! I know some people like map postcards, others like views from other peoples hometowns. But I like the ones which are fun, and bright!

Of course the stamps are also the other beautiful part about postcard swapping! We don't get many 'pretty' stamps here in the UK, I try my best to search them out, and tend to hoard them for such times like this! But one of the main things I love about swapping postcards is you never know what stamps you will receive, it's like an extra little surprise when you turn it over to read.

These Incoming postcard blogposts won't be gigantically long, but they are too pretty to not share.

If you like snailmail but aren't so into the commitment of penpalling, then postcard swapping might be worth a shot! These were all one of swaps I did with people.

- Daisy X