Vintage vs. New...After All It's Just A Stamp, Right?!

(Photo from Martha Stewart Weddings)

Darn you Martha Stewart and your impeccable use of vintage stamps! Ok, first off let me say that I love vintage stamps, and I love the look of them on wedding invitation -- sorry Martha for taking your name in vain -- however, I can not justify the added expense of using vintage stamps.

(Photo from Sea-Jay Stamp and Coin)

Ebay is a fabulous resource for vintage stamps, and buying them in sheets is a must, otherwise buying each individual stamp would be a tedious process! SeaJay Stamp and Coin, a seller on ebay, has some great prices on stamp sheets, or look at different sellers by going to Ebay> Categoires >Stamps > US > Sheets , but even though most of the stamps are sold at face value they can cost an additional $2-5 per sheet in shipping. If I bought the vintage stamps, that would add additional costs that my already bulging budget can't afford. So I decided to go for the stamps sold at the post office.

(Photo from The Postal Store)

The Postal Store for the United States Postal Service is a great resource for current stamps. What I love about it is that you can order stamps online, and they will ship them to you for $1 no matter how many stamps you order, no waiting in line at the post office!

Between the time I send the save-the-date and the invitations postage will rise by 1¢! Since the save-the-date cards are the first priority, and since they are only a single card, 41¢ is all I need to send them. (Side Note: emailed Judy with Northwood studios and my white ink should be in on Saturday! Finally, I will be able to print my save-the-date cards!) I was going to make the save-the-dates a postcard to save money, but the cougar stamp for postcards is hideous and the wedding stamp is not much better!

So, I decided to go with the “Celebrate” stamp for the save-the-date. I think it is cute, fun, and goes along with my teal, chocolate, and red color palette. To adjust for the rate change, and depending on the weight of the invitation, I’ll add more stamps to the 41¢ “Celebrate” stamps I bought. After all, it’s just a stamp, right?

(Photo from The Postal Store)

Here are a few blog posts that were inspirations to me: WeddingBee: Ms. Tulip and My Martha Moment, Hasel Bridge: My vintage, color coordinating stamps, Oh Happy Day: Vintage Stamps, WeddingBee: Ms. Gummi Bear and My Invitation Melt..er..Breakdown, WeddingBee: Ms. Lovebug and This Just In: More Stuff.