Guess what's in the folder.

Hi.

Last Saturday was a good day. For a start I wore a stripey dress and yellow shoes [BTW:  these facts are not at all pertinent to the story ... but hey, I'm just setting the scene for you ... ], the sun was shining and James and I went out for lunch [goat's cheese bruschetta - in case you're wondering] in a little local town which has plenty of tea shops ... and almost as many charity shops. One in particular stands out as it sells mainly retro and vintage items rather than the usual tat ornaments made last year and biographies no one ever reads.

So far so good ... but wait ... it gets better. Bearing in mind how much I adore, crave, seek-out and obsess over retro prints .... and keeping in mind too just how much I have always loved stationary ... just imagine how I felt when my eyes alighted on the shelf where these beauties stood:

Two A4 ring-binders with the most incredible textured plastic covers, in amazing designs:

So far so amazing, yes? But then ...

... then, drawn nearer by their sheer magnificence I reached out to touch them and peer inside. Which is when 'amazing' turned into 'amazing-er'.

And here's why:

They house a stamp collection.

Stamps! STAMPS!

Lots and lots of them:

Stamps arranged by country of origin:

Pretty stamps:

Stylish stamps:

Wonderfully illustrated stamps:

Stripey stamps:

Weirdly hot stamps:

Apologies to any Belgian readers for checking out your ... whoever he might be!

And if all this wasn't enough for one woman to take ... alongside the pages of organised stamps were several envelopes stuffed with assorted unsorted extras:

And packets of stamp sets ... and several postcards from a 'Ken' who, it turns out, was no great travel writer!

They're not all mine. We bought them between us. And I can feel doubly delighted at the fact that while all the postal-pretties came to live with us, the money we paid went to the British Red Cross, which feels so much more rewarding than if I'd bought them from ebay.

James is going to go through them and point out the ones he would prefer not to see end up on a layout or collage ... and he harbours dreams of researching them and finding our fortune therein.

But the rest ...

.... the rest is fair game and postal-themed projects look like they're here to stay!

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Thanks for dropping by to see my latest treasures.

Soon.

Julie :-)