Clockwise from top left:       Blue Vintage Stamp Set,     Purple Vintage Stamps on Envelope,      Red Vintage Stamp Set,        Blue Vintage Stamps on Envelope,         Coastal Vintage Stamp Set,       Air Mail Vintage Stamp Set,       Colorful Vintage Stamp Set on Blue Envelope. 

Do you know when you sort through your mail and you find a sturdy and heavy envelope, with a beautiful calligraphed address and you just know it is an invitation to something exciting! Other than a handwritten address on a wedding or party invitation, my other favorite extra touch is when there is a collection of vintage stamps. Together it just creates such a cohesive look that gets the recipient excited before they even open the invitation. There is also something so nostalgic about vintage stamps, such a sharp contrast from email and texting that usually controls our social calendar.

So lets say you have a great party or wedding in the works, where do you find a set of vintage stamps to use for your invitation? Look no further than the one and only Etsy! It should come to no surprise that Etsy, the online marketplace, is full of various vendors and shops that sell vintage stamps. My two favorite Etsy shops for sets of curated stamps are Treasure Box and Underwood Letterpress. Some of my favorite collections from each shop are in the image above, don’t you love how they organize some of the stamp collections by color. Swoon, so beautiful. 

However, let’s float back to reality for a second. While I appreciate and look in awe at these invitations with vintage stamps as postage…at 21 years old and still in college, I am a long way off from ever having a party or event that is grand enough for such elaborate invitations. But we don’t need to worry, this is where Dempsey & Carroll can step in. The other day I popped in their Lexington Avenue store to take a peak at their engraved stationery and I fell in love with their new collection of Vintage Stamp inspired pieces. Their Vintage Cent Stamp Collection pairs classic flat cards with envelopes that are lined with a print of vintage stamps. Envelope liners always add such a wonderful element to stationery. Or maybe you will love their Stamp Collection: Correspondence Cards, here they engraved and flat printed vintage stamp designs onto the card.

With no grand party on my horizon, Dempsey & Carroll stationery might fill my vintage stamp collection dreams for the time being!