Thank you Ambyr for your gorgeous Secret Santa letter
Well, my annual tradition is a little late, but here i am logging on faithfully(-ish) once a year(-ish) as usual, to thank Ambyr (@ambyr on dreamwidth) for the gorgeous Secret Santa letter that they sent me.
To begin, the envelope itself, with a beautiful golden cat stamp (it's actually shiny gold though that doesn't come through in the photo!) that i teased out and saved, because I haven’t collected stamps in years, but it was still too beautiful for me to not save. Also, I’m more than a little charmed that Ambyr apparently has personalized envelopes with a cats logo, this is the kind of level I want to be on. Goals tbh.
Next, the letter (note the cutie pie little cat charm at the bottom of page one.) Ambyr wrote a very cute and touching letter about how they looked through my ancient deviant art (!!!) for my interests and got me stuff based on that in addition to my letter which is just??? An angelic level of devotion to their Santa job??? Also, I’d honestly forgotten I even had a deviant art page still publicly accessible.
The other pages contained poems, because I’d mentioned in my form that I loved reading new poems (I do, and my love has like, quintupled since I filled out that form so) so they HAND-COPIED some poems for me??? And then cut out illustrations to match them??? And idk if they ’s a mind-reader or something, but I’m currently collecting a lot of Mucha artwork and stained glass art because I’m trying to improve my lineart skills, so I’m actually keeping these letters not just out of sentiment but I’m actually taking them out while I practise to use as reference??
Predictably, the cat poem is my favourite bc ofc it is. they also sent me a tarot reading and a card (more on the card later), and you can see the tarot page in the letter, though I blurred out the actual text for privacy’s sake. Apparently this is part of a year-long project where they is sending one tarot card and reading each to people and I think that is a super cool project for someone to undertake. I got the three of cups, which apparently celebrates creativity, friendship and creative collaborations, which is surprisingly well-fitting for someone who doesn’t even know me outside of this exchange, because I am creative!! And I do collaborate with friends a lot!!
Not to make a meal out of it, but can i just say I am both equally impressed by the level of detail that went into the art cutouts for these letter pages? Like, check out that shiny cat sticker next to the cat poem! Check out those little music notes cut out of paper so that it looks like they’re emanating form the music instrument the lady is holding??
Below is the three of cups card. Again, i’m obsessed with the art, and this is another one I’ll be trotting out for reference while practising, because this is the level of lineart and detail i want to be at with my art one day. they also sent me a Tyrion Lannister because they saw my involvement in the Game of Thrones fandom from my deviantart page, and I had no idea there was even a card game, I should look up the mechanics.
Next up, I’d mentioned in the form that my current major fandom that I’m obsessed with is The Locked Tomb book series, so they sent me a postcard with a photo of a cemetery local to their city because it fits the aesthetic of the books, and yeahhh it totally does actually, i might draw a fanart based on that in fact, once I get some other stuff off my plate. Also, check out that linocut of a lotus. Ambyr did that!! That is the kind of handmade stuff I love getting, like so much care goes into stuff like this, and as someone who mostly does digital art, I really enjoy the rare chance of getting to hold something that someone made themselves.
The final two little booklets (you can see the outside in the photo above, and the inside in the photo below) hold a poem each, and they are small print editions if I understand the outer text correctly. Invictus by William Ernest Henley is one I’ve already read and obviously like, just judging by the fact that I still remember it despite reading tons of poems after that I cannot for the life of me recall. The other poem I was unfamiliar with before now, but I enjoyed reading it, it’s very much, as the kids say, the Aesthetic.
Then, as if that weren’t enough, Ambyr also sent me three postcards, which feature my three favourite genre of sapphics: astral, psychotic and dead. The bottom one is very much my Aesthetic. The top right one is one of those things that’s Not My Style, but which i love seeing other people draw and which I voraciously consume, if that makes sense. The top left has such Locked Tomb vibes that even now everytime I pass my desk and see it, I have to convince myself it’s not Ianthe Tridentarius holding that rapier over Camilla Hect’s neck. Anyways, very much My Thing, all three, which is why they’re lounging on my aforementioned desk to still look at, instead of being safely tucked away into my postcard folder.
Last but not least, on account of my ATLA stuff on my deviantart, Ambyr also sent me the cutest little ATLA pin in LGBT pride colours, which is now joining the Discworld and Locked Tomb pins I already have on my bag.
Anyways, I’ve rambled on enough so I just want to say, thank you so much for this entire letter Ambyr!!! It’s really cheered me up through this snowed-down slog that January has been, and I’ll be keeping it out instead of putting it away safely so that it can cheer me up a little more over the Feburary slog too. Every part of this letter was so clearly carefully crafted, even such small things as the stamp, I can’t help but set it as an example of Santa-ing to aspire to. I hope you’re having a better start to your new year than before, and that good things are happening to you!