Royal Mail: advert-body-1 by Royal Mail

The six stamps celebrate some of the best-loved traditions of a UK Christmas - decorating the Christmas tree, making a snowman, hanging out a stocking, eating a Christmas pudding and lighting a Christmas lantern. Also featured is a robin redbreast, which is synonymous with Royal Mail and has a strong association with sending and receiving cards and messages. Its appearance on cards was inspired by the red coats worn by postmen in Victorian times, who were known as ‘red-breasts’.

The images on the stamps were crafted by Manchester-based, illustrator, Helen Musselwhite. For the stamps Helen created intricate paper sculptures which were then photographed. She cut the paper by hand and folded the pieces to build the detailed and multi-layered festive scenes.