Fun envelope from Melissa

Front...

...and back.

Coffee & Chickens

Eric used a Nespresso bag to make this very cool envelope, and very cleverly got the corner perfectly positioned for the address. And with all the detail the stamp seems invisible.

And inside, happy 2017 rooster and chickens.

Eric Mondays part 38 (on Sunday) - (Outer) Space, the Final Frontier

Yes, Eric and Star Trek turned 50 together.

Here's the pictorial postmark from Eric's blog. I really like how this one turned out.

The Star Trek stamps have come in for some criticism as being too abstract, however I love them. Apparently they may owe some of their look to this set of posters by Juan Ortiz.

For more Outer Space on Sunday Stamps check the links here.

It's the Year of the Rooster

Special instructions...

...and the fun chickens on the inside:

Farewell to the Year of the Monkey

Heleen sent this lovely ATC...

It is the final day of the year of the fire monkey, and therefore my mail art call is now officially closed. You can see the mail art received on the blog.

Almost everyone who sent me a piece of art received this card that I designed:

For the people who sent in more than one piece, and when I ran out of the monkey postcards, I did send some other items that I have not shown yet.

To Eric, envelope 144. With thanks to Scott for mailing it for me from the UK.

To Ti Ar Raden, a flier from an art gallery.

To Eva, a paper plate monkey. Pictures are from her blog, as I forgot to snap a picture of him before he left. He arrived complete, with a bit of a sore ear.

White shapes XV

Sent to C. Mehrl Bennett.

Eva's awesome Christmas mail

Great holiday mail from Eva. I love the stylized reindeer, and check out the Christmas bell-shaped stamp, and the giant marzipan stamp. The colors on the stamps work so nicely with the envelope, too.

Eva wrote her note on two postcards. They are titled A is for Art (top) and Q is for Quality and Quantity.

Several days after Mr Reindeer, this showed up.

I think it has had some sort of adventure (without visible signs as to where exactly it has been), because it was mailed Dec 13, and arrived Jan 20.

V@dka to Gü

The envelope...

...the vodka.

Eric Mondays part 37 - a misadventure

And a missed postmark.

Either I mixed the dates up, or they were incorrect on the web. Either way, this is what happened:

Sent back to me, with a nice note. This is what the cancellation would have looked like.

I sent them back to Eric in this envelope made from a folder he had sent me.

__________________________________________

Postal update: Forever stamps went up to 49c yesterday. Fortunately postcards and international rates stay the same.

Letters up to 2 oz cost 70c, and those up to 3 oz are 91c. 

Another piece of election-related mail, this time from Thom C.

One of the stamps features author and poet, Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014). 

At first glance the stamp art would appear to be taken from a photograph, however it is in fact based on a portrait painted in the hyper-real style.

Angelou wrote many books, essays, plays, poems, and scripts, including cookbooks and children's books. She is perhaps best know for her work 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings', the first volume of her autobiographical series, published in 1969. This book has also been the subject of censorship, having been challenged or banned from high school curricula and libraries. 

The stamp itself caused some controversy upon its release, as the quotation, which is widely cited as having been written by Angelou, is actually attributable to Joan Walsh Anglund. Angelou never claimed to have written these words. USPS opted to leave the stamp as is, rather than withdraw and reissue it with an Angelou quote.For links to other authors on stamps, please visit Sunday Stamps.

Paper bag from Brazil

Business in front...

...party in back!

Inauguration Day

I have received a couple of US election-related pieces.

Here's the first, an add and return from Jon F.

With my addition:

I have a feeling that there could be a lot of mail art created along these lines as a way to express frustration if the new president continues to act in an unpresidential fashion.

A New Year's Banana, and other assorted fruit

Plenty of fruit on the outside, most of it uncanceled...

...and an a-maze-ing banana on the inside.

And a sign that it is going to be the Lunar New Year of the Rooster soon.

Thanks, Heleen!

January envelope exchanges in from Jean and Rachael

Beautiful calligraphy and vintage stamps from Jean. The Illinois stamp is particularly nice.

Really clever rubber stamping from Rachael.

First mail art from Michael L

Fantastic trees and more from Berlin

Eric Mondays part 36 - The Ladies Auxilary

I decided to continue keeping a look out for any relevant pictorial postmarks for Eric's fifty call.

From Eric's blog, the result:

I am still not sure on the spelling of 'auxilary' on the postmark? A typo, or just a variant spelling?

From Patricia

Great envelope from Patricia, covered front and back.

Mission Impossible

The final banana mail arrived from Brazil.

My mission, should I choose to accept it....

The small square thing is a candy wrapper, I think.

Ides of postcards

A handsome buck from Kathie.

And New Year's wishes on a clever card from Eva.

Please use both handles

Envelopes 765 and 766 to Limner and Melissa W

Le cheval

Stunning envelope from Philippe.

Envelopes 750 and 754

To Ruud and William

Eric Mondays part 35 - the 50th state

When I sent Eric 50 states on postcards, I mailed them with the 50 state flag stamps. Or so I thought. I left off the Wyoming state flag by mistake.

A pictorial postmark from Yellowstone National Park allowed me to correct my error.

Here's the final product shown on Eric's website.