Watercolor calendar envelopes

Some more of the envelopes I harvested from a large watercolor calendar titled 'Fairies'. I continue to be impressed by how well they pair with the botanical art stamps. These are envelopes 784, 808, 793, 795, 783, 786, 807, 777, 794 and 810.

Ides of postcards

A wonderful pair of postcards from Eva arrived the same day

A gelli print from Pamela

And a town crier from Bridget

Fab packet from Pamela

Pamela always includes such great goodies when she sends an envelope.

Thank you!

San Francisco

Envelope 412 sent to Pamela, in San Francisco.

MMSA Stamp Heads received

Here are the amazing stamp head postcards I received through MMSA. Such a great variety of stamps, colors and textures.

From Pamela

From Tricia

From Joanne

And from Ellen.

Still more brown red and white envelopes

Number 633 to Eva

...numbers 653 and 654 to Kathie and Adrienne...

...numbers 649 and 650 to Nikki and Rose...

...and numbers 647 and 652 to Honi and Pamela. That's the last of them! 

Insects part 2

There were several great envelopes left from the Christopher Morley calendar.

They went to the next few people in my reply to pile:

One for the host, Jean

Honi C

CJ

Pamela G

Rose H

And one to Hester where I folded the paper more like Eric's last week, as the image was too nice to cut into.

Fab mail package from Pamela

Pamela doesn't send me mail often, but wow, when she does it is always an event.

From the red stripy tracked outer shell...

... to the contents.

Opening the envelope...

... and opening the cool almost-minizine, but with pockets of fun stuff.

And the gifts unwrapped turned out to be rubber stamps... now I'll have to go and find an ink pad.

It's the Year of the Ram! or Sheep! or Goat!

I hope it isn't cheating to have my Sunday Stamps entry a few days early, on the first day of the year of the ram (or sheep, or goat).

Baby mountain goat stamp from Canada, from a series of baby animals. $1.20 is the rate to send mail from Canada to the US. 

The envelope is the real story - this is the most amazing mail I have received in 2015, and one of the all time best.

The envelope has travelled on part of its journey by dog sled - through three towns, each with a postmark on the front. 

Thanks so much, Adrienne.

____________________________

I sent this tangram goat to Karen I, host of MMSA, for the first challenge of 2015.

Karen's was stamped with the Wyoming 'Flags of our Nation' stamp, featuring bighorn sheep (and a bison on the flag).

The ones for the swap were additionally stamped with the brand new Year of the Ram stamp, as after I mailed Karen's I realized the 'postcards' exceed the letter size, and thus need large envelope postage (98c, or two Forever stamps). 

I think the Year of the Ram stamps look fantastic in person, however they never scan quite right. Even the USPS image isn't quite the same - the gold parts never look as good as the real thing. 

I used one on envelope 489 to Pamela in San Francisco, where they always hold the first day of issue ceremony for this series...

...and I used them on my envelopes for Jean & Jan's February envelope exchange. The suggested theme was hearts, red, and St Valentine's Day, or personal choice. I am not really one for St Valentine's day, so I sent out Year of the Ram greetings, accompanied with the new stamp.

Don't be shocked, regular readers, but for a change I used commercial stationery and Jean's wrought iron lettering. I think they make a nice set. The one with 3 stamps is heading to the Czech Republic - hope it makes it!

__________________________

I also have this mint Shaun the Sheep stamp from the UK. He'd be perfect for mail sent in the Year of the Ram.

And on the topic of British stamps... Royal Mail released this fantastic set of eight stamps today, celebrating Inventive Britain. A pity you can't use another country's stamps on US mail, as they would work with many of my envelopes.

Envelope 411 - food chain

Sent to the generous Pamela G.

I sent her a few extra goodies, hence the butterfly stamp (plus it is a nice color match).

And the back.