Full moon today

These are the moons I sent out for the February envelope exchange.

And a bonus moon envelope to Eric, showing his birthday month. The writing and moons glow in the dark.

April envelopes received

Here are the fab envelopes I received in April. There's a lot of green... must be spring.

From Cathy. I love how the colors match the flowers on the stamp.

From Jean. I'm loving the draw out letters here. And the color matched stamps.

From Jeanae. Great calligraphy. And I always have to think twice when typing your name :)

From Hester. Great artistamp, insect and Oscar stamps.

From Kathie. Love the WPA Posters stamp here, hiding in the bushes on this John Rush painting.

From Smash. I never thought I'd receive this stamp myself - thanks so much!

Solar system (II)

S is also for stamps. Not every mail artist cares about the postage stamps - for many they just serve the purpose of getting the art from A to B through the postal system. 

Since I got back into mail art I do try and think of creative ways to use postage stamps to enhance the mail art by theme, color, and sometimes even number.

The planets of your solar system set issued by the post office last year are very nicely done, and have afforded me the opportunity to make some fun envelopes.

Using old wall calendar pages to make the envelopes, here are the exchange envelopes I sent out for April.

Do you have a favorite stamp?

And if you're wondering why this post is titled Solar System (II), you can see my first Solar System blog post here.

I used all of the planets stamps on another piece of mail art here.

(PS: I have a bonus letter S that will show up on the blog tomorrow if you feel like checking back in.)

The rest of the February exchange envelopes

Here are the rest of the exchange envelopes.

This beauty from Cheryl...

...and amazing calligraphy from Smash.

January exchange birds from Smash

Lots of fun birds from Smash.

The rest of the April exchange envelopes

Pretty envelope received from Smash.

This is the other side of the double-sided, double-stamped envelope Jean sent. Two of the love stamps made it through unmarked. Clever use of the same colors from the stamps.

Dots from Amy, with a fantastic stamp featuring the extinct Eohippus.

December envelope exchange part 2

I had a few more envelopes made from brown paper grocery bags to go with Forever Love stamps, so I opted to send 10 out for the December exchange.

These are numbered 636, 637, 638, 639 and 651 to Florence, Carroll, Smash, Rachael and Karen.

Sunday Stamps - say it with flowers

These are the envelopes I sent out for Jean and Jan's June exchange. Don't be shocked, regular followers of this blog, there is hand-lettering ahead, so sit down if you feel faint.

I usually send out my hand-made envelopes for these exchanges, but this time I thought I would mix it up a bit. I prefer to take on an alphabet that is do-able, and one that is forgiving of mistakes and inconsistencies. I'd admired the cream letters that Chuck sent Jean and then Jean created some lovely envelopes, including this one she sent to me, which started out like this.

So I combined the letters from Chuck, the tree branches from Jean, and the Vintage Tulip stamps, which are my selection for today's Sunday Stamps. To see more flower-themed stamps click here. They were first issued in February as 70c stamps, then reissued last month as non-denominated 2 oz stamps (currently valued 71c). Based on drawings from engraved plates originally created by naturalist artist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), they are printed using the intaglio method, i.e. the engraved lines are slightly raised, giving the stamps a vintage feel themselves, as few modern stamps are printed like this in the US. The only other one I can recall is the $2 upside down Jenny.

Five envelopes are for the exchange, and three were bonus ones to Jean, Jean's Mom, and Eric. Perfect that non-machinable international (1.20+22c) = 2 x non-machinable domestic ;) And I thought the design warranted a red hand cancel from the post office, so this marks the third time I've requested this service - two clerks thought they looked great and were happy to oblige.

They are posted more or less in the order I addressed them, and even I can see there is a progression from thinner to thicker, and there is a lot of variation, but I think it still looks OK.

And the group shot. 

Jean & Jan's May exchange - envelopes received

The first envelope received in this exchange is a wonderful night scene by Janet F.

Red, white and blue from Florence.

Pretty calendar page envelope from Smash.

Another great wallpaper envelope from Hester with matching note.

And the final one - happy chicks from Marti, with my first sighting of the Special Olympics stamp. I still think that USPS should have had a global forever version of this one - just imagine all the postcards being sent home to all the athletes competing from all around the world. The symbol would have been perfect for the circular stamp.

Envelopes 685, 686 & 688: Home decor & American glass.

Replies to Jan and Jean, and I threw one in for Smash.

These envelopes were made from sheets that Karen N sent me.

Sunday Stamps - Time of exploration: space

Today's Sunday Stamps theme is exploration of space.

I have sent this Mercury Project stamp in the past, featuring Alan Shepard, the first American in space:

It was issued in 2011 alongside this stamp about the Messenger Mission, the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury:

Adrienne sent me this one - 1985 Canadians in space.

And I also received this one featuring the space shuttle: one of a set of 8 se-tenant stamps from 1981 on US space achievement. 

Smash sent me this great 10c Skylab stamp issued in 1974.

The envelope she sent with that stamp was pretty special. I had to go hunting for the value for the 'B rate' stamp - 18c.

USPS Stamps has an interesting article about astronauts taking first day covers into space.

And finally you can go to Infinity and Beyond with Buzz Lightyear. 

I have used his stamp on mail, but not received one myself.

Karen's exchange part 3

The first two genius incoming envelopes from Karen and Smash made me smile.

Karen's:

and Smash's:

________________________________

Maggie's feather and bird are stunning.

____________________________

Joi's envelope is so elegant. The writing is in gold, so the scans do NOT do it justice.

_______________________

Garth sent this beautiful envelope - orange calligraphy matching the Western Tanager's head. 

And inside, more orange on the feet and beaks of Charley Harper's 'Passing Puffins'.

___________________

Although Jonelle's 'send to' address is in the US, her envelope was posted in Sweden. An abstract landscape - right up my alley.

_____________________________

And one from Julie wishing me a happy New Year. Certainly this has been a great year so far for mail!