February exchange envelopes received

This lovely hand made envelope from Amy has wonderful vintage postage and got amazing cancels at the post office. Unfortunately, one of the postal machines must have thought the same thing, as there is a little bit nibbled away.

I love the way Carol C extended my surname onto the back. Clever!

Rehj played around with the computer to get a quilled effect on the letters to match the quilled heart stamp.

A classic  beauty from Lynne S.

I am saving the fifth envelope for later in the year - thanks, Rachael!

January envelope exchange - received

Before I get to the January envelopes, here's one from the December exchange from Lucy. Always great to receive a brightly-colored envelope when it is cold and grey outside.

The back was fun, too. And thanks for the bonus card inside.

In from the January exchange...

...from Jean R. Love the sentiment on the card she included. The watercolors on the envelope don't show up as nicely as in person.

From Carol. I like the vintage stamps she used to complement the colors on her envelope.

From Rehj. I like the icicle effect. The zipcode is done with clear embossing - very cool.

And great sea-themed envelope from Lilli.

Coordinated mail

Sometimes it's great when mail art arrives on a  regular basis, that one bright thing peeking out of the group of white envelopes. Other times it arrives all at once. I had a really great mail Friday a few weeks ago. Look at this handsome bunch, you would swear that Eva, Heleen, Jon and Carol had coordinated it.

Carol's is part of the January exchange, so it will be coming up in a later post.

Eva made her envelope from a calendar page, and added part of a cool metallic coffee bag (?) to her note.

Here it is without the postal bar code. 1437 refers to the new Islamic year which started in October 2015 (the Islamic calendar is a lunar one, rather than the Gregorian solar calendar).

On the back you can see the Gregorian 2016 new year.

Heleen sent me a postcard of a castle in the Netherlands, since I wrote on her blog I didn't know any. The sheep stamp is fantastic, and is by the same photographer who took the picture of the castle. Heleen even added a little castle stamp.

And Jon sent me a postcard with a painted image of David Bowie. I love the back, too.

December exchange part 1

I sent out hand made envelopes numbered 630, 631, 632, 634 and 635 for the December exchange. Any guesses what they're made from?

Advent - summer harvest

The Summer Harvest stamps is one of my favorite sets from  USPS in 2015. They definitely influenced the creativity in envelope exchanges and other mail art. This one from Carol C blew me away when it arrived, not only for the great colors and composition, but also for the patience in getting these labels of fruit and containers so neatly.

November envelope exchange - received

Great exchange envelopes received from Carol C, Elizabeth O and Florence V.

August envelope exchange part 4

To Molly

I love the idea of up-cycling fruit/veg labels! They go perfectly with the Summer Harvest stamps. Carol C did a fantastic job with this one, and even sent me a bonus stamp.

Envelope exchange from Carol

Carol sent me this clever envelope - great use of the lighthouse stamp.

She also let me know that the vertical Charley Harper calendar envelope I sent arrived just fine - thanks, USPS!

Envelope exchange 2014: #269 to Carol

I spent some time thinking about how to send this vertical envelope (another one from Charley Harper - Clair de Loon).

Hey, my reflection isn't quite right.

Addressed by hand in silver...and half 'reflected'.

Hopefully the PO won't be too confused.

And the back.