Winter exchange from Jean

I love this one - Jean played around with the Potbelly bag and a different way to spell and position FinnBadger. 

I am not personally a fan of their sandwiches, so I didn't know they had such cool bags.

Eric Mondays part 17 - Vanilla Hot Chocolate

A vanilla chocolate bear as the 0 in 50, and a five cut from the same box.

Final Eduardo envelope

This is the last one... a mysterious 13th envelope.

I decided to use this idea for the April envelope exchange, too.

This style was inspired by this amazing calligraphic Jabberwocky poem.  Of course, mine was done on the computer.

What is she staring at?

Heleen sent a postcard inside her amazing puffin mail. The idea was to complete the picture. As you all know, drawing is not my forte. So in the end I went with simple. And with something I'd already had success with.

Jon sent me this to complete.

I liked the address side a lot.

Have I mentioned before that I find add and return to be somewhat stressful? Fortunately I was stuck in a groove. So more rose-tipped tree-like vines from me.

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. 

Vintage

Another Philatelic Catalog arrived featuring the vintage tulip stamp on the cover.

This one went to Julie S.

And another vintage rose, this one sent to Cathy O.

Marti's Love Stamps

Marti sent me several envelopes using the Garden of Love stamps.

This is what I sent her in return.

Jean & Jan's February exchange

I showed the envelopes I sent out back in February. In case you missed them, here's the group photo. I dodged the love/red theme and wished the recipients a happy new year of the ram in gold and blue.

Here are the incoming ones.

Aquarium style from Hester, and the first time receiving this year's Love stamps.

With dragon tea - first time I've received tea in the mail!

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Marti saw my St Valentine's Day post where I blogged that I had never sent or received a Garden of Love stamp. So she parted with one on her envelope to me. Thanks!

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I'm not 100% sure if this is an exchange envelope or not... I'll have to keep count. Karen matched the stamp to the envelope perfectly on this one.

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Then another one from Marti showed up.

And another, with some cool dice stickers on the back! The blue colors of the flower on this stamp are stunning. The envelope was a tiny bit injured on one side. 

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Kathleen H sent this one. The red in the lettering is cool - and a bit bloody - but then when was love ever easy! And the paper additions below the address are very tactile. I'm enjoying the vintage stamps, too.

Amongst other fun stuff inside, Kathleen enclosed this card. Thanks - I enjoyed it all!

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And I thought this was the final one, a stunner from Christy.

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Then this one arrived from Marti.

With this inside.

And a note explaining that it has been damaged in a postal sorting machine and returned. At least the stamp made it! And quite a story for this envelope. Interesting that it would be returned, rather than delivered in one of their apology envelopes, as the address is largely intact, and should be able to be verified in the database.

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Cathy O sent me this lovely envelope - I think it is a reply to my exchange envelope above rather than part of the swap, but it fits perfectly in this post. Make sure you click and enlarge it to see her clever use of hearts on the capitals.

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Some outgoing stamps on a red envelope - just to show I don't always avoid it.