April was national letter writing month

And Candy decided to write a letter every day... and I think she wrote more than one on some days.

She sent her letter in an envelope made from her own paste papers - this thing is amazing, there's a lot more shine to it in real life.

Minnesota bound

Hopefully by now the snow has gone from Minnesota, where both of these envelopes were sent.

Envelope 239 to Steve D, not quite in time for St Patrick's Day, but hopefully still in March.

And Envelope 164 to Linda F. Not too much longer before the weather is warm enough for open air theatrics in the evening.

Tucker is... out of this world

It's Tucker Tuesday.

Here's the first body I found for Tucker.

Bonus points if you know who modeled for Tucker's body this week, and double bonus points if you know the film title.

Leftovers

It's been a while since I sent anyone a paper bag.

This one is from a trip to Chicago last year - it was used to carry leftovers back to the hotel.

Martha has a great display of her mail art on her glass front door that she changes monthly. Hopefully this one will be front door worthy.

Two from Eva

Eva is the person who got me hooked on Sunday Stamps, so I thought I would post these today in lieu of stamps with today's them of dinosaurs/large animals. The link to Eva's mail blog is in the side bar.

These two homemade envelopes arrived on the same day.

The first one features a mystery face, and Eva's note on an interestingly shaped letter.

The clues lead to Hopscotch, a novel by Julio Cortázar. I haven't read the novel, but now I want to. It was published in Spanish in 1963, with the first English version in 1966. Four and a half stars on Amazon - this one might be better to have in paperback rather than on the kindle, due to its structure, where you can skip through the chapters in a certain order, or, or course, read it from start to finish.

The second features a poster from an exhibition about the architecture in Eva's home town in Morocco. 

Great to see these two land on the doormat, thank you.

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Bonus blog post over at the Virtual Stamp Club covering Royal Mail issuing a commemorative sheet of stamps celebrating Anthony Trollope's 200th birth day. He worked at the post office and is responsible for introducing free-standing post boxes, called pillar boxes in the UK. Royal Mail has a special online feature with 65 images of post boxes over the years. 

MMSA Year of the Goat

The MMSA swaps are back for 2015. The theme for the first one was Year of the Goat. I showed my tangram goat for this swap in a previous post. I used existing materials rather than getting anything new.

In from Lois M and Linda G, who made her own rubber stamp of a ram. Both cards have gold and metallic red elements which don't scan well.

Another tangram.

And more gold on Jenny's postcard.

And the final tangram sent in for the swap.

French Guy

I came across this page in the Sunday Times Men's Fashion supplement a few days before Eric's Time Flies card arrived.

I love how the back turned out as well.

I hope it travels through the postal systems without too much damage, as sometimes thin shiny magazine paper is a little too delicate for the sorting machines.

Rectangular envelopes that look round

It was still cold enough for hot chocolate when I sent envelope 403 to Adrienne. I addressed it in silver, however the scan makes it look grey.

I've sent a few envelopes with watch faces on them in the past, and always regret not putting the stamp in the middle of the face.

So a circular stamp and circular address (more or less) for Eric on envelope 181.

A few days after I mailed it, this arrived from the man himself - coincidence?

Time flies, and so did this card. It was postmarked March 16th, and arrived on the 21st. It looks a bit greener in my scan (or maybe it is my monitor) - check out Eric's blog, the link is on the right, for a better scan and more fun mail art.

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.

Introducing the Tucker project

Jon F over at IUOMA has a fun project to give Tucker a body. Several bodies, really. Jon sends a set of Tucker faces (some printed, some as stickers), and the task is to create collages or situations for the mustachioed one.

Rather than overload your circuits with too much Tucker awesomeness, the next several weeks will have Tucker Tuesdays, because he's worth it. Here's the back of the envelope.

Tune in next week for my first Tucker collage.

Envelope 191 - beach combing

Some black and white stamps on a black and white envelope.

For Honi C.

I received this great homemade envelope in return.

With a collage using a print of one of Honi's gelli plate printings as a base, and some fantastic faux postage. 

Thank you!

Sunday stamps - an apple a day...

...keeps the doctor away. Here are three of the four 33c apple stamps from the USA (postcard rate from 2013). 

Update: you can read about the apple varieties at USPS. 

Today's Sunday Stamps theme is health, medicine and the Red Cross.

I have this one from the British set of medical discoveries issued in 1994. This was also the Europa theme for the year.

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On a side note, I *think* this is my 500th blog post. Thanks for all the great envelopes and other mail art, and not forgetting the stamps themselves.

Third and final MM/CB update

The final installment of MM/CB's South American adventure arrived at the end of March.

This picture was taken in Huaraz, Peru. The center was a little scraped by a postal machine adding its own little artistic touch.

Welcome back to the US, MM/CB. Thanks for the journey.

_____________________

Update:

MM/CB offered the opportunity to send occasional correspondence. 

This is envelope 606. His next adventure is working with a conservation group involving wolves. I tried to find a wolf-related envelope among my stack, but came up dry. For some reason I always think of bees when corresponding with him - he spent time in an apiary in South America - hence the insert. And I think he has a beard.

___________________

Update 2:

My prints arrived in the mail! They are wrapped in plastic, so the photo is not the best.

Two returns

I received two envelopes in the same week that sent some of my mail art back.

Carroll mailed this envelope which had one of my faux stamps on it. Inside was this fierce horned woman - perfect for the year of the ram.

And the back of the envelope, with a selection of Carroll's own faux postage.

The second envelope is from Eric. It looks like it might be from the same magazine he sent his Australian envelope in. The colors work very well with the purple stamp. And inside he added to a postcard I had sent him for his own use.

Thanks to both of you!

Speed limit

Erni's mail to me a while ago that featured the phrase 'Hoch 10' translating more or less as 'to the maximum' made me think of playing around with a speed limit sign that I saw.

And we had discussed thing like high 5, double high 5, low 5. So I put some 5s on the back.

My last large art sent to Erni went astray, let's hope this one makes it.

Envelope 84 - art

This is the last of the art for sale envelopes that I made in the 1990s.

Stamped

Addressed

And the back

The Transatlantic Queens of Trash

TrashPo arrived from both sides of the pond on the same day.

From Diane, head of DKULT and all DKULTs everywhere, filled with trash.

From Mail Art Martha, head of DKULTUK. With a cool folded envelope made of newspaper. Love the alien sticker. He's been, shall we say, *liberated*.

Thank you, your majesties.

__________________________________________

Bonus:

Today Google released a Google Doodle celebrating 155 years since the start of the Pony Express mail service.

Envelope 185 - Lost identity

Sent for Roberto B's mail art call Lost Identity.

Envelope 185

Photograph for the exhibit

Envelope 145 - fire

I sent this one to Kathie, to thank her for the gnarled tree face she sent me.

Addressed and stamped in vertical format.

I selected the C. Alfred "Chief" Anderson stamp for today's Sunday Stamps theme, People at Work. Here's an enlarged version from USPS.com.

He might not be technically at work, but he is dressed for it. He is included in the series of Distinguished Americans. 

From USPSstamps.com:

'When Anderson secured his pilot’s license in 1932, he was the only African American in the country qualified to serve as a flight instructor or to fly commercially. He then began breaking flight records and inspiring other blacks to become pilots. During World War II, Anderson served as the chief flight instructor of a flying school at Tuskegee Institute. To the Tuskegee Airmen who learned their piloting skills from Anderson, he was affectionately known as “Chief.” During the war, the Tuskegee Airmen flew thousands of sorties in the European theater, destroyed more than a hundred German aircraft, and received scores of Distinguished Flying Crosses.'

An original painting was created for the artwork for the stamps. I like this stamp a lot - a ton of character when you look at Chief's face. He won't be able to cover a non-machinable or 2 oz letter much longer, as postage rates for additional ounces is increasing on April 26th at some point in the near future - the post office was going to increase prices April 26th, but have decided to delay it while they request changes to presorted rates as well. (And looks like he is sold out anyway, unless you want to buy collector's press sheets).

New rates (date of implementation to be determined)

Additional ounce/non-machinable letters - up 1c to 22c

2 oz letter - up 1c to 71c

3 oz letter - up 2c to 93c

3.5 oz letter - up 3c to $1.15

Postcards - up 1c to 35c

International postcard or 1 oz letter (up to 2 oz to Canada) - up 5c to $1.20

A 1 oz domestic letter remains 49c.

I like that 49c + 71c = $1.20

Hopefully by now the post office will be featuring new stamps for some/all of these rates, although there may be re-issues of old stamps with the new prices.