Saturday, October 31, 2015

Zombies for lunch - Happy Halloween!

This is one of my favorites from the zombie calendar - bird on head for Jean!



One for Adrienne.


And a refresher on zombie features and anatomy.







Halloween special

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Let's start the day out right with a found poem from Lost Highway by Hester.



Mailed with this great spider stamp. The Alexander Calder stamp looks supernatural, too. And as for the butterfly.... Silence of the Lambs, anyone?





Carroll sent this great postcard that definitely fits in with today's festivities.


She is a master at filling the address side with art, too, and used a great mask on a vintage stamp. Money - the root of all evil. And running - the evil of all evils.



An exchange envelope in from Elizabeth W... the perfect combination of stamps, letters and spooky things.


With great stuff on the back, too.


The basis of an envelope sent to stripygoose.



Steve sent this card ages ago, and I thought it fit nicely for today.



Turn the lights out, then click on the image to get the best view of this card.



Not enough Halloween for you?

Then how about a trip to Oh, Write Me! for a ton of Halloween & Fall-themed mail.


Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Zombies for lunch - Halloween minus three

The five zombies senses for Hester.



Royal Mail's Star Wars stamps

Last week Royal Mail issued 16 Star Wars stamps. Ten feature characters, old and new. There are also small scenes in the lower corner of each stamp with more characters, just in case you were worried about not seeing C-3PO, R2-D2 and Chewbacca. And the 'ST' in 1st uses the Star Wars title font - great added detail.



There is also a mini-sheet of 6 space ships.



While not as detailed as I would like, there is a video about the stamp artist and designer here. I was fascinated by the segment where you can see versions of the stamps in progress, with layer after layer being added. Neat stuff.



Over at Positively Postal, Scott has two posts on the special first day post marks - one using the Imperial Seal in red, the other using the Alliance Starbird emblem in blue.


Monday, October 26, 2015

Zombies for lunch - Halloween minus five

Earlier in the year I picked up a zombie calendar very cheaply with the sole purpose of being turned into Halloween envelopes.

Get ready for Zombies for Lunch!

Off with her head...



October exchange - Halloween is coming!

Envelope 707 to Bridget.


And if you're not too squeamish, check back at 1pm EST for the first in a short series of Zombies for Lunch!


Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Sunday Stamps on Tuesday - Flags

A bit late for last Sunday Stamps' theme of flags and maps. Click the link for more stamps with this theme.

The flag of Ohio is the only non-rectangular state flag - bonus points for knowing what the shape is called without resorting to Wikipedia.

The Ohio flag stamp is from a set of 60 that covered all the flags of the states, DC, and the protectorates of the USA, plus 4 generic stamps featuring the flag, inspired by lines from the national anthem.

Apparently it has been legislated that there is always one or more stamps featuring the US flag, which is why there are so many versions of first class stamps featuring the stars and stripes. I like this abstract version, however it was solidly blasted as one of the least necessary issues from last year.

The stamps are featured on envelope 296 to Nikki in Canada.


September exchange - awkward photo calendar envelopes part 3

To Hester




To Wilma


From Candy - one of her envelopes constructed from one of her handmade paste papers. 

Friday, October 16, 2015

September exchange - awkward photo calendar envelopes part 1

I picked up some cheap 2015 calendars back in February to turn into envelopes. I used an awkward photos one to create these envelopes, and accompanied them with stamps that had famous faces.

To Jinanne


To Jan


From Lilli in Canada - the stamps celebrate 75 years of the Canadian National Film Board.







Sunday, October 11, 2015

United Nations Postal Administration




Until recently I had no idea that the United Nations issued its own stamps. They come in three varieties: US dollars for New York, Swiss Francs for Geneva, and Euros for Vienna.

You can only use the stamps to mail letters at the UN. I was in New York earlier in the year and even though I have been there quite a few times I've never visited the UN. This time it was on my agenda, so I ordered some stamps ahead of time so as to avoid disappointment. After the transaction finalized, the message was to expect delivery in up to 4 weeks! I am used to the USPS order system which usually takes a week to 10 days

Well, the stamps didn't take quite that long to arrive (surprise 1), and they were beautifully packaged and even had a perfectly grouped and cancelled set of stamps (surprise 2).




I chose the World Poetry Day stamps. English on the domestic rate, Spanish on the international rate. I have had a stack of New York postcards for a long time, and decided it was time to release them into the wild.





The UN has 6 official languages, and each of the sheets features a poem written in each one: English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Russian and Arabic.  The only other language to feature on the stamps is German (on the ones issued in Vienna).

The Spanish poem translates as 'I have a white rose to tend' and the stamps are my selection for today's Sunday Stamps theme of flowers, although I think my favorite of the set is the Arabic with its amazing underwater scene. The English set does mention the word 'flower' in Wordsworth's poetry.

Interestingly, tomorrow is UN Spanish Language day.