Street art

A very cool envelope from Eric, made from a magazine page about street art. I think it is so clever how Eric perfectly sized this envelope to fit with the art.

The Barber of Seville

An envelope for Eva, made from a small poster.

National Geographic, part 2

I made two envelopes from a National Geographic Museum bag. You can see the first here.
I sent the second one to Eva.

A collage from Mim

Fun stamp head collage.

D is for Delicisio

A set of six stamps highlighting the impact of Latin American cuisine in the food culture of the USA.

Used to mail these microwave meal package covers.

Coffee Mail

I found this 'postcard' in Puerto Rico, and in the end sent it when I returned home.

Oscar on Black

I really like the Oscar de la Renta stamps - they are large, attractive, and seem to have a much brighter finish than your average US postage stamp.

Here are some on some black envelopes.

To Cathy and Hester for the April envelope change.

And one to Eva.

United Nations part II

Yesterday I posted the United Nations' set of 17 sustainable goals stamps.

Two additional sets of stamps were issued on this same theme using Smurfs, and promoting International Happiness Day. One set was issued at the New York UN, and one at the Vienna UN.

All sent on kraft envelopes accompanied by a Smurf letter carrier.

United Nations part I

The UN issued 17 stamps that promote seventeen sustainable goals. I think this set has a very appealing graphic design.

Sent out to recipients in 6 different countries.

Any guesses as to the six?

The Sun - a mail art call from Philippe Charron

While yesterday's solar eclipse visible in North America is on everyone's minds, I am very happy to announce that Philippe Charron is hosting his first mail art call.

I am sure you have seen his amazing envelopes on my and Eric's blogs.

Here are the details:

Theme: Send me your sun, and you will receive mine.

Size and thechniques are free.

No deadline.

Send your contribution to :

Philippe Charron

5 Impasse de la pierrière

17220 Bourgneuf

France

Don't hesitate to spread the news so that Philippe receives lots of sunshine!

Here is the latest clever and beautiful envelope Philippe sent to me:

A bonus sun picture from yesterday's eclipse...

Total Eclipse

Today is the big day, when the first total eclipse in to cross the continental USA in 99 years occurs, with a partial eclipse visible over the entire North American continent.

What better envelope to celebrate with than this excellent one from Cathy O.

The stamp shows the corona of the sun, only visible when the surface of the sun is blocked by the moon. USPS has really issued two stamps in one, as, when warmed, the thermochromic printing process reveals the ghostly surface of the moon.

The rest of the fun July envelopes came from...

 Jean - this one didn't scan well, it is bright pink in reality - and Troy - some stylish calligraphy.

Debbie made an envelope from a beautiful illustrated book page.

Amy put together this fascinating collage on her envelope.

And Tina used some sort of reveal-the-color technique. I am not 100% sure how she did it, as the black layer looks like it is stuck to the rainbow layer. Regardless, a great effect.

C is for Cheese

Eric sent me this packaging from M & S in Paris.

Accompanied by these fantastic cheese stamps.

For links to more stamp themes that begin C, head over to Sunday Stamps.

Squirrels and dust bunnies

Squirrel mail for Connie Jean.

Dust bunny mail for Michael.

The moon

Looking decent on one of the watercolor envelopes (number 781).

Copy

In from William

Gold, blue and kraft

Not the easiest to document, I sent a few of these out. This particular one went to Dorothea.

The mail snake

How cool is this mail snake that MomKat sent me form Greece?

A chicken for Limner

B is for Butterfly

For the letter B of the Sunday Stamps A to Z I chose butterfly.

Here is one on envelope 780 (scanned with envelope 782, which has a 150th anniversary of Louisiana Statehood stamp).

This particular butterfly is the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, and was issued by USPS as a non-denominational stamp bearing the mouthful 'Non-machinable surcharge'. It is the fifth in the series, and is square to give an indication that it is intended for 1 oz letters that are square or non-rectangular. This stamp can also be used to mail a 2 oz machinable letter.

To see what others chose of their letter B, head over to the links at Sunday Stamps.

Yellow mail

An unexpected package arrived from Limner.

The theme is yellow!

And included a bit of assembly...

This little guy is on my desk at work now.

Clown mail

In from Martha...

And out to Martha and Cascade Post...

In from Jon

Fun, long piece from Jon.

Seahorses from Susan

Great summer postcard from Susan.

Texture to Philippe

The Have a Ball stamps are textured, and the front cover of the latest US Philatelic is too.

I think I am most impressed by the dimples on the golf ball stamp.

One week, three postcards

Eva sent this great graphic postcard from the MMVI modern art museum in Rabat.

And later the same week this Roman mosaic postcard from Italy arrived, having been sent from Spain. These amazing designs are thousands of years old...

It was accompanied by this fantastic collage, with unusual stamps in the shape of Spanish Nobel prize winners.