B is for a Butterfly from Belgium

Heleen, on a short trip to Belgium from her native Netherlands, surprised me with this one. It might be my first Belgian stamp ever. It shows a Red Admiral butterfly, and has a symbol for 'world' rate (outside Europe, basically) with a built-in airmail indicator. 

I love the little caterpillar she added to the envelope at a very early hour in the morning :) .

Inside were two postcards, one of castles, and one irregularly shaped like a serving of Belgian fries - I think that is mayo on the fries - which to me is disgusting, but to Belgians is clearly how it is done. I doubt it would have traveled all that well through the mail, so nice that it was in the envelope.

For more links to postage with a B theme head over to Sunday Stamps.

A is for Airmail...

...and Anniversary! 2018 is the centenary of airmail service in the USA. 

I used some of the blue stamps on an envelope to Eric that was made from the cover of US Philatelic magazine. I think they are slightly less bright in real life compared to the USPS image.

The stamp has also been issued in a red version. There has been some discussion as to whether there will be confusion considering the fact that the stamps say 'airmail', when they are in fact 'forever' stamps valid for first class domestic mail.

For more postage with an A theme, head over to the links at Sunday Stamps.

Z is for Zebra nerite

I already showed one of the current USPS domestic postcard rate stamps under X, and when researching it I realized that another one in the group of 4 would be perfect for Z.

This stamp shows a zebra nerite, a type of snail - a perfect way to end given that letters with stamps on are now referred to as 'snail mail'.

And there we are at the end of another A to Z round of Sunday Stamps. For more Z links head over to the main site.

The Mail Art Experiment

Diana H, a mail artist I know from IUOMA, discovered a stash of pages covered in handwritten scientific experiment notes.

I participated and the page arrived in this amazing envelope.

With a note on a nice card.

I received this page.

And turned it into this (the silver parts may be hard to appreciate.

If you would like to see more altered pages head over to The Mail Art Experiment's Tumblr page.

And if you are in Crozet, Virginia, the exhibit runs August 21st to October 2nd at the Crozet Library.

The exhibit announcement arrived in the form of this lovely card featuring six of the altered pages.

Defective mail art

Sent to MomKat.

Y is for Your own design

I didn't want to go with the easy Y is for Yellow option, or repeat 'Year of the Chinese Animal'. So I present to you a stamp where Heleen has used her own design. It seems like more and more post offices allow you to customize your own design. Here in the US this is licensed to a couple of companies (and you are charged extra for it).

I doubt any of these designs are truly collectible, but you never know.

Heleen's envelope came with an added snail, as well as a fun December stamp.

Inside was a stripy banana - thanks for the fun mail, Heleen.

To see more postage with a Y theme, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

Faster than a speeding bullet!

This great superhero envelope did travel quite fast from France, taking only 5 days.

I love the idea of a shy superhero...

I also liked how Eric used two reddish Marianne's to fit with the color scheme. Thanks!

Hands in the mail

Eva sent this great 'postcard' she received at a play, Los Mendigos (The Beggars). It is an interesting piece, the size is similar to a large bookmark.

And even more interesting are some of the stamps on the back that match the hands on the front.