Celebrations

 Today is Candlemas - a day when it was traditional to take down Christmas decorations (mine were put away last weekend). The weather here has been hinting at spring, alternating between 30s and 50s (low single digits to low teens in Celsius), so it seems fitting that it is also Imbolc, the pagan festival celebrating the beginning of spring, coinciding with St Bridgid's Day on Feb 1st, a public holiday in Ireland. And last week was the Lunar New Year, saying goodbye to the Year of the Dragon and welcoming the Year of the Snake. The Snake is associated with mystery and elegance, intelligence and energy, renewal and transformation.

USPS continues its lovely series of Lunar New Year stamps. I am a bit disappointed that this one isn't in the form of a mask like the rest of the set, however it is a nice stamp, with bright red foil flowers. I received it on this fun exchange envelope - I love the little snake Jessica drew!

It is difficult to capture the foil elements in a photo. It is not obvious from USPS where the foil is (if Viridian posts today, perhaps she will show the full sheet).

In an amazing mail coincidence, I received this fantastic snake envelope (paint and collage) from Eric on the first day of the Year of the Snake.

Update: this envelope took a hint from the snake quality of transformation, and arrived in a different form to how it started its journey

For more snakes on stamps, explore the links at See it on a Postcard

Space cat

I upcycled a piece of junk mail advertising food delivery into a postcard for Eric.

Space cat had a long journey - I posted it March 4th, and it arrived last week. 

Stay strong

A great message in these times of COVID-19, protests, and murder hornets.

Thanks for this great card, Eric.

Audrey

This fantastic handmade envelope arrived from Eric. I love the Boucheron heart stamp he used.

1984

It feels sometimes and in some ways that we are living in the novel 1984.

The reason Hester sent chocolate mail art

A long 'postcard' arrived.

And the fantastic reason for it.

I did send a dragon to Eric, so today seems the perfect day to show it.

Devil boys from beyond

It is turning into a mini-run of space-themed blog posts.

Here's on I sent to Eric some time ago for his  2018 scifi mail art call, based on a flyer for a play which I didn't manage to see, unfortunately.

Rings from Eric

A long delay for me to blog this great envelope that arrived from Eric in 2017.

Like this one, it is printed onto transparency and turned into an envelope. I love Eric's use of color and light for this envelope.

Thanks again for this unique piece.

Eric's airmail map

Eric sent me this wonderful envelope in 2017 he designed showing a direct link between where we live. If only it was that simple! (In fact there are no direct flights to Europe from Columbus).

I love the vintage look to the address, and how nicely he added the airmail stripes to the edges. 

Tiny mail

Eric sent me this fun piece of mail - the backing of an eraser. It was sent more than a year ago - I am hoping to work on blogging my mail backlog this year, and feeling inspired by Eric's New Year's Day blog post.

This is one of the smallest pieces of mail I have received. It only just meets the smallest size that USPS will accept (3.5 x 5 inches).

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.

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!

X is for Xmas in July

I'm not normally a fan of abbreviating Christmas to Xmas, however it allows me to have a bonus post for the current Sunday Stamps A-Z.

I bring you a tale of two Xmas cards that decided to have an adventure.

The first is from Fabienne. The polar bear stamp is wonderful, and the stained glass one is part of a set titled Structure and Light issued in 2016 by La Poste. They make a perfect pair for Xmas postage.

Posted December 18, it didn't arrive until January 29, with no signs as to why it took so long (usually mail from France arrives in 5-10 days). There were Xs inside, too.

The second late arrival had an adventure that is easier to figure out. Eric sent this on December 13. For some reason it ended up gaining a Macon, Georgia postmark December 23. I'm not quite sure why it went there, since it is clearly addressed.

It must have done the rounds in Macon, because it gained another postmark January 20, and it finally arrived here January 23. You can see that the IMB has been blacked out, so I assume at some point this poor envelope gained the incorrect barcode, which sent it around Macon a few times before finally being corrected and successfully being delivered more than a month late.

The stamp is actually a print at home Xmas label featuring a penguin, wishing me a Joyeux Noel.

Included with the card was this wonderful ATC oil similar colors. A very nice piece of work, Eric, I love that it has a nice feel to it - is it collaged? 

Eric and I seem to have had trouble with our holiday mail the last few years :) Maybe 2018 will be better.

This has been a bonus post for the letter X of Sunday Stamps.

W is for Writing

I have had this envelope from Eric for quite some time. I'm glad I saved it for W, as the beautiful stamps show the evolution of writing implements, and after all, stamps were created for sending letters. These two show a fountain pen and a reed, used as an ancient writing tool. Love the colors of this envelope from Eric, and the splashes of blue on the stamps. You can also include 'watching', if you take into account the blue cat in the top stamp.

The back is also stunning.

To find out what others thought W stands for, head over to the links at Sunday Stamps.

U is for United Nations

Continuing the Sunday Stamps A-Z, U is for United Nations.

I have shown several of my favorites in the past, so for this week I have a 2017 stamp that celebrates World Environment Day with one of my favorite animals, the polar bear.

Sent to Eva, Heleen and Eric with a little bit of art on the envelopes.

For more stamps with a U theme, head over to the links at Sunday Stamps.

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by the blog to browse and comment - it is all appreciated.

Have a safe, fun night tonight, and best wishes for an awesome 2018.

P is for President, Progress, Producer, Poet, Politician, Philosopher, Playwright, Plane and Pentathlete (and Postage).

I bought a set of envelopes with vintage stamps in a 'masculine' theme from Edelweiss post. I had wanted to send one to Eric, so I had to wait until I could make up the international postage with two modern stamps that had a similar color palette.

I'll leave it up to you to make the connections to the P themes and the stamps.

For more P themes on stamps, head over to the links at Sunday Stamps.

M is for Mammoth

When this fantastic piece arrived from Eric I knew exactly when it would be published - as part of the A-Z for Sunday Stamps.

The envelope is made from a paper bag from the now defunct grocery chain, Mammouth. Eric says the bags are somewhat of a collectors item now.

And he matched the stamps perfectly. They come from a 2008 set of Prehistoric Mammals.

For more stamps beginning with M, head over to Sunday Stamps.

Color!

Great color on the stamp and the inside of the envelope (a clear plastic envelope).

Thanks, Eric, it did indeed arrive in time :)

An MMSA envelope from Eric

I am hosting a hand made envelope swap via Mail Me Some Art. Some of the participants have used really nice envelopes to send their items.

Here's one from Eric. I love the envelope, and even more impressive is how well-matched the stamps are.

The cat's meow

Great cat mail from Eric.