Winter exchange from Maggie

Beautiful calligraphy from Maggie, with a lovely flourished string of lights in the shape of a tree.

Cartoon characters for Sunday Stamps

Eva let me know that the Singapore Philatelic Museum was having a mail art call for all things Peanuts related.

I blogged the envelope I sent in already, here it is again, made from a USPS Philatelic magazine showing some of the 10 Charlie Brown Christmas stamps issued October 2015.

I also sent Eva an envelope made from the same catalog, and I included a postage label that the self service machines were issuing last Christmas.

The museum very kindly sent me a thank you postcard featuring the gang from the new movie. 

For other Sunday Stamps featuring cartoon characters, go here.

Charlie Brown

Eva is good at pointing mail art calls out to me. This is one for the Philatelic Museum in Singapore having a Peanuts mail art/postcard exhibit.

And I sent this bonus one to Eva.

Bonus November envelopes

Jean and Jan sent me these envelopes marked November exchange. 

Another Charlie Brown stamp, and my favorite Johnny Cash stamp with matching colors.

The rest of the incoming December exchange envelopes

One from Florence. I like the simplicity of this one, and the colors which go with the stamp.

One from Lynne - I love this idea for a modern take on a tree. Looks so cool, I need to remember this for next year.

Another clever tree, this time from Rehj.

Beautiful calligraphy from Karen. Karen always does such subtle, interesting things with her work. I love how she left off the 'rd' in 3rd, which would have interfered with the downstroke of the p.

An owl (from a calendar page) from Carroll, which came with a peace bird inside.

Vintage Christmas stamps from Amy S.

And last but not least, this one from Kate R.

It's been really great to receive so much beautiful mail over the holidays - thanks, everyone!

__________________________________

Rehj has obviously been saving up her Christmas wreath global stamps - thanks for paying extra postage to get such a nice effect on the envelope. Which brings me to a bonus mini-rant today!

I buy most of my postage from usps.com as it is convenient and easier to browse than ask a busy postal clerk to browse through the filing cabinet of stamps for me. As of yesterday, there are currently NO Global Forever stamps available at the website. NO Christmas wreaths, NO multicolored oceans, nothing. I know a new issue is coming soon, but I think it is pretty bizarre to have so many options available for domestic postage, but none for international. 

Update 12 Feb: The new global stamps are finally available for preorder from USPS.com, with a 22 Feb release date.

Decemberzegels - December stamps

Today's Sunday Stamps theme is secular Christmas stamps.

This year's non-religious stamps from USPS feature A Charlie Brown Christmas and Geometric Snowflakes. 

They're both fun, but I wish I could use postage from other countries sometimes.

Every year in the Netherlands the post office issues 'December stamps' which cost less than normal postage, and can be used to send mail during the month of December at the reduced rate. How cool is that?  Each year the designs are different, and the stamps are issued in panes of 10 or 20 different designs depending on the year.

As a bonus (for me), the font on the stamps is my personal favorite, Futura.

Here's this year's fantastic set; I wish they were available as Christmas cards, they are so cool.

 

From PostNL's site about the design for this year:

"The 2015 December stamps were meant to have a festive look and appeal to a wide target group. Graphic and industrial designer Tord Boontje of Studio Tord Boontje in London said: “My point of departure was to make up little stories with motifs that I often include in my work: animals, plants and flowers. Stories that can be captured in one single image. Or better said: each stamp is the starting point for a story. Based on that, everyone can use their imaginations or memories to make them their own. That’s how I wanted to allow everyone to have a connection with the stamps. Judging by the reactions, I’d say that’s what happens. For example, one person described one of the stamps as an example of a fun-loving dog playing during the fireworks on New Year’s, while someone else saw their mother, who always hung a Christmas star in the window during Christmas time. For me, it was the memory of my daughter enjoying the first, freshly fallen snow of the season with our dog.”

The ten stamps bear clear similarities, says Tord Boontje. “Within the narrative approach, I wanted to show how important it is to be together in December or to think of one another during that time. That’s why all the figures interact on the stamps: it is a kind of contact that clearly highlights the different characters. Another similarity is the element of light, whether it’s stars, crystals or fireworks. I wanted to make every stamp shine.”

And the cool promo video:

My favorite set is from 2007:

Although if I was sending cards from the Netherlands, I would also use this set issued in October this year that shows the country at night:

And two of my all-time favorite sets from the UK:

Wallace and Gromit from 2011- issued on this amazing mini sheet.

and the phenomenal Ice Sculptures from 2003