Holly and glitter

Beautifully addressed envelope from CJ - hard to show off the glittery decorations. I love the break in the crossbar on the H.

And the tree's still up, so here's the festive card inside.

Sheep thrills

I shared a photo of a wine label I thought Eva would like as sheep are one of her favorite animals - I think because they produce wool :) (Link to the wine company's website - where I learned the sheep have names).

I was beyond thrilled to see this sheep arrive unexpectedly in my mail box.

Thanks, Eva, this is brilliant, and I love how the stamp colors match Marco's parachute.

First day of spring

Today is Yesterday was the vernal equinox, and the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere, so here are some past envelopes from exchanges that have that spring-like quality to them.

From Kate R

From Bug

Get anything good from (Sparkling) Santa?

The secular Christmas stamps and souvenir minisheet from USPS featured Santas taken from vintage Coca Cola vignettes. Did you know that before Coca Cola 'branded' Santa in red and white that his outfits were in various different colors?

I used the souvenir sheets on my December PTEX envelopes. And, since it is Christmas, I even added a little decorative writing - using Jean's very forgiving wrought iron letters.

PS I have to confess I find the Sparkling Santa stamps creepy! Despite that, I hope Santa was good to you this year.

Candy's eye candy envelope

I love the matching lettering inside the envelope.

Double the green from Jean

Jean sent something green...

...which had something green inside.

Thanks for this great pair, I love that Italian stamp.

Candy's letter

Candy sent out letters for letter writing month, and I was the lucky recipient of this stylish envelope and bonus matching notecard.

Advent - Paper (Source) Bags

I enjoy sending mail art using items not intended as envelopes. Good, sturdy paper bags are great for this. Paper Source bags seem to be held in high regard by readers of the blog. 

I practiced by wrought iron writing on a bag I sent to Hester and she reciprocated with a great bag from a cookware store. I also sent Eric one as part of Jean & Jan's December 2015 envelope exchange. He sent me one from his local grocer.

Quite a few other bags have been sent and received this year:

Target pharmacy bag to Keith.

Ann Sather bag to Martha. Jean also sent me my second airline waste bag... also know as a sick bag :)

Sunday Stamps - say it with flowers

These are the envelopes I sent out for Jean and Jan's June exchange. Don't be shocked, regular followers of this blog, there is hand-lettering ahead, so sit down if you feel faint.

I usually send out my hand-made envelopes for these exchanges, but this time I thought I would mix it up a bit. I prefer to take on an alphabet that is do-able, and one that is forgiving of mistakes and inconsistencies. I'd admired the cream letters that Chuck sent Jean and then Jean created some lovely envelopes, including this one she sent to me, which started out like this.

So I combined the letters from Chuck, the tree branches from Jean, and the Vintage Tulip stamps, which are my selection for today's Sunday Stamps. To see more flower-themed stamps click here. They were first issued in February as 70c stamps, then reissued last month as non-denominated 2 oz stamps (currently valued 71c). Based on drawings from engraved plates originally created by naturalist artist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), they are printed using the intaglio method, i.e. the engraved lines are slightly raised, giving the stamps a vintage feel themselves, as few modern stamps are printed like this in the US. The only other one I can recall is the $2 upside down Jenny.

Five envelopes are for the exchange, and three were bonus ones to Jean, Jean's Mom, and Eric. Perfect that non-machinable international (1.20+22c) = 2 x non-machinable domestic ;) And I thought the design warranted a red hand cancel from the post office, so this marks the third time I've requested this service - two clerks thought they looked great and were happy to oblige.

They are posted more or less in the order I addressed them, and even I can see there is a progression from thinner to thicker, and there is a lot of variation, but I think it still looks OK.

And the group shot. 

Another set of letters I may try in the future...

...brought to you by Jean W.

This is a wonderfully understated envelope. Jean has drawn the colors used for the lettering from the stamp. The subtleties are much easier to appreciate in person.

I like this alphabet, it's one I would consider trying myself.

Update: link to the whole alphabet. Thanks, Jean.

MMSA envelopes received part 3 - blue, green and white swirls & wrought iron to Smash

This is an envelope I received from Laurie M in the MMSA envelope swap.

This is the only stamp that worked well.

And I had another go with the wrought iron alphabet in white to go with the stamp. This envelope is painted, and quite uneven as a result so writing was a challenge. I had a hard time with the 9 - I should have turned it upside down and written a 6, which I didn't have any bother with. I liked the overall effect.

The back is also very attractive.

Halloween sneak preview

Along with Jean, Missive Maven is one of the earliest blogs that had me hooked back on sending out more interesting mail.

And MM loves Halloween, so i thought these zombies were perfect.

The Batman stamp has great colors here (and what would Halloween be without a few superheroes?)

Here's the back.

______________________________

Jean's wrought iron lettering works really well for Halloween envelopes. 

With Batman stamp.

And with Johnny Cash.

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And speaking of superheroes, here's a postage label I hadn't seen before:

Check back tomorrow for a extra Halloween tricks & treats throughout the day.

Jean's white iron alphabet in gold on a paper source bag

I liked Jean's white iron alphabet she showed on her blog, and this paper bag seemed the perfect place for me to try it out.

Hopefully Jean doesn't fall over when she sees that I tried my hand at this style of writing. Fortunately I think it is very forgiving. 

I did mess up the address even though I had a practice line right in front of me. 
I love how well the circus poster stamps match - I think they are tough stamps to use as they are so striking in style, and the colors have an antique feel to them. This size qualified for the Large Envelope 1st class rate of 98c. It might be the first time I've sent an empty envelope.

___________________________

Here's the Barnum & Bailey tiger working well on a dark blue envelope (a bit darker in reality than the scanner decided it would be).