Advent - trees

I am not sure why, but a lot of my envelopes and mail art postcards feature trees. These were done for one of Jean and Jan's envelope exchanges.The tree was based on one of Jean's images of the early stage of an envelope. If you're interested, the final envelope looked like this.

This is one of the few times I've asked for hand cancellation at the PO. This is how they turned out (image from Jean):

Jean and Jan's June exchange - incoming

Here are the five envelopes I received for the June exchange.

Some very cool lettering to go with the new postcard rate coastal bird stamps from Cathy. Clever how she did the double L in my name.

This envelope from Eric makes me think of smoggy Victorian London.

Firework fun from Jan.

Jean sent the cool translucent (looks white here) batman envelope, then followed it up with her flower letters.

And a lovely water color piece added to the envelope by Martha.

Thanks to Jan and Jean for hosting, and thanks to the participants!

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.