Fa la la la llama

There has been a proliferation of unusual animals in the past few Christmases... I present the Christmas llama - sent to Momkat last year.

Christmassy envelopes to Eva

Paper bag envelope 751, with my favorite seasonal stamps this year, Songbirds in Snow.

And catalog envelope 614, with ornament stamps from a few years ago.

Holiday Ornaments

Great holiday envelope from Hester.

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!

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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.

Winter exchange part 2

I love the snowflake stamps from a few years ago. They look fantastic on Jan's envelope.

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Clever wreath placement from Saba.

And a neat piece of washi on the back.

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A cool snowman from Chuck. Amazing shading!

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I love this modern take on a Christmas tree from Elena. It looks so effortless, that I would like to try it, however I bet it is a bit tougher than it looks to get the proportions right.

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Jack sent a sharp envelope. I love the tree, and the red stippling behind 'Phillip', and the slanted 'i's. Really neat to have Jimi Hendrix on a winter/holiday envelope.

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And a designer snowflake from Eric. I always thought Eric was a graphic designer, but he is not, just self-trained on the computer.

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Like the last exchange, Chuck K used the whole envelope. I like the way the mail barcode added to the design of the address.