May envelope exchange - received

Beautiful red and gold ribbon writing from Jean.

Fun checkerboard from Lynne.

Wonderful lettering from Kate.

Pretty flowers saying hello from Lisa in the Czech Republic.

And awesome badger mail from Elizabeth - thank you!

Advent - love

Earlier in the year in a post about the series of Love stamps USPS issues every year for a Sunday Stamps blogpost (which is the current most visited post of the blog), I commented on the fact that I had never received any of the Garden of Love stamps, a set of 8 se-tenant stamps. 

Marti sent me a surprise set of envelopes with the stamps attached, and I had fun sending  back a set of envelopes with some of the other stamps. 

Jean and Jan's April exchange - received part 1

From Rehj. I *think* this was done on the computer - looks fantastic with the love ribbons stamp.

From Hester. This envelope is handmade from wallpaper - I love the Calder stamp, the asymmetry of  stamp placement and the vertical format.

From Me to You, from Cathy. I had skipped buying these stamps as I thought they weren't particularly inspiring - turns out all they needed was Cathy's artistic touch!

Janet sent me this fantastic cherry. Really beautiful colored pencil work. And this might be the first time I've received a water lilies stamp.

St Valentine's day

St Valentine's day is the Sunday Stamps theme (I'm about 6 hours early, although blogger seems to use pacific time, so make that 9 hours early on the timestamp). 

The US has been issuing stamps with the theme love for many years.

Forever love (2015). Video story of the designer's view on forever love (4 minutes). I have these stamps, just haven't used them yet. I prefer the white version - with the small 'forever' and '2014' in silver (scans as grey). I still think it's a bit odd that the heart says forever and there is also forever written below.

Here are some I sent and received.

Cut paper heart (2014). The one from Olathe has a unique digital color St Valentine's day postmark. The story behind the design is here.

Sealed with love (2013)

The 2012 stamp is Love ribbons. Out of print, a sheet of 20 stamps now sells for over three times the current first class price.

This 20c Love stamp is from 1984. Sadly many of the vintage stamps don't always stand up to the modern sorting machines, so this example is a little torn.

Of all the love stamps, I think this one is my favorite set, Garden of Love from 2011, even though I have never received any. A very clever design, with a lot of variety in the set.

Just noticed that USPS Stamps has a feature on Valentine's day mail artists.

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I'm not sure how long La Poste has been doing this, but they have a series of Valentine heart-shaped stamps designed by famous design houses (like Chanel, Hermes etc).

Many of the designs can be seen here. It's an interesting concept to have commercial enterprises design stamps (and have their names on them - great advertising) - I can't see this happening in the US.

The 2015 set is designed by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac.

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Rubber stamped hearts from Katerina N, all the way from Greece. A big chunk of background on the Greek 'European Youth Capital Thessaloniki 2014' stamp is pink, does that count?

Enjoy the rest of Valentine's Day, everyone.

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Last minute update: Eva blogged about Dr Turing's Love Letter Generator. If you've been at a loss for the perfect way to express your feelings, then this is for you - it's not too late!

The one I had Dr Turing's machine send to myself:

"My Dear You,

To me, you are more unfaltering than one million cherries, even more absorbing than the most beautiful summer breeze. Your lips are the most perfect. Your honesty is incandescent and your hand lazily appreciates my brilliance. You are a party, my only happiness, I desire only to bring and cuddle you for all eternity. Mysteriously accept my cheek, I beg of you! Your laugh consumes my compassion and all other cheeks pet in vain. You make each dreamy surprise allow like wit. Even the most impressive bliss could not entangle my eyelash so!

With all my love,

Me"

That last line had me in stitches. Not to mention the image of petting a lot of cheeks in vain before finding the right one.