Listen to any good stories lately?

I sent Heleen envelope 959 made from a paper bag, and used some Harry Potter stamps (issued in 2013) to go with it.

This envelope is the sibling of this one I sent to Eva last year (image from her blog):

Any guesses (except Eva and Heleen) which shop the bag is from?

Plan de Paris

Envelope 953 made from some wrapping paper I received, sent to Eva about a year ago.

This envelope was number 2 of a 3 part letter. I forgot to scan the other two - you can see all three envelopes on Eva's blog.

Inherent structure

Envelope 927 sent to Eva for Christmas 2018.

The words advertise a past art installation at the Wexner.

H is for Hearts

The two versions of the forever hearts stamp issued in 2015. On envelopes 972 and 973.

And on envelope 980, the Quilled Paper Heart (2016), Hearts Blossom (2019) and Cut Paper Heart (2014). All of the stamps today are part of the long-standing USPS Love series.

For more stamps with an H theme, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

Snowflakes

I sent out envelopes 942 to 946 for the January PTEX a day before our first major snow (4 inches).

I decided to post them now, a few days after another major storm (6 inches).

F is for Frozen Treats

USPS issued a set of 10 stamps celebrated ice pops (ice lollies in some countries).

These are also the first scratch and sniff stamps issued by the USPS.

I used some of them on envelopes 925 and 928 sent out for one of Jean's envelope exchanges.

This is not one of the envelopes, and unfortunately the scanner was malfunctioning a bit, hence the grey lines.

I also used some on this envelope and minimal mail art to MomKat in Greece. I called this one 'Is it pink, or is it lime?'

For more fabulous F posts, head over to the links at Sunday Stamps.

D is for Dragons

USPS issued a set of dragon stamps in August, and the first day of issue ceremony was here in town. I couldn't attend that day, however I did stop by, and this was the USPS area:

There's one person I know who loves dragon-related mail as she is a dragon in the lunar zodiac, so who better to send envelope 847 to than Heleen?

You can't appreciate it in online or flat scans, but the stamps have flecks of orange foil as highlights. I tried to take some photos, but they really don't do it justice.

For more postage with a D theme, delve into the links at Sunday Stamps.

V is for Venus

The stamp for Venus, issued as one of the eight 'Views of Our Planets' stamps in 2016, on envelope 805. The stamps are striking, so can be tough to find matching envelopes. This one is made from a calendar of watercolors.

Here's a view of the full sheet.

To see more stamps with a V theme, check out the links at Sunday Stamps.

Another Christmas Puffin

In 2015 Heleen sent me a wonderful envelope showing a puffin, which I showed on Christmas Day.

It is one of my all-time favorites, so I used it again for my Christmas Day post in 2016.

So this year I sent envelope 920 to Heleen, made from a grocery bag. I hope it arrived in time. And since she loves puffins, I used this year's love stamps.

Merry Christmas, everyone, have a peaceful day whether you celebrate Christmas or not.

November envelope exchange part 3

The fifth Wyeth stamp and envelope (number 618). Ice!

November exchange envelopes sent part 2

Two more stamps from the Wyeth set, on envelopes 247 and 305, houses and windows.

November envelopes sent part 1

I love the Andrew Wyeth set issued in July. I think they work well with some of my more unusual envelopes.

The first two for the November exchange, envelopes 156 and 582. I feel like they have the themes of time, and doors.

Envelope 918 to Heleen

I don't think that I've shown this one yet, made from a street map, that I sent to Heleen.

Q is for Quilled Heart

The watercolor calendar envelopes work well with other stamps, too. Here is the Quilled Heart stamp on envelope 778 (and the 2015 non-machinable butterfly on 779).

Quilling is the art of using scrolled paper to make 3D artistic compositions. Wikipedia has some info, but better is to google  'quilling' to look for images, many of which are stunning.

The Quilled Heart stamp is the 2016 entry into the USPS Love series. Digital images of this stamp do seem more vibrant and show more detail than the actual stamp, although it has grown on me.

For more stamps with a Q theme, head over to browse the links at Sunday Stamps.

Halloween flashback

'tis the month of witches, warlocks, potions and spells.

Here's envelope 833 that I sent to Heleen last year.

The moon

Looking decent on one of the watercolor envelopes (number 781).

B is for Butterfly

For the letter B of the Sunday Stamps A to Z I chose butterfly.

Here is one on envelope 780 (scanned with envelope 782, which has a 150th anniversary of Louisiana Statehood stamp).

This particular butterfly is the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, and was issued by USPS as a non-denominational stamp bearing the mouthful 'Non-machinable surcharge'. It is the fifth in the series, and is square to give an indication that it is intended for 1 oz letters that are square or non-rectangular. This stamp can also be used to mail a 2 oz machinable letter.

To see what others chose of their letter B, head over to the links at Sunday Stamps.

The Taco-loving dragon

Envelope 891 sent to Heleen.

Thanks to Heleen, who blogged the dragon's arrival, I can add the youtube video of the book being read.

There's also a follow up book.

It has a great trailer...

Watercolor calendar envelopes

Some more of the envelopes I harvested from a large watercolor calendar titled 'Fairies'. I continue to be impressed by how well they pair with the botanical art stamps. These are envelopes 784, 808, 793, 795, 783, 786, 807, 777, 794 and 810.

Envelope 344 to Jean