Fashion

 Today's Sunday Stamps theme is fashion, and the Oscar de la Renta sheet issued in early 2017 (almost a decade ago!) came to mind. The stamps are large, and have a nice quality to them.

Here's a sheet I am still using up:

Here's a scan of the full sheet:

And Eva showed them all on envelopes on her blog almost 9 years ago.

For links to more fashion on stamps, head over to See it on a Postcard.

Oscar on Black

I really like the Oscar de la Renta stamps - they are large, attractive, and seem to have a much brighter finish than your average US postage stamp.

Here are some on some black envelopes.

To Cathy and Hester for the April envelope change.

And one to Eva.

To Mindaugas

I forgot to scan the pieces I sent to MIndaugas. If he shows them at IUOMA I'll copy them here.

They were sent in this envelope, made from an art gallery flier.

June envelope exchange

Here are the wonderful June envelopes I received.

Colorful and fully loaded from Jean. I do regret not buying any of the 'From me to you' stamps. They looked so bland online, yet so good on envelopes.

From Lynne, a fun contrast of gothic with Star Trek. And a fantastic bee seal on the back that traveled perfectly through the mail.

Perfectly matched calligraphy and lace for this de la Renta stamp from Maggie.

The perfect summer scene from Pam.

And some patriotic stars and stripes from Alison.

Hester mail

In from Hester, with a Finn connection.

And out to Hester.

Imagine Peace

I received an add and pass from William quite some time ago. As they are not among my favorite things to do, it took me some time to finally add something. I forgot to take a before picture, but here is the sheet in its current state.

It has been around for some time, some of the addresses are dated almost 10 years ago. The instructions said to return a copy - but to whom? So I sent a copy to everyone who had an address on here - we'll see what happens! (I forgot to scan one of the envelopes).

And Katerina received the original to add something to.

Update! My envelope to Elke clearly arrived, as she sent me this postcard in reply:

This translates to: Homeland Pictures, and Birth, Rearing, Slaughtering, Dissection, Packing.

Vodka to Ti Ar Raden

The third one of these I've sent out. (Previous ones here and here if you're interested).

It went in this envelope.

Do you like to create collages? Are yours more minimal, or maximal? Funny or artistic? Political or playful?

Jean-san

If you've been following along on the A to Z challenge so far, Jean has shown up twice before.

I found her envelope blog by googling 'homemade envelope'.

She runs a fun monthly envelope exchange.

She also introduced me to IUOMA (see yesterday's post).

She made me think about how a stamp can enhance or even be the focal point of an envelope.

She encouraged me to start this blog back in 2013.

And she considers me to be one of her envelope grasshoppers.

Thanks for all the ideas, support and encouragement you've given me in pursuing mail art as a hobby, Jean-san. And happy one-day-late birthday. 

I hope you liked your March exchange envelope - I was sure you'd like the Oscar de la Renta stamp. 

And here are the other exchange envelopes I sent out to Amy, Cathy and Tina.

Do you have someone who helped you pursue something you were interested in or passionate about?

Did they have to push you, or did they just need to nudge you a little every now and again?

What did you do to show them your appreciation?

A Christmas misadventure

I was surprised when a Christmas card I sent to Eric was returned. It was posted in December, and returned mid-February.

Looks like La Poste was having some issues, because this is the correct address for M. Bruth!

In the end I returned it in this envelope, using the lovely Oscar de la Renta stamps (which look even better in person).