Leaves

 Today's Sunday Stamps prompt is Trees and Leaves.

I chose this 5c stamp from Germany, which arrived by way of postcrossing.

The water lily stamp has leaves (lily pads), and then there's the petals on the flower. Petals are modified leaves, and the petals on the stamp are made of paper, which is (mostly) made from trees. A complicated route to today's theme! I love this new (since 2022) definitive set from Germany featuring all things related to letter writing turned into all sorts of landscape features.

To see more stamps with leaves and trees as themes, head over to See it on a Postcard.

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I have a bonus eclipse stamp to add to last week's post!

Violet S very kindly sent me the amazing Canadian eclipse stamp which arrived yesterday - I love it, thank you so much!

You can see here that there are is also a hidden effect on the stamp.

Sent on the back of sun over Niagara Falls - this matches our weekend which is very sunny.

And if you'd like to see my bonus eclipse post where I held the 2017 stamps over a hot stove to get them to change color, it's here.

Total eclipse

 Yesterday's post was eclipse and sun related. I didn't have a picture of the 2017 eclipse stamps when heated, so here is one I took last night. 

And here is an eclipse stamp I forgot I had received from Taiwan.

If you're going to experience the totality, I hope you have clear skies! 

One stamp challenge

This week's prompt for Sunday Stamps is your own choice.

In a post unrelated to today's theme, Eva at Mailadventures suggested choosing a single stamp that explains your life during the recent weeks or months.

Here is the stamp I chose.

A few links to other people's One Stamp:

The Postal Picture

See it on a Postcard

Update 8 June: Eva complied all the responses on her blog.

To see other people's free choice stamps, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

Envelope!

From Jason M.

With a wonderful piece of art inside.

More pigs!

More pigs have arrived to entertain me!

Another fantastic envelope from Fafa. Love the stamp. You won't be able to appreciate the great texture from the image.

With this great card inside.

A pig from Angie as well.

With more pigs on the front.

Heidi sent a very nice pink and gold envelope with a lunar new year stamp.

And a very clever way to include her name on the back next to the return address.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2019!

Anyone else glad to say goodbye to 2018? The world seems to be a bit of a mess at the moment, with lots of change and upheaval on many levels and in many countries. 

Perhaps we will move towards a bit more peace on earth this year.

I'm going to post one of my favorite exchange envelopes I received last year, from Patty D. I can imagine her patiently and quietly making this wonderful creation, shutting out the chaos to draw this wonderful bird which is perfectly accompanied by the solar eclipse stamp from 2017.

I hope you all have a great year!

Stormtrooper

Another 'envelope' made from a tissue box.

Eclipse pictorial postmarks

I sent eclipse mail for the August envelope exchange, as well as to many of my mail art friends.

Here's my envelope to Jean before posting.

And I made use of the many special postmarks available for what was, in my opinion, the best 2 minutes of 2017, and chose 3 of my favorites. They seem to have arrived at their destinations by now.

Eva blogged hers...

So did Eric...

As well as Heleen, who showed this over at IUOMA.

Thanks for the nice blog posts and comments everyone, I had fun putting this set together.

Total Eclipse

Today is the big day, when the first total eclipse in to cross the continental USA in 99 years occurs, with a partial eclipse visible over the entire North American continent.

What better envelope to celebrate with than this excellent one from Cathy O.

The stamp shows the corona of the sun, only visible when the surface of the sun is blocked by the moon. USPS has really issued two stamps in one, as, when warmed, the thermochromic printing process reveals the ghostly surface of the moon.

The rest of the fun July envelopes came from...

 Jean - this one didn't scan well, it is bright pink in reality - and Troy - some stylish calligraphy.

Debbie made an envelope from a beautiful illustrated book page.

Amy put together this fascinating collage on her envelope.

And Tina used some sort of reveal-the-color technique. I am not 100% sure how she did it, as the black layer looks like it is stuck to the rainbow layer. Regardless, a great effect.