September exchange - awkward photo calendar envelopes part 2

To Shoshana

To Peggy

To Jean

From Chuck - wonderful art nouveau design in red and black.

September exchange - awkward photo calendar envelopes part 1

I picked up some cheap 2015 calendars back in February to turn into envelopes. I used an awkward photos one to create these envelopes, and accompanied them with stamps that had famous faces.

To Jinanne

To Jan

From Lilli in Canada - the stamps celebrate 75 years of the Canadian National Film Board.

United Nations Postal Administration

Until recently I had no idea that the United Nations issued its own stamps. They come in three varieties: US dollars for New York, Swiss Francs for Geneva, and Euros for Vienna.

You can only use the stamps to mail letters at the UN. I was in New York earlier in the year and even though I have been there quite a few times I've never visited the UN. This time it was on my agenda, so I ordered some stamps ahead of time so as to avoid disappointment. After the transaction finalized, the message was to expect delivery in up to 4 weeks! I am used to the USPS order system which usually takes a week to 10 days

Well, the stamps didn't take quite that long to arrive (surprise 1), and they were beautifully packaged and even had a perfectly grouped and cancelled set of stamps (surprise 2).

I chose the World Poetry Day stamps. English on the domestic rate, Spanish on the international rate. I have had a stack of New York postcards for a long time, and decided it was time to release them into the wild.

The UN has 6 official languages, and each of the sheets features a poem written in each one: English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Russian and Arabic.  The only other language to feature on the stamps is German (on the ones issued in Vienna).

The Spanish poem translates as 'I have a white rose to tend' and the stamps are my selection for today's Sunday Stamps theme of flowers, although I think my favorite of the set is the Arabic with its amazing underwater scene. The English set does mention the word 'flower' in Wordsworth's poetry.

Interestingly, tomorrow is UN Spanish Language day.

A tree from Lynn

Great tree from Lynn

Haunted Canada

I still think that USPS is missing out on Halloween-related stamps, while in Canada a new set of Haunted Canada stamps is being released.

More information from virtualstampclub about this second set of ghostly stamps.

August envelope exchange part 7 - the bonus envelopes part 2

A bonus envelope to Kathie.

And one to Hester.... just in time for the month of Halloween!

August envelope exchange part 6 - the bonus envelopes part 1

To Jean

To Jan