Wow!

Sent by Alain (France).

How many stamps could you put in a single postcard?!?

Granada

Sent by Aarón (Spain).

This postcard was sent from one of the most amazing places I have ever visited: Alhambra palace in Granada (Andalusia, Spain). The first time I visited the Alhambra (back in 1992) I did not realised that the drawings on the walls were Arabic calligraphy. The second time (two years ago) I spent no less than eight hours reading the walls (with the help of a wonderful book).

I was very happy to receive this postcard because it is the first one from my friend's long trip. And because I just love the Alhambra, as it is impossible not to love this place. And because the city where I am living in is also known as the little sister of Granada.

Coffee or Tea?

I am always between coffee and tea. And I received these two postcards the same day, to make the decision harder...

Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

It offers: "Let's have a coffee?". By the way, my coffee maker is exactly like this!

Sent by Laura (the UK).

The back of the postcard explains that The name Typhoo is, in part, the Chinese for doctor (wonderful idea: tea as a doctor!). And that It was the first brand of tea to be sold pre-packaged. And besides that, one of my beloved retro women is who presents it!

Shakespearean Mail

Sent by Laura (the UK).

I am not especially fond of Shakespeare. I mean I have read only two or three of his works (maybe the most famous), and seen the same number of films based on Shakespeare's plays. But I have got lately some postcards related to this author (also here) and I became more and more interested. I also opened a special album!

Last postcard does not belong to the same series. It features the statue of Laurence Olivier, one of the most famous actors in 20th century. He played a wide variety of roles on stage and screen from Shakespeare.

Registered Mail Project

Sent by M. Nidham (Oman).

Maybe the picture is not so good, but this is one of the most amazing pieces of mail art I have got so far. This is the invitation to participate in the first mail art exhibition in Oman. Coming soon the details in IUOMA.

More details of the awesome sending:

More invitations like this published here, here, here...

How Many Stamps...?

Sent by Laura (the UK).

Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

Beautiful Fake View

Sent by Evgeny (Russia).

Postcard of Saint Petersburg, featuring two elements I am really interested in. You can see in red a former lighthouse; now it is fire on it only during major public holidays. And in the background, a mosque that makes reference to the past of the city. Indeed, it is a beautiful view, isn't it?

Keep Calm and Drink Tea

Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

I love the keep calm themed envelope and, of course, the postal inside. In fact, this sending has a lot of elements capable to make my day: tea, snails, rubber stamps, a good advice, a long message...

Woodland Animals

Sent to the Borron family (the United States), as response to the Challenge #1 of Mail a Smile. The theme for the challenge was Woodland Animals.

Collage made of press cuttings (newspapers in Arabic), washi tape, rubber stamps carved by myself and stickers. Maybe I cheated because I remake the design of my Christmas cards...

I also decorated the envelope a little. The postcard and the envelope are also published in the Challenge Gallery.

Mail a Smile

Mail a Smile (what a beautiful name!) is a mail project hold by two friends: Micu from Budapest (Hungary) and Jennie from Stockholm (Sweden).

The aim of the project is to send smiles to people in need, with the help of artistically decorated envelopes and letters. By doing this, we not only do something good for a fellow being, but also get to use our imagination and creativity while doing it.

How can you participate? There are some challenges posted in their blog and announced in their newsletter. Each challenge have a theme and a guideline that can be interpreted freely. For instance, the first one is Woodland animals. So you make your mail art and you send it. You are still on time! But do not forget to take a picture before sending, for it could be uploaded to the challenge gallery!

You can find out more about the project by visiting the Mail a Smile site.

Two Outgoing Letters

Letter sent to Laura (the UK).
This amazing envelope shows the lighthouse of Westerheversand, in Germany. I had got yet two postcards and a stamp featuring this lighthouse. So it was not so difficult to part with the paper!

Letter sent to Heleen (the Netherlands).

There is nothing especially artistic in using these beautiful writing sets. The funny fact about these two letters I wrote the same day is that Heleen had sent to me the paper I used for writing to Laura. And Laura had sent to me the paper I used for writing to Heleen!

Damaged

Sent by Eva (Germany).

Why arrive lately all my letters so damaged?

Marrakech

Sent to Postmuse (the USA).

It is a very different ambiance in my town, but I thought it could be nice to adopt a postcard from Morocco. I am looking forward to visit that city! This is my fourth (so far!) contribution to Postmuse's amazing Orphaned Postcard Project, also published here.

Other postcards I adopted: 1, 2 and 3.

Let Your Imagination Fly

Sent to Heleen (the Netherlands).

Collage sent as birthday postcard. It contains some gift vouchers! Some materials I reused to made it: a paper shop bag, pudding and cheese cardboard packaging, an envelope sent from Spain, a funnel box (yes!), a calendar with pictures of mosques, a leaflet for an architecture course, two pages of a cupcake notebook, the string of a shirt label... Let your imagination fly!

Every Letter Was a Love Letter

«Of all other things Madeleine might have chosen to do, she had sat down and written Mitchell a letter. She’d said that she enjoyed kissing him and that she had an urge to get off the train and come back to New York. She had typed Mitchell’s name and licked the envelope and typed her return address, so that he could write her back, so that he knew where to find her, if he wanted to look.

Every letter was a love letter.

Of course, as love letters went, this could have been better. It was not were promising, for instance, that Madeleine claimed not to want to see him for the next half-century.»

Jeffrey Eugenides, The Marriage Plot

Save a Post Office

Do you know Jane Davies? She is the runner of the post office in the picture. It is one of the smallest post office in the state of Vermont (the United States), and is threatened by closing. So she decided to do something. Let's her explain it:

The two things that make a difference to The Postal Powers That Be are (A) revenue, the amount of money the PO brings in via stamp sales and package shipping, and (B) - and this is where you come in - the VOLUME of mail that it handles.

So, in an attempt to (A) increase the volume of mail that comes through my little post office, and (B) to do something really FUN, I'm proposing the following:

YOU send me an art postcard. It can be original handmade, or a photocopy of something you've made. Print your name and address clearly on the card.

Jane promise to send back a handmade postcard to the first 200 respondents. Like these:

It seems that the project is running really well. She opened a Facebook album for showing the cards received so far. And now there is also a givaway!

Fiber Art Now, a quarterly magazine for contemporary fiber arts, has offered a year's subscription to one lucky winner in our Postcard Project.  Here is how it works:  on Friday, February 11th, I will draw a postcard at random from all that I have received to date. The person who sent the card will receive this free subscription!  

If you want to contribute to save this tiny post office, please make a postcard and send it to:

Jane Davies

PO Box 45

Rupert, VT  05768

USA

Plain White Envelope?

Do you think this is a plain white envelope?

But... no! There is something inside!

This little pretty green letter sent by Laura (the UK):

Messages in Bottles

Who don't like to receive a message in a bottle? :)

The first postcard is made of a cardboard from spicy sauce (have you noticed the extra little post label?). In the second one, you must find the bottle with a (love?) letter inside... It is not difficult!

By the way, it is not the first time I received a whale (or sent it) trough mail...

Both postcards sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

Muji

Sent by Chi (Taiwan).

Shaped Muji postcard. Did you know Muji? You can read more about it here.

Twaalf provinciën (III)

So I continue learning about Dutch geography with Donald's stamps... (see I and II).

Utrecht

Zeeland

This is the awesome parcel I've got with these stamps on (from Heleen, the Netherlands):

Winter & Snow Postcards

Sent by Thea (The Netherlands).

Happy New Year

Sent by Kseniya (Russia).
This is a reprint of an old soviet postcard.

Sent by Joanna (Poland).