From Shopping Bag to Cover

Envelope made of a shopping bag, sent to Laura (the UK).

Tribal Blue Letter

Letter sent to Laura (the UK).

I painted this envelope designed by Katri, from Ivy Lily Crafts, and offered as free printable. So no excuse for not painting another one...

Some Postcards Just Inspire Me

Received from Laura (the UK).

Royals from Thailand

Jobbo sent me these postcards from Thailand. There were no clues about what the postcards represents (so maybe the information I found is not exact).

Portrait of the king Prajadhipok or Rama VII (1893-1941) which is displayed in the Chakri Mahaprasad Hall at the Grand Palace, Bangkok. He was the last absolute monarch and the first constitutional monarch of the country.

I guess this is the current royal family.

I would like I could read the stamps...

(Approximation of) Pi Day Mail

Envelope sent by FinnBadger (the USA), with a special pictorial postmark that celebrates Pi Day. And, of course, this had to be accompanied by a round stamp!

Did you know that Pi Day was a thing? And it also exists the Pi Approximation Day, which happens to be today, since the fraction ²²⁄₇ is a common approximation of π.

Have you ever sent/received π-related mail? I have just read on the Wikipedia:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology has often mailed its application decision letters to prospective students for delivery on Pi Day.

Reality Is Ƨubjective

And still one more Dada postcard sent by Keith aka Amalgamated Confusion (the USA).

Beer Postcards

Postcards about beer are not the most usual. So I was happy when Heleen (the Netherlands) sent me this illustration by Quint Buchholz (a new favourite!): Flöser. It is an illustration for the boon Gregor- Wohin die Träume tragen.

And that John (the UK) sent this one with an old ad. I wonder if that slogan would work nowadays...

What about this one: Entrez dans légende? (='Enter on the legend'?). I do not think you could call this beer legendary, but sometimes is the only brand available where I live.

This postcard is handmade (from the cardboard packaging). It was sent to Postmuse (the USA). I hope it arrived. Her blog has not been updated in a while...

Gangsta Granny

Handmade postcard sent by Laura (the UK), about the play Gangsta Granny. Illustration by Tony Ross. 

Mail-Related Postcards

Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands). Special for air mail?

This is the General Post Office (G.P.O.), the Jim Larkin statue and the Spire, in O'Connel Street, Dublin City, Ireland. Laura posted this postcard at GPO during a short trip to this city. 

By the way, have you seen the series Inside the GPO?

Sent by Laura (the UK). It is one of the designs issued by Royal Mail to commemorate its 500th anniversary. The postcard is a reproduction from a stamp designed by Atelier Works,featuring a photograph of Medway Mail Centre. I received also one of the stamps:

Burning Letters in a Summer Morning

«Vaig treure la capsa de cartes al jardí, les vaig ruixar amb oli i les vaig encendre amb un misto. El foc va prendre bé, però les cartes van tardar més del que em pensava a convertir-se en cendres. [...] Era un matí calorós que anunciava una tarda encara més tòrrida. Tenia la samarreta enganxada al cos, copa de suor. En les novel·les russes, normalment les cartes es tiraven al foc una mit d'hivern. No es cremaven mai un matí d'estiu, i menys ruixades amb oli. Però en aquest trist món realista en què vivim, hi ha gent com jo que crema cartes amarat de suor un matí d'estiu. En aquest món, no pots fer sempre el que vols. A vegades no pots esperar que arribi l'hivern.»

Haruki Murakami, Crònica de l'ocell que dóna corda al món

Some Meanings Have No Words

Another Dada postcard sent by Keith aka Amalgamated Confusion (the USA).

Green & Pink Tea

Letter sent to Hanako (Japan).

I wrote the letter on the back of the postcards, made of a reused calendar and tea packaging (bought in France and Morocco). I like how international this letter turned...

Keep Calm

It has been a long time since the last Keep Calm postcard I got. This was sent form Eric (the UK).

Have you noticed the Queen hidden behind the bus? I wonder why, as she was so visible on the back...

And also on three more stamps that arrived at the same time:

The colour of this stamp is, 
according to Royal Mail,
gooseberry green.

The Heart

Altered postcard sent to a friend who is going to be married soon... And it arrived almost in time for her hen party!

Tell me if you are going to be married... now I have the label wedding in the blog!

The Reddest Stamp

Today's theme for Sunday Stamps - II is the red colour. I was a difficult choice, but finally I opted for showing this cranberry harvest. It belongs to the Earthscapes set issued on 1 October 2012.

Are you able to find a redder stamp?

Giacometti Stamp

This is one of my favourite stamps issued by Poste Maroc (And I am not alone!). It was issued on 27 April 2016, devoted to an exhibition about the Swiss painter and sculptor Alberto Giacometti, in the Museum Mohammed VI of Modern and Contemporary Art, in Rabat. I guess they included the map of Africa because it is the first time that these works are exhibited in the continent.

I had the chance to visit the exhibition. I enjoyed it, and I was surprised to discover that the artist used whatever paper he can found to make his sketches. Even the envelopes he got by snail mail...

I have not received the stamp myself, but I sent it ten times (not more stamps available in the post office!). I have stolen from Heleen's blog the picture for this post.

Four Islands, Six Postcards

Last summer, I spent a month on the Cyclades (Greece). I visited four islands, and from each one I wrote to Anna. Do you remember her project about islands: Every island in the world? Honestly, I thought I had sent four postcards to her. But it seems that I had more things to share!

It has been a pleasure, after some months, to read what she has written about the postcards I sent, and the islands I was to. Anna's posts have reminded me some nice details. I almost felt the breeze while reading, and the smell of the Mediterranean again...

In the following links you can find the postcards:

• Milos 1, Milos 2
• Sifnos
• Folegandros 1, Folegandros 2
• Naxos

But, if you have some spare time, I recommend you to have a look to the whole blog. I am sure that the wanderlust will catch you. You will feel like travelling, preferably to an island in the world. Don't forget to send a postcard to Anna, if you do!

Reading Bears, Philatelic Monkeys...

I have got more postcards to be added to the Reading Animals albums...

Read Us a Story, Teddy, by Molly Brett (1902-1990).
Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

This one was sent by Hanako (Japon). It is her own illustration.
Do not tell me that the monkey is not reading, but collecting stamps! As if the organization of the stamps on a philatelic album was an ordinary thing for a monkey...

(Finally, I decided to re-send this...)

Eid Greetings

FinnBadger sent these stamps some weeks ago, but I thought it could be nice use it to wish Eid Mubarak to people who celebrate it.

I am sorry that there was no way to take a better picture of them. These green and golden stamps looks really nice on the envelope.

More about this issue:

Featuring calligraphy from the 2011 Eid Stamp with a new green background, this issuance commemorates the two most important festivals — or eids — in the Islamic calendar: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. On these days, Muslims wish each other Eid Mubarak, the phrase shown in calligraphy on the stamp. Eid Mubaraktranslates literally as “blessed festival” and can be paraphrased “May your religious holiday be blessed.” Artist and calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya worked with art director Phil Jordan to create this design. 

And here you can read about the 2016 Eid stamp.

Cool Giraffe

Well... I tried to draw it cool, at least!

I sent it to the illustrator Tara Joy Andrews (Canada).

Alffabet Anifeiliaid

It had been a while since the last time I received a postcard with an alphabet!

This was sent by John (the UK). It says on the back that the illustrations are taken from books for Welsh learners, published by by (c) Treehigh Enterprises / Antur Pen Y Coed 2001

Three Paintings on Stamps

Three paintings on this envelope sent by FinnBadger (the USA). They were issued on 7 March 2013, commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Armory Show. The stamps I got feature:

• Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico / Out Back of Marie’s II, by Georgia O'Keeffe (1930)
• House and Street, by Stuart Davis (1931)
• Nu descendant un escalier n° 2 ('Nude Descending a Staircase No. 2'), by Marcel Duchamp (1912)

See the complete 12-stamps sheet here.

And more paintings on stamps at today's Sunday Stamps - II.

Fairy Tales on the Envelopes, Too

Sent to Laura (the UK)

Actually, it is always a good moment to draw Little Red Riding Hood, Mr Woolf or other fairy tales' characters... For instance, on envelopes, to match the illustrations of this wonderful sheet of writing paper that I received as birthday present.

Sent to Eva (Germany)

Little Red Mail Carrier

Postcard received from Laura (the UK).

I hoped that this Super Little Red Riding Hood did not mind to stop saving lives for a while, in order to bring this letter to FinnBadger (the USA)... And she did! He published the envelope in his blog (with the rubber stamp I added in the last minute).

And sincerely I hope the designers of the postcard will not be mad at me!