Paper Bag Envelopes (Sent)

Two envelopes sent to Eric's mail art call:

We get more and more paper bags to wrap our purchases, so let’s recycle them! Let’s use a paper bag to create an envelope. Use any technique you want: keep the structure of the bag or deconstruct it, keep it plain or decorate it… Do what you want, the only rule being that the paper of the envelope must come from a paper bag. No deadline. Received items will be published on his blog
Send your creations to: 

Eric Bruth
92 rue Maurice Arnoux
92120 Montrouge
France

On Eric's blog: the jackals / the tea.

Notebook Letter

Not that I receive a lot of these, but, you know... There are few presents that you can compare to a letter written on a notebook. I mean... when the letter takes the whole notebook. This was sent by Heleen (the Netherlands), and (almost) nothing could have made me happier.

Some Cancellations Are Just Awful

Dear Royal Mail, 

Why can you always do this?

Yours Sincerely,

Mail Adventures

Some Cancellations Are Just Perfect

Like on the back of this postcard sent by by John (the UK).

#AtoZChallenge | Collateral Effects

Trying to keep this short (really!)... Some collaterals effects of the #AtoZChallenge, and learnings, in alphabetical order:

E is for English

As a non-native English speaker, I discovered some words thanks to the challenge. Not only in A few drops of Ink, that dedicated the #AtoZChallenge to words, but in a lot of blogs. Even in my own! Eatery (suggested by Phillip), Obverse, Quail (by Bryon), and Xangô (by Heleen) are words I did not know before.

F is for Fun

This was my biggest expectation when I decided to take the challenge. And I achieved more fun that expected.

I is for Inspiration

• It seems that I inspired Phillip to take part in the challenge (he said I tried to convince him), which resulted in a series of posts about mail art, interesting as his always are.
• I am glad that postcards inspired also other posts in the challenge, like: P is for Play; Going Postal; Arti is thinking of rooting through her boxes of postcards and writing a post about... Any other?

(This U-post was not inspired by postcards, but you will find an original and funny display of mailboxes !)

• The postcards gave John an idea that he explained in another comment: I feel like starting a postcard collection from all the places I visit now. Wish my mind had thought of that earlier, but thanks for planting the seed in there now. (I asked him for royalties - inspiration is not free!... No answer so far). 
• Claire wrote on her reflections post: Eva at Mail Adventures has inspired me to start sending out postcards again. And there were some comments like this: I'm looking at these stamps and wondering why I stopped sending mail. Or this: I've actually been feeling inspired from your blog to start sending (and hopefully receiving) postcards more. I like to think that maybe someone else has sent a postcard after reading one of the posts... Let me know!

Postcard sent by Phillip (the USA)
Manipulated digital print

P is for Postcards 

• Before. I wrote in the theme reveal post that I had not any idea for some letters (E, Q, X, Y, Z)... And some friends sent postcards for those. I added most of them to the posts, resulting in some strange combinations like Quail & Quidditch, for instance, or Yeast &Yarn.
• During. Some postcards arrived in April made me modify the posts, without the senders being aware. Also I received two free postcards from a Canadian penfriend after she read the E-post.
• After. Some readers ask me for my address in order to send a postcard. Do you think they will arrive? If I get 26, I can start another challenge... (Update: One of the Some promised postcards have arrived! Hooray!)

Back of a postcard sent by John (the UK)
Do you know Postman Pat?

R is for Readers

The number of visits to this blog, and comments, have increased during April. I am going to miss that! But, this month, I have enjoyed discovering new blogs, and I guess I will continue reading some of them. So, I hope that some people who arrived to Mail Adventures thanks to the #AtoZChallenge will continue to enjoy my posts about, not only received postcards, but all postal things.

S is for Surprise

I wrote here that I learn a lot through postcards and post in general. Also through blogging, I must say. And the biggest surprise has been to discover that so many people thinks that nobody is writing postcards (or letters) any more. Lost art, they say. Well... now you know you were wrong!

T is for Thanks

To everyone who has been here, and especially those who have taken the time to left comments. Also to people who wrote so many interesting posts that I am still enjoying.

Z is for ZIP code

Don't forget it when you send your next postcard. For instance... why not today?

Fargo Philathely

Two hobbies coming together, it is always nice. So I love that the creators of Fargo have chosen stamps to promote the third season! And there are some stamps on the poster that I really would like to see on letters. Who knows? Maybe they inspire the USPS...

(Billboards with this poster, see here.)

Ursus Maritimus

This collage is my first contribution to the Endangered Animals mail art call, by Mail a smile. I added some snow on the back, and a friend, just to make the polar bear feel comfortable...

Always Good News

«Not recording bad news is one criterion that distinguishes stamps from other media.»*

This is a theme I had never thought of.

When the stamp above was issued by Royal Mail in 1998, along with other five stamps showing endangered species, was very impopular. The set included the text «Decline in distribution»at the top of every stamp and incorporates a graph representing the decline in the numbers of these species in the background. It seems that the buying public was «not keen to buy stamps that conveyed negative news". And, "as a direct result of the negative response in the market research", continues the author,"Royal Mail subsequently engaged upon a sustained series of sets of ten stamps to tell an affirmative message showing how species are increasing a a result of positive action.»*

What do you think? Are you keen of buying/using negative stamps?

---
*Christopher B. Yardley, The representation on Science and Scientists on Postage Stamps. You can access this essay for free.

Black Sheep & White Sheep

And I still had right to more sheep...

The black

... the white

They look just perfect on this envelope created by Philippe (France):

As his envelopes always are!

Two Amazing Black Envelopes

Again, my pictures are far worse than these envelopes painted by Philippe (France). 

The second one (DIN A4 size!) makes me think of the inkblots of Rorschach test (but it wasn't the intention of the artist). What do you see?

The stamps are not less amazing... They feature details of works of Marc Chagall, and of both appear the characters of Eva & Adam. Besides the beauty and the theme, stained-glass windows are also a favourite theme of mine.

Royal Letter

Letter sent by Alan (the UK). 

Concerning the stamps, the miniature sheet was issued on 4 August 2000 to commemorate Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's 100th Birthday. It features four 27p stamps that each portray a member of the Royal line: Queen Elizabeth, the Prince of Wales, Prince William and the Queen Mother.

I am happy that Royal Mail did not succeed in ruine the stamps 100%, even if they tried, with those awful blue felt-tip pen scratches!

Post added to Sunday Stamps-II, the theme today being Queens and Kings.

#AtoZChallenge | Z is for Zebra & Zarah

I guess that some people have chosen this word for the latest day of the #AtoZChallenge... but still I wanted to upload this nice zebra that Bryon (the USA) sent! (You knew already its cousin the quail, don't you?)

----------------------------------------------------------------

This postcard shows Buddhist Monks passing the Royal Palace in Phnom Pen, Cambodia. This is not the first postcard I have got from that country: back in 2009 and 2010 I swapped some postcards with Zarah.

This one was sent by Ana, though. Ana is from Macedonia, currently living in China, and travelling a lot. So you never know where her next postcard is arriving from: Malaysia, Greece... It can be even the house you were born in (That I call a real mail adventure!)

Actually, this postcard was signed by two people: Ana and... Zarah! I did not know that they were friends! Later, they sent me a picture of them together in front of the post office.

Don't you think sometimes that the world is small? 

#AtoZChallenge | Y is for Yeast & Yarn

This postcard seems a comercial one, but it was handmade by John (the UK), using a coaster. Isn't it a nice illustration for a brewery?

Sent by Laura (the UK), this postcard shows some colourful pub signs in Ireland. It arrived just before the  A to Z Challenge started, when I was struggling with the letter Y.

I found more wonderful names for pubs in my mailbox a week later:

Some interesting names of pubs and beers on the multiples postcards. The creative names of Irish (and English...) pubs amazes me. Which name is your favourite?

----------------------------------------------------------------

The slogan of this one, sent by Heleen (the Netherlands) makes me think of the challenge itself. Plus, it relates to another beloved hobby of mine. Plus, it arrived with a perfectly matching stamp on the back. Plus... nothing prevents you to from knitting on a pub!

#AtoZChallenge | X is for Xangô

Xangô is an orisha, a kind of god from the African Yoruba. It is also the title of a beautiful song that the sender knows. And a music store in Utretcht (the Netherlands), named after Xango "the fighter lover, drum player and dancer who loves music" (as it is written on the back). 

So this was another free postcard, sent by Heleen (the Netherlands) especially for the challenge (as the Q-postcards were). You can see that clearly written on the cover (that, by the way, confused a bit the postal workers):

This was a completely new word for me. Also it was eatery, suggested by a fellow a-to-zer. I guess that, especially for non-English native speakers, a collateral effect of the A to Z Challenge is the learning of vocabulary. Have you discovered any word this month?

#AtoZChallenge | W is for Windmills

Postcard sent by Heleen, showing De Zaanse Schans (The Netherlands). Most people associate windmills with the Netherlands, but of course you can find them anywhere in the world. I have gathered a small collection of windmills on postcards and stamps, and I still don't know why I love them so much.

A bonus stamps, from the Postcrossing series. Do you know Postcrossing? (If not, I need to warn you: it is highly addictive!)