One Half of the World Does Not Understand Soccer

Envelope sent to John (the UK). Made of a page of a magazine about vintage soccer. Inside the envelope I put two postcards of two famous stadiums.

There are some themes I had never thought in making mail art about, had it not been for my fellow mail artists or pen friends, and their (sometimes) crazy projects. Like platypus, or cats and shoes, or solitude, or teeth, or onions, or zombies, or poppies, or frogs, or horns... Some of these themes were completely unknown for me before I started to make the mail art. So I am obliged to learn a little about. For instance, I should look for a platypus picture on the net (Gods save the net!) before attempting to draw it, and even a poppy one. Yes: I am afraid I am not able to make original drawings: I always copy them. And I still don't know anything about soccer, by the way.

I wonder why I feel attracted by some themes and why other mail art calls let me indifferent. But I guess you have not the answer...

I also wonder why people like platypus, and why people wish to get mail about teeth, or stones, or Shakespeare, or... But I suppose they feel exactly the same surprise when I ask them to send me laughing cows or postcards related to Oz. One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other (Jane Austen dixit).

Anyway: I am terrible grateful to people able to come up freak themes for mail art or odd places to live in (and buy stamps in), because they let me learn a lot of new and amazing things.

Platypus Mail

Sent to Heleen (the Netherlands) for her mail art project Weird Existing Animals. This is my first attempt to draw a platypus, and I even needed to search in Internet how it looks like. But what else could you do if you have a friend really fond of platypus? (And tapir, okapi, echidna, mole, axolotl... OMG).

Also published here with more details.

Oz Postcard Project

I'm glad to share my new mail art project: Oz Postcard Project. You can read the call here. Briefly: it is about sending a postcard with the Oz theme. Broadly interpreted: the author - L. Frank Baum, quotations, illustrations, book covers, the films, Kansas, maps...

You can buy the postcard or make it. And, of course, the answer is assured!

I'm waiting for your contributions. Please, visit the new blog of the project and tell me how do you like it!

I'm Lucky (3)

And I still won another giveaway. Can you believe it? It was hold by Tessa (the Netherlands), the runner of the recommendable blog You have mail from me. I had to guess the number of washi tapes she had, which happen to be... 160! I am sure that now she have even more.

These are the amazing content of the little parcel she sent to me (some time ago):

I'm Lucky (2)

And this was sent by Fab (Italy), from the beautiful blog Wreck This Girl's Mailbox. Because of another giveaway. I was really lucky, don't you thing so?

I'm Lucky (1)

This amazing envelope was sent by Emilie (the USA). She sent it to me because I was one of the happy winners of a giveaway because of the third anniversary of her blog: Winnie's Girl. It happened some months ago, but I haven't posted about it so far because, of course, I use the items she sent to me... I I didn't want to spoil the surprises!

All this was inside the envelope:

Air Transport on Stamps

The theme for this week in Sunday Stamps (Viridian's Postcard blog) is Airplanes and air trasport. This is one of my favourite themes, so you can see in this album some postcards and stamps about planes and airports.

I don't want to forget the most important planes: mail planes, of course!

From Germany

Or funnier planes like the following ones:

From Hungary

From the Netherlands

However, when I read air transport I immediately thought in some alternative systems...What do you think about?

From Canada

From Canada

From the Netherlands

From the Netherlands

Colour My World In Red

Sent to Dimitra (Greece) for her mail art project Colour My World.

This is a very funny mail art project!

You are invited to participate in a Mail Art project entitled “Colour my world”.

You can choose to use all the colours that you like in the same art work or to create works in which, only one colour prevails. According to the project, the colours could be combined with the months of the year but this is just a suggestion. What I want is organize an exhibition with all the colours. So you are free to choose the colour that represents you best.

I will send you back mail art in the same colour.

November: all colours, December: gold and silver, January: black and white, February: brown, March: pink, April: red, May: green, June: purple, July: blue, August; orange, September: yellow, October: all colours.

Deadline: November 1st 2014.

Address and more info in Dimitra's blog.

I have participated also with pink colour (and I'm planning to participate again).

Green Letter

Letter sent by Laura (the UK).

Another Blue Collage

Collage sent by Emily (the UK).

I like the way she used the security patterns to make this blue composition. It arrived a bit damaged, almost in tow parts. But happily it arrived!

Mail Spoon

Don't you have a special spoon to stir your coffee with while you are reading your mail? I wonder how could I live without so far...

Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

New King

The first stamp with the image of the king Juan Carlos I of Spain was issued on December 29, 1979. The last are those above, issued on January 1, 2013 (data from here).

Yesterday, when I heard that the king of Spain abdicated the throne in favour of his son, my first thought was: "When are they going to issue stamps with the new king?". And my second thought: "Wow, I have really a snail mail mind!".

Reading Men

I have been collecting postcards of reading women for a long time. I realised that there are lots of paintings, from different times, depicting reading women. And it is a common favourite theme for some collectors, postcrossers, etc. But... what about men? Why is so difficult to get postcards with reading men?

So I decided to open an album for reading men. This is what I got so far (besides this and this, already published):

Sent by Chang (Taiwan). This is a 24h Bookstore in Taipei (Taiwan). Very interesting concept!

Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

Sent by Laura (Spain).

Sent by Julia (Russia).

Sent by Tarja (Finland). More exactly a reading boy...

Music on Stamps

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, run by Viridian. The theme this week is Music and musical instruments. 

Some stamps related to music I have got:

From the Netherlands

This one was issued on June 4, 1985. There were also an organ in the same set, but I haven't got it. See here. Don't you thing these are very modern designs.

From Brazil

I know this is a normal one in Brazil, but I love it just because I do not receive a lot of mail from that country.

From the Netherlands

Issued on June 6, 2006. A curious fact about this stamp is that it belongs to a sheet that includes stamps of: Freemasonry, Sesame Street, mother tongues, and Max Havelaar. Why? Because the postal service allowed people to vote for themes they wanted to see on stamps. More information here. 

Also from the Netherlands

There are among my favourite stamps ever. They were issued on July 14, 2009, and they belong the the series Music in Netherlands. Nor musicians neither instruments, but songs. Don't you find them really original? 

From Portugal

Two from the series Rock em Portugal issued in 2010. These show two mythic rock bands: GNR and Xutos e Pontapés, both still alive (I think) . There are four more bands in the series but, as you can see, I never receive the whole sheet.

From the UK

And these tow stamps belong to a commemorative series issued on February 24, 2011. It is dedicated to famous musicals.

Also from the Netherlands

Stamp issued on 2012, showing the singer Andy Tielman. Maybe this one (and not only) would fit better in the theme Singers...

From France

Issued on November 11, 2012. Showing the organ of Saint-Jacques Church in Lunéville. The organ was built between 1749 and 1751. You can see more details of the stamp here.

By the way, do you know that the EUROPA Stamp Competition has chosen the same theme this year? So you can enjoy here stamps from different countries especially issued for 2014 PostEurop competition, and vote which one do you prefer.

VQR Postal Project Contributions

The latest contributions to the VQR Postal Project sent by Heleen (the Netherlands), John (the UK), Richard (France), Eric (France) and Igakusei (Spain). By the way, today we celebrate the first anniversary of the Project!

Boxes and cheese labels

Cowpostcards

Cheese market in Schiphol airport (the Netherlands)