16 January 2015

Floury Letter


Letter (Smurf inside!) wrapped in a flour packaging sent by Micu (Hungary). You can use almost everything as an envelope, can't you?

15 January 2015

Teddy Bears

I must confess I prefer teddy bears on postcards and stamps to the real ones... The following ones were sent by Laura (the UK), the stamp with Rupert was sent by John (the UK),







14 January 2015

I Like Coffee on Rainy Days


Postcard drawn for and sent to a coffeeholic girl Heleen (the Netherlands).

Also published here.

13 January 2015

12 January 2015

Received Lighthouses

From Germany 
(sent by Eva)



Buk Lighthouse


From the Netherlands 
(sent by Heleen)

Westerlichttoren

11 January 2015

Black Heritage on Stamps

I am finally able to join the second edition of Sunday Stamps, now on the blog See it on a Postcard by VioletSky. The theme for this week is Famous People, Portraits

One thing I love about Sunday Stamps is that I need to look closely to the stamps I receive. Sometimes is easy to find information on the net, sometimes is quite challenging. But the result is that I learn a lot! 

I decided to post today about a theme rather unknown for me: black heritage in North-America.



These stamps were issued by Canada Post on February 2, 2009. They featured portraits of two African-Canadian pioneers: Abraham Doras Shadd (1801-1882), who devoted his life to the abolitionist movement and was the first Afro-Canadian to hold public office; and Rosemary Brown (1930-2003), the first black woman to run for the leadership of a Canadian federal party (and just the second woman).

You can find more information about the stamps here.


I am sure I have received more stamps dedicated to Afro-American whose lives changed history, but they are probably in Spain. This one is the latest I have got. It was issued by the USPS on 31 January 2014 and dedicated to Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm (1924-2005). She was an advocate for minority rights and became the first black woman elected to Congress, in 1969.

(And if you allow me to participate twice, I would like to add this old post to today's Sunday Stamps.)

10 January 2015

The Wishes Wheel


What do you do when you want to send good wishes to someone but you have so many wishes...? It is what happened to me when making this card for Micu (Hungary). So finally I decided to put all the wishes and let her (or the luck) the choice!

09 January 2015

Reading Women

Some of the latest reading women I have received. Very different ages and styles! 


Folded postcard sent by Heleen (the Netherlands). Lettre d'Amour, by Arthur Th. Dick.



Also sent by HeleenLa Sieste, by Paul Almany (1972)



Postcard sent by John (the UK). The Reader, by Alfred Emile Stevens (c. 1860).



Stamp from Austria.

08 January 2015

07 January 2015

Southern Spain


Postcard sent to Ibrahim (Malaysia). Made of an illustrated box of cookies and washi tape. I was impossible just to throw it out, I had to reuse it!


06 January 2015

Every Island in the World


Ania's project, Every Island in the World is one of the coolest postcard projects I have ever seen. However, it is so simple:
My big dream is to collect postcards sent from every island in the world (at least those that have a postbox). If you would like to help me, please contact me at letters.from.islands@gmail.com 
Or maybe is that I am another islands lover (especially islands with lighthouses!).

05 January 2015

04 January 2015

Retro Women


Collage sent by Moh (Oman).



Postcard sent by Bryon (the USA).


02 January 2015

Letter

Dear _______,
[...] In general, I like people who offer things for free. Sending snail mail is one of those little things we can do for (humbly) improving the world. Well, in fact, it isn't exactly for free. Sometimes we get an answer, unexpected or not. Sometimes we learn about history, geography, sociology, art, languages… We  mostly learn about ourselves. And in addition we obtain a lot of fun by making and sending mail.
I have been penpalling since I was 11 years old. My very first pen pal is still one of my best friends. We met by the first time when we both were at University. We have moved away more than ten times, even to different countries. And we still write each other once or twice a week by snail mail. I like to tell this story because, when I think it over, I find it extraordinaryThere is something special, even magical, in coming across a well-known handwriting in the mail box.
But also it is when I receive a letter or a postcard from a less close friend or relative, or from an unknown person. From time to time it occurs to me that writing to strangers is somehow weird. But life is about weirdness, isn't it? When I'm writing or making mail art, I imagine a smile on the recipient's face. My experience says that everybody smile when they run into a personal piece of mail in the mail box. At least, they forget their problems for a minute while trying to figure out who sent that letter and/or why. Then they open it and start to read, so they are allowed instants of calm.
I try to make every letter special. I don't consider myself an artist, and at times I'm not proud of the result. But the recipient will smile anyway. Because human beings just love stories, and every little piece of mail, every stamp, every postmark… tells us a story. [...]
Postally yours,
E.

01 January 2015

Love, Stargirl

«Dear Leo,
I love beginnings. If I were in charge of calendars, every day would be January 1.
And what better way to celebrate this New Year's Day than to begin writing a letter [...]»
Jerry Spinelli, Love, Stargirl