Happy 8th Bloganniversary, Dear Mail Adventures!

(I received these cards for my birthday. I am just a bit older than the blog.)

FinnBadgers

Watercolour and coloured pencils drawing on an envelope sent to FinnBadger (the USA). The spacebadgers landed safe and sound.

Claudia Torres Martínez drew this stamp that won the first prize of the youth category in the Stamp Design Contest (Disello). 

[...] the artist calls her winning design Cantabrian badger, a watercolour showing a badger in the foreground, and a landscape in the background which could easily represent anywhere in Cantabria.

More Coffee

I just think that the world needs more coffee postage stamps...

Women on Stamps | L for Labé

Louise Labé (c.1524-c.1566) was a feminist French poet. Her works, published in 1555, consist mainly of elegies and love sonnets written between 1545 and 1555.

From a letter she wrote:

The time having come, Mademoiselle, when the stern laws of men no longer bar women from devoting themselves to the sciences and disciplines, it seems to me that those who are able ought to employ this honorable liberty, which our sex formerly desired so much, in studying these things and show men the wrong they have done us in depriving us of the benefit and the honor which might have come to us. (...) And in addition to the recognition that our sex will gain by this, we will have furnished the public with a reason for men to devote more study and labor to the humanities lest they might be ashamed to see us surpass them when they have always pretended to be superior in nearly everything.

The stamp was issued on 22 May 2016, 450 years after her death.

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For the current round of Sunday Stamps A-Z I am showing stamps dedicated to women. You can see here all the Women on Stamps featured on this blog.

Go to Sunday Stamps to enjoy more L-stamps.

Little Green Men

Leprechaun: Small mischievous Irish fairy, symbolising good luck and fortune. If found he can be forced to reveal the hiding place of his treasure, but beware if you take your eyes off him he will vanish instantly.Nearly became extinct in the early 20th century but now can be found in abundance throughout Ireland.

And I have got not one, but two little green men who are supposed to bring me luck. Nothing can go wrong from now on, can it?

Glückspilz

Postcards sent by Laura (Ireland) and Maren (Germany).

Recycling Magazines

Two letters sent to Laura (the UK):

Back of the envelope

Business Mail?

Contrary to most people (I guess), I rarely get any piece of mail that is not a personal one. The most business-like pieces of mail I receive are online orders (and also, very few of them).

But it is very nice when you order something and it arrives inside a neat and sweet envelope like this, sent from Belgium by Connie of CocoMojoDesigns.

And the postcard below came along with some yarn I ordered from Knitography in Norway.

The Daring Life...

I made this envelope for Philllip (the USA) out of the catalogue of an exhibition of collages, by this artist. You can see how it travelled on Phillip's blog.

And later, with the rest of the catalogue, I made a second envelope... Which arrived with some postmarks on!

Chocolate Is Always Welcome!

Chocolate-themed letter sent by Dave (the USA) from Posted Letter.

Classical Themes & Fairy Tales

The Garden Court, 1885-90
(The Briar Rose, based on the story of Sleeping Beauty)

The Wine of Circe, 1863-9
(Circe pouring poison into a vase
 and awaiting the arrival of Ulysses)

The Baleful Head, c. 1876
(Perseus showing Andromeda
the head of the Gorgon Medusa)

Three postcards featuring paintings by Edward Burne-Jones, sent by Laura (the UK).

Women on Stamps | K for Keil & Keller

2014 stamp featuring Portuguese artist Maria Keil (1914-2012). Her works belong to diverse fields: painting, drawing and illustration, tile, graphic and furniture design, tapestry, set design, etc. Particularly noteworthy is her intense activity as an illustrator, as well as the crucial role she played in the renovation of contemporary tile in Portugal. (See here her tiles on Lisboa metro stations, for instance.).

Last year, Correos dedicated the annual Civic Values stamp to people who are deaf-blind, and in particular, to the celebration of the international day of deafblindness. The stamp includes the symbol of the red and white cane, which identifies people with deafblindness, and he image of Helen Keller.

This is the second Helen Keller I have got. See the first.

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For the current round of Sunday Stamps A-Z I am showing stamps dedicated to women. You can see here all the Women on Stamps featured on this blog.

Go to Sunday Stamps to enjoy more K-stamps.

Black Birds Bring Letters

Watercolour painting on an envelope sent to Fabienne (France).

Garden Gnomes

I received this postcard from Germany, through the Postcrossing site.

I like gnomes in general (and on postcards, stamps...). But, whenever I see one of them in a garden, I can't help wondering if they are happy or they would prefer to be travelling gnomes...

Squares

Envelope sent by Fabienne (France). I am not sure that the picture let appreciate how nice the collaged squares look on the envelope...

The stamps:

-Left: Issued on 6 September 2013, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Law No. 2003-709 on patronage, associations and foundations.

-Right: Calendula (2010) is a portrait made by the photographer Valerie Belin. It belongs to the series Black-Eyed Susan I, The stamp was issued on 25 February 2019.

... And Dogs

And not only cats, but also dogs!

Bisous au facteur, qui transmettra
Gai-luron is a Gotlib character.
Sent by Fabienne (France)

Hoera, jij bent geslaagd
Card sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).
Obviously, with good news :)

Illustration by Jessica Hargraves
(Part of the Prize for Illustration
2017 Sounds of the City exhibition at
London Transport Museum, 2017)
Postcard sent by Imma (PC)

Postcard sent by Laura (the UK)