02 May 2013

Kangen


Kangen

NB I don't understand the lyrics, but anyway I trust the person who told me this is a love story who includes a letter...

01 May 2013

Play it, Jay


Sent to Jay (the United States).

Collage made of press cuttings, washi tape, stickers, EVA and the song of Casablanca: "As Time Goes By". I made it as my contribution to challenge #3 of Mail a Smile.

Also published in the challenge gallery.

30 April 2013

Crema Catalana


Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

Postcard made of food packaging bought long long time ago. But it stills smells to crema catalana! I usually don't publish the back of the postcards, but this is very nice:


I especially love the fact that the post officers thought the stamp was a real one and postmarked it!


By the way, today is Queen's Day, so I'm happy to have some orange incoming mail from the Netherlands to post!

29 April 2013

Outbox


Outbox is a service based on Austin (Texas, the United States) that  turns your snail mail into electronic mail. It means that they pick up your snail mail from your mail box three times a week. Then they open, scan and store your mail. So you can access your mail from anywhere. You can request the pieces of mail you are interested in keep and they deliver you twice a week (the rest of the mail is recycled). It costs $4,99 per month.

The most disturbing fact about this service is that you must send a picture of your mail box key (back and front) and they make a copy of the key!

I suppose there is not any snail mail lover who has tried...

NB This post does not support this enterprise and it is not sponsored in any form. I do not know if it works or if clients are satisfied. I only wanted to write about an idea I found in this page because it sounded very original to me.

28 April 2013

Dictionaries for Postcrossers

Taken from here
Sometimes I would know how to say "Thank you for your postcard" in different languages. So there is an useful resource: Dictionnaries for Postcrossers, made by a German postcrosser. It contains some useful basic phrases and words in 40 languages.

It says it's open to corrections and new languages. In fact I sent a translation into my language looooong time ago, and it was never published. Maybe should I try again?

27 April 2013

Bloglovin

Not exactly a mail adventure but a blog adventure: I started to use Bloglovin and I think it can be useful to know for those of you who also use it. 

26 April 2013

Little Red Riding Hood


Sent by Tereza (Czech Republic).

I wanted to tell you that the letter I wrote to Little Red Riding Hood (to participate in April LEP challenge) was published yesterday in LEP's blog, yippee! And then I remembered I had received this cheeky Little Red Riding Hood some time ago.

I asked you for the postal address of Little Red Riding Hood. I did not realize that she could read the letter on the blog... and answer! So please, don't miss the reply she wrote (in the comments). By the way, I do not  understand what Scriptor has to do with the matter... ;-)

25 April 2013

Moroccan Orange


Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

This is one of the most awesome envelopes I have never received. It was hand-painted by Heleen, who was inspired by some Moroccan tasty orange. Notice that the stamps are also orange (and that was the content!).

24 April 2013

Save Your Slow Way of Life


Sent to Jane Davies (the USA), as my contribution to her Postcard Project.

Collage made of stickers, washi tape and rubber stamps. I hope she could keep her cute post office! You can contribute any time, as the goal is to increase the amount of mail.


23 April 2013

Happy St. George's Day!


Card sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

Leesvoer (='Readings', I think), by Willy Belinfante. This painting fits in my album of Reading Women! And besides this, thanks to the postcard I discovered she has a lot of works showing readers (for instance).

As I wrote last Sunday, Saint George's Day in Catalonia is something like Valentine's Day. Better than Valentine's Day, because not only lovers swap books and roses. Also the friends, the relatives, even the co-workers do. Today is the right day to wander around the stalls of books in the street. Almost impossible not to buy at least one book. This beautiful tradition is based on a legend: there was a village terrorized by a fierce dragon, a pretty princess in danger... Well, you can imagine the final, can't you?

The envelope I received yesterday is also decorated in a literary way. Even the bear on the stamps is reading a letter!


22 April 2013

Boxes for Stamps

Where do you keep your new stamps? These are my little boxes for them:


21 April 2013

April Celebrations


This stamp was drawn for children of Tuvalu. It makes part of the project "Send Tuvalu to the World" (2010). In fact, I received this stamp long time ago, and I have already published it here (see also the postmark Earth Day related).

The theme of Sunday Stamps in Viridian's Postcard Blog is Earth Day and other April Celebrations. The Earth Day is not widely celebrated in my country, nor in Morocco. Except for some activities in schools is completely unnoticed.

So I want to post about Saint George, the saint patron of Catalonia and Aragon (among other many places). In Catalonia Saint George's Day (Diada de Sant Jordi) is also known as The Day of the Rose or The day of the Book. The main event is the exchange of gifts between beloved relatives, friends and colleagues. Historically, men gave women roses, and women gave men a book. In modern times, the mutual exchange of books is also customary. Believe me: 23rd of April Barcelona and other cities of Catalonia are worth visiting! (and Valencian Country, to a certain extent). Thousands of stands of roses and bookstalls are set up for the occasion. Most women carry a rose in hand, and people seems really happy.

There is any issue of Saint George's Day's stamps. So I'm showing you these:


This one features the flag and the map of Catalonia. Issued by Spanish postal Service (Correos) in January 2011. The A on the stamp means that it is a forever stamp (for domestic letters or postcards up to 20 g). There are forever stamps for Europe with a B.

And two roses for you. Happy Sant Jordi's Day!


From Spain

From Finland

20 April 2013

Letter to Little Red Riding Hood


April LEP's challenge was "to write a letter to or as your favourite book character". So I decided to write an important letter long time postponed. I can't say Little Red Riding Hood is sort of "my favourite book character". But anyway... I had some questions to her. 




So here is:
Dear Little Red Riding Hood,
We are about the same age. I remember you were about seven when I started reading your amazing story. For that reason I dare to write to you, because I feel we know each other since long time ago.
I must say your story always has fascinated me, and it’s for that I still read it to my nieces from time to time.  But thirty years later, they remain still some unanswered questions that sometimes keep me awake in the middle of the night. Now we're both grown-ups so maybe you can help me to avoid those uncomfortable sleep disorders.
a)  When I was seven I started to need glasses, and I of course I hated them. But your case helped to convince me. The possibility of not noticing my dear nan turned into a hairy beast scared me a lot, you know, so I finally decided to put on my glasses. (By the way: my Mum sends a big thank you).  Now I’d like to know the truth: Do you have any serious eyesight problems?  I mean… it isn’t so difficult to distinguish a wolf from a granny in normal circumstances, is it?
b) Why did you wear always this odd red riding hood? Didn’t you mind the children laughing at you at the school? And more important: Are you still wearing it? What does your employer think about that?
And c) Do you have a real name? Do you use it, or do you use Little, etc.? Or maybe do you sign as Big Red Riding Hood?
I hope you 
aren't offended by my questions and you have the time to answer me back.
Yours sincerely,
E.
By the way... anyone who knows her address?!?


19 April 2013

Hate Mail


This is a strange project: the illustrator Mr Bingo sends postcards with offensive messages. So... why would someone to pay 5 pounds to be said "I hate you"? Well, it seems that more than 400 people found it funny so far. This is his the explanation:
The Project I love post and I'm worried that people don't get enough 'fun' post these days. Especially postcards. So I had an idea. It's very simple. You send me thirty quid (plus postage) and I'll send you a vintage postcard with a drawing and an offensive message on it (that's why it's called 'Hate mail'). So you get an original signed drawing, the postman get's a laugh and the world get's a little bit happier
I love specially the FAQ section:
What should I do if I don't want any Hate Mail? Don't click on the button that says 'BUY NOW'.

The project is closed for now, but it opens sporadically for short periods of time. You can see more postcards and read more about how it started here (in Spanish).

18 April 2013

Postcard from Arabia


Sent by Kate (Saudi Arabia).

This is the only mail I have got so far from Saudi Arabia, via Postcrossing. When I started as a postcrosser I though it would be easier to get postcards from Arabic countries. But I have received only two Arabic postcards (written in English), and only thank you card one written in Arabic.

Anyway, this coffee pot is one of my favourites. I think it suits not only with my tastes, but also with the Postcrossing aim. It says: "دلَّة القهوة رمزًا للكرم"; more or less: 'The coffee pot is a symbol of generosity".