Sunday Stamps | U for Universe

I received this postcard of the sun from Posted Letter, with this thermochromic ink stamp of the solar eclipse, that I had previously featured on a post.

It gave me an idea to look for more stamps related to the theme Universe, for the letter U of Sunday Stamps.

Pluto and New Horizons
31 May 2016
(USA)

Express Stamp - Space Shuttle Challenger
22 June 1995
(USA)

Jupiter Room in Guiana Space Centre
50th anniversary of CNES (French Space Agency)
17 October 2001
(France)

World Space Week
6 October 2016
(Mexico)

I hope that any scientist will not be offended if I include in this post the following stamps...

Boba Fett (Star Wars)
20 October 2015
(UK)

Star Trek
2 September 2016
(USA)

Star Trek
27 April 2017
(Canada)

Bookshops and Libraries on Postcards

Mural by Mandy Sue
Sark Star Books
Yellow Springs, Ohio, USA
(Sent by Phillip)

Little Free Library
Kingsburg, California, USA
Sent by Claire

Common Good Books (St. Paul, Minnesota, USA)
Illustrated by Bob Eckstein
Sent by Laura (the UK)

National Library of Latvia (in Riga)
Sent by Taiga

Strand Book Store in New York,
with 18 miles of books (?!?)
Sent by Phillip (the USA)

HitM | My House Is My Castle

Заповедник Хабибулина, 2014 г.
Тираж: 1 экземпляр.

Postcard sent by Eduard (Russia), for the Houses in the Mail project.

Green Dragon

Illustrated envelope sent to Phillip (the USA), as a reply to this letter full of dragons!

HitM | Protective Colours

Colourful contribution to the Houses in the Mail project, sent by Ana (Portugal). The postcard features the traditional houses of Algarve, with their colourful bands, It is said they are to protect people inside from evil spirits (she also explained it here).

Walking Letters

This stamp, since I got it, became one of my favourites ever. It inspired this envelope I sent to Fabienne (France).

Postal workers, I have discovered, is what I like most drawing... 

Back to School... Again!

Laura (the UK) sent the perfect postcard for the back to English lessons, after two weeks off... Don't you think so?

Sunday Stamps | T for Tractor

Letter T of Sunday Stamps gives me the chance to show one of the rare stamps from Pakistan I have.

Of course, I didn't find more tractors on my collection. But I found some more ears of cereals...

Nostalgic Postcards

Postcard sent by John (the UK). 

Liverpool's new post office, opened in 1899, wa, like the North Western Hotel, lit throughout by electricity and was another pointer to Liverpool's importance as a centre of communications. Employing in its primer over 1,000 staff, in 1936 it coped with 11,800,000 letters, 141,000 parcels, 210,000 telegrams and 1,500,000 phone calls a week! Sadly, it was badly damaged during the Second World War and had since remained derelict.

And also John sent this postman from the old times...

Postcard sent by Micu (the USA).

In this nostalgic photo, Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse pose in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Park.

When I Grow up…

When I grow up, I will run away
and join the circus.

Illustrated envelope sent to Heleen (the Netherlands), as a reply to this postcard...

Pink Butterflies

Watercolour and collage postcard made and sent by Alba (Spain). It arrived quickly... despite two mistakes in the address!

I added the stamp to this small collection of stamps about dance...

A Field Trip Life

Illustrated envelope sent to Claire (the USA). Actually, she received it like three months ago, ops!

I like to draw envelopes that have a special meaning for the recipient, as well as the letters inside. If I try to make an envelope, without thinking of a specific person... nothing comes out! The envelope above is a portrait (ehem) of Claire herself, from the picture on her blog. 

The second envelope was inspired by the postcard of Kingsburg she had previously sent. Have you noticed this amazing giant water tower/coffee pot?!? I included the beginning of a fairy tale in the letter...

Happy 2019

This postcard was sent by Heleen (the Netherlands), some times ago, for the Houses in the Mail project.

Typical Postcrossing

After a gap (due to a lot of lost postcards, mostly sent from Morocco), I came back to Postcrossing. A friend of mine sent me this postcard to celebrate it.

There are a lot of things to say about Postcrossing. To keep it simple: it is just a pleasure to receive joyful surprises in the mail in the form of little squares. With 50 million of postcards exchanged (50 million!!!), I still think it is one of the best sites ever invented. I am very grateful to the guys that had the idea and made it true. And to the people who maintain it alive, making the world better, a postcard a time.

If you have not tried Postcrossing yet... maybe can it be one of your 2019 goals/resolutions?

(See here how it works).

Sunday Stamps | S for Smurfs

Letter S of Sunday Stamps gives me the chance to show the stamps of my favourite comic characters: Smurfs!

Belgium has featured Smurfs on stamps often. I recently got these, issued on 29 January 2018, for the 60th anniversary of the blue little fellows.

And I had got, years ago, one of the 7 stamps issued in 2008 for their 50th anniversary.

And also from the UN: