Sunday, July 26, 2015

Sunday Stamps - say it with flowers

These are the envelopes I sent out for Jean and Jan's June exchange. Don't be shocked, regular followers of this blog, there is hand-lettering ahead, so sit down if you feel faint.

I usually send out my hand-made envelopes for these exchanges, but this time I thought I would mix it up a bit. I prefer to take on an alphabet that is do-able, and one that is forgiving of mistakes and inconsistencies. I'd admired the cream letters that Chuck sent Jean and then Jean created some lovely envelopes, including this one she sent to me, which started out like this.

So I combined the letters from Chuck, the tree branches from Jean, and the Vintage Tulip stamps, which are my selection for today's Sunday Stamps. To see more flower-themed stamps click hereThey were first issued in February as 70c stamps, then reissued last month as non-denominated 2 oz stamps (currently valued 71c). Based on drawings from engraved plates originally created by naturalist artist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), they are printed using the intaglio method, i.e. the engraved lines are slightly raised, giving the stamps a vintage feel themselves, as few modern stamps are printed like this in the US. The only other one I can recall is the $2 upside down Jenny.

Five envelopes are for the exchange, and three were bonus ones to Jean, Jean's Mom, and Eric. Perfect that non-machinable international (1.20+22c) = 2 x non-machinable domestic ;) And I thought the design warranted a red hand cancel from the post office, so this marks the third time I've requested this service - two clerks thought they looked great and were happy to oblige.

They are posted more or less in the order I addressed them, and even I can see there is a progression from thinner to thicker, and there is a lot of variation, but I think it still looks OK.









And the group shot. 



12 comments:

  1. Cool! That design is steal...er...worthy of emulation

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    1. Well, other than combining the stamp, Jean's tree idea and Chuck's writing, this is all stolen! Jean is fond of using 'stealworthy' - so go right ahead. This is super easy to do.

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  2. I knew when I sat down to read blogs this morning that I haven't read anyone's blog in "a while" but good grief it looks like I haven't been here since April. It was fun to catch up and get inspired. Maybe I'll actually start mailing stuff again.
    (and nice work on the hand lettering!)

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    1. Wow, April! Glad you're caught up, and hopefully you'll get back into sending mail art - a cat maybe?

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  3. I've never seen anything like this before.

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    1. I've never done anything like this before...

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  4. For some reason my first thought was these look like a very minimalist take on Gorey.
    These vintage tulips are very nice. I've received one so far and hope to get more.

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    1. Wow, that's a huge compliment, thanks. I do tend to the more minimalist side - all the envelopes started out without the heart-shaped leaves/flowers on them. Then I thought I would tie the tree to the stamps on most of them.

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  5. How talented! And nice stamp to go with the design :D

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    1. Thanks! This is actually very very easy to do - you should give it a try.

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