dinsdag 8 december 2015

Lovely surprises and Christmas cards!


A very kind Italian lady sent me all this letter paper as a surprise 
as she is clearing out her collection! I am so happy with it all and
even used some of it already. 



One of my sweet pen-friends from Japan included
these little bags of Furikake, I had never heard of 
it before, but I am open to try new things. 
We already sprinkled some of the spices on our rice!


These are Christmas card 6 & 7 already, both from the U.S.A. 
The one on the left is from a pen-friend, 
the right one is from Mooshi the cat! 

maandag 30 november 2015

It's been a while, I still get mail though!


I have been neglecting this blog, shame on me! 
Now lets update

The first card you see comes from Besançon, France

left:
portrait of Victor Hugo
middle:
La porte noire : a Gallo-Roman triumphal arch 
The place of birth from Victor Hugo and the brothers Lumière
right:

The French Indian joint issue celebrates 50 years of spatial cooperation between both countries. Each country released two identical stamps devoted to space exploration. (2015)


Another chunk o' cardboard
from South Africa! The scanner doesn't 
do the glitter justice, it looks really good! 

left:
Seventh Definitive set
of 27, 2000
right:
Tsonga neckpiece
2010


Lucky me! A new language swap from Spain
Two languages this time, as the sender also included 
some Catalan 

Europa 2015
"Old fashioned Toys"
a Scot Pine scented self adhesive stamp featuring a wooden toy train.


Stamps sent from Indonesia
The tea was an extra, I gave it to my mom to try.


maandag 2 november 2015

Made my very first pocket letter!


My very first pocket letter! 
I also recycled several old Christmas cards to make it.
What do you think? 


This is the back, still have to fill it of course


Collecting Christmas stamps


My fiancé did it again!
This is the very first Christmas stamp ever issued! 

Canada

1898!

For almost sixty years no one in the world thought to issue a Christmas stamp until December 7, 1898, when Canada issued what is known by philatelists (stamp collectors) as the"Map Stamp". Designed by William Mulock, the Postmaster General of Canada, the stamp shows the earth as if it were flat. The countries that were dependencies of Great Britain were printed in red. 20,000,000 stamps were issued; half with blue oceans and the other half with a green ocean look. Why, is not known. Along the bottom of the stamp was the slogan,"WE HOLD A VASTER EMPIRE THAN HAS BEEN". At that time Britain held the largest empire on earth.
The only clue that this is a Christmas stamp is the word XMAS1898 near the bottom centre of the stamp. No Santa, reindeer, or wreathes.

maandag 26 oktober 2015

Collecting Christmas stamps


My fiancé always manages to surprise me!
I just received this wonderful addition to my
Christmas stamps collection. 



The British Army had had a resident presence in Egypt since 1882. From 1932 to 1936 special seals were attached to the rear of letters to show that the letter was covered by special forces postal services. The two issues of interest to GB Overprint collectors are those issued in 1935 for King George V's Silver Jubilee and later in the same year for Christmas. It is arguable whether these stamps count as "GB Overprints". The argument in favour is that they are stamps issued by the British Government, supplied by them for use by British people, and are therefore "British stamps".
For a time these stamps were regarded as "cinderella" items, as they were treated by the Army not as postage stamps but as a receipt showing that the serviceman/woman had paid the special reduced rate postage and was permitted to post this letter, but only in the special forces postboxes. At this point the distinction from a "postage stamp" gets rather philosophical. They were stuck on the rear of the letter, not on the front, and inscribed "Letter stamp", "Postal seal", "Xmas seal", or "Letter seal", so as not to confuse Egyptian postal staff.

donderdag 15 oktober 2015

Stamps, what else?


Yes! After a very long time, finally a stamp post again!

Slovenia

"Coats of arms of the nobility"
(2014, set of 5) 
Several noble families of the highest rank lived and worked in the lands that
 make up present-day Slovenia and played an important role not only locally 
but also at the imperial level. The coat of arms was one of the most important attributes 
of every noble family; it was the badge by which the family was identified. 
Coats of arms frequently reflected the name of the family and its history.

Germany

Top:
stamp commemorating German Unity Day
(2015)
Bottom right:
The Ishtar Gate was the Eighth Gate to the Inner City of Babylon
Bottom left:
Issued to commemorate the 100-year 
Anniversary of the discovery of the Nefertiti Bust
(both 2013)

Poland

Minisheet about Witkacy
(2015)

Horses
(1989, set of 6)

That was all for this one! What do you think? 


Happy mailbox, happy me


I did several swaps again and here are the results.
I got so many nice cards and stamps that I put the latter in 
a separate post. 
So lets get started!

The first two postcards you see here 
I received from Slovenia for the 
"your language" swap. 




This card came from Poland with a nice view on
Czartoryski Palace in Pulawy 



This card came from a German swapper but,
as you can see, this is a beautiful view on Hohensalzburg Castle
and Nonnberg Abbey, Salzburg, Austria



And to end with, this card from Midland, Texas, U.S.A.
Not from a swap but from my kind pen-friend who lives there.

From the back:
In 1880, the Texas Pacific Railroad began to lay tracks 
westward from Fort Worth at about the same time that 
the Soutern Pacific began building east from El Paso.
The place where the tracks met bacame known as Midway. 
Later, the name was changed to Midland when it was discovered 
that there was another Texas town by the same name. 
The Parmian Basin, of which Midland is the geographic center, 
is said to contain 25% of the nation's reserves. 

zondag 11 oktober 2015

Lots of cards!


This postcard came from a sweet friend of mine in the US
The card shows a two year old Pawnee - Otoe Indian dancer 



Yes! I participated in the "chunk o' cardboard" swap
from Swap-bot again. This chunk came from the US,
I "met" the sender a few times already, and I am sure
we'll meet again. 


Some of the stickers, tape and stamps he used at the back

Lots of stamps! 


This lovely letter came from my pen-friend 
Kasia, here in Belgium.
She wrote part of her letter on the cat cards! 




maandag 28 september 2015

More mail from Russia


My Russian swap partner let me know he sent two envelopes.
I was a bit surprised, because I simply agreed to swap and expected "one for one", 
but I like the content of this envelope even more than the first one!


zaterdag 26 september 2015

More languages


For my language collection
this time mail from the Czech Republic


I should check from where I received mail and how many languages 
I got so far!

maandag 21 september 2015

Mail from Russia


I don't have much to show on my blog these days,
simply because I am still working on the mail I received
during my vacation. 

But I received this fun envelope today from Russia
It is part of my "your language" swap


maandag 7 september 2015

Back from vacation, time to show my incoming mail!


Hello all! I am back from the States 
and was lucky to come home to a nice pile of mail! 
I am sorry for the quality of the pics, I am still really tired 
and my hands are far from steady.

Postcards from the Netherlands and the one bottom right 
comes from Romania

A letter from Tessa from the Netherlands!
Look at the nice envelope and pretty paper

A card from the USA via Sendsomething


Three letters from Japan
Spoiled by all my sweet pen-friends





Swap from Indonesia, for the "my language" collection


And last but not least, a letter I got today from 
my pen-friend in Canada
Pucca love! 


zondag 2 augustus 2015

Mail from Portugal and the Netherlands


Mail is slow these days, sending and receiving,
it is summer after all and yes, I am lazy. 
But! I got some nice cards and other things I should blog about asap!

I received this card form Portugal
with a view on Cascais



This card came from a Postcrossing meeting in the Netherlands
It was a "bake meeting" so the cake is really on topic.


zaterdag 11 juli 2015

Lots of happy mail!


Just look at this amazing cat card I got from Finland!

The art is by Annika Hiltunen

and look at the back of the card, so pretty

Synchronized skating
(2015)
With a matching priortiry sticker, the Fins are so good at

 This great package arrived from Japan for 
my "your language" swap.
It makes the manga/anime fan in me drool!
I never understood why the Japanese threw away manga 
when they didn't like it, but several of the little booklets
in this package are real manga. So basically it's like throwing
away a magazine you finished. Before I knew this,
I saw piles and piles of soft covers, costing at least 7 euro here,
ending up in the bin.


Last but not least, pen-friend mail! 
A nice letter from the Netherlands
(My mom already drank the tea)


Even more spoiled with mail from Taiwan


And to end, a letter from a new pen-friend from the USA
The stickers made me giggle, pink glittery skulls! 


I've been really lucky this week!



vrijdag 3 juli 2015

Mail from the Netherlands, Canada and the UK


I got two postcrossing meeting cards from the Netherlands
this week, the first is this great Jetoy


the second a wonderful and so out of season 
Keep calm card (Belgium is melting right now).


Look at this cute priority sticker! 



Can you believe this is a Kleenex box? 
I received it as part of the "Chunk o Cardboard" June swap
from Swap-bot. I received two of the chunks now. 

Stamps

from Canada

top:
stamp to commemorate the sinking of the Titanic 
(2012)
right:
Canadian locomotives (1925-1945)
(1986)
left:
"Beneficial insects"
(2009)

from the UK

Commemorative stamp Magna Carta
(2015)



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