Mail art and more fun

I know, it's been too long again,

but here is the mail I received.

My (pen-)friend Suzanne sent this card to me

from her honeymoon in Germany

"Chiemsee"

2015

The stamps show a view from Gstadt across 

lake Chiemsee towards summits of the Chiemgau Alps.

This letter comes from Canada,

I love the sticker my pen-friend included

This card comes from my kind pen-friend

who never forgets me when she visits a "new" place.

Austin, Texas

"The Moon"

2016

And this piece of Mail Art came from my

very first mail art friend in the USA! I love

what she created. 

Another piece of Mail Art, 

also from the USA.

The envelope makes me hungry, haha.

These stamps were sent to me from the Netherlands,

but as you can see they come from all over the world.

I should really make a blog about these. 

Postcards!

Let me start with this one from Mexico!

A teacher asked for swaps for his students

and of course I couldn't resist. 

This is a view on the church of Arandas

This stamp from 2015

celebrates 125 years of Treaty of the Metre

in Mexico

The next two beauties came from 

a fellow postcrosser and (pen-)friend of mine 

Isn't this kitty cute? 

This one comes from the USA

from a pen-friend I "met" on Sendsomething

Another Sendsomething card, from Canada, Toronto

Year of the Monkey 2016

Designed by Albert Ng and Linna Xu, the stamp is inspired by Sun Wukong, or Monkey King, a central character from the 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West. It features a stylized portrait of Sun Wukong, whose colourful crown and headband extend beyond the stamp’s upper border. In the lower right corner is the Chinese character hóu, meaning monkey. The character is written in gold, one of the Monkey’s lucky colours.

The Year of the Monkey begins on February 8, 2016, and ends on January 27, 2017. The ninth of 12 animals to appear in the Lunar Calendar, the Monkey is traditionally thought of as all-powerful and God-like, representing honour, luck, riches and longevity.

And last but not least,

this card comes from Turkey, Istanbul

via Postcrossing

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.

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! 

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)

Mail of the week

This paper arrived from Lithuania as part of my "your language" swap,

I love it! 

Two notecards from the "Geeks and Freaks notecard Penpals"

swap on Swap-bot arrived this week, one more to go! 

The first came from the UK

 The second from the USA

I also swapped on facebook, these postcards arrived,

finally, after going mia, 

in a dirty envelope and all four are creased...

thank you postal system?

From the USA

And today I got this letter from Canada, 

from one of my sweet pen-friends

Chunk O Cardboard incoming and a nice letter

In one of my previous posts I mentioned 

I participated in a "Chunk O Cardboard" swap

and showed you what I sent out (two received so far).

I received two chunks today, so waiting for one more.

I love this, I mean,... cake! 

The sender wrote she made it last weekend

and that it was so good, she's going to make one again.

I love the stamps she used, so colorful!

Would like to know more about the hands one though.

This chunk comes from the US,

The sender writes she loves to collect these figures. 

And last but not least, I got a letter from a pen-friend, 

she used the Year of the Ram stamp on her black(!) envelope

 and such cute washi tape, I am in love! 

A Canadian card from the US

NOT my country postcard swap!

Sent to me from the US

with a pretty view on the Canadian Rockies

Established in 1885,Banff National Park was the first national park

created in Canada. Back then, its main purpose was to help pay for 

the recently- built railway across the country. In 1984, Banff and the 

other mountain parks were declared UNESCO WHS.

A new country and more mail!

First of all, I got two letters

the first from the USA, 

with beautiful cards and

an envelope made from the USPS stamp catalogue!

The second from Canada, with cute stickers

And now, drum roll please!

My first card from Mexico!

with a view on the Church of Our Lady of the Ascension of Lagos de Moreno

"Endemic Fauna of Mexico"

(set of 2, 2014)

Mail of the day

Two surprises in the mail

Second letter from a new pen-friend, 

with pics from her cats and nice gifts

A wonderful teabag bookmark from the UK

I should send one back asap

Early Valentine's gift!

I received this from my boyfriend 

1000 used stamps!

For my collection, to swap or to do mail art

How lucky am I?! 

I also received this sweet letter from Canada,

with lovely paper included. 

(Via sendsomething)

Because I am participating in Lettermo,

I am trying to write each day. 

I don't think I'll send mail out every day though, but I'll try.

I don't want to force my writing, it should still be fun.

Anyone else going for it?