swvl
Member 
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Jan 22, 2022 19:34:44 GMT
I've mentioned elsewhere that I really enjoy making homemade FDCs for new US issues. I'm not much of an artist, and these aren't meant for sale; they're just for a little creative fun, and working on them with my kids has helped me introduce them to the love of stamps. Here are a couple of recent examples I'm proud of, both late 2021 USPS issues. Message MonstersThis series of four cartoon characters drawn by the Canadian children's author Elise Gravel came with all sorts of hats, flowers, thought balloons, etc in the selvage that you could use to add on and decorate the stamps. I know these may have looked a bit silly to serious collectors (I've seen them jokingly called the Worst Stamps Ever), but I can attest to how much happiness they brought to my kids as we decorated FDCs to send out to friends and family. To me, that shows USPS is doing at least one thing right.  Otters in SnowThese definitives are based on art by the illustrator John Burgoyne, whose work I have appreciated on the recent series of small-denomination fruit definitives. I think this is his first non-fruit work for USPS. Our FDC is a low-key one, using some winter-themed stickers and labels we had handy.  Next up for me will be the Lunar New Year Tiger stamps, which should be arriving any day now... |
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brightonpete
Departed
Rest in Peace
On a hike at Goodrich-Loomis
Posts: 5,110 
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Post by brightonpete on Jan 22, 2022 21:41:27 GMT
I love the way you can send your own personalized covers off to some distant place to get a FDC cancel on them. I don't believe anything like that exists up here in Canada. Please correct me if I am wrong. Maybe if it is possible, I'll do the same! I would be on a par with yours, swvl as I am not an artist either!
Peter
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Jan 22, 2022 22:02:43 GMT
Thanks brightonpete! Here in the US, the way it works now is that you mail the covers off to the central Stamp Fulfillment Services office in Kansas City, and after a few weeks they show up in your mailbox with a fresh new First Day of Issue postmark. It's a really great service that they provide free of charge to amateur hobbyists like me, and I hope they never stop. I believe that Canada Post offers a similar service, although I haven't tried it with them and I'm not exactly sure of the details. There's some more information here. I've learned (partly thanks to the helpful advice of people on this forum!) that Royal Mail does this as well, and I'm excited to send off some FDCs for one of their new issues soon. I'm interested in finding out about other postal services that offer first-day cancels for homemade FDCs - if anyone reading this knows of any, I'd love to hear! |
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brightonpete
Departed
Rest in Peace
On a hike at Goodrich-Loomis
Posts: 5,110
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Post by brightonpete on Jan 22, 2022 22:14:01 GMT
Thanks for that, swivel (swvl ), I never knew!
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Feb 12, 2022 20:10:57 GMT
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Feb 18, 2022 21:28:23 GMT
When I began this thread in January, I mentioned the new Year of the Tiger stamps that I was awaiting. The FDCs we decorated shortly afterward are now arriving with the friends and family we addressed them to, and the one we made for our own collection showed up today! USPS gave this issue a nice FDOI postmark, the first pictorial we've seen in a little while. Hurray! Happy times around here.  |
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Apr 9, 2022 0:41:54 GMT
It's been a little while since I've posted on this thread, but I've got lots to share after the bumper crop of March-issue FDCs that made their way back to my mailbox today! Title IXWe made two covers for stamps from this four-stamp set, issued March 3 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark legislation that protects students at government-funded U.S. institutions from discrimination based on their gender. One of them features the full text of the law — a short but powerful 37 words! — along with some small drawings of sports equipment, since equal funding for women's sports is one of the best-known effects of the law. The other features a design created by my six-year-old son. I think he did a fantastic job designing this one! Proud dad over here    Mountain FloraOur design for this one is a joint father-son creation. We chose our two favorites of the four-stamp set, issued March 14, and drew a fanciful garden to complement the stamps' floral design.  We're very happy with how all of these turned out, and with the care that USPS' Stamp Fulfillment Services team took applying the postmarks and returning them in the mail. A good day! |
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on May 13, 2022 21:54:54 GMT
New arrival! Here's the FDC I made for the stamp issued in April to honor children's author, humorist, and songwriter Shel Silverstein. The image on the stamp is from his classic The Giving Tree; my cachet includes a few of Silverstein's other titles, including Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic, which were favorites of mine growing up.  |
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seegod1
Member
Mostly lurking these days, but enjoying everyone's input!
Posts: 164 
What I collect: Canada, Cats, Soccer, Religion, Royalty, Titanic, Stamps on Stamps, Number Ones
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Post by seegod1 on May 14, 2022 10:31:16 GMT
New arrival! Here's the FDC I made for the stamp issued in April to honor children's author, humorist, and songwriter Shel Silverstein. The image on the stamp is from his classic The Giving Tree; my cachet includes a few of Silverstein's other titles, including Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic, which were favorites of mine growing up. Hey swvl... thanks for this... I had no idea one could do this, never mind do it right here in Canada if I want to. As for your limited artistic ability, it surpasses mine (I can barely draw stick people, LOL!) so keep doin' what you're doin'! What a great activity for you and your kids! |
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on May 14, 2022 15:45:18 GMT
Thanks, Carmen seegod1! You can see an example of a FDC I recently made for a Canadian stamp in this thread (linked). I can send more detailed instructions for anyone who's interested in making their own FDCs! |
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Jul 5, 2022 1:47:49 GMT
I'm back with a couple of new arrivals in the mailbox from Kansas City this weekend! First up is a cover for USPS' latest Global Forever stamp - the African Daisy (Scott 5680), issued back in March to cover one-ounce postage to anywhere in the world (within USPS' service range). My six-year-old and I tried out a new technique for this one, drawing a flower on brightly colored construction paper which we then cut out and glued carefully to the cover to create a cachet. I'm happy with how it turned out!  The Mighty Mississippi series issued in May created lots of potential cachet inspirations, with its 10 beautifully photographed scenes from the states through which the Mississippi runs. One that I'm proud of is this cachet that I drew for the Iowa stamp (Scott 5698c). I based it on an old paperback cover for Herman Melville's 1857 satire The Confidence-Man, one of my favorite 19th century novels; the book takes place entirely on a Mississippi riverboat like the one shown on this stamp. I like the pictorial postmark that USPS gave this series, too.  |
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Aug 30, 2022 0:09:54 GMT
I haven't posted in this thread in a while, but not for lack of FDC activity! These covers just came back for USPS' Pete Seeger stamp, issued July 21, which - as I've probably mentioned a few dozen times by now - is a stamp I've been looking forward to for months. Seeger's music and activism mean a lot to me, and USPS did a really nice job with the design of this one. I designed two covers of my own for this stamp, one with a hand-painted watercolor scene of the Hudson River near Beacon, NY, where Seeger lived and led conservation and cleanup efforts; and another with a printed design incorporating his famous signature. (I'm still working on getting my laserjet printer to make cachets satisfactorily, but I like how this one turned out.)   |
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Sept 27, 2022 0:32:00 GMT
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Oct 19, 2022 2:33:15 GMT
Here's my FDC for the James Webb Space Telescope stamp issued by USPS in September. I love this stamp, such beautiful space imagery. I tried to do justice to it with my watercolor interpretation of the " Cosmic Cliffs" of the Carina Nebula as revealed by the telescope this year.  |
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Nov 5, 2022 21:53:03 GMT
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Nov 29, 2022 3:28:45 GMT
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Feb 18, 2023 22:31:02 GMT
It's been a while since I've updated this thread, but I've been busy making cachets and sending them out to be postmarked for several new issues already this year. Fun times! Here are a couple that just came back to me, both for the School Bus additional-ounce rate stamp issued early last month. The first is a combo with another School Bus stamp — Scott 2123, from the Transportation Series, issued in 1985. This went a little over the first-class postage rate when you add up the coil strip of 5 with the two new 24-cent stamps, but I like the visual effect.  The next one is a combo with last year's 4c Blueberries stamps, as seen upthread. The cachet idea was my son's. The combination adding up to exactly 60 cents (which was still the first-class rate on Jan 5, a couple of weeks before the most recent rate increase) was fortuitous.  |
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Mar 7, 2023 2:25:28 GMT
Here are a couple more of my covers that made their way back to my mailbox today... First, the stamp issued last month to honor Ernest J. Gaines, a great American novelist whose work I discovered only last year. I have TSF, and more specifically our very own eggdog, to thank for inspiring me to read the novel whose paperback cover I sketched for this cachet. It's an excellent and quick read, highly recommended.  Second, a whimsical cachet I designed for the new Sailboats postcard stamps, using two to make up the first-class letter rate. Ahoy there!  |
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Oct 30, 2023 21:57:08 GMT
I haven't posted on this thread in a while, but it's been a busy year of cachet-designing and cover-making over here! Here are a few that I don't think I've shared yet — the covers that my kids and I made for USPS' Life Magnified series. This one was a real family effort! First, my design:  Then, a sketch by my seven-year-old son, who loves all kinds of science:  And finally, a more abstract interpretation of a microscopic scene by my four-year-old:  Very happy with how these turned out! |
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 691
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Oct 31, 2023 0:20:09 GMT
Splendid! That is some excellent bacteria from your four year old, even if at a lower magnification. |
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Nov 14, 2023 23:38:21 GMT
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swvl
Member
Posts: 522
What I collect: FDCs, plus some US modern and new issues. Topical interests include music, art, literature, baseball, space...
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Post by swvl on Jan 6, 2024 0:49:54 GMT
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