Inspiration: Postcrossing stamps from Finland

POSTCROSSING STAMPS

The colorful stamps were created by design agency Kokoro & Moi, and will be available on a folded stamp sheet from September 9th onwards, which means, Finnish postcrossers will soon be able to send their postcards using these playful stamps!

From Official Postcrossing blog 
[http://www.postcrossing.com/blog/2013/05/21/new-postcrossing-stamps-from-finland]

United Buddy Bears and "Little Tiger & Little Bear" characters' stamp - a card from Germany

UNITED BUDDY BEARS

Country: Germany

Place: Bamberg
Received: 23/04/2013

Distance: 1 225 km
Travelled: 30 days

United Buddy Bears

Buddy Bears are big painted bear sculptures from Berlin, firstly created in 2001. The first activities were presented during the Buddy Bear Berlin Show, when the artists painted about 350 bears to decorate the streets of Berlin. The United Buddy Bears is an international project, which chooses artists from the individual countries and is a platform even for small and poor countries. On their global tour, the "United Buddy Bears" promote peace, love, tolerance and international understanding; the entry to the exhibitions is always free.

"Little Tiger and Little Bear" stamps

In February I received this great card with the "Little Tiger and Little Bear" characters. Now the senders, a wonderful couple from Germany, decided to make me happy and send a hand-made card with bears and also two special stamps with the same heroes, issued recently.

Hondius' decorative world map and a bear - a card from Russia

HONDIUS' DECORATIVE WORLD MAP

Country: Russia

Place: Gatchina
Received: 20/05/2013

Distance: 649 km
Travelled: 22 days

Hondius decorative world map

This decorative world map was made in 1641 in Amsterdam by Henricus Hondius. It is hand colored and has a size of 21.5x15 inches. The map was first issued in 1630 in the Mercator-Hondius Atlas. Its basic cartography follows the world map by John Speed, the portraits of Ptolemy, Mercator, Hondius and Julius Caeser are included to decorate the borders. 

Bear stamp

Sleepy kitten, 70 CT stamp and Allied '45 stamp - a card from the Netherlands

SLEEPY KITTEN

Country: Netherlands

Place: Purmerend
Received: 01/05/2013

Distance: 1 511 km
Travelled: 39 days

Sleepy kitten

Purmerend was founded in 1410 on the basis of the small fishing village Purmer between the  Purmer Lake,  Beemster Lake and Wormer Lake. In 1434 Purmerend was given city rights, and its total population makes about 80 thousands of people now.

70 CT stamp

This 70 CT stamp was designed by Wim Crouwel  (b. 1928), a Dutch graphic designer and typographer known for his posters and exhibition designs.

Allied '45 stamp