![Birds of a feather handmade card with envelope](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6825942401_7765325d4f.jpg)
A pen pal and blog reader sent me this lovely handmade "birds of a feather" card way back in July.
![Birds of a feather handmade card](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6825936689_cceb55988e_z.jpg)
I'm very taken with the design, with the "airmail" note-carrying bird stamped in bronze, overlaid on some lovely handwriting in what looks to be Italian, plus some lovely postage stamps and a postmark.
![Bronze letterbird closeup](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7021/6825938531_9501c7d4bb.jpg)
I hope the angle on this photo captures how stylishly and subtlely the bronze bird sparkles...
![Birds of a feather envelope front](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7014/6825940037_ef3b6588c4.jpg)
...and of course I love the vintage cat stamps on the envelope! Neat use of old ledger paper for the label, too, which is burnished on the edges.
![Birds of a feather envelope back](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7021/6825941075_642632cdba.jpg)
The flying-birds rubber stamp theme continues to the back of the envelope, where the stamp-birds of a feather are flocking together. It was a real mail art treat, with a lovely letter inside, too.