Magnificent Muppet Monsters!

Here's another fabulous letter by my favorite Muppet-artistic pen pal. (I've blogged about his previous offerings, including a Sesame Street artwork postcard and a Shockingly Muppet-licious letter.) The stationery is "Mailing the Muppets Keep-in-touch kit," released by the U.S. Postal service in conjunction with the Jim Henson/Muppets stamps in 2005.



The generally disapproving Sam the Eagle guards the back of the envelope.



Around the edges of each page, inside of each little orange square, he drew his own monster doodles...



...inspired, as he writes, by Walt Kelly, Dr. Seuss, Jim Henson, etc.

Need a closer look at those doodled dudes?



I know I do!



What a treat!

Kermit the Frog postcard + stamp

I had the good fortune recently to get a Postcrossing address from someone else who loved the Muppets, especially Kermit the Frog. So I sent her this postcard. It came from the U.S. Postal service, from a set of postcards to match the Jim Henson/Muppets commemorative stamps.



Of course I had to incorporate the matching 37-cent Kermit stamp into the postage to Poland.

Another Muppets postcard

I figured that Sesame Street artwork postcard deserved some Muppets in return, so this is what I sent in response.

Oh, how I adore Muppet postcards...

Muppet Mail

Remember that wonderful shockingly Muppet-licious letter I blogged about recently? In it I mentioned some fabulous postcards he sent me, so I now share with you that bounty.

At the top is a Muppet postalette, a fold-and-mail sort of Hallmark wonder, here celebrating Kermit and Piggy's picnic love.

Below is a really incredible parody, which we must see a little bit closer. My generous blog reader correspondent sent me a few of these, so I've got a mini-collection of 'em.



Those familiar with basic American Art History 101 will recognize this as a very witty parody Edward Hopper's famous painting, "Nighthawks." My generous sender said he found the Muppet parody online, and did not know the artist but had a whole bunch of the postcards printed because he loved them. Hear, hear!

If anyone recognizes the artist, I will happily credit him or her. For now, though, let's admire the fun detail. See The Count up in the upper lefthand corner? Fabulous!

I should note that these are Sesame Street Muppets, not Muppet Show Muppets. There is a difference. My generous sender is more a devotee of the Sesame Street variety, and I am strongly in the Muppet Show camp, but we are different branches of the same tree and I still admire all the Jim Henson creations.

A shockingly muppet-licious letter

So I apparently have at least one blog reader who's more deeply a Muppet nut than I am! He sent me this incredible letter back in October. He is more into the Sesame Street side of Henson, but is still probably more knowledgeable about the Muppet Show side than I am.



First, you must take a closer look at his wonderful original artwork, inspired by Henson. I thought as soon as I saw them that they looked very Henson-esque.



He used a stamp featuring Dr. Teeth, the bandleader on The Muppet Show. Coooool.



I wouldn't have grasped the significance of the Hyattsville, MD postmark, but he kindly pointed out that the letter was sent from the town where Jim Henson grew up.



The stamp, which I believe he had custom-made, features Sam the Eagle in his Great Seal of Disapproval. Muppet Show insiders will know that Sam the Eagle scoffed in disapproval of most acts on the Muppet Show, often deeming them "shocking."

The letter was excellent, and he also very kindly sent me some wonderful postcards featuring the Sesame Street Muppet crew. I forgot to take a picture of them, but I haven't used any yet, so I will be sure to feature them separately. He has also since sent me some other fabulousness, to be blogged in the future...

Muppets Carol of the Bells

This has nothing to do with letters, but because Christmas is such a big deal to so many of my readers, I share with you my latest favorite Muppet video as "Season's Greetings."

I've never done video before on this blog, and don't intend to make it a regular habit, but I really love this video and think it captures a fun spirit of the day. (Poor Beaker.)

To those that celebrate it, enjoy this holiday!

(I'm certainly enjoying sitting in my bathrobe on the couch, blogging, with my kitty Soda curled up on my lap between my laptop and the arm of the couch.)

The future's bright (green, that is)

Another great eBay find, a bit old lot of Muppets postcards. I'm not exactly sure what the slant is here - is it copying some other kind of ad slogan? - but I love it.

This is what I sent to PostMuse in response to her fantastic Carlsbad Caverns bat postcard.

Power to the puppets!

It's Muppet Mail! (Imagine that in the same voice that Kermit uses to introduce the show when he says, all excited, "It's the Muppet Show!")

Just another beauty from my secret stash of Muppet postcards. Heh heh. Secret political message.

GirlZootZilla, the lucky recipient, blogged about this in a much more timely fashion. And she sent me that awesome tarantula postcard back, too.

Miss Piggy's Art Treasures: Ursus Ridiculus

It's time for more Muppets! This is another in the lovely Miss Piggy's Art Treasures series, featuring a spoof on Fozzie Bear. There are all kinds of little inside Muppet jokes, if you're a member of the muppet-lover club...



You can see some writing in Noodler's Eternal Hunter Green ink, for any of you fountain pen ink nuts out there. This is a pretty true-looking sample, on my screen.

Yay Muppets! They make me happy.

Which muppet are you?

Okay, bear with me, because this really isn't letter-writing, unless you're writing on or about Muppets.

But when I was approving comments on the last post, the google ad line had a quiz, "Which Muppet are you?" so of course I had to participate. The questions are a little oddball, but apparently I am most like... Gonzo the great!

I never would have guessed that. The #2 choice was Beaker - HA!

Here's the quiz if you wanna play along...

Which Muppet are YOU?

Miss Piggy's Art Treasures: Pig Before a Mirror / Picasso

Another eBay score: this wonderful set of "Miss Piggy's Art Treasures" postcards, depicting the Muppets (usually Piggy, sometimes Kermit or someone else) as characters in spoofs of famous paintings. They're all terribly witty:



My little gazpacho! Ha!



The place where you're supposed to put the stamp has a wonderful screening of Kermit from another postcard - how could I cover up that Muppet loveliness?

Hallmark Muppet stationery red envelope

Finally wrote a letter with my precious new/old vintage Muppet stationery. The envelopes are just plain red. I used some gold glimmer mist to make this sparkle, and of course I had to use a Muppet stamp.



The stickers on the back of the envelope did not come with this set - they're much newer; I found them in a store last month.

A-NI-MAL!!!!

Yet another muppet postcard.

I can't look at this without smiling.

This was sent in response to the funky colorful Niagara Falls postcard.

Finally found it: Hallmark 1979 Muppet Show Stationery

For a stationery hound with a Muppet obsession like me, this 1979 Hallmark Muppet Show stationery is like the holy grail. Man oh man. I trolled eBay for quite some time hoping this puppy would show up.



It's like Muppet meta - they're writing letters! I would like to note for the record that Kermit is clearly left-handed. I have a few Muppet notepads from this era (yeah yeah, to be photographed and posted "one of these days"), and it also shows Kermit as a leftie.

I don't send the precious Muppet stuff unless I know you like Muppets. Are you Muppet-worthy? Tee hee.

(Did I mention I grew up on the Muppets?)

MLK weekend

Here's the happy pile of letters I wrote over the long MLK weekend.

MuppetLust

I loved, loved, loved The Muppet Show as a kid, and Pigs In Space was my very favorite sketch. So when I found these on eBay, my heart lept with gladness. When another set came up, I had to snatch 'em up, too.

It's a fold and mail postalette, and requires stickers to seal - curiously, it didn't come with any. So the little glitter stickers are my own touch.

If anyone has a source of Muppet stationery, let me know. I'm all over it.