Nicole Eippers (29)

Wonderful envelope from Nicole Eippers, tmo the Queen of Collage mail art!
The mail arrived despite of the location of the postmark :-)



Enclosed this great Mole shown above, and ATC's: of a Tardigrade, Chameleon, Lyrebird and a Sea Slug. And of course Nicole's famous Flying Piggy.

Nicole Eippers (28)

An envelope showing an impressive animal (and a matching - Europe 2017 - sand castle stamp) arrived from Belgium. Created by Nicole Eippers, and fortunately she added some extra information about this animal inside the envelope.
It is the Squille, in English also named a peacock mantis shrimp, harlequin mantis shrimp, painted mantis shrimp, or clown mantis shrimp (in Dutch a 'bidsprinkhaankreeft', which means literally 'praying mantis lobster')



According to the information, this up to 20 cms large sea animal has eyes which make it possible to watch 360 degrees around, thus he or she is able to see a panorama view.

That will not be the case with the short sighted animal which Nicole also has added to the content of the envelope. It is the Mole, this peticular species being a star-nosed mole:



And there is this picture of the Andrewsarchus, a prehistorical, extinct animal:



On the back of the envelope - which in fact also is the front, as my address was written there, too - you can find Nicole's famous Flying Piggy!



Thank you very much, hartelijk dank, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (27)

Nicole Eippers created an other beautiful collage, showing several special animals: a Sloth, a Mole and of course the Piggy.
They came along with a Butterfly stamp.

And to my surprise this time I could open the paper: it was an envelope.
Inside I found Nicole's wonderful drawing, a contribution to the 'What of whom is she staring at?' mail art project.



And a vintage piece of paper, with lovely drawings and Nicole's famous Flying Piggy stamp:



Thank you very much, hartelijk dank, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (26)

A koalas mother and child, the famous flying Pig and a butterfly stamp. If you look close, you can see also a Human being in the background.

Collage, created and sent by Nicole Eippers from Belgium.

Thank you very much, hartelijk dank, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (25)

The Lyrebird is an amazing ground-dwelling Australian Bird.
This beautiful collage has been created and sent from Belgium by Nicole Eippers.



Along with the famous Flying Pig.
See more mail art by Nicole her 'piggy own mail art' website.

Hartelijk dank, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (24)

Each time I'm receiving mail art from Nicole Eippers I'm happily surprised. Not only her collages are perfect, to my opinion, but also she knows how to surprise me again and again with her animal findings.

This time I received a music making (and flying) Chameleon, with two lizards in the audience.



On the back Nicole's famous Flying Pig.

Thank you very much, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (23)

Nicole Eippers created this wonderful Caterpillars collage. The largest one is the Saddleback Caterpillar, also known as Acharia stimulea. He/she lives in the USA, but sometimes they travel on ornamental plants to Europe. Which does not make us, Europeans, happy, because this Caterpillar has hairs and horns which secrete an irritating and painful venom.

Nicole added an article on the back, about a Belgian family who discovered this weird animal on their recently bought ornamental plant. So be aware!



And see, also Nicole's famous Flying Pig accompanied this great piece of mail art. Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (22)

The Tarsier has been here before, and I've drawn one once, but every time each picture proofs it is an amazing animal. Those eyes...

Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, Nicole, for again a great collage!

Nicole Eippers (21)

This amazing Fish is named 'Labre' in French. I looked it up, and there appeared to be more types of Labres. Finally I ofund out that this Fish' full name is the Labre à tête de mouton in French, or Asian sheepshead wrasse in English, or simply Semicossyphus reticulatus.

The great collage has been created and sent by Nicole Eippers from Belgium.
Dankuwel, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (20)

The Okapi has been one of my favourite animals in my childhood already. So I am happy that Nicole Eippers found one and has sent me this Okapi from Belgium! By the way, the very first time that I saw an Okapi in real, was not so long ago, when I was grown-up for a long time already, in the Zoo of the Belgian city of Antwerp.

Merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (19)

Already as a child I was fascinated by the Axolotl. In the seventies I had a book from the Artis Zoo in Amsterdam, in which there was a black and white picture showing this amazing weird deep water amphibian.
Nicole Eippers sent me a coloured version of axolotls from Belgium, along with two of my other favourites: a Snail and a Mole. And of course her famous Piggy mail art pig.

Hartelijk dank, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (18)

An other couple of real weird animals, collage created and sent by Nicole Eippers.
I was wondering how these two are named - apart from the well-known Pig silhouet and Butterfly stamp. Fortunately Nicole added some information: the one on the left is a Douroucouli, or Night Monkey, the only monkey who has a totally active night life.
And the - here big, but in real smaller than 1.5 mm - fellow on the right is a Tardigrade (literally 'Slow Walker'), also known as Waterbear, both names have been chosen for the way they walk.

Visual food for thought! Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (17)

Nicole Eippers always succeeds in surprising me again and again by her beautiful collage mail art.

This time she found curious leaves who turn out to be butterflies.

She sent an other great piece of mail art, which I'll blog one of the coming days (first have to find out which weird animals are shown there, or at least how they are named in English :-) ).

Check out Nicole's website to see more beautiful collages.
And of course you can send her your piggy mail art.

Dankjewel, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (16)

There are some wonderful collage mail artists, and I think Nicole Eippers definitely is one of them.

Speaking for myself, I've tried to make collages but I think it very hard to create them well. Even though many people think and say 'it's easy'. Well, I think it's not! (That's why I prefer drawing :-) )
And every time Nicole creates a Real Weird Animal to send from Belgium to me, I make a jump of joy when I find her creation in my mailbox. This time I'm lucky to have received a Mole, one of my all time favourite animals. In a very peculiar place, seen from the Mole's point of view!

Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (15)

Nicole Eippers always makes beautiful collages. This time it's a desert lizard, the Thorny dragon (Moloch horridus), who ran into my mailbox. With of course Nicole's famous Pig, and the beautiful Belgian Butterfly stamp.

Nicole is an official Pig collector, so check her incoming mail art and have yourself inspired: I think she'll always appreciate new Piggy mail art!

Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (14)

While we still are waiting for snow and the temperature remains above 0 degree Celsius, Nicole Eippers succeeded to find a real winter landscape. Including animals!
The Mole, a Bat, an unknown Bird. The Belgian Butterfly stamp. And of course.. Nicole's famous Pig.

Hartelijk dank, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (13)

The Crapaud cornu, I couldn't see whether this is the Long-Nosed Horn Frog or the Amazonian Horn Frog, but I'm happy that Nicole added the name, and the two of them are family after all.
As well as the other frogs, which seem, except for the green frog, a bit poisoned to me.
Fortunately the Butterfly has hidden safely inside of the postage stamp.

Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, Nicole, for this new interesting collage!

Websites of Nicole Eippers:
Other mail art by Nicole;
Her pig mail art collection (feel free to send her your piggy mail art, too!);
Received non-piggy mail art;
Noah's Arch mail art;
Calls for mail art (inspiring!).

Nicole Eippers (12)

All mammals on this mail art!
Among them... The mole! One of my favourite weird animals. I am always wondering how a mammal can breath underground. This funny creature succeeds!
Of course the Flying Piggy cannot be missing on the beautiful collages Nicole Eippers creates. The postal service also added a nice cancellation stamp print which completes the composition.

Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (10)

I always am fond of intercultural relationships. See how kindly they are looking at each other, Nicole's famous Pig and the Grootoorspringmuis, aka Long-Eared Jerboa.

Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, Nicole!

Nicole Eippers (9)

This collage of a real weird animal was made and sent by Nicole Eippers from Belgium.
I am happy that Nicole mentioned the name of this funny creature on the back side: otherwise I never would have known that this is a squid, an upside-down swimming Helicocranchia pfefferi aka banded piglet squid! Such a funny looking animal!

An other funny thing is, that this picture makes me think of a Pig. Even of a piggy bank, don't you think so? If you do, create a Piggy piece of mail art and check Nicole's website to know where to send your pigs mail art to!

And note how apt the postage stamp is. While the ladies are doing synchronized swimming (in Dutch we call it 'kunstzwemmen' = 'art swimming'), below them the wonderful underwater world is alive and kicking (and smiling)!

Thank you very much, merci beaucoup Nicole!