Outgoing Postcards

This card went out to someone in Japan that loved NYC. I was very happy to accommodate.

These are two of my favorite NYC used postage stamps.


This card was for a lighthouse postcard swap. The person lives in South Carolina and also loves birds.

I have the entire collection of the lighthouse postage stamp series. The Audobon Columbia Jays stamp is one of my favorites and was issued in 1967.

Outgoing Postcards

Year of the Dog Postcard Swap. This series raises money to offset the costs of shelter dog adoptions. Each card features a dog needing adoption.

I love the Chinese Zodiac stamps. This one is from 1994.

This card is going to a space lover in Russia. This is from a series based on NASA photos.

I love the Space Race stamps of the 60s and 70s.

Outgoing Postcards

This postcard is going to a Japan and Kawaii Lover. This is one of my favorite views of Mt. Fuji.

Japan always has the cutest postage stamps. I never get tired of looking at them.

This is for another Japan Lover. The theme of the card was J is for . . .


The used postage stamps were typically Japanese.

The original program that was using to upload photos needed to be updated and stopped working on my iPad. I found another program that would allow me to upload pictures from my cell phone. As soon as I paid for the new app, the original was updated after a three month hiatis.

Glad to be back to blogging.

Outgoing Postcards

This is a postcard for a swap called Q is for . . . The card is going to a space and sci fi lover in Arizona. This is a card from a series of postcards based on NASA photos and shows Stephan's Quintet (a group of five galaxies) so it qualifies as the Q of the swap.

Having grown up in the 60s during the height of the Red Scare and the US vs USSR race to the moon, I have always been intrigued by postage stamps depicting space, space travel and science fiction. The two decorative stamps show space exploration through the eyes of USSR and Hungary . The CCCP stamp was issued in 1961 and the Hungary stamp was issued in 1963.

Outgoing Postcards

Today's postcard is part of a swap called "Year of the Dog" where we are supposed to send our partner a postcard with an image of a dog.  This card is from a set of dog postcards that raises money for pet adoptions from no-kill shelters. The money from the sale of these postcards goes to offset the care and adoption of these dogs.

For the postage, I used a 1994  Year of the Dog postage stamp and the new strawberry 3 cent stamp for the make up postage. I also provided two used dog postage stamps: a 1991 stamp from Malagasy Republica (now Madagascar) and a 1979 stamp from Great Britain.

Outgoing Postcards

Today's postcard was part of the a swap called "L is for . . ." My swap partner didn't list anything in her profile regarding anything starting with L. I was going to take the easy route and send a Lion postcard but that seemed too simple. Since she lives in Florida, I thought that I would send a lighthouse postcard and postage stamp.

She did list in her profile that she liked birds so I added two used postage stamps featuring birds--one from Australia and the 1963 Audubon stamp from the U.S.

Outgoing Postcards

Today's postcard is for someone in New Mexico who loves tourist cards and kawaii. Since she loves kawaii, I decided to send her a postcard highlighting Tokyo. The postage for this card is the Cherry Blossom Friendship Forever Stamp. This stamp commemorates the gift of the 3000 Japanese Cherry Blossom Trees to Washington D.C. as a sign of friendship between the two countries. The trees were a gift to President Taft in 1912. In return, the United States sent flowering dogwood trees.

The decorative stamps are from my collection.

Outgoing Postcards

I seem to have come across of a lot of cat lovers in my postcard exchanges. This one lives in Alaska. The above postcard is from a series of Japanese postcards. The Japanese people love cats (and all animals) so I was glad to come across this series.

To go along with the cat theme, I included postage with cats. The new postcard rates went into effect today. Standard postcards are now 35 cents. First class 1 oz postage (non-traditional sized postcards) increased to 50 cents (new forever postage stamp price). International 1 oz postage remains the same at $1.15 (forever global stamp price).

I included two Japanese cat stamps for decoration.

Outgoing Postcards

This postcard was for a postcard exchange called K is for . . .

The recipient's name was Karen so I was going to be slick and send her a postcard with the letter K and be done with it but then I rethought the situation. She collects State Map cards like the one above so I decided to send her K is for Kansas.

The postage was a different situation. I struggled with what to use until I looked at the card and realized that the State Flower of Kansas was the sunflower. I knew I had a book of the sunflower stamps so I used it for postage. I only needed 34 cents but went with a 42 cent stamp because it fit the theme.

I then looked in my stash of "flower used stamps" and found the two stamps below: one from Maldives (issued in 1975) and one from Germany (issued in 1964).

One of the benefits of collecting stamps is finding the history of the stamps. But also, I have learned so much more about geography by collecting and researching stamps. I never would have know about the Republic of Maldives, let alone its location. What I did find out is that the stamp that I thought was a sunflower was in essence a stamp celebrating marine flora (in this case, coral).

Outgoing Postcards

This was a fun card to put together. The card is going to a Space lover in Staten Island, NY. This is someone who has received postcards from me before so I wanted to do something special for her. She loves Star Wars (especially the latter episodes) so I decided to send her a Star Wars illustration postcard (unfortunately, it is from the original episodes). The size is a panorama sized postcard (4 inches by 9 inches). It only requires a single Forever Stamp if mailed within the US.

For the decorative stamps, I used: a 1965 Russian Space Stamp; a First Man on the Moon Stamp issued in the US in 1969; and a 1993 Fantasy Space Ship Stamp.

For the postage, I used a Modern Age Wonder Woman stamp.

Day 7--30 Day Coloring Challenge

Today's coloring challenge is a handmade postcard for a swap title "Love." Both sides were filled with color using my alcohol inks. For the front, I decorated the hearts with Sharpie markers. The back of the card included some Love postage stamps.

You Ain't Been Blue . . . No, No, No.

Today, I am sending out a little bit of my soul in the mail. I have mixed blessings today because I am finally sending out my Gocco Postcards for the postcard swap. After obsessing about the project for a little while now, I am going to miss this project. Of course, there is the anxiety (shared by several people I have found out) associated with a project like this but I am happy to say that I am glad to be able to move on.

I am designing my holiday cards right now and this will be the first year that I will offer Gocco cards. I have several people that have already ordered cards that I have designed but now I will be opening up to a different clientele by offering screen printed cards. I am afraid that this will totally send me over the top this year. Last year, I sold over 300 cards (which included several multiples).

I already have orders for 175 cards (including 3 orders of 25, and 2 orders 35). This does not even include the cards that I have to send out myself. I am hoping that I can speed up the process by selling Gocco printed cards because they are so much easier to mass produce but we will see what happens.

I can’t believe that it is almost October and I am already behind for the holiday season and I need to start designing Valentine’s Day cards in November! YIKES.

Oh What a Day

Yesterday was a most productive day. I finished two projects: a new card for David and my Gocco Postcard Swap. In addition to my projects, I managed to clean up my workspace (a little bit), and listen/watch the Mets lose (AGAIN).

I am mainly happy that I finished my postcards for the Gocco Postcard Swap. All that I have to do is wrap them up and send them in and I can wait for my surprise package with all of the return cards—it will almost be like an early Christmas present.

I do have to say that I am fairly pleased with the project although I don’t think that everyone will get the humor. The backgrounds were printed with the text of the words “dusty” and “rose” in burgundy ink. Once these were dry, I overprinted with a rose graphic in white. I thought about using pink ink but I was afraid that it wouldn’t be translucent enough to read the underlying text—plus, the white ink makes it look “dusty.”

(Step Three on the left; Final Product on the right)

Steps One to Four

I don’t know what I was thinking. I have finally completed the backgrounds for my Postcard Swap. I have been rubbing ink for so many days I have built up a callus on my thumb. My fingers are permanently tattooed with four colors of ink and now I leave a rose colored fingerprint on everything that I touch. ( The two color wash on the left; The four color wash on the right--finished background.)

The interesting aspect of the backgrounds is that each one is different. So, I will have 58 unique postcards to swap. Everyone will have two individual pieces of art. The funny aspect of it all is that each card was affected by the two biggest influences of this past week and weekend: Hurricane Ike and the Mets.

I was anxiously waiting for news from Hurricane Ike because I have family and friends in Houston, Texas (where I grew up and went to school). There seems to be some inadvertent eye of the hurricane swirls on the cards. Actually, I like the juxtaposition of curves and linear forms. Secondly, the Mets have lost their lead in the Eastern division by having a mini-meltdown in September (just like they did last year). So on some cards, there seems to be a more aggressive vibe.

This week I will begin the gocco printing and we will see what happens.

Dusty Rose

I have always been intrigued with the color and term “Dusty Rose.” My mom loved the color and she had a rose patterned china that she called “dusty rose” which I believe was actually called “Desert Rose.”

Where do these names come from? Someone out there is sitting on their duff and tossing out obscenely trite names as they look at paint chips? Oh, that’s cinnamon toast. That is persimmon delight (which reminds me of Turkish delight from The Narnia series of books). This simply is Bohemian Blue.

So, for my postcard swap entry I decide to do an homage to Dusty Rose. The background of the card is a pigment ink wash in four colors that is applied with a cosmetic sponge. On top, there will be dictionary text gocco-ed in maroon ink. This will then be overstamped with a rose image (either in pink or white).

Postcard Swap

I have signed up for a postcard swap through one of my Gocco groups and I am a little apprehensive about the whole situation. Usually, I have done my own thing as an expression of my creativity. Ever since I opened up my own online store, I have had to think differently in terms of creating for the approval of others. What scares me is that now, with the postcard swap, is that I will be compared to the products that everyone else produces.

For those who don’t know, the way the system works is that you create a postcard and make copies for everyone that is participating. After all of the participants are finished by a pre-determined date, everyone swaps their products. In this case, there are 29 participants and everyone is making 58 postcards so that we can have two sets of each product—one to keep and one to send away if you so choose.

Not only will we be judged by the participants in the swap but also by the potential recipients of the postcards. What happens if no one likes my idea? What if people devalue my postcard in comparison to others? What if they return them and say—do it again, it doesn’t meet the artistic standards of everyone else?

I just don’t want to feel like the last person who gets chosen during gym class.