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.

Christmas Cards Swap Bot

Option One for Outer card

This year, I signed up for several swap-bot Christmas card exchanges. I continued a tradition that started several years ago. I purchase holiday cards without a sentiment inside the card. I print out my own greeting and then use it as an insert inside the blank card. I tie the insert with holiday butcher's string to attach it to the card. I have always been concerned with the lack of recycling of holiday cards. While some of my crafty friends will find some way to re-purpose the card, many people will just throw them away or, if  I'm lucky, recycle them.

By using this insert method, the recipient can then re-use the card the following year by removing the insert and putting the card in a standard A2 envelope.  This year, there were two options for the outer card--an ornament or a Noel card.

Added insert

As an added bonus, I also include a small card and envelope from Papyrus. My rationale is this--if I am allowed one ounce to use for a Forever postage stamp, why not send one ounce of material. With the added card and envelope, I was still well under the one ounce limit. There were also two options for the additional card--a Christmas tree made of stars or a snowflake.

Option One for added card

Option Two for outer card

Option Two for added card

Two notes:
One--when tying the insert to the outer card, you have the option of having the bow on the outside or inside of the card. While I prefer to have the bow on the outside of the card, because I was mailing these card, I wanted to make sure that the knot and bow wouldn't interfere with the sorting machine that the post office uses. The added bulk of having the know on the outside of the card can add additional bulk that might get snagged in the machine.

Two--because many people sign up for multiple Christmas card swaps, there are chances that you will get a repeated swap partner. This is the main reason why there were two options for each choice of outer and additional card. In the past, I had one partner get incensed that I had the gall to send a duplicate card to her during a Christmas swap.

Conundrum Solution

Yesterday, I posted about a problem I was having on sending out Christmas cards on Swap-bot. I wanted to send out a card with a surprise for the recipient. I also wanted the envelope to be special as well. I wanted to use a wax seal to seal the flap but it would incur an additional 21 cent special handling surcharge.

I decided to decorate the front of the envelope with vintage/old postage stamps that would total the 49 cents needed. The parcel weighs in at .8 ounces so I am well within the 1 ounce limit for the 49 cent stamp (it is important to give yourself some leeway. My scale weighs differently than the two post office scales that I frequent. If you are ever just at the weight limit, add the additional postage).

For the flap side of the envelope, I decided to use used worldwide Christmas stamps as seals. I got the idea from the Christmas/Easter Seals programs of the American Lung Association. For the history of the program, you can read/donate here.

I think this is a very satisfactory solution to the problem and it lets me thin out my stamp collection. I will be using the wax seal for the mailings to my family and friends.

Week of Swaps--Day 4

Today's swap was a homemade postcard swap. Since I post about coloring often, people always send me coloring sheets like the above. I have hundreds of them. Unfortunately, many of them are patterns that I don't care to color. For coloring, I tend to gravitate to larger open areas that I can work on technique or amend with my own doodling. I am always looking to find something to do with these coloring sheets.

The first step is to design the color palette. I used three yellow/orange shades for the random teardrops/dots.

I used four green/blue shades for the smaller amoeba shapes. For the larger  amoeba shapes, I used a reds, greens, blues, and purples. I used five shades of each color to complete each palette. Granted I could have stopped here, made one postcard and have been done.

Color palettes completed

I chose to continue using the same color palettes but reversing darks and lights. Once the top half was completed, I could have stopped which would have provided several options for a single card.

Top half completed

I continued to fill the entire sheet. The goal was to make two separate postcards.

Full page complete

I then ran my postcard watercolor stock through the Xyron machine and mounted the cards to the coloring sheet using a light box to get the best placement possible.

Two postcards

Postcard front and back

All I need to do is clean up this mess of a desk. As you can see, I keep notes for reference during the project. I also keep all of the markers out and available until the project is completed. After getting to the end of the full page coloring, I realized that I had forgotten to color a single teardrop shape. I had the gold yellow marker still available. If I had to search for it, I would have taken a few more minutes to locate it. This is the main reason why I always keep a project reference sheet. Could you image trying to find the exact color that was used if I hadn't kept notes?

Time to mail out some postcards.

Week of Swaps--Day 3

Bunny Postcard

This swap was for two handmade postcards to a single exchange partner. I really like using postcard blanks because they are guaranteed to be an appropriate thickness to send through the mail. My partner like bunnies and coloring.

For the postcard above, I simply ran the postcard through my Xyron machine and then applied the card to this cute Japanese paper. I rounded the corners of the paper to match the postcard blank.

For the second card, I took one of my smaller stencils and used a extra fine tip Sharpie to trace the pattern onto the front of the card . Since my swap partner likes to color, I left it as is so she could provide the color and send it out to someone (should she choose to).

A quick and easy swap.

Week of Swaps--Day 1

Japanese setting sun

This week, I wanted to share with you some of the swaps that I have completed on swap-bot. The first was a postcard challenge. The theme was "put a map on it. " My swap partner has an aversion to anything purple so I had to get creative.

My partner likes blues and greens though. I knew that I wanted to do something with some scraps of Japanese paper that I had laying around. First I used my stencil that simulates the Japanese setting sun. I used alcohol inks to provide color. The layout worked in reverse than I wanted. Rather than start over, I simply decided to reconsider.

To simulate the sun, I decided to use my paper scraps to represent the sun's rays. I chose three coordinating papers and used the stencil to cut out the rays.

Sun's rays

I wasn't quite happy with the half-round shape that I achieved. I took a red crane piece of scrap paper and used a hole punch to punch a circle. I pasted it in place and trimmed so it was flush with the card.

Much better

The upward flying crane is a symbol of good luck and it seemed appropriate.

I still needed to add a map so I took the circle punch and added the two maps to fulfill the theme of the swap. One was in black and white and I was sure to use a non-purple section of the Tokyo Metro map. I added three other images from a free guide booklet to complete the front.

Getting there

I had picked out some postage stamps to use but I just couldn't figure out where to put them. The front of the card still needed something so I dug through my stash of decorative papers and found this metallic speckled mulberry paper. It is a see through paper normally used as an overlay in Japanese gift wrapping. The gold and silver flakes are supposed to be good luck for the recipient. I ran the card through the Xyron machine and placed the paper on top of the card. Unfortunately, you only get one chance to get this right. There was a lot of deep breathing during this stage.

Finished card front

Mulberry paper detail

It then came time to concentrate on the back of the card. I had the perfect stencil to use--a koi stencil. I used my alcohol inks to create the koi. Remembering that my partner liked blues and yellows, I used those colors to fill in the background. My partner also collects used postage stamps so I added some Japanese stamps from my collection. I used the US-Japanese Cherry Blossom Forever stamp to apply postage (since the card is oversized, it requires first class postage).

Finished card back

I hope my swap partner likes the card. It is on its way to Belgium.