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

This postcard is going to Romania. She specifically wanted a touristy card and a standard size. I have always loved this card because of the blue colors that are used.

For decorations, I used the 1939 released New York World's Fair stamp and 1997 Statue of Liberty stamp. This particular version of the Statue of Liberty stamp is one of my favorites because of the background colors used.

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.

Outgoing Postcards

Today's postcard was sent to the Ukraine. The person did not have a filled out profile so there were no particular requests for stamps or style of postcard. When this happens, I will always send a touristy style New York City postcard.

Since the recipient didn't specifically state that she collected stamps, I used the generic Global Forever stamp which is currently valued at $1.15 which is the cost for sending out a less than 1 oz piece of mail (whether a postcard or envelope).

The Statue of Liberty Air Mail stamp was issued in 1961. I like it because it features my favorite color--orange. The Ely's #10 Locomotive Stamp was issued in 1994 and commemorates the beginning of the modern locomotive. The third stamp is the Korean War Veteran's Memorial stamp and was issued in 2003.

Outgoing Postcards

This is another New York City postcard that is being sent to Taiwan. The person likes touristy postcards and Disney. I like this particular photo because it is a great evening view of New York City. 

The three decorative stamps include the New York Statehood stamp that was issued in 1988, the New York Public Library Lion stamp issued in 2003 and the 1962 Dag Hammarskjold stamp. According to Wikipedia, Dag Hammarskjold was a Swedish diplomat, economist and author who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 1961.

For postage, I used one of the current forever stamps from the Disney Villains collection.

This is what usually happens when I prepare these postcards. I get so excited in finding a theme, used postage stamps for decoration and the perfect current postage that I forget to take a picture. Here, I caught myself before getting to far.

Outgoing Postcards

This postcard is going to someone in New Zealand. She collects State map postcards from the United States and likes to observe ethnic celebrations. I chose to decorate the postcard with three different Statue of Liberty used stamps. For the postage, I used the Hispanic Food stamp series celebrating empanadas.

Outgoing Postcards

Front

This is another postcard sent out this week. This is for a cat lover in Pennsylvania.

Back

The postage for this swap are two of the four stamps in the cats series issued in 1988. The cancelled stamps are from Switzerland (issued in 1990) and Great Britain (issued in 1995).

So definitely a cat lover's postcard.

Outgoing Postcards

Front

I put so much effort in sending out my postcards that I decided to share them with you. I always try and find the right card and the right postage stamps to send. I am so proud to live in New York City and The United States of America that I try and show my pride in the postcards that I send out--especially to foreign pen pals/postcrossers/swap-bot swappers.

The problem is that I so often get so excited to send out the perfect postcard that I forget to take pictures before either addressing the card or writing on it. So now, I make a concerted effort to slow down and take pictures before the point of no return.

This is a postcard that is being sent to someone from Germany. She likes city postcards that show buildings or monuments. I have a lot of Statue of Liberty cards so I often send these out when the person has no specific request.

As you know, I collect postcards, postage stamps and used postage stamps. I always try to find creative postage stamps to cover the cost of sending the postcard. On many occasions, I will spend excess postage just to provide a variety of stamps or a stamp theme. For this international address, I only needed $1.15 and I ended up spending $1.16 which isn't bad. The postage stamps are two different Forever flag stamps and a 1981 Battle for Virginia Capes Stamp.

If I am sending a postcard internationally or sending a postcard to stamp collector/enthusiast, I will often decorate the card with cancelled/used postage stamps. The three stamps here highlight NYC. The top stamp is a 1964 World's Fair Stamp. The second stamp is a 1953 300th Anniversary of NYC Stamp. The third stamps is a 1947 NYC Skyline Stamp.

So--this is totally a NYC postcard.

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 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.

Studio and Craft Hacks--Day 1

My stamp box(es)

This week's theme on the blog will be everyday hacks that you can use in your studio or craft room. These are out-of-the-box uses for everyday day items or repurposing items for uses they weren't necessarily intended.

If you have been following along, you know that I collect stamps. I have a wide variety of them and I always had difficulty in deciding how to organize them for when I need to use them for craft purposes. I don't collect stamps for monetary purposes. Because I use them for crafting, I decided to organize primarily by color and some themes which I have purposefully purchased from curators. Themes include: Christmas, Love, Birds, NYC, etc.

In order to find the stamps that I want quickly, I purchases a photo box organizer. The box holds 16 individual 5" by 7" boxes in slots. For me, individual boxes hold a separate color. Some of the themes have their own box.

Brown stamps

I usually buy stamps in bulk and it makes it so much easier to sort when you know where they are going and how they are going to be organized. The first step is to sort out the stamps based on color. As I am sorting, if I notice that a stamp will fit in one of the theme categories and set it aside.

Beginning Sorting

Sorted by color

Once the color sorting is finished, I then move to sorting by theme.

Many times, there are still stamps that have no place to go. All of these stamps go into stamp holding pages that fit in a three ring binder. I sort them into three categories: animals, people and general. These stamp sheets are divided into rows and each row has a sheet of acetate to cover the stamps. The bottom of the acetate is affixed to the page and the top of the sheet is open so it is easy to place, and remove, the stamps. These sheets are an easy way to see the stamps quickly.

When I need a stamp for crafting purposes, I usually go to the binder at first so see if there is something I can use. If not, then I will go to the stamp storage boxes depending on theme or color.

Sometimes, I buy storage items because they are on sale, I have an expiring coupon, or I need some retail therapy. I don't always know how I am going to use the item. The photo case is a perfect example of this. I am always looking to organize my craft room. I didn't know exactly how I was going to use it and initially thought that I might use it for paper ephemera but this worked out perfectly for me. I might go back for another one or two to have on hand.

Postage Stamp Collecting

Today, I wanted to share with you another collection of mine. I have always been infatuated with postage stamps ever since I was young. A friend of my mother was an avid stamp collector. He had albums upon albums of postage stamps. He used to collect international postage. He was rabid in his pursuit of collecting and even gave me my first album when I was in high school.

I like the idea of collecting postage stamps but didn't have the required patience or the dedication to keep them in the order required of a proper album. As a matter of fact, he took my album and stamps away from me since he said I couldn't do the stamps "justice."

I like postage stamps as artwork instead. I didn't care if they were important or expensive but instead I cared about the artistic aspect of the stamps. I used to glue stamps into my diaries as I was growing up so I like that way of preserving them rather than putting them in books to be stored away.

I still enjoy collecting them but now I enjoying just collecting from mail. I still buy in bulk but I more enjoy actually receiving mail and taking the stamps from their paper backing. The solution I use preserves the glue on the stamp so I have to place them on wax paper until I need to use them.

What most people don't realize is that postage stamps in the United States can be used again if they have not been cancelled (where the face of the stamp has been defaced). I never figured out why some stamps get cancelled and some do not. But if the stamp is not defaced you can use it again. With the advent of the Forever stamp in the United States the current value is 49 cents. So two Forever stamps is approximately $1. With as much mail I send, these free stamps add up. Most of my swap-bot postage is sent free of charge.

Tomorrow, I will be participating in the 30 Day Coloring Challenge hosted by Kathy. Therefore, the majority of my future posts for September will be dedicated to this challenge but I will be posting additional material on several days.

Another NYC Postcard

This was another postcard swap. This is the last piece of the vintage subway map that I had in my supplies. I have always loved the Guggenheim so I decided to do a cut out and put it on the front of the card. I was lucky to have an Andrew Lloyd Wright used postage stamp that had the Guggenheim in the background (top left postage stamp). I continued to fill the page with NYC postage stamps.

For the reverse side, I used a different NYC stencil that had NYC locations in print. I added color to the postcard with alcohol inks. I used the same wax seal from yesterday to divide the salutation section from the address section of the postcard.