Last year I started a diy postcard swap here on my blog and it was wildly popular! Because I have promised to do it this year too here we go again! I hope you feel inspired to join us!
You will create ten postcards and then get 10 back from other swappers. Lots of creativity will swirl around in mailboxes around the world, last year about 1500 postcards was created and sent! This is an international swap, everyone is welcome!
Deadline for sending your 10 handmade postcards is April 8th 2011.
The DIY Postcard Swap Rules
The rules are simple, but please read these rules and follow through on your part if you sign up. You will disappoint a real person if you don’t send your handmade postcards on time.
1. Join the swap by sending me your information by the 18th of March 2011. In the message field of my contact page please state in this order:
- full name,
- postal address including country (!),
- your e-mail address.
Observe: Last sign up day is 18th of March 2011!
The information sent via the contact page / sign up form is sent directly to the swap organizer, iHanna, and is not posted online. Ever. I will only share your information with the 10 people who will send you your postcards.
You are not signed up if you don’t include your postal address AND an email address that works. Do not send a message saying: “I want to join”. If you don’t hear back from me within a weeks after last sign up date, check your spam folder or contact me again. Thanks for your help.
2. Make 10 handmade postcards any style and be creative. Please, no bought postcards, instead try to be artistic with your cards! DIY = Do It Yourself, you know. You can collage, do mixed media, print your own photos, print digital collages, create flat fabric art, alter an existing postcard from your paper stash (!), paint with watercolors or acrylics, draw a mandala, make a scrapbook style card, embellish, sew, paint, embroider, etc!
3. Document and share what you make! Please feel free to scan or take photos and write about your process on your own blog or share it in the postcard flickr pool! You don’t need to have a blog to sign up, nor do you need to share but it would be nice if you took the time to be supportive in our creative community. Swapping is about being a part this awesome group of people who loves to swap too!
Thanks in advance for your support, visiting other participants, spreading creativity and leaving encouraging comments etc.
4. You will get 10 post addresses via e-mail from me in the beginning of April (not later than the 4th of April), please send your postcards as soon as you can but no later than April 8th! Those are your swap partners and you will send your postcards too these creative people. Connect, share and spread creativity into the world – that?s our slogan! They could be international swap partners or from your country (I live in Sweden).
Send your postcards in an envelope for protection or don’t use envelopes (it?s up to you), write a message on the back, add stamps – and put in a mail box! 
The postcards you get back will be from 10 other people! Include an email if you want to be contacted/thanked by the receiver (connect with each other!). There is a standard size to postcards in some countries – but there are no rules on the size in the swap. You are free to create what ever you want!
Share the love
Tell your friends! We need at least 10 people to sign up for this to work, but I know you wanna do it! Spread the word; bookmark it on Delicious or share this post via twitter @ihanna, write about the swap in your next blog post or newsletter or even add one of the swap buttons I?ve designed to your sidebar, linking to this post! Thanks for helping out and spreading the word!
My newsletter
It was my goal to set this swap up early this year, but at least before February ended… I didn’t manage to find the time to do that, but better later than never. Finally this post is up. Yay! Also I would love it if you joined my newsletter too, so I can share upcoming iHanna events with you. Thanks!
Now, go make some postcards!
Hanna,
I did this last year and it was so much fun. So sign me up again.
Kate
Hey Kate! How fun that you want to join again, that must be because I did quite okay as a swap organizer? :-) Glad you signed up again! Yay you! Thanks!
Wow! I?m in.
i signed up! i’m not asking any of my usual friends though, they’re laggers! LOL. thanks for the invite, i’m super excited!!
Enjoyed last year’s…and I’m in.. :)))
Wonderful idea Hannah. Wish I had time to participate… maybe next year. Thanks for your comments on my blog re Adobe.
I just sent you a message & signed up! How fun is this!!!
Yay, Hanna ! I loved this last year. I am so glad you decided to do it again.
Thanks !
I’m excited, Hanna! I’ve been wanting to do a swap or a challenge of some sort, and this will be my first one! I signed up already; thanks for organizing it!
What a great idea! Would love to join!
I’m really happy that you are hosting this swap again Hanna. I love the postcards I received last year.
Hugs
Sophie
This is so fun!! I’m soon ready with my two first cards. WOW!! Hope a lot of people will join in.
It was so much fun last year, so count me in again!
I think I would like to join this one too but just want to check what the deadline would be for mailing them out once I receive the addresses (just making sure I can commit enough time!)
Viv x
Thanks everyone for your enthusiasm! You make this so much fun. Laila, already lots of people have signed up (since I posted yesterday), I’m sure there will be thousands of postcards this year too!
Viv, the deadline for signing up is March 18th. I will get you your addresses before the month ends and let’s say the deadline for getting your mail in a post box will be April 8th. No later than that! That gives you a whole month of creating your postcards. I hope you can sign up! :-)
Hi Hanna! This will be my first time ever doing this type of thing…I’m so excited. I’ve submitted my information and will look forward eagerly to April! Thank you for initiating this!
I loved this last year. Sign me up again.
Looks fun! I just signed up~
This is a great idea… but unfortunately I don’t have the time to do it. :( I’m pretty busy, plus whenever I start art projects I tend to go all out. I might not even finish one postcard in a sitting. I hope next year I have more time to do it!
This sounds like so much fun. I’ve signed up. Time to get the creative juices flowing.
Hanna, I’m in again this year. It’s so much fun to send and receive MAIL ART!
Tammy
I found this blog via another blogger and I just had to tell you how nice your blog is. You are a very creative girl. Lots of inspiration to find here!
=) Tone Misemor
I just signed up. First one for me :)
good luck with the swap Hanna, it’s a great idea!!
I would love to join, Thank you
I missed this post earlier….count me in Hanna…thanks!
I love making postcards and getting them in the mail is great fun too!
I signed up. Also spread the word on my blog as well as putting one of your buttons on the sidebar.
Thanks for hosting this!
I’m post card makin’ CRAZY right now, this swap is perfect for me! I’m buried in scraps and glue, pens and paint and markers, Oh my!
So excited to take part in this swap… I’ve never done postcards before so this should be interesting! :)
So totally loved this last year- Headed out for Dog walk and to start thinking about what this years PostCards will look like.
oooo I had so much fun doing this last year! I wish I could join, but my school work is too much.
Maybe next year? Are you making this annual?!
Thanks for organizing this! I’ve been wanting to do a swap for a while and this will be my first one!
I’m really looking forward to this. Now just have to work out how I will create my postcards! Decisions, decisions…
What a good idea… I usually spend my time sending postcards…
THAT’S SO GREAT !!!! I will take part of it for sure !
xoxox
J.
Love to join! :)
Wonderfull idea!!!
S? spennende. Blir med p? dette.
All signed up and starting to create! Thanks Hanna. It was a fun swap last year and I am looking forward to this exchange. You’re the best! :-)
9 days later than the last post here, but still joining in. I’m very glad I stumbled across this swap. Now I only need to decide the “what” and “which style”. Amazing!
Thank you a lot for organizing things.
I just signed up.
Groetjes, Ina.
I signed up the other day, for the first time. This sound just too fun!
diane
des moines iowa usa
Hi Hanna,
I’d love to join in from Australia, I hope I’m not too late!
Susie
Thanks everyone for signing up! Susie, of course I’m adding you too!
Now the sign-up time is ended though, I will get back to everyone next week. :-)
Oh, how could I miss this and with so close a margin? The postcard swap was so much fun last year! You lucky people! Well all the best!
EWian
p.s. If you find that you need one more just let me know I’ll cook together some cards real quick, if not I’ll just have to pay more attention next year.
Hi, Hanna!
Sent my application for the postcard swap via the contact link/page the other day. Hope I was in time! Checked out the flickr photos…so creative! If nothing else, can’t wait to see everyone’s photos from this year’s swap…
Angi
Hello Hanna and fellow Postcard Swappers! Not only is this my first swap, but it’s also the first time in a long, long time that I’ve made a commitment to be creative AND to create with a deadline! Getting started wasn’t easy and I’m learning as I go, but I have been having lots of fun. Thank you to Hanna and all of last year’s participants who shared their 2010 swap experiences on their blogs. You have all inspired me. I’m so excited to see all of your wonderful creations.
I hope I made it in time! I think I sent it by midnight your time, but daylights savings trips me up a bit. Cheers!
Erin, no problems, no worries! I added everyone who entered on the 19th too, it’s just that when I’ve made the lists it’s too complicated to change everything, but I haven’t sent out emails to everyone yet. It takes a while to get through 280 emails… Who knew?! ;-)
awww I just found this, right after posting about another postcard swap I joined. Next time!
I’m sooo furious with myself that I missed the sign-up date.
I had enormous fun last year (and so did my mailman astonished by frequent cards from all over the world :) ) and I’m really disappointed that I didn’t make it this time……. :(
Wish I would have found this earlier…maybe next year!!
I lost my list of the folks I am to send cards to! I was having computer problems and someone deleted all.
Do you still have the list?
Tack så mycket!
Damit!! I am gutted I missed it!
Hello Hanna! I had a GREAT time participating in the swap this year!!! Just thought I’d share with you what I made.
Thanks so much for continuing to inspire and spread good cheer throughout the world! Cheers!
-Dori, Dreaming Bear
This was my first year participating in this postcard swap. So much fun!!!
Thank you for coordinating this – awesome job! – and I look forward joining in the fun again next year.
Thanks everyone! Dori, I’ve added your link to the growing link list of people who has shared something of postcards or postcard process on their blog to my post Sharing the Postcarding Joy, please visit some of your fellow creative swappers and leave some comments if you have the time! :-)
I am sorry I missed this. Sounds like lots of fun. I Enjoy your blog.
Linda
So sorry I missed this, it sounds like a blast! I hope you do it again later in the year!!!
oww, such a great idea! <3 I'm in love with Mail Art! If you do this next year, please let me know, I'll share it on my blog, so we could make the event bigger & bigger.
So sad about the missed sign-up date,
Anna.
i wish… i really wish i could join this extraordinary snail mailing of postcards… LIFE became a bore when the computer era invaded our home and places of solace. Please include me in our lists. In my 4 decade of existence i have never outgrown my love for papers, letters, cards, stickers, pens and everything delightful and pleasant to the soul. I almost given up though when i would write to friends and get nothing not even a thank you but maybe their lives changed and they don’t have time to write and doodle. More love and arts :) thanks you for this great great art! :)
i hope they would re-create pen pals with a twists of hanna’s idea… :) ..but I missed it too….sniff sniff :)
P.S. my ever first time to post a comment as in first time… :)
Thanks Marge, for leaving your very first ever comment on a blog and for letting it be mine! :-) I’m sure there are letter swaps you could join too, if you want real letters… or else you’ll just have to wait until the next time I host the postcard swap.
Thanks for commenting and take care!