I’ve just listened to the latest CraftyPod podcast show, it’s all about The Art of Letterwriting, something that I am a big fan of. Letter writing is closely related to what I love most about being in the Postcard Swap.

I’ve also shopped in Diane Gilleland’s brand new podcast shop – where you can get CraftyPod Subscriptions. I’ve listened to it for years and years (while it was free) and I enjoy every show. Now that Diane is charging for all her hard work, I bought a whole year of audio goodness and I’m very happy about that. It feels good to support something that I really enjoy. I hope that maybe, this will encourage her to continue writing the free content and food for thought I find on her blog.

If you’ve been reading Diane’s blog, also named CraftyPod, you know she has great discissions going on there about making your crafty business sustainable. She talks a lot about the balance between giving away content for free (like blog posts, tutorials and inspiration) and creating a sustainable living. It was Diane who finally made me sign up with flattr on Pay a blogger Day last year. Diane also has this cool blog series where she each month write about how how she Supported Free during the past month. I think this is something we all should do. This month I supported CraftyPod. Who do you support?

How can independent crafters and artist make a living through sharing their passions? One way is to try to charge for your services and digital products. It’s what I am trying with the DIY Postcard Swap this year, and I am very grateful for each and everyone of you who has signed up so far. You rock!

Oh, and the doodle above is a DaisyYellow doodle, coloured by me. Get your free (!) copy on her blog!

Take care and have a great week!

To participate this year

This year I’m asking participants to pay a small fee of 6.00$ (6 US dollars is about 40 Swedish crowns). This is of course because it takes a lot of time to arrange this. And I need to do things that are sustainable to my life. If you think it’s too much I will understand. You pay via paypal (use your paypal account or pay with your debit or credit card as a PayPal guest), and once you’ve sent the money to my account you will be directed to a sign up-page where I will need your full name, your full postal address including country (!) and of course a working e-mailaddress (if it doesn’t work I can not send you the 10 addresses where you should send your postcards)!

Sign up for the swap closes March 7th 2012 – after that you will receive your swap partner’s addresses. Deadline for sending your handmade postcards is March 12th! Don’t sign up if you don’t have the time to make 10 cards, please!

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 paying the 6 dollar fee via paypal and then filling in your information on the sign in page! Do this before the 10th of March 2011. In the sign up field please state in this order:

• full name,
• postal address,
  including country (!),

2. Make 10 handmade postcards any style, any size but be creative.

And have fun!

Bought postcards are beautiful – but those are not welcome in this swap. Instead try to be artistic with your cards! DIY actually means “Do It Yourself”, and you can experiment with what you’ve got at home. Try collage, 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! I’ve got plenty of inspiration under the tag postcards on my blog

3. Document and share what you make! This one is optional, but rather fun too.

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 (commenting, making extra cards for those who don’t get all of theirs etc). Swapping is about being a part this awesome group of people who loves to swap too! Thanks for visiting other participants, spreading your creativity and leaving encouraging comments etc. Include your email if you want to be contacted/thanked by the receiver (connect with each other!).

Share the love

Tell your friends! I always get my cousin, mom and a few friends to sign up, why don’t you invite yours too? Spread the word; you’re welcome to link here, share this post on FB, creative groups and forums, via twitter (I’m @ihanna) or 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 (above), linking to this very post! Thanks for helping out and spreading the word!

Also I would love it if you joined my newsletter – in that way I can share upcoming iHanna events with you.

Ready to sign up? Here is the button again:

What? You don’t have a paypal.com account? Why on earth not? It’s easy, free and handles payments secure and pain free. Just set one up. Once you have it you can join the swap, and maybe check out my Etsy Shop too? You can also click the button and then choose to pay with your debit or credit card (VISA etc) as a PayPal guest! Easy peasy!

Now, go make some postcards!

PS: In year one we made about 1500 postcards and year two, which was last year, we made 2800 postcards! Maybe a few less will join this year because of the fee, but I know I will be making a whole bunch of new, ready to send handmade postcards very very soon. I love swapping and receiving mail! You?

I will only share your information with the 10 people that will send you postcards. You are not signed up if you don’t include your postal address AND an email address that works. Do not comment with a message saying; “I want to join”. If you don’t hear back from me within two weeks after last sign up date, check your spam folder or contact me again. Thanks.

The Postcard Swap Resources:

Free printable postcard backsides.
DIY Postcard Flickr Pool – share your photos!
Postcard Inspiration Pinterest Board – what inspires me

No, sorry. It’s not really a doodle diary, but it could be. On some pages there is just not much room for anything else. But on most of them, I leave a little room for later writing:

The diary pages are a mix of this and that, but mostly it’s writing. This week some hearts have been growing on the pages, probably because of Valentine’s day.

I hope your Valentine was/is great. Mine was without romance, roses or cards but I’m still content with the day. Yesterday I sent out homemade postcards with lots of reds and hearts, and today I got a sushi ATC in my inbox, swapped with and made by my favorite embroiderer Natalie. Awesome ATC!

The heart doodle grew organically from one corner and out on the page.

Here it’s been snowing all day, and I’ve hung a row of 4 hearts above the television. One made by me last year (knitted fabric and pink sequins), one from mom (for Christmas), one last week from my friend Margot (black with white lace) and one from a conference booth where they showed textiles that change colours with heat. If you have warm hands it changes colour when you touch it.

I hope you’ve had a lovely Valentine’s Day!

The collage “Growing bigger” turned into a painted collage. It’s a bit bigger (20×20 cm = 7.8×7.8″) than I usually work, but still square. I really like it, it reminds me a bit of my flower painting on wood, but this one is simpler and less grungy.

It’s a great day. I’m sorting papers, taking my sewing machine for a spin (it’s been way too long) and I will do some hand sewing in front of a good movie now.

I hope you are well too, and got some creative play into your day…

Something really strange happened in my post box this week. I got several “lost packages” all at once without explanation. I so wonder where they have been all this time?! The above magazine + papers was sent from Belgium by Sophie, and I love everything! Well, who dosen’t love pretty surprises in the mail? The envelope was postal stamped 26th of September last year – and recieved on February 8th! It’s strange, but I feel blessed that it arrived at last, safely.

The magazine is a super cool publication from the Netherlands with awesome layout + goodies. Thank you so much Sophie! Here are some of the pages, let’s swoon together:

Along with all this I finally got the t-shirts I ordered for Christmas, a knitting book I won in November and a special book gift from my friend Anna! I won’t say delayed post is great, but getting it all on the same day sure creates a overstuffed inbox of joy.

** The dutch Flow magazine has inspiring online content too, check it out.

PS: Wanna send and receive some mail bliss of your own? Come back next week to sign up!

About three moves ago I had a white pedestal that I really liked a lot. In that place I only had one window and the pedestal gave me the additional flower space that I wanted. Now I don’t have that pedestal anymore, because I couldn’t take it with me at the time.

I’ve been looking for a another one since I last moved. I found a good sized one at a local flea market. You can see that it has potential at once.

The flower pedestal was unpainted wood when I bought it. So I sanded the varnish down a bit, and then took it out on the lawn to spray paint it.

I had bought both white and pink spray paint, and hesitated between the two… pink furniture really belongs in a nursery you might think. But think again! I sprayed the whole thing pink, very pink!

Look, isn’t it pretty:

With all those bars and edges I did not want to paint it with a regular paint brush. With the spray paint it was super easy to cover the whole thing quickly (even though my fingers became numb for a few days afterwards). The spray can ran out of paint way too quick. I could’ve given it another coat of paint and I might if I ever get the same colour of paint. But for now, I’m happy with it and it makes me smile, just like my pink twinkling lights in the window.

The other day it hit me that I’m actually recreating my girlhood dream room. I had that pink room as a teen, and I totally loved it. Maybe that is what my apartment will look like when I’m finished? Hopefully with a more mature touch but right now… I’m not sure it will. And who cares, as long as everything in here makes me happy?

I hope your surroundings makes you as happy as mine does. And if not, maybe it’s time to bring out the spray paint!?

For more inspiration see my other furniture with a new coat of paint; table, stool and needle holder

My collages are sometimes quite different from each other in look and style, but all of them are iHanna collages. They come from my messy hands and joyfull heart. The above one is rather timely, Valentine coming up and all…

Collage “Rows of age” by iHanna. Available on Etsy.

I love creating patterns with patterned paper that I’ve created myself, like squares sewn together or stripes all layed out beside eachother to create a new whole. Yum, don’t you agree?

Collage “March Owl” by iHanna. Available at Etsy. Sold!

I like to experiment with differen collage elements, and most of the time I grab what’s nearest. But what’s nearest on my table is of course the imagery that I’ve saved, cut out and that I enjoy.

A Swedish Kitty, collage by iHanna. Available on Etsy.

Sometimes papers that I have altered or created from scratch, like the pink kitten who is a drawing from a few years that was photo copied, coloured and then cut out – to finally find a home in this collage A Swedish Kitten. Love when that happens.

With the table and the stool painted turquoise I am more aware of the colour when I see it, especially in my own home. I’ve obviously been drawn to it for several years without taking notice.

The glass bowl, behind the rose patterned candle on my bed side table, was a gift from my brother a few years ago. I think he bought it at a thrift store.

My latest owl is a miniature ceramic piece from my friend Margot. It’s not turquoise, but very cute on the edge of the table:

Also turquoise: my nail polish right now, the inside lining of my black winter jacket and the striped carpet in the living room.

What colours are you focusing on right now?

Since filling the Lamy Safari with black ink it’s become my favorite pen both for writing and doodling. I love how the black ink almost makes puddles on the paper, and pens that aren’t fountain pens feel dry and boring right now.

I don’t sketch or draw (much) but I doodle. I love filling pages with circles that become flowers that stretch toward the sky. I love to mindlessly doodle around the edges of my paper, frame it and to let the pen nib swirl over the page in my Moleskine diary. I could fill a whole journal with these doodles, if only someone would buy me enough ink (and time).

I hope you’ve taken time with your pen collection today?

I’m looking through the drawer where I keep collages. I found a few made during last year that I forgot to scan and show. I’ve compared them to what’s in the category of collage, and I don’t think you’ve seen these colorful lovelies yet? At least I hope not, because I like to show “new” stuff even when it’s old business. ;-)

Collage Hold on and kiss by iHanna. Available on Etsy.

Last year I wrote a few posts where my square collages are shown (2 here, 3 here, 2 here and the gwacka one), but obviously not enough, even though I didn’t do nearly as many collages as I wanted to (or thought I would in the beginning of the year).

Yay girl, collage by iHanna. For sale on Etsy

Today I took the day going through that drawer; scanning, editing and listing 2011 collages on Etsy. I am amazed on how much quicker it is to copy and re-list stuff there now! And while listing these lovely collages on Etsy I also made a new banner/header for the iHanna Etsy Shop! Check it out, and let me know what you think? Isn’t it rather pretty?

Collage Rosy Scale by iHanna. Available on Etsy

Collage, which is something I love to do, was not in focus during 2011. Not sure what was, except working. But the ones I did create I really really like. And most of the ones that I featured and listed were sold for which I am very grateful and happy. Thanks everyone who bought something artsy from my shop! I send you lots of metta!

I was trying to set a focus on the continuum of making collages for 2011 in my goal list last year, but I guess I put in way too much of everything! This year I haven’t even made a list of goals yet, and it’s already February (gasp!). I know a few things I’m pondering – and I will continue with the TAST challenge because I’m enjoying learning a new stitch each week. I hope I can focus a bit on goal making next week. What are your main goal(s) with this year?