The ball is in motion again.The DIY Postcard Swap is on again this year and now I remember why I loved starting a swap last year… It’s just awesome to take part of your enthusiasm and eagerness to jump in with this project. Plus it’s very cool for me to see how many people read my blog from all over the world. Hello Norway, United Kingdom, Sweden, US, Italy, Canada, Germany and so on and so on! I can hardly stop checking my email when at the computer, I just want to look for new sign-ups.
Except for checking my inbox, I’m working on my own batch of do it yourself postcards. There are a lot of fun techniques for making postcards, but the most popular is probably collage in some way. Mix and match papers, add a message or an image and then perhaps sparkle everything with glitter… Personally I’m addicted to sewing in paper so that’s what I’m sitting here doing. Sewing machine humming, lots of thread being used up, my heart sining along in a happy tune.
I wish I could sew on the stamps too, but I don’t think the post office would approve. This is a used stamp on the front of the postcard. I’m using bits and pieces of years of painted papers. I have a whole pile of recycled papers that I’ve painted with acrylic paint, scraped, stamped, spray painted, crayon doodled and patterned in all kinds of different ways. Yum! I love using these papers, it’s a bit like painting but with bits of paper…
Sometimes I cut out little bits of magazine images that is “just colours”, the abstract background part of a photo for example, like the sky or part of a forest. I also love saving patterns from magazine photos, like the wallpaper of a room, or fabric of a sofa.
I won’t reveal too much of my postcards just yet, but I will tell you I’ve already made a few more than ten and I’m still sewing…
Thanks everyone for joining the DIY Postcard Swap. Keep spreading the word via your blogs and twitter! The more the merrier, right?
They’re looking great, Hanna! So much fun and bright, yummy colors packed into each creation! Thanks for sharing your beautiful photos!
okay.
i’m going to cut up some of my clothes.
they will look so GOOD on a card!!
Way back before blogs I hosted a postcard exchange for about 3 years, so not so many people participated. The rules were to make 5 postcards and send them to 5 assigned people. It was great fun and we made many friends and lots of cards were exchanged over time. Your idea of a massive swap sounds like a good way to do it. I know that all who participate will love the process of making and giving… and receiving.
Jo, this is a handmade 10 postcards exchange, though there are over ninety people joining already, can you believe it? Haha, I’m stunned. Please join us if you have the time, you could do your daily collages on a postcard for 10 days, I bet they would be awesome?
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Ah! Don’t you just LOVE sewing paper? What is it?
Wish I could participate this year … so many nice folks out there who read your blog. Have fun!
I love seeing your postcards in progress. I have mine underway, and am having great fun with them. I decided to wait until I’m finished to blog about my process, but I’m taking photos as I move along. There are so many ways to make them, and I finally settled on traditional collage, but I want to try some sewn fabric/paper pieces, too!
Hanna! I can’t wait to see more of these with all of your beautiful art papers and stitching! It is addicting to make sewn cards! I blogged about this a while ago. http://juicy-s.blogspot.com/2010/11/sewn-collage-cards.html. I run a girls’ artisan camp in the summer and had them make a bunch of collages with magazine cutouts, art papers, laces, trims, etc on Tyvek envelope sheets. Then, I stitched the Tyvek in interesting ways, cut the collages up and sewed the pieces onto different shaped note cards and postcards, even book marks. The girls loved the end result of about 5 or 6 cards they could use for birthday wishes or thank you’s
So looking forward to this – love adding sewing to them too. Here’s to poppy postcards !
I guess it’s too much to ask that you make 280 cards so we each can get one in the mail? ;-) I’m enjoying making the cards for the swap very much, so thanks for the initiative!
I am so looking forward to the exchange! Thanks for sharing that wee glimpse of your cards! Can’t wait to see them all!
Caatje, I think I could probably make 280 cards and still enjoy making them, but to buy postage with for ever ruin my economy! Thanks for making me smile! :-)
Bev and all, tanks for your sweet comments! I enjoy seeing your postcards too!