To some of you I know that the thought of making 10 postcards can be overwhelming, but if you give it time its very doable. You start with a background, painting it or finding it (cutting out a pretty paper or magazine images) and then you go from there and let the process “just happen”. And for me, after a few years of finding new ways to make postcards each time, I love this process!
I always make a few Extra postcards when I sit down to create the 10 postcards for the DIY Postcard Swap that I host. At first it just happened, but now I think of it as my own, fun tradition. Making 10 postcards always puts me in a creative mindset anyway, you know the way you get into things and almost can’t stop? You just want to keep going and skip lunch… It’s my favorite feeling, so I don’t mind staying with it if I can.
I create “extras” for two, maybe three reasons. Or wait, I can come up with several great reasons to create a few extras when I think about it!
I make extras because
- I already mentioned the most obvious one: I can’t stop at “just 10”!
- I want to save one of each postcard series (I create all my postcards in a series of similar but not alike cards), to keep in my postcard binder. I like keeping it together with the postcards I receive. It’s a good, tangible way to remember what I did, more fun than just saving digital copies of the scanned postcards on the computer, right?
- It makes it easier to part with the others that I have to send away
- If I mess one up I can always toss it and still not have to start all over again (this almost happened to me this year because some of my postcards got glued together when I flattened them under a book!)
- If I make more than one extra I can send those postcards to my friends and/or family! Because it’s fun to send surprise mail sometimes, isn’t it?
Here are the rest of my extras this year:
Which one is your favorite – and why? Let me know in the comments if you have the time. :-)
You can see how these postcards and my 10 other Word Poetry Postcards were made in my postcard video – and also check out what others in the swap made in the link-up post – lots of new links all the time!
These are awesome!
I like them all, but the last one “She flew away to play” is my favorite. The color, the design and the sentiment all speak to me.
They’re all delightful, but I too like the “she flew away to play” the best. I like the color combinations, the flower shape and the use of both circles and color blocks. Well done!
Beautiful!
The summer sky and silver stars one is especially beautiful in my opinion! So vibrant and full of personality–they all are!
I like “never seen except in dreams” because I like polka dots and the pink/orange combo. All of them are beauties.
I like the first poem — “never seen except in dreams.” For color and design, I like the big black O amidst the pink — I think because there’s a focal point that draws my eye.
OMG I’m in love with the bottom one! I have a giant crush on all things pink and grey at the moment!
I like them all but the first one is my favourite – I love the greens!
i have said this already – but i lovelovelove this series! i love the simplicity, the patterns, the color palette… basically, everything.
Aww, thanks everyone!
Ingrid, you should join the swap next time, I bet you’d make seriously beautiful postcards too!
They are lovely, and I can’t choose my favorite. It’s like when you go to the eye doctor and you’re trying to figure out which lens you can see better out of- A or B? I’m no good at that either. I do love the sentiment “she flew away to play.”
Now I have a little story for you. I got my last postcard today, which made me sad. I have a legitimate reason to be sad lately. My husband, who is 60, had a stroke on April 30th and died May 1st. No previous health issues, he just had a blood vessel burst in his brain and that was that. His stroke occurred in his brain stem, which the neurosurgeon told me was the worst area of the brain to have a stroke in, because that area controls all of your body systems, like heart, lungs, and temperature control. It was devastating to me and my family to lose someone we loved, having it happen in such an abrupt way only made it worse.
Why am I telling you this? This is the part where you come in. In April, I couldn’t decide whether to sign up for the postcard swap or not. My life was too busy. In the end, I decided to go for it. I didn’t start my postcards until the latter part of April, and they weren’t done when he died. I had painted the backgrounds, but I still needed to rubber stamp and embellish them. I had a million things to do, none of which I wanted to, except for finishing my postcards. I planned my husband’s funeral, wrote his eulogy, got through the most horrible week of my life, and the thing that saved me was that I had postcards to finish. I woke up early a few mornings and got out my postcards and finished nine of them. I needed to do one more, so I ended up making nine more, because of the size of the watercolor paper I started with. I was so late in mailing them out, and I thought about telling the people who I sent them to why they were so late, but in the end, I didn’t. I didn’t want them to associate feeling sad with the postcard I sent them, because they brought me such joy while I was making them. They provided me with an escape from a horrible time in my life, and taught me a huge lesson: Art Saves. Art is going to be my salvation and my respite and I thank God that I chose to participate in your postcards swap when I did. If I can, I think I will participate in ALL of your postcard swaps from now on. I know I’m going to keep making art. Thank you for the nudge in the right direction.
P.S. I can’t wait until the next swap! Next time, I’ll be ready ahead of time.
Thanks for sharing your story with me Kim, it means a lot to me. I am so sorry to hear that your husband died and so suddenly you didn’t have time to say good bye. It makes me sad and I am sending lots of good thoughts your way, hoping that you will keep creating and letting what you make take you through this difficult time. I too, know the healing effect art can have if you let it be part of your life even when you’re low on energy and inspiration.
Take care and thanks for e-mailing me too! I read all comments on the blog, but was too busy this weekend (away from the computer) to answer straight away.
Take care!
I had so much fun in the swap that I can’t wait for the next one!
I would love to send you one if you would like email me!
Thanks Meghan, I don’t need extras through.
I’m having a hard time sending out thank yous for the ones I’ve already gotten (in a timely fashion)! But I’ll let you know if someone else got too few postcards, if that’s okay? Unfortunately, sometimes a card gets lost, or maybe never sent…