The DIY Postcard Swap
Sign Up | Dates & deadline | Rules | Benefits | Share the joy | Resources | Inspiration | FAQ | Newsletter
iHanna’s DIY Postcard Swap
Would you like to send out some happy mail?
I love getting surprises in my mailbox – maybe you do too? Then this is the swap for you.
I created the DIY Postcard Swap because I love mail art, mixed media, handmade postcards and sharing creativity!
The swap has grown to be a beloved feature of my blog, and many participate year after year. I open the international postcard swap up twice a year; once in spring and once again in late autumn. You can always subscribe to the Studio iHanna Newsletter if you want to be in the loop.
If you’re new here please read through this entire page before you sign up and commit.
In this swap, you get to create something beautiful, spread the joy of creativity, and connect with people from all around the globe. Win win, right?
iHanna
The DIY Postcard Swap is currently closed. Sign up for iHanna’s Newsletter to be notified when the next one starts up in 2025.
Fall 2024 Swap
- After you’ve signed up I’d appreciate very much if you note the deadline (date of when the postcards should be ready to send) so you don’t forget
- Have your ten handmade postcards ready to send out by the deadline date. A few days or so before that date you will receive your addresses via email from me personally – a time consuming task so be patient. And if you don’t see your addresses by the deadline you need to contact me so we can sort it out (after checking the spam folder).
- Please make sure you read through the rules below and understand them before you sign up. I so appreciate your help with making this experience enjoyable for all of us. Thank you!
- Please make sure you have added my e-mail address to your digital address-book too. It’s hanna (at) ihanna . nu
- If you have any further questions after reading this page, check the FAQ – linked in menu above.
Dates and deadline for Fall 2024 – closed
Please note: The rules and guidelines are simple, but please read through this entire page, especially if this is the first time participating, and check the FAQ linked above if you’ve got questions. Thank you.
| Sign up by (last day to sign up / join) is | Nov 10, 2024 |
| Deadline (the Date when your Postcards Should be ready to send out) | Nov 17, 2024 |
The DIY Postcard Swap is currently closed. Sign up for iHanna’s Newsletter to be notified when the next one starts up in 2025.
The DIY Postcard Swap Rules
The rules are simple, but please read through these rules below, especially if this is the first time participating.
It is very important that you follow through on your part. You will disappoint a lot of people otherwise, as they will be waiting for your handmade postcard!
Please note that this swap is not for children or groups.
If you have any questions not covered on this page refer to the FAQ page – then contact iHanna or leave a comment on the current swap invitation post.
1. Join the swap by paying the 8.50 dollar fee | This swap is growing every year and I love that, one year there were way over 200 participants! To be able to take the time to arrange it, I need to charge a small fee. To pay is easy, quick and secure. Your payment goes through the well-known site of Paypal. You can also pay with a credit card: Just click the paypal button and instead of logging in, choose card payment at the bottom of the page. |
2. Fill in the registration form | Filling in the registration form below the paypal button is a very important step to get you into the swap, don’t miss it. After paying via paypal or credit card you must also fill out the sign-up-form. In the second field of the sign up page (after prefered email) please state in this order:
Please note: You are not entered into the swap if you do not complete this step. You will get a google confirmation email containing your entered details, if you can’t find it check your spam folder. In that e-mail you should double check that it’s all correct, and if you need to change or add anything contact me. If you are not sure the page submitted correctly please contact me as soon as possible. |
3. Make 10 handmade postcards | You will make 10 postcards. Your choice of postcard size and style. Just remember no copies – just original art. Bought postcards are beautiful – but those are not your best choice in this swap. Instead try to be artistic with your handmade postcards, and have fun while making them. DIY actually means “Do It Yourself”, and you can experiment with what you’ve got at home. Try collage, mixed media, 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 blog posts with postcard inspiration, all listed below. |
4. Send your cards out on time! | You will receive ten different addresses via e-mail from iHanna after the deadline date. You will get postcards from 10 other people. Finish and send your postcards in a timely manner, please. It’s not okay to let people wait several weeks after deadline! Simply get your postcards to the post office on time, thanks. See all dates above and Note the Dates in your Calendar. After you’ve signed up you should note the date of when the postcards should be ready to send (see deadline), and that is also when you can check your e-mail to have our 10 addresses. So, please have 10 handmade postcards ready to send out by the Postcards Deadline date above. A few days or so before that date you will receive your addresses, so you should be able to get them out that day. Please, please, make sure you have added my e-mail address to your digital address-book by then. It’s hanna (at) ihanna . nu |
5. Some Optional Ideas | Detail on these ideas below, but just quickly: Invite your friends to be in the swap! Help spread the word by sharing the link button on instagram. Host a postcard party! Document your process in photos, video, make a instagram reel or a blog post! Share your postcards online! Blog about them! Add your postcards to the Flickr Group! Comment on other’s images and be encouraging and kind.
Use the hashtag #ihannaspostcardswap on Instagram, Flickr and Facebook! |
Do you feel ready to join the DIY Postcard Swap now?
If you have read the rules and noted down the deadline in your calendar, it’s time!
The DIY Postcard Swap is currently closed. Sign up for iHanna’s Newsletter to be notified when the next one starts up in 2025.
After Signing Up – important to also read through
It is your responsibility to check for the google mail confirmation, read through it and to make sure you have typed in the correct address. That’s your confirmation that you are signed up.
Hanna will personally send you the 10 addresses via e-mail after the deadline (last day to sign up but before Send Day)! If you can’t find that email please first check your spam folder, your paypal e-mail address – and then contact me via another e-mail of yours or lastly via instagram, thanks.
If you did not receive your addresses it is your responsibility to let me know ASAP – and I will resend them to you, maybe to another of your e-mail addresses?
If you do not get a reply from me within a few days it is because your email service provider is blocking my domain name/email and you need to let them know – and contacting me another way to let me know, best from another email address. Thanks for your understanding.
If you are thinking something like this: It sounds like SO much fun, but I could never do it? – then please read this: Don’t Hesitate: You CAN Create DIY Postcards
Get the Idea Book
During the ten year anniversary of the swap* I created a beautiful digital book about mail art, this swap and mixed media postcards. It is called DIY Postcard Ideas – and it is a great read and a must if you’re joining for the first time!
When you sign up for the swap the book is available at a discount price – but you can buy it directly in the shop if you can’t wait.
The digital book is full of colorful photos of mixed media postcards, ideas and tutorials.
* I started the twice yearly DIY Postcard Swap in 2010.
The DIY Postcard Swap is currently closed. Sign up for iHanna’s Newsletter to be notified when the next one starts up in 2025.
If you want to be notified about the next swap, please sign up for my Newsletter.
Benefits of joining the Swap
- With a deadline you get a little push to create something special – right now!
- Stretch your Creative Muscles a bit
- Send what you make to people who will appreciate it, treasure it
- Experiment in a series, or by doing each card differently, and have a play date with yourself
- You will get 10 fun surprises in your mail box
- You get to share the art you create with the world
- Find new blog friends and become inspired by other’s postcards
- Start a collection of Handmade Postcards
- You can decorate your Inspiration Board with the incoming postcards
- Support a blogger (iHanna) by signing up
The DIY Postcard Swap is currently closed. Sign up for iHanna’s Newsletter to be notified when the next one starts up in 2025.
Share the Postcard Swap
Be creative with your friends
Why not make this swap into a postcard party and invite a few friends to create together? Mix up a few drinks, paint, get out the crayons and collage fodder and get to work! I bet you’ll have a wonderful time together.
In past swaps I have invite my mom, cousin, aunt, and a few friends to sign up, because it is great fun to see what they create, to create together with them and then later see what they get in their mailboxes!
Why don’t you invite your peeps too? If they don’t read this blog you can just ask them if they are interested and help them get signed up – just make sure they know the dates + rules of what they sign up for.
I love to know what your postcard experience was like, so feel free to always leave me a comment on the current swap post and tell me what it was like for you this year.
Share the swap on social media
You are most welcome to link to the information about the swap, share it on your Facebook page for friends and family to see, via twitter, pin the swap-button or any image on this page to Pinterest, add it to your instagram feed – or write about the swap in your next blog post or your newsletter. It means a lot to me and this swap reaching those interested to join us!
I would love if you use the swap buttons that I designed (find all of them blow)! Post it anywhere, for example in your blog’s sidebar, your Facebook wall or to instagram. Please link it to this very page.
Create, connect & share – that’s the swap slogan around here.
If you’re interested in a collaboration, let me know.
How to share the graphics
Click on the graphic above that you like the most, save the big image to your computer/smart phone/tablet and then upload it to where you want to share it, for example to instagram or your blog.
If it’s on your blog link it to this page (http://www.ihanna.nu/postcard-swap/).
You sharing the swap with your friends, family and followers helps me a lot, and I appreciate it immensely. Thank you!
Document & share what you make
Once you’ve made your postcards we’d love to take a peek! This is optional, but rather fun and full of possibilities…
If you have a blog and write about your art process there, please share a link to that post in the comment section of the current swap post on my blog. I want to go have a look! Also feel free to take photos (or to scan) finished postcards and share them via social media. Share your process, your individual DIY Postcards as well as the finished pile and a photo of you sending them out once it is time.
There is no need to tag me by name in every photo or tweet you share, I’ll see it if you include the hashtag #ihannaspostcardswap when posting on social media like youtube, instagram, facebook or twitter!
You don’t need to have a blog to sign up, nor do you need to share anything online – 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!), that is much appreciated by most swappers. It’s much more fun to get a postcard from a fellow human being than someone that reminds more anonymous.
DIY Postcard Swap Resources
- Download the Postcard Swap Tracker – a free printable to keep you on track with making, sharing and receiving postcards in the swap
- Free printable postcard backsides – download the pdf and print away!
- DIY Postcard Flickr Pool – join and share your scanned or photographed postcards here!
- the iHanna Newsletter – sign up if you want to swap handmade postcards next time too! I send it out only a few times each year and you will be informed of all things new and cool!
- Postcard Inspiration Pinterest Board – what inspires me
- All of iHanna’s Postcard Posts – take inspiration from me, because I have created postcards for years! Lets glue, cut, paint, sew, stamp and write postcards!
Find DIY Postcard Inspiration
- Finished Collage Postcards | the Horse & Hound Edition
- How to alter bought & unused postcards
- Materials for making DIY Postcards | Vintage illustrations
- Happy Mail: Filling up the Inbox
- Go with the flow – ready, set, send
- Happy Mail: This is simply gold
- Handmade Postcards for iHanna’s Swap | Even More Inspiration Videos x 5
- 5 DIY Postcard Videos for Inspiration
- Finishing the Postcard – what’s on the back?
- 100 DIY Postcard Ideas
- My Postcard Piles from Previous Years!
- Collage Postcard Pile | Video of all things Postal
- Random Paper Postcards by Cath
- Journal with me: Documenting the Postcard Swap in my Traveler’s Notebook
- Painting outside the lines | process video
Back story of the DIY Postcard Swap
iHanna started the first swap in spring 2010 and since then it’s grown a lot.
In fall 2015 we reached the 6th year of the DIY Postcard Swap – and we’re continuing. Up until then there have been 10 swaps and over 10.000 handmade postcards generated though this swap, and after that even more. That is not bad, for keeping the postal workers busy!
On our second year a whopping 2800 postcards were created – the record so far. Spring 2014 more than 200 participants singed up and in spring 2016 we were 180 participants. In the DIY Postcard Flickr Group, started the 4th of February 2010, you could find 2,160 photos and 320 members a while back, and even more today. The Flickr group is now closed, but you can browse through for inspiration of course.
Most participants are from the states, then Scandinavia and Europe – but we have had people from every continent joining at one time or other. This is truly an international swap. Your hostess, Hanna, is from Sweden.
The DIY Postcard Swap is currently closed. Sign up for iHanna’s Newsletter to be notified when the next one starts up in 2025.
You can read more about what goes into the swap here and a bit about sustainability here.