Direct Swaps

As well as the random strangers from postcrossing.com, I have been involved in a few direct swaps with the members.  This is when you are contacted by a member who would like to exchange postcards off the record.  Since there is not a place to show this in a gallery on postcrossing.com I decided to post them here.  

 In my profile on Postcrossing.com under my likes I asked for women from different cultures.  Silvana from Bali, Indonesia sent me this one.  She writes that by custom most Balinese women were usually topless until the 1960's.  She also said that most villagers cover there heads with towels but she did not know the reasoning behind it! 

The back of this one says "I always would dream, that I had such plait.  I think it came from a woman in Russia but because it was sent in an envelope I am not sure b/c that is all it had on the back.  She does however have very pretty hair!  

 

This sure is a cute one from Siny in the Netherlands.  It also had a Postcrossing stamp which made me so very happy along with flower stickers.  :)

 This handmade card of a knife thrower is from right here in TX.  It was sent via a swap from Sarah in Lufkin.  I love carnival and circus themed postcards especially vintage styles and she said she had the perfect match for me.  I concur! 

This isn't the best photo of this adorable Moonin card from Finland.  Moonin is a very famous character over there.   Henna, the sender of this card asked for one of my Hello Kitty postcards so we swapped.  :)  I love the glitter and the colors of this one.  As a bonus she sent a Moonin stamp and Hello Kitty stickers too! 

   

Another Fin woman sent me this card of this lady picking flowers.   I am wondering if all of Finland's stamps are this cool?  They are so much fun and different, right?

 I LOVE mermaids.  I sent a postcard to Karen in Finland (seeing a theme, yet?!) , via postcrossing , and she loved it so much that she asked for my address to send me a thank you postcard.  I was so happy to see this lovely surprise in my mail box a few weeks later!  Ginger Kelly is the artist and she happens to be Australian.  She titled this one appropriately, Sunbathing. 

And she's back!!

Hello Hello!!  It's a bit after 3:00 in the morning here and I have spent my entire Friday night taking pictures and uploading dozens of my received postcards via postcrossing.com. I found one random one to Germany that I never registered.  I have already contacted her with an apology and asked to send her a make up card.  :)  I am sharing a few of my favorite cards here tonight but should you need a bigger fix you can checkout my received postcards directly at http://www.postcrossing.com/user/postcrosseratx/gallery. 

 Please forgive the poor quality of photos on these.  It was my first time taking pics with my iphone and I think I'll stick with scanning from here on out.  

A glittery Hello Kitty postcard from Japan!  When I saw it I thought it would be difficult to top, then I turned it over and it actually had a Hello Kitty stamp!  I love the polka-dotted washi tape at the bottom as a background to the stickers too!  

This postcard is from Finland.  It is a photo from the 1900's taken in front of Stockmann department store.  I just love the entire shot from the vintage color, to the clothing, and the action of the women crossing the street. What a historical treat!

This Albanian postcard is so special to me because it is such a rare country to receive a card from via postcrossing.  This is only the 124th card to ever be sent from the country via postcrossing.  When you realize the thousands of cards that travel in a day via there site you realize what gem this one is!    As of today, there are only 6 members of postcrossing in the entire country of Albania!  There are 39,236members here in the US alone!

 

This postcard came from the next state over but is one of my top 10.  I love the women of the World War II era and this photo of a reenactment is awesome. The hair and makeup of that time was impeccable.  This museum is in New Orleans, Louisiana.   I would love to visit it one day on a vacation.

Well, Hello There!

Hi, I know I haven't blogged in forever.  I have had some health issues this past year but I am starting to feel better!  I have received several new postcards since my last post in February. I feel like it will take a year to scan them all in but I will certainly choose my favorites in the upcoming weeks.  I did however introduce my little brother to Postcrossing.com a while back and he has been excellent at updating his postcard blog.  Check it out!  http://postcrosserportales.blogspot.com/


On a random note, I am also in love with this creative artist!  Susan and her husband work on creating such unique jewelry. He works on much of the glass and stones in her pieces and wow the vessels she creates for them are AMAZING, as well as her stand alone pieces without stones.  I am going to plug her here along with her Etsy page and if you happen to read this soon she is doing a give away so good luck!  :)  

http://www.etsy.com/shop/EraArtJewelry?page=1

https://www.facebook.com/eraartjewelry/app_228910107186452

Happy Birthday to ME!

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

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This card arrived today from Seoul, South Korea and I love it! It is less than a week until my 33rd birthday and this is my first birthday card! :) I love the different cakes and flowers pluse the two different languages on the card. The stamps as as well as the festive stickers just made this one really special. Notice, she signed it 

"I hope you are always happy" what a nice thing to say.   :)

Hello Indiana!

HOBART, INDIANA USA

I decided I would change it up and not just send postcards internationally.  I must say the postage is much cheaper!  $0.35 vs. $1.05!  In fact I barely had enough stamps for this domestic postage because I have used so many on my international cards.  I had to get creative and use .05 stamps and ran out of room towards the top.  Hope it's not an issue and it gets there just fine!

So my first USA card is going to Hobart, IN. Three sisters all collect and send cards from postcrossing.com! I think it such a great experience for all ages and was telling a good friend yesterday that I think her kids would enjoy it. I collect Hello Kitty and decided to send this card to the three sisters. I have liked Hello Kitty since I was just a child and hope they like her too. This postcard would take over 19 hours if I was driving straight through to Hobart, IN. It is 1,164 miles away and pretty close to Chicago, IL. I hope it get to these girls quickly! :)

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I was able to get this new address because my University of Texas postcard finally made it to Germany. It took about two weeks and traveled 5,330 miles!

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Dutch Pecan Pie

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Yesterday was President's Day, a holiday in the US. Unfortunately, the postal service is closed so this could not get out sooner. I am sending this to the Netherlands to a girl who lives in Holland. I must admit I had to check this article to see the difference between Holland, The Netherlands & Nederland. This wikipedia article really helped me figure it all out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_netherlands .   So, I sent this recipe postcard to Eveline because she enjoys cooking.  I am not even sure if Pecans grow in Holland or if it will be an expensive recipe.  I hope they are accessible  if she is truly going to try making it.  I also hope she likes pecan pie if so.  I have to admit I am not a fan, but I know many who favor it above all pies.  

Inbox!

FRANCE

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This is officially my first International postcard from my postcrossing adventures! It came in a bright pink envelope along with a short letter. The sender is a girl in her early twenties that lives on the Southeastern coast of France. When I looked on a map she seems quite close to Spain. She speaks several languages, Spanish included. The letter told me a bit about herself and expressed she would like to be pen pals and stay in touch. I think it sounds so exciting! A great start to my postcrossing exchanges.

CANADA

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My next few cards all arrived within a few days of each other. This pretty potted African Violet comes from a Mom in Canada. In my postcrossing profile I stated that I like flowers so this was either a thoughtful one or a very luck one! :) She lives on a small island on the eastern coast. The postage was actually part of this card so it did not come with a stamp.

    THE NETHERLANDS

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Although this is not a postcard I have to admit I was quite happy to get this one. I love mermaids and handmade cards so this was a perfect card for me. It was handmade by a lady in her early fifties from Rotterdam in the Netherlands. From the map it looks like she is about an hour south of Amsterdam. I loved that the mermaid is playing with a seahorse. I think my dog was my seahorse friend and I was her mermaid in another life.   :)

THE NETHERLANDS


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This last one is a bonus card! My very first card I sent from postcrossing was the Wonder Woman card. As I mentioned in that blog I sent the same girl a card with a bird after I read her profile. She was so thankful that she sent me a postcard from her home in the Netherlands. It looks like she lives near the south east coast of The Netherlands. Looks like she is only an hour north of Brussels, Belgium. (73 km) She writes and says that they are famous for mussels in her province, Zeeland. I have never had mussels but will certainly have to try them if I find myself in Zeeland.

The weird & the ugly

My second Vegas card arrived in Poland to a girl and her boyfriend who were excited to get a postcard from such a famous city here in the U.S..  My next outgoing card is this slightly weird postcard of a painting of very young birds. It is from the Griffin & Sabine series of postcards. It is on it's way to Finland to a woman who likes weird & ugly things as well as animals. Isn't this perfect?!

Austin to Germany

One of my postcards finally arrived to it's new home. The Vegas card made it all the way across the 4,881 miles it need to get to Portugal. Soon there after, it was favorited by it's new owner, Rui. Since he registered my card I was able to send a new postcard out into the world. This card is being sent to Thomas in Germany. He prefers cards from your home. UT happens to be the largest universities in Texas and I live maybe five miles from it's campus. Now, hopefully this week I will receive a postcard from one of the Postcrossers who received my address. I cannot even imagine where in this expansive world it will come from.... but I can't wait!

And so it begins....

This week I joined the wonderful world of  postcrossing.com For years I have collected postcards from my vacations, bookstores, gift shops, as well as my family, friends, and acquaintances.  If I hear of someone vacation my ears perk up and I have no mercy asking pretty much Anyone for a postcard.  It's a fix that a collector can only understand.  That being said, I found the mother load at   thanks to a friend posting a link on her Facebook page.  Thank you, Lauren!  I set up my account and immediately dove in to send as many postcards as possible. Fortunately, they limit you to only five to start. I have the postcards, do I have the postcards, however I do not have the postage just yet.  Tomorrow I will head to the USPS and stock up.  These are the six I started with... Yes, six.   

Wonder Woman was my first card to send to The Netherlands.  I then realized that each of my new contacts have a profile describing what type of postcards they enjoy.  Since I had completed the WW card already I decided to just send it as an extra surprise.  

I read that Jessica's birthday is in February and she loves birds and I had the perfect gift.

My next contact, picked at random would be a member from Singapore who has sent SO many postcards in the last two years.  I figured she gets tons of postcards, so I would send her one of my favorites, a Blythe Doll.  Which also happens to be a current obsession of mine.  I must say, I was a bit sad to see that she had sent so many of the same post cards from her country but then again maybe she got a deal in bulk for the hundreds that go out from her alone! If you want to get lost in postcards, check out the pages of them she has received through the years.   Ashlyn_Lee gallery.  I visited for quite a while and from what I could tell, this will be her first Blythe postcard.  

Next my postcard will travel nearly 6,000 miles to Russia!  This might Alena1972's lucky day.  She like Harry Potter and Hello Kitty.  I have been collecting Hello Kitty for over a decade now.  I made sure to add Hello Kitty stickers to the back of  her Harry Potter postcard.  I just visited his Florida over the holidays. Lucky for her I visited his Wizarding World in Orlando, FL.

My last two are both Vegas postcards, purchased a couple years back when I was there for my birthday.  The card that is on it's way to Portugal is going to a man who likes buildings and architecture.  I came across this post card and thought he might like it if he doesn't have a Las Vegas card already.  I mean seriously, one of the building has a roller coaster! 

My final post card this week goes to Natalia over in Poland .  She happens to like night scenes and well, Vegas certainly has that down!  

After seeing the random nations I was given to send my postcards to, I cannot even guess where mine will come from.  I look forward to sharing as they come in!  

FYI - Click on any of the places and see a map to there from Austin.