Handmade Postcards

Quality mail, you know, something besides bills,  makes me extraordinarily happy, so I’ve decided to start sending, (and hopefully receiving), handmade postcards. Postcards are inexpensive to send and quick to write too. Seems like a double win to me! I’ve learned from having pen pals when I was young, that in order to receive nice mail, you have to first be willing to send it, so I have some ideas to get started with and plenty of potential victims in my address book. 

If you don’t have anyone you can count on to write, there’s always Postcrossing, a site where you can send, (and in turn, receive), postcards internationally. Once you set up your account, you generate a postcard code, are given an address and that starts what looks to be a very fun and addictive postcard swapping habit.

Knowing that making things makes my crafty little heart beat faster, I’m sure you understand that making the postcards is going to be a big part of the total postcard joy for me. 

I’m fascinated by etegami – the japanese folk art of simple art postcards with a few carefully chosen handwritten words on them. They’re so clever and beautiful in their simplicity. Dosankodebbie has a site full of gorgeous etegami and she sells a beginners guide as well! 

Of course, you can make your own postcards using your own style of artwork. Collage, photography, drawing or doodling, painting, stamping, whatever you like! You can purchase blank postcards in a heavy paper that will even stand up to watercolor. Here’s a couple I created by doodling on photographs with a white gel pen: (you’ll need a photo with a dark background for this)

and a few painted with watercolors:

If you’re a recycler, and who isn’t?, you can easily transform various paper products into clever little cards to brighten someone’s day. Cereal boxes make cute ones, like these from Infarrantly Creative. The tops of old greeting cards and old paperback book covers work well too. You can glue a printed postcard image to the back if you like, for an authentic look.

In my search for DIY postcard inspiration, I even came across these pretty fabric postcards! The Creative Place has a wonderful tutorial that makes using up your fabric scraps look like the best idea ever. I liked her tip of using a clear envelope to keep the fabric from getting soiled. I may do that to protect the ones I paint as well. I’ve learned you must add the postage to the outside clear envelope and the cost of sending may increase.

As a side note, if you’re a stamp collector, exchanging postcards is a fun way to get some interesting international postage in your collection, too.

So it’s back to postcard crafting for me. Are you an artistic snail mail enthusiast? Share a link to your creations. You might just find a new art penpal!

 

 

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