belly itcher

Recycling old media guides was the impetus for this card. The hapless pitcher was on the cover of a triple-A guide I found in the closet.

fish business

Friend Sandy S. altered this card and sent me a laugh today. Coincidentally, fishing season opened today in Pennsylvania and a friend's son caught a 24-inch trout.

cut flowers

More recycled photo parts and cardboard plus oil pastels went into making this card. I'm still not sure, though, where it is going.

xiang yang: seemingly so, but actually not

Xiang Yang, one of the more deeply interesting artists I know, sent this card announcing his new show at Repetti in Queens from April 5 to 27. The rainbow threads shooting through space in the work shown, Buddha Says, stitch two images together.

chinese opera

More Chinese opera stamps came today from my friend Yue W., this time on a mountains-and-mist postcard.

red p

I tweaked a card from last year just for the start of the baseball season. Go, Phillies!

happy easter

Another rather amazing card from the Darling & Co. Easter! book. Happy Easter to all!

baseball bat and ball at night

This is the second card Isabel sent from Australia. Both are super. She calls it Baseball bat and ball at night. Ball, bat, grass, moon and stars. Love it!

girl playing baseball

Seven-year-old Isabel Y. of Australia sent this cute card which she calls Girl playing baseball (back view). Thanks, Isa, for showing that Australian girls, too, play baseball!

sprouting onions

Suzuki K., my dear old friend from Tono, painted this postcard, which arrived this afternoon. Some of her news was sad, some wonderful. That so often is what spring is all about.

chinese stamps

A postcard arrived yesterday from my Chinese friend Yue W. but it was really about the stamps. One was for the Year of the Rat, the others Chinese opera. Yue knows my passion for Chinese opera and has often sent stamps and cards showing actors. The postmark shows that it took 19 days from China.

pussy willows

Another card from the great Easter! book of vintage cards. This one is from Germany, circa 1905. Pussy willows remind me of so many people and things.

baseball bonus

Cheryl C. of the Springtown post office sent this "baseball" card. Guess she's a Yankee fan! Be sure to check out the stamps below. The card arrived today, with the tix for the exhibition game on the 30th between the Phillies and the new local franchise, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. A sign of spring for sure. Keep the cards coming!

mickey stamps

Cheryl C. continued the baseball theme on the address side of her card, with the multiple stamps of Mickey M. and even the postmark. Limeport is the home of one of the coolest ball parks in the world. I've got to find that post office sometime soon.

bring on the music

A Brasilian postcrosser named Renata, who likes writing and taking photos, sent a pretty card from Paraty, which holds an annual international literature festival. I particularly liked the stamps in such cool, luscious colors. Gotta dig the accordion.

going green

Here's to St. Paddy's day. Bring on the Guinness and the soda bread! Who said you have to be Irish!

more flowers

More collage and oil pastels, more flowers from a Japanese garden, going this time to Canada.

pine tar

Mrpotani sent this card to kick off the new call for mail art. It makes me think of pine tar.

teddy bear picnic?

This American postcard, from the Darling & Company Easter! book, was printed in 1905. It suggests the already-booming popularity of the teddy bear, which had come into being only a couple of years earlier. My mother, who collects bears, is sure to love it.

first card

Maren, from Hamburg, Germany, (we've got a Hamburg in Pennsylvania, too) has been a postcrosser for all of 13 days. This is the first card she's ever made. Pretty cool! I'm impressed by the many different elements she used, including the glittery silver thing which got torn off en route. The post office apologized, and I pasted it back on. Maren teaches kindergarten. I hope she'll get her kiddies, too, to make and send postcards.

baby steps

A friend in Obama, on the Sea of Japan, sent me a 13-page letter in his highly idiosyncratic Japanese script. I am only able to answer in increments, starting with this oil pastel and collaged postcard, made from snaps another friend sent last year of flowers in her garden.

fairmount park postcard contest

Fairmount Park in Philadelphia has a call out for digital images of the park, to be used for a new postcard series. The ten winning entries will be printed professionally, with the name of the photographer on each. The cards will go on sale later this spring at the park's LOVE shop, which takes its name from one of the park's most famous landmarks, the Robert Indiana LOVE sculpture. The deadline is April 15. For details and entries, go to http://www.fairmountpark.org. Click on the LOVE button.

Le Voyage de l'amour

Received this card from Elsa, a student of the College Cesar Franck school in Amiens, France. I was to send to back to her with a note, which I did!

snow, beautiful snow

This magical postcard arrived yesterday from Portugal, where there is not much snow. It was created by a 19-year-old postcrosser named Aida, who likes animals and is studying to be a veterinarian. Because my profile says that I like snow, she used several pictures to make this super composite image. The heavy rains this weekend washed away all the snow and ice here. Thanks, Aida, for maybe the last image of winter!

Recent Postcrossers

Family collage by Sanna of Kirkkonumin, Finland. Very sweet and I love the train stamp!

A soccer card by Yared of the Netherlands. Images collaged on a postcard of the Sabata Blind School of Addis Abeba, Ethiopia!

A rollicking collage card by BeaBea of Finland. She even affixed a badge of Kvarken. Fabulous Valentine stamp on the envelope!

A collage card from Se of Wentworth Fall, New South Wales, Australia. Lots of interesting detail including a strip of cotton tape and photo of her dog, Cinnamon.

I've changed my profile quite a bit on Postcrossing but my latest, to receive cards from recycled materials, has been the most successful. Some cards are still the traditional view cards but many are fun collages made from local materials.

CNY Card

A lovely CNY card from the Hantovers. Jeff and MeeSeen's daughter Lixian always designs a spiffy card for their friends. Love the whimsical portrait of family as rats!

take the egg train

Winter aconites are suddenly in bloom here in rural Pennsylvania, but pussy willows are barely a thought. This reproduction postcard is from the wonderful Darling & Company book of vintage Easter postcards and dates from the heyday of postcards and, alas in the US, of trains. The card has so many intriguing components; I'm not sure I'll be able to part with it.

astrid lindgren commemorative

A postcard today from German postcrosser Willi carried this stamp homage to Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren, maybe best known for her Pippi Longstocking books. Great image of a wonderful writer!

the babe

I put this postcard on diamondposte after it arrived a couple of weeks ago from Maryland friend Sandy S. Time now to show the Babe off here.

campy

It was into the archives for this postcard of Roy Campanella, one of the "Boys of Summer", as the Brooklyn Dodgers came to be known. "Campy" was the first black catcher to play in the majors. He should have played, wanted to play for his hometown team, the Phillies, but that's a story for another day. During his 10-year career, he was a three-time National League MVP. The card was part of the slugger series issued a couple of years ago by the US postal service.

Madeleine

I made this birthday card for Susan. It is made with satin, Moroccan silk threads, Madeleine wrapper, hairnet and snaps. I found the black snaps tape in the back of a drawer. I think I was going to use it on an Issey Miyake pattern. It serves an interesting purpose here. The back of the card is also salmon-colored satin. I painted over it in creamy white acrylic paint, then stamped a birthday greeting. I remember my painting teacher likes to paint on satin because it changes its nature from shiny to matte or translucent, depending on the type of paint applied to it.