Family Holidays

A postcrosser from New Zealand sent this lovely beach card. She included bits of what's going on in her life: a planned beach holiday with family, Barbie band-aid & stickers for her kids, and on the back - a weather forecast. She also included a custom postage stamp of her and her kids in the back.

For Real?

Are these kids made of wax or are they real? A 12-year old Russian postcrosser sent me this eerie card.

Road Trip!

A very interesting card from a Canadian postcrosser. She visited the garden of awakening orchids when she visited Portland, OR a few years back. The Bundle wrapper is from her stint as wood-engrave and the lucky ladybugs are from her scrapbooking stash. I love the combination!

Cyrillic Rhapsody

A gorgeous card from a postcrosser in Kiev. She did not like my altered postcard request but then she said, she gave it a try. I tend to do this too - reject something weird or unfamiliar immediately, then come around to it. I think the background is a fancy paper napkin (feels like velvety fabric) and she added a mini calendar pinned with a spangle and stickers. The combination of image and text is wonderful. I wish more mailartists (myself included) did the same.

Winter Stamps

Some really gorgeous stamps from various parts of the world.

Shoes Off Please

A sweetly collaged card from a Japanese postcrosser. I think she used all kinds of tape to make this card. The neatly arranged shoes remind me of the requirement in Japan to take one's shoes off, arrange them facing outward in the foyer, put one's feet into slippers before walking around in the building. And of course, to put on special toilet slippers when going to the bathroom. And remembering to take them off afterwards and put back on the house slippers. God knows I've mortified many people by forgetting and wearing the toilet slippers all over the house.

Ranunculous

What better way to start the New Year than with a field of flowers sent by a young Dutch postcrosser.

A Ray of Joy

This happy handmade card arrived from a New Zealand postcrosser. It's cut out of a cornmeal box. I love the array of stamps that included a small trailer, windblown umbrella, Rainbow Falls, Central Otago and Whakarewarewa thermal village.

Nice Socks!

I swear I had a pair just like these when I was young. A fun card from a Polish postcrosser.

From a Small Room

A magical postcard of Wulingyuan, sent by a Chinese postcrosser. He started his message with "Many greetings from a small room in the east of China..." Wouldn't this sentence make a perfect beginning to a novel? The tiny caption on the card says, "Pastoral Fields on Air." Indeed, one has to scrutinize the card to realize that it's not a lazy path to the edge of a cliff but cultivated fields. The card brought back memories of my childhood in Japan when it was still safe to go exploring alone in the mountains behind my school. It was so much fun to explore wooded trails with my dogs and come upon secret vistas like this.

Cards All Around

My Christmas cardholder is filled with cards. I made this holder from Internet instructions several years ago. It involves yarn wound round and round a cardboard whiskey box.

Ain't Over Yet

The Year of the Rabbit isn't quite over yet. We've got a week to go and I found this card just in time. I got it in Mexico 2 years ago when I was there for the UN conference. It's based on a Pre-Columbian design and it's called "La Luna."

Peaceful Place

Beautiful card of the Buitnitski Memorial Complex from a postcrosser in Belarus.

Figure

Found on street: dance club postcard. I liked the green-in-the-gills dude. One Yelp review of Black Door: Meh. Apparently the club's sound was "terri-bad."

Finding Dragons

My husband has been looking for dragon postcards to send out as nengajo. Surprisingly, none of the Japanese stores stock New Year's cards, even though they offer so much in the way of New Year food. Since I wasn't planning a trip to Japan in the next few days, I decided to make 24 cards for him as a Christmas gift.

Guts and Ruts

My arts group will be playing games at our year-end party this coming week. Each of us will select an image and put it into an envelope. Then people get to pick an envelope at random. The image they open will be a prediction for 2012. I had so much fun creating "images" that I made several in my studio last week. This won't be the one I bring to the party but I had fun making the collage. The fortune on the side says, "It takes guts to get out of the ruts."

Abstract Poland

This postcrosser from Poland has never altered a card before. I thought she did a terrific job, incorporating news stories, glitter and bits of everyday life in Poland. Thanks so much!

Oh Nuts

A Dutch postcrosser living in Canada sent this fat-cheeked squirrel card. She saw her first snow recently and enjoys the cold.

The Courier's Tragedy

I went to a mail art open house at the SF Center for Books last weekend and picked up this oversized postcard designed by Maureen Forys. There were lots of mail art fans there and piles of ephemera to make one's own.

Sketch Club

An invite to the MFA Open Studios from alma mater, Mills College. Here's a classroom full of women and the only man is the teacher. Interestingly the list of artists in the back of the card is about 30% men. Mills is still a women's undergraduate school, but their graduate program has always been co-ed.