RECEIVED CARD #24: I love horses :)

I received another cute horse postcard via Postcrossing 🙂 This one’s from Elżbieta (Elizabeth). It traveled 454 miles (731 km) from Poland to Germany.

(#24) PL-332049 from Elzbieta (POLAND)

RECEIVED CARD #25: Bits of Egypt in Russia

This postcard from Nastya shows the Egyptian Bridge across the the Fontanka river in St. Petersburg. The card traveled a distance of 899 miles (1446 km) in 25 days.

Nastya also sent me a this Russian saying:

I still haven’t quite understood the saying. Nastya admits that she only knows a little English… well, and I only know a little Russian. I really wish I were better at it and could read the saying in its original cyrillic script. If anyone can help me with this, I’d really appreciate it 🙂

Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap 2012: Recap and Blog Hop

The “Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap 2012”: I’ve never participated in anything quite like it. It’s been an amazing experience and I’m definitely game for next year’s swap 🙂 So, before I go on I want to thank Kat Sloma for organizing all of it: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

In the form of five postcards I’ve liberated my art into the world…

…in return I received six postcards from other artists doing the same.

During the weeks of the swap I could feel how my inspirational batteries were being recharged with each card I found in my mailbox. I got to look through other artists eyes – and through the viewfinder on Pam Bowers’, Kara Monroe’s and Kat Sloma’s camera.  Seeing other people’s works always shows me new ways of look at the world around me, leads me to disscover new paths of creativity and points out other ways of expressing oneself. For instance: If it hadn’t been for Cris’s card from Ohio I’d have never known what zentangles are and would’ve never tried it myself. I ordered a little booklet on it from amazon and am now tangling like crazy; it’s so much fun!

Well, I can’t thank everyone enough, especially Jan, Kate, Pam, Cris, Kara and Kat; for liberating their wonderful art into the world, for recindling my creative energies and for driving me to tackle new projects! Thank you all!!!

Now, get on hopping 😉 here is the link.

I hope everything works okay.

Liberate Your Art 2012

Hi, hi, hi! There’s something I need to tell you…

I’ll be participating in Kat Sloma’s “Liberate Your Art” postcard swap this year. I’m so excited! There’re over 300 artist from all over the world taking part in it this year. I just received my postcards from moo.com (the swap is only for art-prints not originals). Ahh, I never had my art printed before *excitement bounce*! Taking full advatage of moo’s Printfinity option I got a different image on each one of my 20 ordered cards. The quality of the paper and print is amazing… some didn’t turn out that well though because I overphotoshopped the images and made a big mess of the colours – 😦 I’ll know better next time around.

Well, these are the five cards I chose for the swap:

On the back I wrote this little inspirational message:

Tomorrow I’m going to get everything in the mail to Kat. I hope my cards will make it in time. Of course I’ll keep you all posted on what’s happening during this little swap-adventure. I’m looking forward to find the first card from it in my mailbox in August.

Stay creative!

US Mail – Part 1

After over four fabulous months in the Land of Opportunity, a wonderful time spent with my „American family“ I have to leave again on Thursday to be back home in time for work. So by the first of August regular daily life should have me back 🙂

So, yesterday I posted my last outgoing mail from the US: A postcrossing-card to Afra from the Netherlands. I chose to send her this pretty card with a view of the Vermont countryside around Sleepy Hollow Farm near the Pomfret-Woodstock town line.

Vermont is such a beautiful and literally “green” state! I wish I could stay longer.

Post office in East Dorset, VT

As you know though, this is not the only state I’ve been to during my time in the US. I’ve spent more than a day in Florida, Georgia, Virginia and Texas, passed through Alabama, Louisiana, South and North Carolina, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and New York and had lunch in Mississippi. It would have been great to get postcards in all of those states but the time just didn’t allow for it. I did get postcards in Florida, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and – of course – Vermont though. It wasn’t always easy to find stores that still sell postcards – just a very sad reminder of how fast the tradition of sending postcards home to your dear ones is more and more becoming a relict of the past. Fortunately there are many projects like Postcrossing out there that keep on fighting for the good ol’ snail mail.

Here is the selection of postcards I chose to send home to family and friends…

…and – as promised – the list of stores I bought them from:

TEXAS:
Walmart
3820 State Highway 64 W
Tyler, TX 75704, USA

VERMONT:
Northshire Bookstore
4869 Main ST
Manchester Center, VT 05255, USA

The Potter Hill Barn
3864 NY 7
Hoosick Falls, NY 12090, USA

Shaw’s Supermarket
64 Equinox Terrace
Manchester, VT 05255, USA

FLORIDA:
Different stores along
St. Georges Street (near the Fort)
St. Augustine, FL 32084, USA

LOUISIANA:
The Boudin Shop & Country Store
AKA “Chicken on the Bayou”
I-10 Exit 115 (Cecilia – Henderson)
2942-F Grand Point Hwy
Breaux Bridge, LA 70517, USA

MISSISSIPPI:
Pure Country gas station
10166 Lorraine Road
Gulfport, MS 39503, USA

GEORGIA:
A country store near
(big red barn-like building)
Merrit Pecan Co.
Georgia 520
Weston, GA 31832, USA

So country stores, gas stations and some Walmarts are your best bets when looking for postcards.
Have you ever had trouble finding the right postcard?