Postcrossing Blog

Last week, stampraider emailed us with a couple of tips about some postcard-themed Kickstarter projects. We’re big fans of Kickstarter (and postcards, obviously), so we thought we should share these two projects with you!

First up, Wise Words – Inspiration through design by Michael, Josh & Jordan, a trio of graphic design and business students from Toronto, Canada. They’ve put together a neat collection of 40 postcards, with quotes from some of the biggest thinkers, inventors and builders of all time. Here’s their video:

Cool, right? From Nicola Tesla to Coco Chanel, the collection seems inspiring and versatile… just the thing for postcrossers, we’d say! :)

The second project, also from Toronto, is The Mo Project by The Letterpress Shoppe. They’re making postcards (also coasters, prints and stationery) featuring a number of moustaches to celebrate Movember. We do have a soft spot for letterpress, and these seem quite high quality!

So there you go! Have you heard of any interesting projects involving postcards? Do share!

Come meet annet10 (aka Anne) from Finland. She loves postcards so much that she has a fantastic postcard and stationery shop in Jyväskylä – you can see some photos here, it’s like postcard-wonderland! :) Here is what she had to say:

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

I heard about Postcrossing from another member and friend of mine Marjatta9. One day, she came over to show me the lovely cards that she had received through Postcrossing and I got curious about this unique hobby.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Handcrafts have always been a passion of mine – including making handmade postcards. I own the Harjun Paperi postcardstore since 1996. Originally this store was opened 1954 and since that it has been at the same location. For a postcard-lover, it was a dream come true to become the owner of this store! You can check it out at www.harjunpaperi.fi.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

I send my postcards mainly from Jyväskylä´s main postoffice and I ask the cancelation stamp to be pressed on the card by hand – not by machine.

This picture shows the typical Finnish yellow mailbox. We also have blue mailbox for 1st class mail, but the yellow one is equally effective.

Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

I like colorful cards that tell story about where member is from and part of their culture and country. Beautiful stamps always make me happy, they complete the card. Here are some lovely examples.

Have you inspired anyone else to join Postcrossing or start collections of their own?

People who come to my store often get to see the newspaper interview about Postcrossing given by dollart. I have made also leaflets to spread the word about Postcrossing and I love to chat and show my received cards to my customers. Postcrossing meetups in Jyväskylä are often held at the store. Also my co-worker AiriK started doing Postcrossing as her grandson collects stamps and has received lots of lovely cards and stamps.

What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?

All phases are nice. But it is always nice to receive new address and finding the perfect card for receiver. And of course nice cards in my mailbox always make my day!

Have you met any other members in real life?

At Harjun Paperi, I often meet Postcrossing members looking cards to other members and I have taken part of many Postcrossing meetups as well organising some of them.

Sometimes, we still marvel at the power a tiny piece of paper has to connect people. From weddings to tales of adventure and unexpected friendships… the stories we hear are always awe-inspiring. Today, Maybrit from Spain tells the story of how she and Anna from Ireland connected over postcards!

On the 29th of June 2012 was the first time I sent annuc1s a private swap request.

At the time, I was on holiday in Germany, bored in the little hotel room I was sharing with my family. It was raining and there was nothing to do, so I thought… “Wouldn’t it be cool to receive a card from the places where your favorite artists come from?” Immediately I started looking for different users, and that’s when I came across Anna’s profile for the first time. We agreed on a private swap, me sending her a card from Germany and her sending me a card from Mullingar, where she lives.

Pretty soon, one card turned into two, which turned into four, eight… before long we were penpalling as well as chatting daily via Skype and Facebook. Our friendship had been formed… and it was only a matter of time until we decided we wanted to meet in real life. Our parents were very supportive of that idea and soon enough I found myself in Ireland for two weeks during my school holidays in August 2013.

During my stay at her house we had lots of fun and she also showed me many places all over Ireland. Everywhere we went we bought cards! On our first trip to Dublin we scattered our postcards around the little table in the train, receiving many weird looks from other passengers. The pile grew bigger after trips to the Cliffs of Moher, Aillwee Cave and Galway (where we went to a very fun funfair). Together with her family we also went to Northern Ireland, visiting the Giant’s Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede Bridge and Belfast, where we decided to take a look at the Titanic Belfast Museum. Many stores, receipts and a lot of money spent later it was soon the end of my vacation and I had bought over 500 cards from more than 20 different places!

The stay was an amazing experience and I am so glad to have met her. I never thought a small postcard could form such a wonderful and strong friendship. It shows that Postcrossing is not just a hobby where you send random cards all over the world. It’s a place where new friendships can be formed just like ours. We are so glad that we get the chance to share this experience with all of you. Maybe you have had a similar one. All in all, Anna and I wanna say thank you to Postcrossing for letting us connect and find a friend in a different part of the world. :)

Got a Postcrossing story? Do share in the comments, we’d love to hear it!

While the Little Mail Carrier’s jet set around at undisclosed locations, their cousin has been busy attending meetups and getting to know postcrossers from all over the world! :) Here’s a brief recap of the last few months on his tour:

Hello everyone! This past August, I was in sunny Helsinki, meeting lots of nice European postcrossers! We did a fun scavenger hunt around the city, found lots of Moomins and Angry Birds, tried some Finnish delicacies and hopped on a ferry to beautiful Suommelinna island. I really wanted to see the inside of a Posti postbox, and managed to get myself stuck in the process… children, please don’t try this at home!

I then jumped on a plane and landed in Baltimore, which was super exciting! We’re all big fans of The Wire and Hairspray at the Postcrossing HQ – so I felt right at home :) Cspt organised a wonderful meetup at Stone Mill Bakery Café. It was a lot of fun to meet new postcrossers from the other side of the pond… and the cookies were delicious! :D

After that, I took the boat back home, as it was time for another Bielefeld meetup! I knew a lot of the people there already, from past meetups, so it was nice to see them all again! As usual, I’ve dived into pools of candy, signed lots of postcards, and marvelled at the beauty of Autumn in North-Rhine Westphalia… but this year I also got to greet the postman, greeted the animals at the delightful Olderdissen Animal Park and visited Modern Times, a local postcard distributor who gave a special tour just for postcrossers!

It’s been a blast! :)

Meetups are lots of fun, and completely organised by the members themselves! Curious to meet other postcrossers near you? Check out the list of upcoming events, or create your own! :)

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the work of illustrator-turned-guerrila-artist Keri Smith, author of magical books like Wreck this journal or Mess: the manual of accidents and mistakes. They’re not so much “books” as exploratory manuals, encouraging you to embark on all kinds of messy creative missions.

So when I saw the trailer for Keri's newest project, I squealed in delight! A postcard book, filled with magic adventures? :D It seemed too good to be true!

Everything is connected is a bit in the spirit of her previous books, but in a smaller, niftier format. Each postcard book has 50 thick cards, each one inviting you to a miniature project. You can do them yourself, or mail them to friends in need of an adventure!

We’re giving two postcard books away, kindly donated by Keri herself: just leave a comment below, and tell us about something small that you’ve done to cheer someone or put a smile on their face. Like sending them a surprise postcard… or baking a batch of their favourite cookies! :) We want to have the comment box filled with inspiration!

Check back on this post around this time next week for the winners (randomly picked by Paulo's number generator)!