stitched postcard, texas highways, texas map postcard

I had a good snail mail month in April. Not only did I receive about 10 postcards from around the world, I got a couple packages in my real life mail box from my blog buddy Lynn from Present Letters (read about them here and here) and Carol from studioc3designs. I "met" Carol through the Great Big Stitched Postcard swap. I sent off my handmade postcard to Antoinette in North Carolina in March and received one last week from Carol in Texas. The first card she sent me is somewhere in the world - it never made it to me! Carol so kindly made me another and I got some bonuses in the package, too :)

postcard made by Carol for me for Great Big Stitched Postcard swap

Carol is a fused glass artist and this is the really cute mixed media card she made for me. The theme of the swap was "love" - executed very well, don't you think? I love the little "love" and "peace" badges on the card. Thanks so much, Carol!

Texas, Lone Star State map postcard

I got a little note written on the Texas map card, which is pretty cool too. I love maps and I made my own map envelope for the card I sent to North Carolina. Incidentally, for those who love postcards or maps, I found this fabulous Flickr set of US state map postcards from DeeDeeQ5724 - very nice and extensive collection!

I absolutely adore the envelope Carol put the goodies in.

On the envelope were some stamps I'd been lusting after! I got very excited when I received the package. I recognized many of the stamps because I'd read about them in the USA Philatelic magazine Lynn sent me. In fact, Lynn sent me the whole set of the comic stamps! Read about it in this post.

I am a stamp and postcard fanatic, I used to have a huge postcard collection but it got trimmed down when I moved a few years back. I actually gave away my entire stamp collection but I've started collecting again, I can' seem to stop collecting stuff or part with the "junk" in my life!

Carol put a Texas Highways magazine into my envelope. Great way to learn about the state which I've never visited. Hope to one day.

Texas Highways magazine,
April 2011

article on Panaderia in Presidio from
Texas Highways magazine

I was drawn immediately to that page on Don Jose Panaderia in Presidio, Texas. Heheh, I'm a foodie and the cookies in that photo look absolutely yummy! You can read that article online and several others as well on the Texas Highways website. The April issue includes these articles:

::  The Serendity of Wildflowers, a lovely write-up about some beautiful wildflower drives the magazine chose with the help of botanists from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center;

::  The Oldest Park in Texas, a piece on the San Pedro Springs Park in San Antonio. Archeological treasures found there suggest that humans had gathered at the springs as early as 12,000 years ago.

Thanks again, Carol, for the yummy package :)

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by liberal sprinkles

postcards, stamps and Hermann, Missouri

map postcard of Missouri

Hello! I received this postcard on Friday from my blog buddy Lynn, who blogs at Present Letters.
THANK YOU, Lynn!

I adore this map card of Missouri! I love most illustrations, it's such a visual way of showing and explaining stuff. Do you see the St Louis Gateway Arch in the map? Lynn sent me a card of St Louis earlier with that arch in it.

I don't know much about Missouri so I didn't recognize the significance of most of these images. I looked up Hannibal's history to find out who that guy is. Ah, Mark Twain! Heheh I didn't know he grew up in Hannibal or what he looked like, obviously.

I'll probably look up the other images but since I've been sitting on this post for nearly two weeks, I better get writing!

Sleeping Effort by Jackson Pollock (1953)

I've actually received quite a lot of mail from Lynn in the past month. Apart from the St Louis postcard, she also sent me one of the Jackson Pollock painting Sleeping Effort, which is in the Washington University Gallery of Art in Missouri.

I also got a nice package in the mail from Lynn two weeks ago. Yeah, I'm so lame as a swap partner and also in being so late in posting about the goodies I get!

Look what was in the envelope!

USPS July 2010 Sunday funnies comic strip stamps

Yahoo!! Lynn sent me these after I raved about Calvin and Hobbes on my postcard blog and mentioned that the USPS had issued a Calvin and Hobbes stamp as part of its Sunday Funnies comics set last year. Lynn went to the trouble of ordering the complete issue set for me when she couldn't find it at the post office. Lynn, that was so cool of you, a huge thanks to you!

I stared at them for a while before raiding my shelves for my well-loved Calvin and Hobbes books. They are my favoritest comics ever. The two protagonists are a bit of a terror but you have to admit they're cute, and there are a lot of messages that are relevant to grown-ups and so true about life.

I love all the stamps although I'm a fan of only the one comic. I read quite a few Archie books in my youth (one of my flatmates was a collector) but I wasn't crazy about it. Don't you think it's quite sexist? I also can't imagine ever not tiring of being in a love triangle. Move on, already! I didn't like Garfield or Dennis the Menace (that boy scares me!) and I've never read Beetle Bailey. I don't read comics anymore. I don't know if I outgrew them (are you ever too old for comics?) or I just prefer fiction now. I do go through phases; for about 5 years after university, I read only non-fiction books on history, politics and current affairs.

Hermann, a book about
Hermann, Missouri

Lynn packed an envelope full of goodness. In it was this autographed book about Hermann, Missouri by Dianna Graveman and Don Graveman. The town was founded in 1937 by the German Settlement Society of Philadelphia in an attempt to preserve the German language and customs in the area. Hermann is sometimes referred to as "Little Germany and was named the Most Beautiful Town in Missouri by Rural Missouri magazine. It is known for its wine industry, holds its own Oktoberfest, and claim to be the sausage-making capital of Missouri. Sounds like a delicious place to visit. I would love to see what a small Germany looks like in the USA. That's one thing I like and admire about the States, there are so many communities with their rich cultures and heritage that co-exist with all that Americanness. I love the mix.

1903 stock certificate of
Hermann Shoe Manufacturing Co

The book has a lot of lovely old photos of Hermann's history like its industries, people and events. The black and white photo shows a stock certificate for the Hermann Shoe Manufacturing Company.

USA Philatelic, 2011
Volume 16, quarter 1

I tried to look up the company and found the book on Google Books! You can read Hermann (Images of America) online. I'm glad I don't have to print a copy. I love digital resources and Google Books but I have to say I'm very much a touch it, feel it sorta person. I love to hold a real book and flip the pages, it's not quite the same to curl up on the sofa staring at the screen, is it?

Lynn sent me the 2011 1st quarter issue of the USA Philatelic as well. This is so cool, it documents the current stamp issues from the USPS. There were so many things I love in the magazine. I think I have to live in the US so I can get everything I want! heheh. Here are some photos of stamps I'm lusting after (Lynn, please don't read this!! The comic stamps were enough and I appreciate the THREE stamps you put on that one postcard! LOL)

Animated Rescue: Adopt A Shelter Pet
stamp issued April 30, 2010 by USPS

USPS wedding stamps and Celebrate! stamp
issued January 5, 2009 and
October 6, 2009

American Design series
USA stamps issued 2002-2007

Jazz (Forever) Digital Color Postmark
issued March 26, 2011

Hawaiian Rain Forest USPS stamps,
12th and last in Nature of America stamp series

Abstract expressionists commemorative stamps
issued March 11, 2010 by USPS

Those Hawaiian rainforest stamps above are fantastic. There are 10 stamps in that one pane! Hi res to look for them all.

I like these abstract expressionist ones on the left, too. There are stamps of art by artists including Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning.

Look, I actually got a few of the stamps I was gawking at on the Missouri map postcard! (thanks again, Lynn!) and another package I received last week from a swap. Read about it in this post.


The best thing about blogging is the great people I've met. I'm so grateful for the support and friendship my blog buddies have given me in the last few months. I'm quite an inquisitive person and have lots of interests (I often flit from one thing to another although I'm more often toggling between several things - that's how I missed Kate and William's first - and second - kiss on the balcony, because I was reading blogs on my reader and talking at the same time!) and since I started this blog, my already huge list of likes, interests and activities have kept growing. I never would have thought I'd be exchanging postcards with new friends and strangers via swaps and Postcrossing, reading writing/writers' blogs and writing my own book blurbs, interviewing photographers and artists, watching quilting video tutorials, admiring tablescapes and pink, playing with fonts, tweeting, sharing likes and discoveries here and elsewhere, or that I'd actually know what " base target="_blank " means.

I could go on, but I've probably bored you already. Just wanted to say thanks for reading, following and commenting. I especially love feedback, so please drop me a line or push my buttons. Heheh, I'm referring to the social media buttons I've introduced in my blog. You can now tweet my posts, share them on Facebook, like me on Facebook or add me. It's getting a little crazy here but I wanted to build some other options for interactivity. Please go ahead and ignore the buttons if it's getting too much for you too. lol

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http://www.jacksonpollock.com/



by liberal sprinkles

postcards, snail mail and Google Books

I love snail mail. In the last month, I've received postcards from the US, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Holland, Malaysia, Switzerland and Bulgaria. Thank you, Postcrossing! Now I get postcards from random people around the world and not just bills in my mailbox, yay. If you want to know how Postcrossing works, please visit the Postcrossing website or read an earlier post I wrote about it: Postcrossing and Bookcrossing.

If you're a follower and would like to exchange postcards and other snail mail with me, please leave me a comment!

I am swapping cards with my blog friend Lynn, who blogs at Present Letters. This is the first postcard I received from her.

postcard of Gateway Memorial Arch in St Louis
The 630 feet (192 meter) tall Gateway Memorial Arch symbolizes St Louis' role as the
gateway to the West during the westward expansion of the USA in the 19th century.

I wrote about the card and the Arch at my postcard blog here if you'd like to read more about it. I always include lots of facts in my posts at Postcard Love, as well as any links I have with the places or things the postcards show, and sometimes what they remind me of.

I decided to post about Lynn's card at  liberal sprinkles  as well because I used a beauty of a resource while researching the Arch and wanted to write about it here at my main blog. I found this interesting article from 1964 : Tallest U.S. Monument (Popular Science, April 1964, page 91) via Google Books. It talks about the construction of the Gateway Arch and has a nice infographic on how its tram takes you all the way up to the top (I love infographics!).

I have to admit I scrolled through the whole magazine (thank you Google Books!!), I love vintage stuff so the magazine design, layout, ads all fascinate me, not to mention the articles. Here's a sampling:

* On page 29 you can see a 1964 Harley-Davidson;
* page 36 has an ad for the new Sony 3-head stereo deck (hey, must have been revolutionary in its days!);
* write-ups and ads on pyramid plans (scams?), job advice, mail order business;
* an article on US supersonic airplane designs (page 67), which I guess never went on to be developed. The Anglo-French Concorde is mentioned, which was first flown in 1969 and went into service in 1976. The Concorde doesn't fly anymore of course. Its business and reputation never quite recovered after a dramatic crash in France on July 25, 2000 that killed everyone on board and four on the ground. It made its last commercial flight in May 2003.
* How a Chevy Chevrolet ended up at the pinnacle of Utah's Castle rock near Moah. That's 1,500 feet above ground, no roads! (page 89)
* How to prefab a home for less than $1,000 in 1964 dollars! (page 100)
* The worst pet in the world (look at page 124 to find out what it is!)
* (from page 144) projects on building stilts, desk, bench, bar, sun canopy etc etc
* (page 168) a drum that allows color processing in 8 minutes (that's one more for the time capsule!)

hehehh you can see I'm a facts and news junkie. And that was not bad at all for an issue that's nearly 50 years old! And great value for money: I paid all of ... $0!! That 1964 issue of Popular Science is available at both Google Books and the magazine's website. At PopSci.com/archives, you can search Popular Science's 138-year archive, and read articles and back issues free.

You can read a lot of stuff for free at Google Book Search. You can get access to books and the back issues (some more recent than others) of a bunch of other magazines like these:

Liberty magazine via Google Books

Life magazine via Google Books

Los Angeles magazine via Google Books

New York magazine, via Google Books

This was actually only the first part of a much longer post about Google Books, copyright and plagiarism but I haven't had time to finish it and then I got another postcard and package from Lynn today!! So I thought I'd better post this first, I'll write about the other stuff separately and include photos of what Lynn sent me as well next time.



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by liberal sprinkles

Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap

the envelope before it was stamped

my great big stitched postcard!

yay my postcard has arrived in North Carolina. I made this for my swap partner in the Great Big Stitched Postcard Swap organised by Beth of Do What You Love. It was my first time stitching a card and sewing on paper. I used vintage fabric I'd bought on Etsy for the background and that cute Lecien stamp fabric I saw in a craft shop when I wasn't supposed to be adding anymore fabric to my stash. I couldn't resist!  I thought it was perfect for a postcard swap. I added some embellishments: embroidered seed beads and buttons. For the envelope, I looked up the address online and printed the map, making sure I could fold it so I could point the address label to the town it was to go to :)

the back

This is the back of the card, all paper. The theme of the swap was "love" and I used a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian independence leader who advocated non-violence and peaceful resistance in the struggle against British rule:

Where there is love, there is life.

So true, don't you think? The card was sent to Antoinette Vogt. I have to say I felt a bit intimidated when I found out who get my card. Antoinette is an artist! WOW! You can see her lovely works at her Facebook page, I especially love the tree series.

Take a look at the Great Big Stitched Postcard's Flickr page to see the other gorgeous creations made for the swap. I've yet to receive mine, will post about it when I do.

I searched the Internet for love quotes when I was making the card. I wanted something that had universal appeal, signified friendship and would be an inspiration to me. I often stumble my way through life, I don't always succeed in making love rather than war, but I like to think I'll always keep trying to see, feel and share love in my life. There are some of the quotes that I liked best.

"Love is shown in your deeds, not in your words."
Father Jerome Cummings

"Love never claims, it ever gives; love never suffers, never resents, never revenges itself.
Where there is love there is life; hatred leads to destruction."
Mahatma Gandhi

"There is only one happiness in life - to love and to be loved."
George Sand

"Hate the sin and love the sinner."
Mahatma Gandi
(this is a tough one!)

"Love opens the door that hate created."
anonymous

"Come live in my heart, and pay no rent."
Samuel Lover
(I do so love this one...)

"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."
Mother Teresa

"Paradise is always where love dwells."
Jean Richter

"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
1 Corinthians, The Bible

"Love is the voice under all silences,
the hope which has no opposite in fear;
the strength so strong mere force is feebleness:
the truth more first than sun, more last than star."
E. E. Cummings
{ e.e. cummings poems }

"Love is a dream that comes alive when we meet."
Unknown

Do you have a favorite love quote? Drop me a line :)

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by liberal sprinkles

Postcard Love

I started a new blog! If you like postcards, please visit me at Postcard Love. The blog's very raw at the moment, I will dress it up soon. I will be posting photos of postcards I receive from around the world via Postcrossing, and once I get more organized, postcards from my collection as well.

Postcrossing is a website that allows you to send and receive postcards from people from other countries. I got tired of seeing only bills in my mail so I joined last month when I read about it. I wrote a post about my postcard love and Postcrossing in February. If you're interested, please check out postcrossing & bookcrossing ~ liberal sprinkles.

I received my first two postcards from fellow Postcrossers this week.

postcard from US

a recipe for beignets.
nice!

I've always wanted to visit New Orleans (not got the chance yet!),
now I get to try some typical N'awlins food ... if I succeed.

postcard from Berlin

'












This brings back happy memories. I spent two months in Berlin in the 90s.

Loved the architecture of East Berlin
loved the museums
loved the ice cream at Kempinski
loved the ethnic diversity of Kreutzberg where I stayed
loved the fries with mayonnaise
loved the currywurst
loved Tacheles ...

loved loved loved










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by liberal sprinkles

postcrossing 1 & bookcrossing

this is about 5% of my postcard collection

this is maybe a quarter, many still in the
paper bags/envelopes shops in europe
put them in, cos i love those too :)

i love postcards. i started collecting when i was a kid. i would ask everyone i knew to send me cards from anywhere in the world they were in or happened to be visiting, and to please put a nice stamp on them of course. it was my way of traveling the world from my home. my favorites then were cards showing me places, buildings, peoples and cultures that i didn't have a chance to see with my own eyes. as i got older and took off on my own travels, my postcard collection grew to include cards on art, cute things, weird things and just stuff. i don't know how many cards i had but it was A LOT.

three years ago, i trimmed down my postcard collection when i was moving house. i threw out (a harsh term for a harsh action taken very reluctantly) hundreds of cards. some went to the salvation army, others to friends and more into the trash bin. i regret it now but i needed to do major spring cleaning as i was (and still am) a terrible hoarder. loads of stuff just had to go, including my complete stamp and bus ticket collections (boy, do i miss them too!).

i adore this postcard! in the middle of the photos
in a little plastic box is a model of a  trabant,
the iconic East German car. lots of cute
trabant photos here and more trabant photos from google
 

 but isn't life a cycle? in the past few days, i've kept coming across things about postcards. two i really liked. i joined the great big stitched postcard swap and the postcrossing project, which i learned about from a post on viridian's blog. it allows you to send and receive snail mail postcards to and from people around the world. the site generates postcrossers' addresses randomly for you to send your postcards to. you get postcards back the same way. you can also request direct swaps. you get to set up a photo gallery on the postcrossing site of your sent/received cards, which can be then be viewed by other members. it's free to join.


i'll post later about my postcrossing cards and more photos from my postcard collection. there are also a couple more photos at the bottom of this post.



postcrossing's a bit like bookcrossing. if you have a book that you don't want anymore, why not share it with others?

bookcrossing how to:
1. once you've signed up (free) at the bookcrossing site, you register your book and get a bookcrossing ID (BCID) for it.

2. then label it on the book (you can download free labels or create your own or order some) and the fun part...

3. ...share it. this you can do in whatever way you wish: just pass your book on to someone you know, set up or join bookcrossing exchange groups, create a wishlist, etc etc, or best, release it into the wild. "release" your book anywhere you like - i've left mine in the toilet, at work, in an airport, at the bus stop and on a train - so it can hopefully be "caught" by someone who would like to read it. this person will hopefully look up the BCID on the bookcrossing site and report that it's been caught, and then continue the book's adventures by releasing it when he's done reading it. if all works out well, you can follow your books' journey, see where it's ended up in, who's read/reading it.

i gave away some books the bookcrossing way when i moved to my new home. some of them saw a little bit of the world, others disappeared. i haven't used this for a while, maybe it's time to start again and continue the cycle?


more from my postcard collection:

postcard from prague

postcard from prague

i have a few arty postcards bought during a visit to prague in the late 90s. i love the kafka one,
it looks just like a book cover! the artist is Czech Jiří Votruba. i checked out his website. 
he has indeed done book covers. i love the illustrations for the Opera for Children series. a snapshot here. 

illustrations for Opera for Children book via Jiří Votruba

back to my postcard collection

this is one of my more unusual postcards. it's pop-up card, you can see better in the second photo

postcard from italy

postcard from italy

i had a love affair with italy for many years so i have tonnes of italian postcards. the one on the left is a social commentary postcard with caricatures of italian politicians in the 1990s. i see romano prodi  (top left accademico = academic) who was prime minister twice and later european commission president, and giulio andreotti (rachitico = rickety, the hunchback 2nd from right in 1st row), who was very much the kingmaker for 2-3 decades, and has been linked to corruption, murder and is said to have given a "kiss of honour" to toto riina, the godfather who was later arrested and jailed for life. the other characters are identified in sometimes derogatory terms (including phallic, psychopathic, vandal).

the postcard on the right plays on the word "fotografo" (photographer). among the characters: feto (foetus, pregnant), frato (priest), amatore (lover), furto (robber).


theme postcards are a favorite. here are some:

postcard on delft china

postcard on italian windows

booze postcard

thanks for reading! i'll be writing more postcard posts...
[ edited later:  I now have a postcard blog where I document the cards I get via Postcrossing. I usually write write some info on what's on the card and any links I have with them. Please visit me at Postcard Love! ]

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by liberal sprinkles