Postcrossing Blog

It’s Autumn in the north hemisphere, and trees all around us are putting on their most beautiful display of the year. It’s impossible not to notice all the vibrant reds, yellows and browns of fallen leaves, practically begging to be brought in and turned into something special. So when we stumbled on Beemo’s (aka wild_grazer) stylish postcards on Reddit, we asked her if she would like to write a short tutorial for the community. Here she is, with a step-by-step guide, inviting you to turn the surrounding magic into unique postcards!

First of all, it is time to go outside and collect some leaves. They should have some veins and have an interesting shape, as these are the main things that will create an interesting print. It doesn’t matter if the leaf is a bit dried out as you can soak it in some water for about 5 minutes and it will be soft again. Just make sure it is not broken. Clean the leaves and pat them dry.

You don’t need any fancy tools for this tutorial. You can use whatever you have available. You can use a pencil to make some guides so you know where to exactly put the leaf. I just put a little dot in the middle.

Apply a thin layer of paint on the leaf on the side with the veins, using a sponge brush or even a normal sponge. I used linocut printing ink, but acrylic or gouache probably works just fine. Make sure to execute this step and the next ones quickly as otherwise the paint will dry out.

You could add a little bit of water to your paint. This will create more of a watercolour effect. Without the water the print will be more refined. You can experiment with the amount of water and amount of paint that you apply for varying effects.

Turn over the leaf and place it on your card. Try to place it down without moving it as this will create stains.

Cover the leaf with a sheet of paper that fully covers the leaf and press it down/rub firmly. Normal printing paper would be too thin for this step, try to use paper of about 150–250gsm. You can also use a sheet of rubber such as for linocutting, which is what I did.

Remove the covering paper or rubber and leaf and let the card dry. The last step is to decorate the back however you want. And you’re done!

Et voilà! I hope this inspires some of you to go out there and appreciate the beauty of this time of the year. There are not many deciduous trees where I live, so I’m planning to give it a try with herbs from the garden, perhaps using light ink on dark paper. If you decide to give it a try, come share your results on the handmade postcards and mail art forum topic!

Some time ago, Ana chose a number of the handmade cards from the forum to highlight on the blog. That forum topic is still going strong (do share your own handmade cards there too!) — and now it’s my turn to choose some of the gorgeous creations to share.

Let’s start off with a smile! These animals with googly eyes from Caro (aka Pigglet) really made me smile. Especially the sheep, with the mismatched eyes!

These lovely images introduced me to the concept of etegami, a Japanese art form which involves the combination of words and images to create a simple postcard. Etegami isn’t about creating the most beautiful or skilled picture, but about expressing yourself. These examples were made by Hikari (aka hikarin).

In the previous post, we’ve shown off some of the collage postcards people make. These ones made from a fashion catalogue by Nadja (aka Nadjafee) grabbed my eye — there’s a fairytale waiting to be told here, I think!

Öne (aka Radieschen)'s collages caught my attention right away as well: so much texture and colour!

We always really love to see unusual postcards decorated with different kinds of crafts, and here’s a lovely one decorated with batik fabric and crochet! It was made by Giffen (aka cutetaiki), from Indonesia. I do crochet myself, and can just imagine how interesting this is to the touch as well.

Since I just mentioned a card that should be interesting to the touch as well, this one’s something that engages other senses too: Tamara (aka tamara84) created a postcard by creating a sticker from a cross-stitched image, and then added a little lavender oil so that the card is scented as well!

Olga (aka OlgaMartik)'s beautiful embroidery sailboat had me wondering where exactly it’s going, and I really liked those wave effects!

Since we’re speaking of embroidery, here are some that really made the team smile. Ksenia (aka Xute) took up the needle… but found it less relaxing than hoped.

Inspired by Ksenia’s example, Ana (aka meiadeleite) has given it a try as well!

Turning to other crafts, Hanna (aka _Hawkwind_) invited everyone to guess about the owner of this striking silhouette… I think I know, do you?

Tatyana (aka Tatyana-Levina) has done some lovely (and personal) drawings for postcards, which I just couldn’t resist sharing as well.

I loved the idea of using maps to make postcards, so Christa (aka Chrizzie)'s globes are a favourite. It’s a really effective look!

And that’s a lovely note to end on… so let’s let all our adventures begin! And if you make your own postcards, we’d all love to see them.

Annie (aka freezeframe03) is back with another great DIY tutorial, this time featuring paper postcards! She’s made dozens of beautiful papercrafted postcards over the years, and is here to guide you on how to make the postcard below. Enjoy!

The most important thing in making a papercrafted postcard is to make sure it is sturdy and nothing added to it will come loose in the mail.

I began with a 4”×6” (10×15cm) piece of 70lb (114 g/m²) sketch/drawing papers. I sprayed them with Distress Oxide Spray then sprayed one of them again through a stencil. I chose the one on the right to work with this time.

Next, I’ve rubber stamped the words with a waterproof archival ink, and toned down the brightness of the background paint by rubbing the ink over it lightly and darkened the edges.

I’ve used cutting dies to cut flowers and leaves from the same 70lb sketch/drawing paper. You can also cut these by hand, if you’d like, using your drawings or a template you’ve downloaded.

I’ve painted them with watercolors. (Sometimes you just have to hope your mail won’t get rained on.)

Before gluing the flowers to the postcard, I splattered thinned black acrylic paint to the background. I use a spray glue to adhere the flowers and leaves to the background. I then press them down firmly with a brayer. When dry, if there are any loose edges, I use a fine tip glue to get underneath the loose area and glue it down firmly.

When my postcard front is finished, I glue it to a heavier paper (this Canson XL paper is 98lb, or 160 g/m²). I glue it to a piece larger than my postcard then trim around the postcard. Set the postcard under a flat weight so that it dries flat. Check the edges to make sure they are one. Any loose edges can be glued with a fine tip glue. If you don’t have a fine tip for your glue, put some on a toothpick to smear where needed.

It is now a sturdy piece of art that will travel through the mail easily and not get caught in any of the postal machines.

Art can sometimes leave the finished piece warped and even messy on the back. Working on one paper to create your art then adhering it to a clean paper will help to flatten the piece and you don’t have to worry about a messy backside.

The back can be decorated also, just like any other postcard.

Within the United States, a papercrafted postcard can be mailed at the regular postcard rate (unless you’ve added something that will make in non-machinable — in that case, extra postage is needed.

There are so many different ways to make a papercraft art postcard. But as I mentioned previously, make sure it is glued and put together well and that it is sturdy enough to withstand the traveling it will do. Most of my handmade postcards arrive at their destinations as if they were hand delivered.

If you have any questions at all or need some further detailed info, I am more than happy to help out with both.

Thank you Annie, that was brilliant! Check out Annie’s blog for inspiration in all kinds of crafts and art projects, and also this great topic on the forum where postcrossers post their creations.

Remember many moons ago, when we were gearing up for the 150 years of postcards exhibition at UPU? Among the many postcards we received that year was this lovely handmade piece by Annie (aka freezeframe03) from the USA:

Isn’t it just stunning, the way it combines the stamps with fabric, and the binding all around it? 😍 We were in awe of it!

Annie has done many fabric cards over the years and feeling inspired by them, I asked her if she could whip up a mini-tutorial to help me and other newbies get started on making one of them. She agreed, made a postcard just for it and wrote the tutorial below, which I’m happy to share with everyone. Enjoy!

"There are many ways to make a fabric postcard. I’ve made this updated tutorial to show how I make them. They are a lot simpler to make than you might think!

The supplies you will need are as follows:

• Fabric scraps for your postcard front design
• 4”×6” (10×15cm) front base fabric
• 4”×6” (10×15cm) piece of stiff Peltex
• 4”×6” (10×15cm) light to medium weight fusible interfacing
• 4”×6” (10×15cm) piece of paper or card stock (not too thin) for the address and message side
• A bit of transfer webbing, if you decide on a pictorial design (I use the lightweight Wonder Under).

Trace your design on the paper side of the transfer webbing. Loosely cut outside your traced lines. (Your design will be backwards from the way you trace it, so be sure to trace any alphabets backwards to begin with.)

Fuse your traced designs to your fabric choices.

Then cut them out on the lines. Allow the pieces to cool until they will release from the paper easily.

I press my design base fabric to the Peltex. It is not fused, but the layers will stay together better until you begin sewing on them.

Trim the interfacing a smidge before fusing it to one side of your paper. You don’t want any hanging over, it will fuse to your ironing surface. Set the paper message side aside until needed.

With the paper removed from the back of your cutout pieces, arrange them on the base fabric and Peltex where you want them and fuse them to the base fabric. Be sure to leave 3/8” (about 1cm) around all sides as that is the space the binding will cover.

Now you will stitch around your design as desired. You can fuse all of your design at once or you can fuse the pieces as you are ready to sew them.

This method is raw edge appliqué, and it is my favorite to use on postcards. Pull your thread tails to the back on the Peltex side and tie them off.

My next pieces on this postcard I fused the webbing to the back of fabric scraps, then cut them with a cutting die through a cutting machine.

When the papers were ready to release, I fused the flowers where I wanted them on the base fabric. I then stitched the stems and the flowers.

Once you are finished with your postcard design, align the front and back and stitch them together roughly around the very outside edge. This will hold the loose fabric edges in place while adding the binding. It will be covered later by the binding.

Most people will just zigzag (satin stitch) around the outside of their postcard to finish it. You can do that now, or follow my binding method that I show in detail on my blog, step by step. I like my binding method as it finishes the edges as well as giving the design a framing.

The end result will look like this:

To finish it up, I put a very tiny amount of Fray Check (glue also works) on the binding ends to keep them from raveling. Put a bit on, then wipe it with your finger. You don’t want too much, it will make the corners hard.

And, DONE! With a paper backing, adding some extra fun on the address side of the card is simple.

If you have any questions at all or need some further detailed info, I am more than happy to help out with both.

Happy Mail Day!
Annie"

Thank you Annie, that looks amazing… and maybe not even that complicated? I’m planning to gather the materials I need this week, dust off my sewing machine and give it a go with a simple design over the weekend. Who wants to join me in a little crafty session? 😊 Make sure to check out Annie’s blog for tons more creative inspiration and lovely handmade postcards!

One of my favorite topics on the forum is the one where people share their handmade postcards. I’m always in awe of postcrossers’ talents, often marveling at their technique and creativity! Looking through these postcard inspires me to create and try new things myself, and I’m hoping they do to you too… so I’m sharing a few of them here on the blog. Prepare for a colorful avalanche of awesomeness! 😍

The topic was started by Claas (aka Speicher3), back in October last year. Claas does some really witty collages using stamps and other paper materials, and mentions buying hundreds of 0,01€ stamps in France, just for postcard making experiments!

Katia (aka brighteyes) draws different buildings on her walkabouts through a city, and turns them into these beautiful postcards!

Collages are Robin’s (aka MrsPaull) expertise, and they really draw us in — the more we look, the more we discover in them.

Gesa (aka MissMichelsen) has a huge talent for watercolor and uses it to make stunning postcards:

Christine (aka reisegern) sometimes does letterpressed postcards, using vintage plates from a printing museum — how seriously cool is that?!

Another one for the collage team! Mette (aka metlodyt) puts together these lovely pieces with stamps and other paper materials:

Jennemieke mentions doodling this postcard during one of her online meetings, which is such a great idea! How many of us could use something to keep our hands entertained while we listed to someone?

Look at the level of detail in these postcards, illustrated by Rachelle (aka LotsOfOtters)!

haathi from India makes these unexpected postcards, shaped like bearded men — they’re so good!

Mixing different styles together in a collage is Blue’s (aka Blue69) approach, and the results are delightful!

This is a really tiny sample of all the wonderful creations shared and there’s loads more on the forum topic, so do check it out. And if you make your own mailable art, please don’t be shy and come share it with the community.

May we all be so lucky as to find one of these in our mailbox someday! 😍