We found Màiri (aka mairigold) through a charming owl-themed postcard exhibition she prepared for a museum in Scotland — and couldn’t wait to learn more! A lifelong postcard enthusiast, she finds joy in sharing postcards, decorating them… and even building tiny snowpeople on her red postbox! 😍
- How did you get started sending postcards? What is your earliest memory of them?
-
This postcard was one of my most precious treasures as a child. I still like it now! Those 3D fairytale postcards seemed magical to me and I think that must have been what got me interested in postcards.
- How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?
-
I heard about Postcrossing quite by chance in 2011 when it was mentioned in passing in an online interview. I signed up immediately! Until then I had never met anyone else that liked postcards as much as I did… suddenly a whole world of fellow postcard afficionados opened up to me!
- Show and tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.
-
Impossible to choose!
However, 18 August 2012 was a good Postcrossing day for me! These two beautiful postcards arrived together from China – one was drawn by Scarelt as a thank you for GB-339961 and the other (CN-627070) was sent by DogDadRory.
- Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!
-
I am lucky to have this red postbox just outside my door. This is where I post my postcards. When it snows I build a wee snowperson on the top!
I keep some of my postcards in these mango boxes!
- What is it your favorite part of the Postcrossing process?
-
What I love is choosing the postcards to send. It is great when I have one that appears in someone’s favourites wishlist! I like choosing the stamps to use and writing and decorating the postcard too. I have a LOT of stickers and washi tapes as well as postcards.
- Have you been surprised by any place that you have received a postcard from or sent a postcard to?
-
I received a postcard from Fiji which has only 17 postcrossers – quite an unusual postcard entitled “evoking spirits with a shaman’s drum”. And I sent a postcard – a map of Scotland – to a “country” I had never heard of: Saint Pierre & Miquelon, which is a French archipelago located near Canada.
- Do you have any other interesting hobbies or collections?
-
I have a small collection of knitted or crocheted toys, which includes a wee crochet tea set and a vase of flowers, a wee knitted doll, two owls and a stripy cat.
I also have growing collection of fancy matchboxes too.
- Have you inspired anyone else to join Postcrossing or start collections of their own?
-
I work in an art gallery and recently had a wee exhibition of (some of) my owl postcard collection in its sister museum: The Auld Kirk Museum in Kirkintilloch, Scotland.
Several of my colleagues share an enthusiasm for postcards and have now become Postcrossers too!