Postcrossing Blog

Ever wanted to send someone a whale? A bear? Or perhaps a big cuddly moose? We all know how impractical that can be… and don’t even get me started on customs and security!

So I was very relieved the other day when I found out about Green Banana Cards – the perfect postcard solution for the hassle of shipping big animals!

Cute, right? :)

Virginie St-Jean is the designer behind Green Banana Cards project. She started in 2008 with the Mail a Moose design as a greeting card… but eventually realized there was a much higher demand for postcards! So she switched to the postcard format, and has been steadily introducing new animals to her collection since then. You can send 14 different animals across the world! :)

How did you get started doing stationery design?

I love everything that has to do with printed art. However, since it’s an art that’s been declining in popularity with the general public, I thought the best way to go about it was to create something out of the ordinary, so that even people who might not usually buy postcards would be tempted because of the novelty factor.

Where do you find your inspiration?

I have always loved drawing animals, and after spending some time in the Yukon, I was trying to think of a product that I could sell there. That’s how I thought of creating the Mail a Moose design. Most of my designs are iconic Canadian animals, but I’m also inspired by animals that tourists in other countries might be interested in mailing back home. I printed southern US animals like a gator and a manatee recently, and I plan to introduce an Australian animal collection by next summer. I also regularly work on custom orders, such as a Guernsey Cow for the Island of Guernsey, UK and a T-Rex and Mammoth for Canadian Museums.

What is your favourite item in your shop (and why)?

The Mail a Moose postcard is my favourite because it started it all, and because “Mail a Moose” is fun to say!

If you could define your style in 3 words, what would they be?

Lighthearted, colorful, cheery

Are you a letter/postcard writer yourself?

Yes, I think everyone likes receiving something fun in the mail since it rarely happens anymore. When traveling, I really enjoy finding special cards to send back home. I also occasionally frame interesting graphic cards for home decor when I find the right ones.

Virginie kindly offered 5 packs of her wonderful postcards to give away – each pack features the complete collection of 14 different animals! :D For a chance to win a pack, visit Green Banana Cards' page, and leave a comment below, telling us which one was your favourite animal. We’ll randomly pick 5 winners this time next Saturday. Good luck!

Postcards are inherently fun. Buying them, sending them, receiving them, and collecting them are all happy events in their lifecycle. But what if you could add another step to the whole process? Like interacting with them! Here are several types of puzzle and game postcards that make receiving one in the mail twice the fun!

Build your own…

How would you like to have your own little desktop version of a car, a famous building or animal? The possibilities are endless! Check out this amazing Flickr gallery for some examples.

Crosswords

An internationally beloved hobby, solving crossword puzzles is a stimulating way to pass the time. Postcard puzzles have been around for awhile, although modern day versions can be tricky to find…

If you have some time though, you can always try to make your own, and test the recipient’s knowledge of your country or city with a fun challenge! :)

Find the…

There is a special category of cards, in which you have to find a specific object or character… Some examples are the “Where’s Waldo (or Wally)?” set, or Lali cards! They’re fun and challenging… and definitely not just for kids!

Cutout models

A great way to send a greeting to someone who loves flags is by sending them a flag-shaped postcard!

Likewise, there are cutout model postcards for almost all modes of transportation, food, sculptures, animals, everyday objects, toys, not to mention famous global landmarks or gotochi cards!

Jigsaws

The first jigsaw puzzle postcards were seen in the early 1900’s. The recipient tore along a perforated edge of the card to remove a jigsaw made from light cardboard. Printed score sheets were included in a pack of six, intended to be used at “Progressive Puzzle Parties” by players who were to record the time it took to complete one puzzle.

Nowadays you can find jigsaw puzzles of all types, even postcards that reveal a message under the pieces of the puzzle!

Do you know of any other types of interactive postcards? Do share in the comments!

Do you ever idly browse the internet looking for stationery? I know I do… a lot! On one of these research sessions, I ended up in MissiveMaven’s lovely Etsy shop, filled with vintage-inspired paper goods… I was instantly hooked!

Ilona (aka Missivemaven) has been running her shop since January 2011. She uses very old photos or designs that are in the public domain, giving them new life in the form of postcards, notecards and stickers. We were curious about the process and inspiration behind her stationery, and decided to interview her for the blog!

How did you get started doing stationery design?

I have been addicted to stationery since I was a small child. Letter-writing has always been a part of my life, pretty much since I learned how to hold a pencil, and friends and family were great about encouraging that pursuit by giving me gifts of stationery. (Also, my mother forced me to write thank-you notes – an excellent habit to foster!) So, being a stationery addict, I’m always on the lookout for fun items. After I started my letter-writing blog, MissiveMaven.com, in 2008, my list of pen pals and postcard correspondents went through the roof… so I had an excuse (sort of?) to collect even more stationery to further my postal pursuits. I often searched for letter-writing and mail-related postcards on Etsy. I had an idea of what I wanted in my head, and was disappointed when I couldn’t find it… and then I thought, why not design it myself?

Where do you find your inspiration?

I am very inspired by all the mail I receive, and all my wonderful pen pals. I’m also really into “modernized” vintage graphics, so the vintage graphics themselves are a source of inspiration, too.

What is your favourite item in your shop (and why)?

Oh dear. I find that question so hard to answer, because how can I pick just one? If I must pick, I am very fond of the Classic American Postman design, which I offer in postcards, notecards, and sticker seals. With his arms brimming full of packages and letters, he looks so cheery, and his posture of holding out a letter to you seems so full of hope. (Can you tell what a postal mail addict I am?)

If you could define your style in 3 words, what would they be?

Classic, epistolary, nostalgic.

Are you a letter/postcard writer yourself?

Voraciously so. It is my greatest, favorite hobby. I’ve been Postcrossing for more than 7 years, I’m a proud member of the Letter Writers Alliance and I write hundreds of letters and postcards each year to friends, family, and pen pals.

Can you show us a picture of your studio or workspace?

Thank you Ilona!

You can find Ilona’s postcards, greeting cards and other products at missivemaven.etsy.com. Don’t forget to check out Missive Maven’s blog as well ! :)

Sometime ago we had the pleasure to chat with Anke Weckmann, illustrator extraordinaire. She hails from a little town near Hannover, but moved to the UK in 2001 to study illustration in Camberwell College of Art and Kingston University. Since then, she has been working as a freelance illustrator in London, and her work has been featured all kinds of products, from magazines to makeup packaging, wallets to water bottles… and of course, stationery!

Anke’s quirky style features charming big headed characters and lots of nature elements. She tells us that her illustrations are drawn in ink/black pen on paper and usually coloured digitally… but where does she draw inspiration from? Read her answers to our interview below to find out!

How did you get started doing stationery design?

I’ve been commissioned to do greeting cards, postcards, files, mouse mats, notebooks, stickers etc through various companies. This is how a lot of stationery products ended up in my online shop.The only things I produced/printed myself are small notepads and greeting cards.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Inspiration can come from anywhere and everywhere. I’m not always sure where it comes from. Generally I’m very interested in shapes and colour pallettes. At the moment I’m very interested in tribes, vegetables and silence.

If you could define your style in 3 words, what would they be?

Shapes, Colours, Characters

Are you a letter/postcard writer yourself?

I used to be! When I was about 11 I had more than ten penpals and for a long time I was always writing letters and cards. Now I rarely write anymore, which is sad! But it’s mostly because my hand and arm get very tired from drawing for long hours, so I try to rest it whenever I can. I still love getting mail though. And I quite enjoy packing my shop orders and including little cards and such.

Can you show us a picture of your studio or workspace?

Thank you Anke!

You can find Anke’s postcards, greeting cards and other products at ankeweckmann.etsy.com, or through Red Cap Cards. Don’t forget to check out Anke’s blog – we’re especially fond of her Learning French illustration series! :)

Earlier in December last year, me, Paulo and a couple other postcrossers were invited on a special mission. We brought the Little Mail Carriers' cousin along for the ride, and he wrote this lively report:

Hallo from cold and snowy Lübeck, once capital of the Hanseatic league! You might have thought the reason we came all this way was to tour its UNESCO worthy architecture or try their worldwide famous marzipan… but you’d be wrong! We visited Lübeck because Schöning Verlag, one of Germany’s top makers of touristic postcards, has a factory here, and invited us to come see how postcards are made! Isn’t that exciting?!

Turns out, Bernd and Jana, two of Schöning’s employees (and our hosts in this visit), discovered Postcrossing not so long ago, and embraced it wholeheartedly! Look at the wall of postcards they’ve set up in their office:

Neat hum? How nice it must be, to do Postcrossing when you have literally thousands of postcards to chose from! :D

But how are they made? We’ve learnt that there are many steps involved in the process… and huge machinery!

Before printing, postcards must be designed, and Schöning has a team of designers in house to cover that task. Something we’ve discovered on our visit, is that a specific postcard is never printed by itself, but as a part of set postcards currently in demand. A technician groups these postcards together in a large sheet, and checks it for mistakes. After that, the fun begins!

Here is a picture of Paulo, holding an aluminium printing plate – you can see the outline of what they’re currently printing in there! Schöning has to make several of these plates for each set of postcards, one plate for each colour that their big machine prints in… here it is, the Heidelberg Speedmaster!

It is huge, filling up a whole section of their warehosue, and paper flashes through its several colour sections at an incredible speed! The sheets are constantly checked and adjusted, so that the colors have the right brightness and contrast every time. Then, they are fed to another machine, which gives them a shiny coating. Again, sheets whoosh past so fast that if you blink, you’ll miss them!

In the end, a technician cuts the individual postcards using a very sofisticated (and scary) cutting machine, and they’re wrapped in sets, which are then stored in Schöning’s huge warehouse. It was postcard-heaven!

They also have neat old machines, like this Heidelberg press, which at the time was being used to cut out heart-shapes on some postcards – cute!

In the end, there was still time to tour Lübeck’s Unesco historical center and drink some glühwein in the Christmas market with friendly postcrossers turtles and mondkind, who took the time to show us around.

And of course, no visit to Lübeck would ever be complete without a trip to Niederegger, the famous marzipan manufacturers! Delicious!

Coming back at the end of the day, we were all exhausted, but incredibly happy, and felt like we learned a lot in this exciting trip. Thank you Schöning for inviting us, and showing us the ropes! :)

PS – Schöning Verlag offered Postcrossing an advertising opportunity on their paperbags, and we’re asking members to vote on a design to print. Check out this forum thread for more information, and to cast your vote!