Pondering about postcards: the 'Pile of Postcards Exchange'

Hi there.

Following on from my post earlier in the week, about misspelling addresses, I thought it was a good time to share the outcome of my participation in the Pile of Postcards Exchange. 

It was the lovely idea of Sian at From High in the Sky to get people writing, by hand, real, papery, postcards sharing a moment from their summer ... then posting them out to 6 others form around the world. And the whole nostalgic activity gave me plenty of food for thought from the very start ...

Where do you find postcards these days?
As I was going to be posting to people from different countries / counties I wanted to send a card that closely represented where I live; so they'd get a true feel for the location.

Now, if you're someone who lives in a little tourist town or big city then you'll probably take for granted postcards with familiar scenes on them but - everyone else - play along with this little experiment ...

If you had to send someone a card depicting where you live ... where would you go to buy one? It's not so easy to answer is it?  The small town where I live isn't a tourist destination and I can't ever recall seeing any postcards of it in the shops I pop into for bread, milk and the Radio Times.

So, next time I was in the city centre I went to the main WHSmith and asked for local postcards ... which they didn't have. So I was directed to the Tourist Information Office [not somewhere you tend to visit when you already know an area is it?!] and there they were.

The cards I sent:
For some reason ... 3 of the designs were freebies, so I took those thankyouverymuch,  and then bought several others featuring arty shots of the Transporter Bridge [a local iconic landmark]:

And then, once I had a set that represented where I live ... I took them away with me and - as is tradition - I wrote and posted the postcards from my holiday!

Ruth, Maria, Serena, Heather, Jen and Jessie - I do hope you all received your bi-location card from me. It's fun to think that a little piece of Teesside made it's way safely through the postal system to cities across Britain as well as all the way to Australia and the USA.

The cards I received:
A big THANK YOU to Karen, Sinead, Cheri, Jane, Jacky, Cate ... and Sian, for these lovelies which dropped through my door this summer:

And then there's this one [at the bottom of this photo] which fits into both the above categories; because ... I both sent it and received it!

 My Dad, who looked after our house while we were away, texted me after finding it on my doormat to tell me I really ought to get out more seeing as how I was resorting to sending myself postcards!

Clearly he was forgetting that I was out ... which is precisely why I needed to send myself a postcard; to document it! ;-)

And here's where I'm storing all mine, in the back of my summertime Junk Journal [more details here].

Further postcard-themed projects:
If, like me, you like the idea of writing postcards to yourself  - to preserve memories - then you might want to hop back to this series of posts last year:

In my '30 Postcards to Myself' project I created, and wrote out, a card for each day of September 2013 ... not that I posted them to myself that time round.

Posting a card to yourself once while away on holiday is fun. Posting one 30 times is ... well, it's close to £19!!

So I just hand delivered them to myself instead ...

-----------------------------

Before I go, I'd like to thank Sian for hosting the 'Pile of Postcards Exchange' and for getting us all to slow down and share a few 'wish you were here' moments with like-minded happy-mail fans from across the globe!

Julie

-----------------------------
p.s: for a whole host of additional postal-themed links visit my Going Postal Pinterest board here.

How'd you like to go a bit postal with me again?

Please note the new end date!

** If you're a company / shop owner / designer maker etc who'd like to sponsor a postal-themed giveaway during the series then do consider getting in touch. Or maybe offer a discount code so all us posty-lovers can treat ourselves to something from your shop.Going Postal for some reason, has always elicited very kind and unbidden offers in the past. I think it must be the idea of getting to send out some 'Happy Mail' that brings out the generous spirits! [That, or like me, you've never got over your love of the Post Office play set you had when you were little!]

And to everyone else ... come in, sit down ...

If you've popped your head around my Facebook page door in recent months you might have heard me trailing the return of my postal-themed series for ... oooh ... well ... for  months now!

And, as I'm of the philosophical school of "promise little: do much" ... it's been eating away at me that I'd said it was going to happen and yet there was no concrete sign of it anywhere. But now there is! And that scratchy / breathy sound you can here is the combination of me crossing a big To Do  from my list while breathing a sigh of relief!
 
If you're new here and you don't know what Going Postal is, let me quickly fill you in on the details ...

• It's a blogging series during which I indulge in my love of things postal related;
• It's craft projects and, in other years: giveaways, stories, photos and ideas;
• It's postage stamps, envelopes, postcards, memories  ...
• It's me posting my ideas ... and other bloggers joining me with their own posty posts!

And, perhaps most importantly ...

• It's starting next Monday! [16th Sept]  

 If you'd like to join me at any point over the coming 6 weeks of postal goodness ...

Here's how you can Go Postal with me:

• Start thinking of a way you can blog your own response the theme;
• Blog a story about a memorable correspondence;
• Blog a photo with a posty tale attached;
• Make something posty related and blog it;
• Think of any other creative way to play along!!

**If you link up to my blog in your own Going Postal post before the end of the series [Oct 27th 2013]

• I'll add it to the Going Postal Pinterest board [which currently has 755 followers ... so it might be a good way to attract some new readers to your site.]

 Right ... I'm going to leave it there for now ... needless to say I've got a lot of posty-preparation to get on with before the series begins.

Any questions, thoughts, ponderings and ramblings ... just let me know either here or on FB and I'll get back to you.

 [Please note: I can't use the direct 'reply' function in the comments - but I will leave a general comment as a reply somewhere under yours!]

See you soon postal lovers.

Julie :-)