22 Tuesday Nov 2011
Posted in 50-states, incoming, private swaps
My ninth and tenth state map cards came today. They are New Jersey and Washington:
And as an added bonus, the Washington card came with a new stamp!
That means 40 more states to go!
19 Saturday Nov 2011
Posted in incoming, private swaps, Stamps, UNESCO World Heritage
Tags
The Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump in Alberta, Canada, is a cliff where indigenous Americans used to drive buffalo. They would fall off the cliff and, presumably, make the hunting easier. Glenn, of the very cool Gem’s World Postcards blog, who sent this card, has been to the site a couple of times. It may not be the most exotic World Heritage Site, but it does double my collection (I’m up to 2 now!)
And he used a stamp showing the new royal couple:
Thanks, Glenn!
19 Saturday Nov 2011
Posted in incoming, postcrossing, Stamps
19 Saturday Nov 2011
Tags
I have another state to completely fill in on the map: Ohio! The Buckeye State. I received both a map card and a view card from Ohio today, from two completely different swap-bot users.
The map comes from pandascout, who sent this card as a bonus! She just couldn’t abide my lack of a map card from her state. Thanks!
The viewcard comes from kevsbabe for the Doodle an Animal swap.
Ohio is the third state that I have both a map card and a view card from. I’d better get to swapping!
19 Saturday Nov 2011
Posted in 50-states, incoming, private swaps, swap-bot
Tags
Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, maps, North America, North Carolina, United States
I’ve been receiving new state map cards faster than I can scan and post about them. Here are the most recent additions to my project:
from postcrossing user timnval
from swap-bot user RetroJane
from postcrossing user DeeDeeQ5724
from postcrossing user catlady72
With today’s mail, I have only 42 more states to collect map cards from!
19 Saturday Nov 2011
For a while I was only getting official cards from the USA, which is great, but sometimes you want a card from someplace a bit more… exotic. Well, on Friday I got two cards from out of the country!
This card comes from the Netherlands and shows a painting by Fernando Botero.
This card comes from Russia. The photo is by Sergey Kuranov.
The stamps on both of these cards were awesome:
Another Postcrossing stamp from the Netherlands.
A great assortment of stamps from Russia.
18 Friday Nov 2011
Tags
art, California, Czech Republic, Europe, maps, nature, North America, Oregon, Texas, United States
Yesterday I posted about a new-to-me postcard swapping site called Walltype. I’ve received four cards from users on the site and I’d like to share them:
This first one comes from the Czech Republic. The photographs are of the sender’s home town, and they’re her photographs!
This card, from California, is also a photograph taken by the sender. Walltypers are a creative bunch it seems!
This Josh Agle postcard comes all the way from Portland, OR.
And this Texas map card (my second) comes from Houston.
I’m pretty pleased with Walltype so far, so I’ll definitely be signing up to send more postcards (and therefore receive!)
Oh, but I can’t forget to show the stamps:
17 Thursday Nov 2011
Posted in reviews
In addition to Postcrossing, swap-bot, and private swaps, there are lots of other internet resources for sending and receiving mail. One that is new to me is called Walltype. It works similar to Postcrossing, in that it is devoted exclusively to postcards, and works on a similar send-to-receive basis, but it is much simpler and based on the honor system.
Basically, you sign up and enter in your address. You can request an address to send a postcard to, and select a category (e.g. lighthouses, maps, or animals) that relates to the card you’re sending, and then you write out and send a card. Your name is immediately put on the list to receive a card as soon as you draw an address. This is nice because unlike Postcrossing, you don’t have to wait for your card to arrive, then for your name to be drawn, and for a card to return to you. However, because it is on the honor system, it does increase the possibility that someone might be dishonorable and not send you a card.
So far, I’ve sent four cards and received three back. They have all been pretty nice cards. Handmade cards seem to be pretty popular, but the handmade cards I have received have both been very nicely printed photographs that people have taken.
Walltype will probably not become my main postcard exchanging source because there isn’t the accountability that there is with swap-bot or Postcrossing. However, it makes up for it in convenience and speed of return. Since your address comes up for selection more quickly than in Postcrossing, and you don’t have to wait for a swap, you don’t have as long to wait for your cards. And since you can send as many cards as you want at one time, if you’re feeling bored or productive one day, you could presumably mail dozens of cards. It’s a good fix for when you’re itching to send some cards, but your Postcrossing sent cards are all used up and there aren’t any current swap-bot swaps.
Have you tried Walltype? What was your experience? Are there similar postcard swapping sites you want to share? Let me know in the comments!
16 Wednesday Nov 2011
Posted in incoming, private swaps
I received this postcard from Pittsburgh, PA, yesterday, from Postmuse, as a thank-you for returning the cards for the Orphaned Postcard Project. You can read about the cards I adopted here.
It’s a view of the South Side neighborhood, with downtown in the background.
Since I’m originally from Pennsylvania, I’ve been to Pittsburgh many times. The last time was in the summer of 2010. I got to hang out with my sister, and we had ‘mind-blowing’ Indian food at this restaurant that obviously used to be a Dunkin’ Donuts. It was the least impressive looking restaurant I’ve ever seen, but the food was fantastic! I hope to go back to Pittsburgh, not only for the Indian food, but because they have a huge store that sells kawaii stationery and other cuteness.
15 Tuesday Nov 2011
I received this card for the Real Vintage Postcards swap on swap-bot. It comes from fellow Portlander, swap coordinator, and person-I-know-in-real-life, LeSillyMe. It’s a perfectly kitschy card:
This card shows the South of the Border tourist attraction, which is not near Mexico, but rather on the border of North and South Carolina. Nevertheless, the “Acapulco Room” provides an “enchanting atmosphere for your relaxed suppertime.” As far as I know, this attraction is still running even today. Maybe if I am ever down in the Carolinas, I will check it out!
