A postcard sent to Germany.

Another postcrossing venture! I sent this one to Philip from Germany. He likes anime so I figured that he might know Detective Conan which, by the way, is a great one!

Postcard Collaboration: Postcard # 10 (Wesseling, Germany)

(Read about this collaboration)

Aquitania
Sonnet poetry: D.G. Bersabal
Photograph: Cosettex

As I walk towards the beach
I see these tiny orange flowers.
Little trumpets with a unique melody in each
They’re not even tired of playing for hours.
The sea breeze may blow away
their masterpiece,
but the melody always finds a way
to deliver kisses of peace.
Someone took a photo of them.
So still, but I can imagine the way they dance.
In my mind, they’re swaying to their anthem.
Oh, what a lovely dose of romance!
So every time I go to the beach, I’d stopover
because they’re part of my life forever.

*postcard sent to A. Kogler

Postcard Collaboration: Postcard # 9 (Riedstadt, Germany)

(Read about this collaboration)

Playful Silhouettes

Limerick poetry: D.G. Bersabal

Photograph: Jeansman

There was a little boy named Baloo
Who always play around with his friends of two.
They are having fun
under the bright sun
in a paradise where playful silhouettes sings ‘yahoo’!

*postcard sent to M. De Cesare

Postcard Collaboration: Postcard # 8 (Leipzig, Germany)

(Read about this collaboration)

Winter Oak

Iambic Pentameter poetry: D.G. Bersabal

Photograph: Rob Roy Aus

Through the range of hills in Southwest England,
lies an oak tree standing very firmly.
Does not fail to give its glowing beauty;
even during winter months it looks grand.

*postcard sent to E. Bischoff

A postcard sent to Berlin

A couple of months ago I made a postcard for a fellow Postcrosser whose name is Nicole from Berlin. She likes hockey, coffee and writing among other things so I made a simple drawing for her. FYI I did my best~ :p She learned the Russian language when she was young so I wrote Kофе for coffee and Eishockey for Ice Hockey. Thanks to her, I now know two Russian words! :)

It's been a long time since I've had my postcard venture so maybe sometime soon I can make time for it. Long live snail mails!

Postcards from China, Germany, and Iceland

I have some new postcards in the mail lately and all of them are lovely~  The postcards above are from Michael, a postcrosser from Denmark, who sent me three postcards in one envelope. Sad to say the original postcard he sent prior to these got lost and so he sent me a bunch. Thanks, Michael!

The third postcard is (YES I KNOWWWW OMG SO LOVELY) [a] The Little Prince postcard. I'm so thrilled when I saw it the first time just because~ Olivia of Beijing sent it to me because she knew I read books and it is her favorite one. Good choice, Olivia! The fourth postcard is one of the three postcards Michael sent me -- "Peaceful Place" by Henning Kappenberg.

The fifth postcard is a postcard sent by mon amour! It's a postcard from Iceland and it says "Aerial view of Namaskaro, one of the largest solfatara sites in Iceland." He has been around Iceland last year and I am so jealous about that. Hahaha! 

Postcards sent to Manila, China and France

This is another handmade postcard I made for Sara from China. She likes to travel, read, photography and music so I made her a postcard with all of her listed interest. Weeks after I sent it, she responded through e-mail saying:

"Dear sweet Debie,

It's really a big surprise to have your card this morning,I shall say this is the most lovely card i ever received cause you paint it yourself!
and it's so nice, you are so........sweet. I LOVE IT!
i love photography while till now only with digital machine,i am not an expert on that but it is a really good experience and trying to learn more. i truely believe film photography is much more dramastic, as what you said "MAGIC"! yes! I hope i could have a chance to take film photography someday. and if you could share some of your works with me?

It's getting cooler here these days after nearly one month high temperature upto 45 centigrade which is the highest one in my life. and sunny days with very comfortable feeling now.

I do hope to have a visit of Philippines someday, it's a really nice place with so beautiful landscape. hope soon...

and last but not least

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEBIE!
with my sincere wishes for you and your lovely families!

Sara from Ningbo
Sep 05,2013"

You are the sweetest postcrosser I have ever met, Sara. Thank you. Thank you for letting me know you have received my card and that you like it. It's one thing to make a postcard and send it to strangers and it is another thing to receive a response from them. I know it does not count much but this e-mail amazes me. It's just amazing how you take time to write back through e-mail. Thank you again for giving this fleeting but amazing moment in my life, Sara. :)

Another postcard I made for Aurelien from France. He likes books. I guess he is a fantasy bookworm and geek. I secretly checked out all his books in GoodReads and decided to make a simple compilation of book titles he likes.

 

A birthday stitched card for my sister who is in Manila. I found several free stitched card patterns from Stitching Cards. I glued a little paper card on the flip side, hence that curvy upper right side, which is full of greetings from relatives and close friends of my sister.

I have nothing fancy to give to other people but I am pretty sure a letter and/or a card will brighten up their day. :)

Postcards for England and China

I made and sent two postcards last month. One for Beverly from England and Dina from China.

Beverly is the first person who inspired me to write. She doesn't know it, I guess. But I mentioned it, finally, in my letter. At the age of 13, I started keeping a notebook full of poems and whatnot. And I started keeping a diary before I started blogging back in 2005. She's one of my heroes. :) Back in high school and early years in college, she was my pen pal. We used to write novel-like letters but it suddenly stopped. I can't trace back who stopped replying but it doesn't matter. I hope someday our paths will cross again. I want to tell her a lot of things. Things that I didn't understand years ago but I do now

Dina is a postcrosser from China. I made her a dream catcher-inspired card because that's what I thought of while thinking about what kind of postcard should I make for her. I hope she gets it! :D

Incoming cards from Denmark, Portugal and Louisiana

3 cards in the mail recently -- postcrossing cards from Denmark & Portugal, and a surprise card from Louisiana.

1. Pocahontas-inspired card from Melanie of Denmark. Whenever I look at it, my mind sings Colors of the Wind. I love how it reminds me so much of my childhood days which was filled with afternoons in the garden, playing with caterpillars, going inside a very large cage & feeding my father's (different kinds of) birds, and reading comics/stories to my mother's flowers (because she told me they will bloom if I do so). It was a Pocahontas-like childhood except there were no John Smith involved.

2. Planalto das Cesaredas card from Nuno of Portugal. Just in case I find myself traveling around the world... I'd probably visit Portugal and remind myself to visit this place. Also, I'd learn Portuguese. That must be fun!

3. Flower card from Arielle of Louisiana. This card made me smile while working in the office. The day when I was totally clueless (because I was not expecting any mail to arrive), curious and excited at the same time as I walked towards the mailman who just blurted out my name outside the gate. What a lovely surprise from a friend who lives miles away in the States! :)

Thank you for these beautiful mails. They surely made my days happy! :D

A hand-made postcard sent to South Carolina, USA

A postcard I sent to David L. from South Carolina, USA. He likes naval ships, books, and dogs. So, I made my own postcard which composed of his favorites, which turned out to be a funny hand-made drawing. (See a closer look). The title of the three books are from novels which are set in his place. At the back, I have drawn a tooling leather as a separator of my message and address lines, because he likes tooling leathers.

I enjoyed making this postcard because it was done spontaneously. No further initial planning whatsoever which is the fun part. The boarder was quite fun to do as well. I admit I was kind of scared that he might not like a hand-made postcard but he actually listed it as his favorite (and he didn't 'favorite-d' everything he received, and that is something.). So, yay! 

So, I am definitely making more hand-made postcards soon and I will be making them during breaks and/or before going to bed because I don't want to spend more time for it (there are other important stuff to do). Anyway, I like making drafts and simple designs during breaks. Making fun stuff such as this make me sane. It's always good to have something to do especially when you're too caught up with heavy stuff. :)

Postcards from Germany, Poland, Spain and Japan

These are the first four postcards I received through Postcrossing.

Cards from the top clockwise: (1) Anke from Germany, (2) Urszula from Poland, (3) Gezabel from Spain, and (4) Saki from Japan. 

Dear Anke, thank you for your beautiful Christmas card. I have never been to your country but when the time comes that I'll be able to visit Germany, I would probably find some Ballonblume flowers. Also, I would love to see those beautiful illuminations in your town during Christmas season!

Dear Urszula, thank you for sharing to me your favorite Christmas song. I tried to find it on the internet but I couldn't find any. I found something with the same title but it's not in English like how you wrote the lyrics. So, I'll assume this is the song. It sounds merry to me and one thing is for sure, I would love to speak Polish soon. Maybe learn a few words? Thank you again! :)

Dear Gezabel, thank you for this postcard. I adore the three stamps so much because I have a thing for guitars. I've never seen these kind of guitars around my country so I'm happy that you've given me these. I have never read The Diary Of Anne Frank but I'll try to find a copy of it so I could read it soon. Also, I don't have a favorite poet. I wanna share to you a poem that I recently liked:

 Vol De Nuit by Barbara Crooker

Now, isn't that more elegant than
taking the Red-Eye?
And don't you love it when the flight attendant
(Remember when she used to be a stewardess?
When everything matched her uniform,
even her luggage, and her makeup was heavy
and impeccable?) hands out pillows, blankets
soft as babies' dreams, eye masks,
ear plugs -- everything Mother would do
but tuck you in and read you a story.
Or maybe she does -- think of the fable
she recites at the beginning of the flight.
Or did you think it was true, that oxygen
miraculously drops from above if the cabin
pressure fails? That your seat cushion becomes
a life preserver if you fall into the black night
of the North Atlantic? That emergency lights
will twinkle and glow, illuminate your path
to the exit chute, little constellations of hope?
Never mind. Relax into your backrest
of many positions. Enjoy the multi-course
many-sectioned meal brought to you hot,
without a kitchen in sight. Hear the tinkle
of the cart as she progresses down the aisle,
find the channel with jazz or blues, and voilà,
you're in Paris already, hours ahead of time.
So the pâté and camembert come in tin foil,
and the roll's hard as an iceberg. Thousands
of miles are rushing under your feet
beneath these silver wings. Soon,
you'll be racing the dawn, as morning throws
her rosy covers over the sky. Brioches,
café au lait, croissants and café noir will roll
down the aisles. You'll begin your long descent
from the land of the clouds. Things
may have shifted overhead. Everyone is speaking
in tongues, and none of them are yours.
You must go to le contrôle de passeports,
and you will need to declare: business
or pleasure. Someone is meeting you
at the gate; he's carrying a baguette
and a single red rose, knows the minute
your plan touches the tarmac.
Now you have reclaimed your luggage,
passed through customs, and entered
the terminal, where the rest
of your life is waiting.

Dear Saki, thank you for this cross-stitch inspired card. I haven't read Gideon Oliver series but I'll probably do once I find them in our local bookshops. I know now that there are nine books (or are there more?) in that series. Whew! That's a lot! :p Anyway, thank you for your recommendation and take care! :)

Postcrossing: cards sent to Germany, China and Netherlands

Months ago, I was introduced to Postcrossing -- a social network where members are given random addresses to send postcards to. Each member receives some as well. (To know more about it, visit their website and join us!) The idea is pretty exciting, isn't it? So, I entered without any doubt and got my first five addresses.

I bought ready-made cards from National Bookstore. I was trying to find pretty and cheap cards but to no avail. I ended up buying not so expensive, not so cheap but pretty nice glossy card about Philippines for my first set of recipients. Next time, I'm making my own. :)

If sending postcards is your thing (surprisingly for me, I've been dealing with so much postcard exchange nowadays and I'm loving it!)  then sign up to Postcrossing and start buying or making your own postcards! Just in case you want to see a full photo of each postcards I sent, visit my postcrossing page!