The Skirt Project: Update

Due to very unforeseeable events, I am not going to have my skirt ready in time for this weekend, which was plan.  What a bummer!  Hopefully will have some time in the coming few weeks.

Will post updates when I have something to show. :)

The Skirt Project, part 2

Part 2: The Supplies Are In

(or at least most of them)

So what do we have here??  Oh, where to start??!?!?!

First we have these lovely brass buttons, I mentioned them in part 1.  They are from the Post Office Department, which would become the United States Postal Service in 1971.  They look bigger than they are, you can get a bit of perspective in the first picture.  One of them is missing here, it's little ring on the back is pretty bent and it wouldn't stand up for my shot.

Since we are talking about buttons - here are the French Post Office buttons, I mentioned these before as well.  These ones are a bit bigger than the POD buttons and seem a bit less worn.  Not that either is a bad thing, just an observation.

On to the ribbons!!!  This is some pretty basic ribbon.  Probably made of nylon, the colors fit the idea and it was inexpensive so I bought a couple of yards.

Here is the fancy ribbon.  This one cost a few pennies more (sarcasm, it was a lot more), but it is beautiful.  I got this off an etsy seller based out of the UK.  <3  So perfect for the project.

Last, but certainly not least, are the bias tapes and piping.  When I was searching I found 10 mm wide airmail bias tape a couple of times, but I was looking for something wider, something that would make more of a statement on my hem line, then I found a seller, I think they are in Singapore - they were selling bias tapes in two widths, 10 and 15 mm AAAAAND they had airmail piping!!!  I haven't quite decided what to do with the 10 mm bias tape, but given the cost of shipping, I didn't want to buy the other two and then later on wish I had bought the 10 mm, so I bought all three.  The piping will be the trim around at least one of my pockets, to make it look like an airmail envelope.

Well, that's all I have to share for today, hopefully I will soon have some time to start taking measurements, experimenting with the fabric and generally working towards having this project completed by the end of Sept.  Can I do it??  By golly, I hope so!

Until next time, thank you for reading my blog. :)

The Skirt Project, part 1

So after spending far too much time online, primarily on sites like etsy and ebay (shields face from ridicule), I came up with the wild and crazy idea of making an Airmail Skirt.  Right about now, you may be wondering, what could this wonderful sounding garment be?  Well, I'll tell you - or show you over a series of blog posts - or at least that's idea.  Hoping I don't get too busy to post progress.

The idea is that I want to make a skirt, knee length-ish that shouts (in a friendly, not obnoxious manner) "Airmail - postal history - I love mail!"  I say all of those things anyway, but wouldn't it be great to have a skirt that did all of that for you?

My basic premiss thus far is that the main fabric is a beige muslin, it looks nice and grainy, which is why I chose it (it didn't hurt that it was pretty inexpensive) and I wanted something that reminds me of an envelope or mail bag.  Also, I have bought some blue and red (airmail) striped piping and bias tape to accent the skirt - it hasn't arrived yet, but when it does, I'll post pictures.  I am toying with the idea of pockets, so far I want one that looks like an envelope, this is where the airmail piping comes in, I'll put it around the border to make it look like an airmail envelope - and for a possible second pocket, I am considering making it look like a postcard.  I have a decent size postcard rubber stamp (just need an ink pad for use on fabric) that I am thinking will make a great pocket design.  Other thoughts are to find some stencil and paint "AIRMAIL" and "PAR AVION" strategically along the hem of the skirt - if you haven't fainted yet, it doesn't end there.  I have bought some amazing old, brass buttons, one set if from some La Poste, the French Postal Service's uniform back in the day and the other set are Post Office Department (the predecessor of the US Postal Service) buttons from the 60s or 70s.....sounds too recent to me, but that's what the listing online said, so I'll stick with that for now.  PS It couldn't have really been 70s as the POD went bye-bye in 1971.  So, that where I am thus far.  My deadline is late September, oh, and before I go, I want to share with you a few of my potential accessories to go along with the skirt in question.  (Sorry for the not great pictures and the ugly counter top - I am not patient when I am on a mission, my camera battery is dead and it is dark out - welcome camera phone pictures shot in the kitchen.) :)

These cute airmail earrings were bought on etsy a year or so ago, they came from a seller in Australia, love them, but some times a bit awkward to wear.  Not sure if they'll make the final cut.

This amazing broach is also a great etsy find (is there any other kind of etsy find?).  It is like a lie detector of the postally educated kind, I always know I'm near someone who really knows what they are talking about (when it comes to philately and postal history) when I am wearing this.  Case in point, people who have no idea can't figure out what this is and I have gotten guesses such as alien robot or simply "I don't know."  *shakes head*  Those who share the post adoration recognize it instantly.  If you haven't identified it yet, I am not going to tell you. :P

Oh, the Pony Express necklace.  It's simple, but lovely (and not from etsy this time).  A fantastic friend of mine was traveling about the midwest and came across the old Pony Express Station in Gothenburg, Nebraska and bought this and a postcard for me.   <3

Last but not least is my latest ebay find, which I only bought two days ago so mega impressed it's already sitting in front of me.  I do not work for USPS, but I thought this nice, little lapel pin would be a wonderful accent piece for my outfit.

Hope you have enjoyed reading, stay tuned for further developments on the skirt project. :)

The Dutch Connection by Cardcetera

Hello again,
Sorry for being gone for so long, but you know how life is, you never know what it's going to throw at you, so you just keeping writing postcards and move on......or is that just me?  In any case, I've been a wee bit busy and I was actually planning on blogging something else before this post, but it just wasn't working out for me.  Maybe I'll post it next.  Who knows?!

So, here I am, back again, and this time with Cardcetera's newest line of postcards.  Seem familiar? Well it should, they published their previous line The French Connection not too long ago and they're already back again with another fantastic series of postcards.  If you haven't already noticed from the title of this blog post, it is called The Dutch Connection.  Right about now, especially for more established collectors, you may be thinking "I have lots of Dutch postcards...." and that might be so, but wait until you see these.

I love Dutch postcards, honestly, probably more than post people, it is the largest part of my postcard collection, but this series is different and in a very good way.  These aren't your usual tulips and clogs.  What I like most about this series is that the subjects are all familiar scenes, but this time they seem more natural, more casual, maybe even more realistic.

We have all seen the stacked rounds of cheese postcard, but this time around the cheese is being sampled in a market, I can't be entirely certain, but I think that really happens.

Who are the Dutch without their tulips?  We have seen countless fields of well manicured tulips, haven't we, but here they are simply for sale (and at not a bad price). And a new take on a windmill, love it, not a field but an adorable souvenir and biscuit molds in many common shapes that we know and love.

And we must not forget the bicycles, the cakes, the front doors!  I think what I'm trying to say is this.....I love them, they really are lovely.  They are familiar but they are different.  Oh and I shouldn't forget to add that they have a super cute design printed on the back, they are made of good card stock (they will travel well through the postal sorting machines of the world) and the surface is great for writing on, once again, no need for a special pen.

Lastly, another reason for pushing this post to the front of the line is this, I just realized that this series is on sale this week, so run, skip, jump - aim your web browser towards Cardcetera as this series being 20% off won't last forever.  Ok, sorry to sound so much like an advertisement, but what good would I be if I kept news of a good sale to myself?  I'll answer that: none at all!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Things on my mind:

• I am busy putting together a marvelous post about the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.
• I am thinking about a raffle/lottery, not sure if I'll have a quiz question or just have a random draw of who enters.......more to come on that.

• Have anything in mind that you would like to see me ramble on about??  Please share!  Questions and comments are always welcome.

Airmail Paper Airplane Rubber Stamps

Oh, golly-gee, did it take a long time to photoshop these images.  Far longer than it should have, that's all I'm saying!  In any case, recently I took a virtual jaunt across Etsy, always more fun for me than it is for my wallet, but what are you going to do, it's Etsy?!  So I like stamps (both rubber/acrylic and postage, but in this case, the former it what we're talking about), yes, I like stamps just as much as the next person -- well, probably a little more than the next person.  I'll protect my dignity by not showing a picture of my not-so-small box of stamps.....  Hmmm, where were we?  I was looking around on Etsy, combined with the knowledge that I had recently seen a cute airmail stamp (not postage) decorating a received postcard, so I was less casually browsing and more hunting with great determination.  I digress.  The short version of this story is that I ended up buying three airmail paper airplane themed stamps and I shall review them for you here.  

First we have this lovely pink-handled paper airplane stamp by ivyPINK.  It is well crafted, I love the detail of the words along the path of the airplane and it stamps well.  You will need to press it against the ink pad a couple of times as it is a bit longer than a standard pad, but really there are no problems here.  Cute, reasonably priced (check the hyperlink above for specifics, please), does exactly what you want it to, what more could you want?  I have already used this to decorate some of my plainer stationery and it looks great.  Oh, and in my experience, shipping was super-fast.  I know we all live in different places, but this arrived very quickly.

Next is this lovely, hand-carved paper airplane by extase.  It is a little bit smaller than the first stamp, but, no surprise, I love it.  As an added bonus, you can choose to have a regular (circular) loop or heart shaped tail.  I think it is obvious which direction I went on that decision.  The reverse side of the stamp is not marked in any way, but I am going to be using this stamp a lot and I have no other stamps this size, so I don't really see that as a draw back.  This came from Canada, which for some reason always seems to take a silly length of time, but I don't hold that against the seller.  It arrived in what I would consider a reasonable amount of time, plus these are hand-made, so no complaints here.  I love the detail and simplicity of this stamp - did I just contradict myself? - and look forward to using this stamp again.  The material stains easily with the ink, but in my experience, all stamps do, so nothing to be shocked about.  It cleans up quickly.  Very happy with this purchase.

Last, but certainly not least, we have this cute, circular airmail, paper airplane stamp by FreshBakedPaperGoods.  It arrived very quickly, I have used it several times already and it is a bit smaller than the other two stamps, so I can fit it into more places (like in the message section of a postcard, yes!).  The one very slightly disappointing thing is that the first time I rinsed the ink off of the stamp, the picture on the back of the stamp faded significantly (see bottom-left image below).  This picture makes it look brighter than it is, but don't get hung up on that.  Let's be honest, you could write "Merry Christmas" there and it wouldn't change how you use and enjoy the stamp.  It stamps well, washes easily, comes in cute packaging and will brighten even the smallest bits of stationery.

All in all, I am happy with all three purchases.  I will use each of them differently as they are each unique.  I don't feel like I bought multiple of the same product in any way and I am happy to have options when it comes to professing my appreciation for airmail via rubber stamp.

If you have any questions about the stamps, please feel free to comment on this post.  I am happy to elaborate.

The French Connection by Cardcetera

Mail Call!

I'm finally back and this time with the promised review of Cardcetera's newest line of postcards, "The French Connection."  So how do I describe these postcards without sounding overwhelmingly biased? ......Well first, let me warn you, I've never "reviewed" anything before, so there's no telling which way this post may go.....fingers crossed it's nowhere strange. :)

So -- I love surprises, well, that's not entirely true, but when it comes to happy mail, yes, surprises are good.  Hmmm....well this package wasn't entirely a surprise, I had been tipped off that something might be headed my way, but the real surprise was opening it up and seeing these great postcards for the first time.  The postcards have a semi-gloss finish, so they are nice and shiny, but if you're extra picky like me, they aren't going to show icky fingerprints.  The back is cute (you can get a glimpse of it on the website or in the above picture) but not so amazing that you feel guilty for writing on it or covering it with stamps, always a good thing.  I don't need a back of postcard guilt complex.  Also, the texture is perfect for writing on.  Have you ever found an amazing postcard only to be disappointed because the ink from your favorite pen smears -- even after you delicately set it aside to dry?  Ok, maybe that's just me, but that won't be happening here -- you can put the fine tip, permanent marker away.  Then there are the pictures themselves, I do love them, I'd be lying if I said anything less, but there are a couple that stand out as my personal favorites.  First there is the appropriately titled, "Bucket of Macarons,"it is light, colorful and who doesn't love sweets?  You can click on the hyperlink of simply direct your gaze to the picture below - hint: it's the one of the right.

My other favorite, which I've conveniently buried on the bottom of the next image - what was I thinking? - is Sacre Coeur from Orsay Museum.  It is a beautiful black and white image and through the gilding you see the picturesque Sacre Coeur in the distance.

I really like these cards and am looking forward to sending them - I've been holding off because I've been too busy to blog, but as soon as I click "publish" I will be putting pen to postcard.   I hope you have enjoyed my fist-ever review.  For better images and the actual ability to purchase, please visit cardcetera.com and by the way, they are still on sale.  

Good night!

PS My comment about the back of the postcard isn't supposed to sound negative, I hope no one takes it that way.

Introduction

Hello everyone,
So, this is my new blog, not too much to see here at the moment, but hopefully that won't last for long.  For a long time now I have been wanting to start a new blog, in addition to my current one, Postcard Anthology - there are several reasons for this.  I often want to share a bit more than the casual "I love this postcard," but at the same time, was thinking, maybe some people aren't interested in seeing any more than just that.  I want to share goodies I find - I am always hunting for the next washi tape bargain! - or new postcard webshops that I love, things that I think some of you may be interested in reading, but this way, it won't clog up Postcard Anthology.  For those of you who are accustomed to getting your daily fix of my latest received mail, no need to sweat, things over there are staying more or less exactly the way they are.  One warning I would like to put out there, I am epically bad at run on sentences, so if you find yourself reading a long blog post that is all one sentence and you are mentally out of breath - I apologize now and you have been warned.  New paragraph?  Why not?

Please feel free to comment, ask questions, leave product or website suggestions; I am happy to hear what is on your mind.  Please be polite and I will always be polite in return.  I hope you will enjoy what I have to share and will be in touch soon with a review of the latest line of super, wonderful postcards from Cardcetera, called The French Connection.  If times gets the better of me and I don't get the review posted for a few days (this is likely) - know this: The are great cards AAAAND they are currently on sale - so get 'em while their hot!

All for now!  Happy Easter!