25 Years IUOMA

Received from E (Utopia, France).
Handmade piece of mail art to celebrate the 25 years of IUOMA (International Union of Mail Artists).
Also published here.

The World Is Small and Connected

Sent by SubMina (Poland).

Sent by Doris (Hong Kong).

I have received these two postcards trough Postcrossing two weeks ago, from Poland and Hong Kong. The first one is an Arabic window (similar to my windows now, but obviously mines are not so beautiful and artistic). The second one is Chinese art (in porcelain), but in the drawing is amazingly similar to the bars and grilles I can see everywhere around me in Morocco. 

I like the way that the world is small and connected...

It Is So Bright

Sent to Heleen (the Netherlands).
Cheese box turned into a postcard. It is not the first time I use these round boxes for making postcards (1, 2...).
Also published here.

Passion for Lighthouses

I usually plan my trips from lighthouse to lighthouse. I can do hundreds of kilometres only for taking a picture in a lighthouse. I have visited some lighthouses in different countries. I read several books (and articles, and magazines) about this matter. I collect all king of stuff about lighthouses (postcards, stamps, articles, books, pictures, bookmarks...). And I never get tired of checking how amazing are these eyes in the night.

When I joined the Postcrossing site, one of the main aims was get more postcards of lighthouses in order to complete my collection. (But, of course, the fun of snail mail do not finish in lighthouses!).

You can see below some stamps with lighthouses I have received so far, and here you can check my on line album of postcards of lighthouses, sent by friends and postcrossers. Just a little part of the collection!

Australia

Finland

Germany

The Netherlands

Poland

Russia

Spain

Sri Lanka

Taiwan

Ukraine

The United States of America

Op Jezelf

Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

This is a typical postcard to be sent to people who leave their parental home. Op Jezelf! means '(Living) on your own'. It is not exactly my case, but the postcard is adequate anyway: if I am not leaving my parental home, I am living my country. And, of course, because it is orange and it is a snail... it is perfect to make my day!

Heleen published the stamps here (not the postcard, because it was a surprise), with the little nice snail in the corner...

The Letter

The Letter

The Box Tops

  Give me a ticket for an aeroplane

Ain't got time to take a fast train

Lonely days are gone, I'm a goin' home

My baby has just wrote me a letter

I don't get care how much money I gotta spend

Got to get back to my baby again

Lonely days are gone, I'm a goin' home

My baby has just wrote me a letter

 Well, she wrote me a letter said she couldn't live without me no mo'

Listen Mister, can't you see I got to get back to my baby once mo'

Anyway, yeah

 Give me a ticket for an aeroplane

Ain't got time to take a fast train

Lonely days are gone, I'm a goin' home

My baby has just wrote me a letter

 Well, she wrote me a letter said she couldn't live without me no mo'

Listen Mister, can't you see I got to get back to my baby once mo'

Anyway, yeah

 Give me a ticket for an aeroplane

Ain't got time to take a fast train 

Lonely days are gone, I'm a goin' home

My baby has just wrote me a letter

My baby has just wrote me a letter

Half Stamp

Sent by Postmuse (the USA).

Handmade collage with autumn colours, sent as a thank you card for one of my contributions to her amazing Orphaned Postcard Project. Unluckily, one of the stamps was damaged in way... :(

Mogador

Sent to Heleen (the Netherlands).

Postcard made of a packet of green tea. The name of the brand, Mogador, is the former name of Essaouira. It is a Moroccan city on the Atlantic coast, featured on the postcard.

Also published here.

Windows of Honour

Sent to Heleen (the Netherlands), Jordi (PC) and Mercé (PC).

This is the invitation for an exhibition held in Tetouan (Morocco) of paintings made by Jeff McRobbie, an American artist who lives in Morocco.

Also published here.

By Magic

Sent by Lluïsa (Italy).

Four days ago GotThatSwing published in her blog a postcard from Vatican sent by her Mum. We agreed that the face in the middle was something strange for a postcard. But still I commented that I would like to receive a postcard from Vatican. So it was a surprise when I found this postcard in my post box just the day before, as if by magic.

Of course it was nothing to do with magic: I had forgotten that one of my friends was spending some days in Rome (indeed, the stamps are Italian). But anyway... I just like the idea that you can make wishes and letters appeared in your mail box. Don't you?

Another Adopted

Sent to Postmuse (the USA), as my third contribution to her Orphaned Postcard Project.
Also published here.

Here and here the other postcards I have adopted so far.

Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives

PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives (2005) is the first book published by Frank Warren with some of the postcards submitted to the PostSecret project (I spoke about that here). You can see here the rest of the books.

I offered this one as a present to a friend last year, for her birthday. She loved. My little secret is that I had read the book before sending it by post to the UK... :)

I See the Sunset

Sent by Helena (Brazil).
Picture taken by Helena from her house.

I like a lot when people send to me what they see trough their windows. It is only the second postcard like this that I have got. The first one was sent by two friends from Québec, but they do not life in this house any more. 

Escherian

Collage made of postcards sent by Heleen, Lia and R (the Netherlands) and Laura (the UK).

I like a lot this kind of postcards featuring groups of similar organised objects (update: in the postal collectors argot called multiples). You can see here and here my little collections. And I am afraid I am not alone...

PS Now I'm thinking that the idea of a postcard with multiple postcards with multiples is just a bit... Escherian?

Covered Bridges

Sent by Laurence (the United States).

After a long period inactive in the Postcrossing site, I have received last Thursday two postcrossing postcards. I realised how I have missed them!

This bridge is in Ohio, crossing the Ashtabula River in Monroe Township. I have seen this covered bridges in Quebec (Canada) by the first time, and then I learnt there are very common in North America. I just love them! As the sender wrote, it is very pleasant come across these bridges along the rural roads. Some of them are really old, built in the early 1800's! Root Road Covered bridge was restored in 1963 because it was in danger of collapse due to age and Ohio's severe weather.

Also one of the first postcards received trough Postcrossing was a covered bridge. By the way, I like a lot postcards of bridges. I think the idea of mail fits with the image of the bridge...

Insight into the Daily Lives

«Letters give us valuable insight into the daily lives of people both famous and ordinary. It's not just the words that they write, but also the paper that they write on, the ink that they used, their handwriting and the postmark on the envelope that reveal something about who they were and the time that they lived in. I want to be included in that group of humans beings who leaves behind a written account of their lives.»

Lisa Shobhana Mason

(«The Art of the Handwritten Letter, 1/3»)

Red Stamps

Sent to Bree (Malaysia) some weeks ago.
Also published here. I am always happy to read that my letters arrive safe and sound!

Covers of Books

Sent by Laura (the United Kingdom).

Another of my favourite subjects for postcards is books and writers. And I love especially postcards with book covers (this would be my ideal job: read books and the design the right cover). So here you are some of the covers I have received so far as postcards:

1. A Short History of Nearly Everything, by  BRYSON, Bill. Sent by Angelika (Poland)
2. The Conquest of Gaul, by CAESAR. Sent by Laura (the UK)
3. Tunnels, by GORDON, Roderick & WILLIAMS, Brian. Sent by Monty (the UK)
4. The Catcher in the Rye, by SALINGER, J. D. Sent by Laura (the UK)
5. The Vampire Diaries, by SMITH, Lisa Jane.  Sent by Laura (the UK)
6. Heidi, by SPYRI, Johanna. Sent  by Laura (the UK)
7. Linger, by STIEFVATER, Maggie.  Sent  by Laura (the UK)
8. Mama Tandoori is very hot!, by VAN DER KWAST, Ernest. Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands)

Those books are not my favourite (well, it could run for number 6). I have only read three of those books: 2 (most of it in Latin!), 4 and 6 (more than 50 times, as I child). And you?

Paper e-Book

Sent by Laura (the United Kingdom).

Collage made just to show me her brand-new e-book. It could be nice if e-books were written with her beautiful handwriting ;)

Blue Beaches

Sent by Laura (the UK).

Sent by Helena (Portugal).

I have posted this two postcards together because I have received them the same day, and they made me think of last summer which disappeared so quickly! I was in Costa de Caparica some years ago (1998?), and also in Whistable (in 2003?). This views make me feel happy and blue at the same time. 

Art Nouveau

Sent by Eutrapèlia (PC).
Her first handmade postcard!
Made of an invitation to an interesting exhibition in the MUHBA (Museum of History of Barcelona) and two cards from two different restaurants. Unluckily, one of them was lost in travel... :(

2nd

I have been inactive in the Postcrossing site since some weeks ago. So I have recently updated my profile. And I have discovered that I am the second postcrosser on most postcards and also on longer distance sent from Morocco... even if I have not sent any postcard yet.

So for those Postcrossing users worried about rankings (which I am not): it could be a good idea to move into a country with few postcrossers.

PS The new avatar is a tea in the main square, final August.

First

Sent by Laura (the UK).
The first letter I have received in my new mail box!

Free University

Sent by Heleen (the Netherlands).

Big envelope with nice stamps. Among them, stamps of Vrije Universitet (='Free University'); one of the two universities of Amsterdam.

Altered Cat

Postcard sent by Nastya (Russia).
Slightly altered with her words. It shows the painting "Those eyes opposite", by Anastasia Kichigina. 

Here you can the original postcard, as it was uploaded in the Postcrossing site (before writing on it):

New Old P.O. Box

So this is my new mail box. I told you it is not so pretty as in the publicity...

By the way, the first letter I have received was not addressed to me but to the former owner :(

Sweet Elephant

Sent from Helena (Portugal).