Ihanna’s DIY Postcard Swap Spring 2018

It’s that time of year again... it’s Spring! Which is not only the biggest symbol of hope as the flowers start to bloom again and the weather is (supposed to be!) more ambient. But it also means it’s time for Ihanna’s DIY postcard swap. This will be my third year of joining in! I love taking part! The idea is you make 10 art postcards and you reveive 10 back. Who doesn’t love a bit of happy mail?!

You do have to pay a fee but it’s so minimal for what you get out of it. The impetus to create, the joy that it brings. And the joy of receiving all the postcards back! The fee is for the time it takes to organise the swap itself. A lot people sign up and Hanna then has to email all the people involved with the addresses for their matches. That means collating all the data, matching everyone up and emailing out. I think it’s reasonable to ask for a fee for all that work!

Above you can see my progression from my first go in 2016 up until this year’s swap. To read more about my experience from the previous two years, follow this link: https://www.justcreativejulia.co.uk/blog/ihannas-diy-postcard-swap-spring-2017.

My schedule is so hectic at the moment that I don’t get a lot of time to myself. I seem to be rushing to drop my son at pre-school, rushing to get home, rushing to work then back home and back to pre-school again! I cannot wait until September when he starts school. I’m looking forward to prioritising a bit more creative time and blog/business time. So this year I didn’t really spend massive thinking time on a theme or lots of elaborate plans.

Thankfully, I had some paintings I’d made earlier to make it really easy. My mental health has been rubbish lately. The hectic schedule really takes it out of me. So these paintings were a little art therapy for me. I put some music on and mindlessly prepped a Baker Ross kids craft materials catalogue with clear gesso. Then just went with the flow and pushed some poster paint around the page! The result was this:

The next step was pretty easy. I printed out Hanna’s postcard backs on thick card, cut them out then decided how to use my paintings. Again, I had fun indulging in much needed creative time. The swap is so good for making me prioritise it. It was a Friday night, hubby was out, the boy was in bed, perfect conditions! I put some old school Nirvana on and got lost in creating! I mostly just cut the paintings to fit the cards and added a few borders of washi tape. As you can see from the photo I have quite the stash!

My problem with creating art is knowing when to stop. I looked at them and thought, ‘hmm, they need more’. And the finishing touch had to be the obligatory quote! Last year I went for quotes on art and creativity. This year I decided to go for just simple inspirational quotes.

My next dilemma was what to write the quotes on. White paper? Hand written in biro such as last year? Or black card with cursive hand writing using metallic pens? The problem with either of these options was that they covered up too much of the painting. The solution? Computer printed on clear vellum paper. It worked a treat!

Do you like the Star Wars carpet? It sits in our study. It’s actually a kid’s carpet but we were like ‘why not?!’. Anyway, I digress. This year’s finished postcards. Drum roll please...

Despite the lack of time, I was quite pleased with them! Still displaying my inherent love of colour. Was nice to be more relaxed with it this year. It shall definitely continue to be a Spring highlight for me!

Below is a collage of the postcards I’ve received through all the swaps. Just four so far this year but a lot of my matches were from the USA so it could take a good few weeks for them all to trickle through. Especially if some were late (just as I was! Better late than never though eh?!). I feel a little sorry for whoever sent the blank postcard as I can see and feel glue marks. I’m guessing it must’ve come off in the post 😔 I will email them anyway and see if they’ve got a pic of what it should be.

So that’s it for this year! I will try to update the photo of the postcards from this year once I’ve got them all. Please do share your photos on social if you joined in the swap! The official hashtag for Ihanna is #diypostcardswap. What other ways do you find are great for prioritising some creative time? Please do comment or get in touch!

Useful links and Credits

The header photo is copyright of Ihanna.

To find out more about Ihanna’s swap, go here: http://www.ihanna.nu/postcard-swap/

Also from Ihanna, if you fancy making your iwn postcards to send to friends, you can download a ready to go backside here: http://www.ihanna.nu/blog/2013/11/free-printable-postcard-backside/

I hope to sell some digital printed copies of my swap postcards from this year. I will update this page with the link so watch this space!