Recycled Postcards

I cannot believe I finally own a set of stamps that enables me to recycle old Christmas cards and make postcards! Yep!  You heard me right - Christmas postcards.  I've dreamt of owning a set like this for a long time now and can't believe I haven't already found one but there it is - I haven't until now that is.

 

Postage has become incredibly expensive.  This week alone I posted just 2 small packages and 3 Christmas cards and spent over £13 - that's just crazy!  I can't imagine what they'd have cost me if they were heavy?

 

This week I also posted my first ever recycled Christmas postcard and I couldn't be more excited about it.  I was so thrilled with this set from Waltzing Mouse Stamps that I took the set into the office where I work to show to the girls in out team.  Everyone commented on what a clever idea this was - like nobody had ever thought of it before?  They even came up with a few ideas of their own and I loved the 'selfie' postcard idea.  Can you imagine being on a beautiful beach somewhere or on a cruise and taking a photo with you in it; and then thanks to a few stamps and a bit of ink you can send an 'in the moment' postcard.  This has gotta be way better than looking high and low for just the right shot.

 

 

 

This is the actual set and as usual Claire has packed in so much thought and lots of stamps for the money.  There's a mini version and a regular sized version but because they're mix and match you have options of the style of postcard you can create - I love that.

 

 

And if you happen to be fortunate enough to get to own this set for yourself let me give you a helpful tip.  I trimmed up my card front to about the size I wanted.  I guess you could make them all a standard postcard size but the beauty of being able to create your own is that you can make larger postcards too.

 

Next I flipped my card over and set out the various stamps as I wanted them to appear except when I placed them down onto the card the reverse side was uppermost.  Then I took a single large stamping block and carefully placed it over the stamps, positioning the edge of the block with the edge of my card.  I simply pressed down and picked up the block with my stamps securely in place and perfectly positioned.

 

 

And of course some cards come with a bit of text on the reverse like this one that had a verse of scripture running down one side.  If I trimmed it off I was in danger of losing the message on the front so instead I just incorporated it in to my design.  It looked a bit like the descriptions you get of the views on the front.

 

And I won't just recycle Christmas cards from now on either.  I can do Get Well, Thank you's, Birthdays - anything I can recycle.  I can create my own single layer postcards using pretty stamped designs to create a one-off personal item.  I love that I can create several in an evening because I try to send cards off to friends a few times a year for fundraising and this will be something really different to sell.

 

Best of all I love that I get to write a personal message.  One of my pet peaves is that someone takes the time and trouble to pick out a card, take it to the post office, pay good money to post it but doesn't make good use of the space in the card to write a few lines.  If it's a Christmas card it may well be the only time in a year that you communicate with some people.  A postcard by it's very nature just cries out for a message to be written on it - you simply can't help yourself.  And how many of us have written real small in an attempt to cram even more in that left half.  I've even been known to write up along the sides and around the edge!

 

One note of caution tho'.  Use a versamark permanent ink on slick cards so the ink will dry and not smudge.  Some cards don't need it and that's fine but quite a few do and besides it wouldn't do for Mr Postie to be delivering your postcard on a rainy day and all the pretty postcard stamped image runs now would it?

 

This is gonna be my 'go to' whenever I need a quick card from now on.  In fact I'm already asking everyone I know to keep their old unwanted cards for me and I can't wait to see what my mother makes of this set.  As a pensioner she will appreciate a lower cost option plus she finds it hard to know what to write to fill an entire page these days and writing has become increasingly difficult for her to do.  I even like the idea of stamping up an ecclectic mix of cards and dressing them up to gift to a friend.

 

Seriously!  The possibilities are endless!  Thanks WMS

 

Now I have a whole stack of cards to go trim - 2 whole boxes full that i was saving to be recycled one day.

 

Blessings

 

Suezie