Sending & Receiving Mail,
such a lovely way to start
and end the day!

I am passionate about Victoria Kirdy Postcards and recently had an opportunity to do a trade with a lovely lady in Russia. Here are the first of several that I'll be posting the next few days!  If you were driving down my street you would have witnessed me hopping, skipping, jumping and singing Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah on the way back from the mailbox when they arrived!





She kindly translated the quote on the back for me.
 Top Quote-
"There are three things that cannon be forgiven to a woman.  But nobody know why and what these things are.  ~Janina Ipohorska
Bottom Quote-
You need the power of a devil to be as patient as an angel.


Top Quote-To be on a balanced diet is to hold two similar pieces of cake in both hands.
Bottom Quote-It's not overweight, it's the additional place to kiss.


A whimsy Santa Claus upside down in the chimney, so cute!
Arrived from China


China Floral Postage Stamps


~Outgoing Mail~
I always read profiles and do my very best to pick postcards that I think the recipient will love, it's really the best part of sending and receiving postcards to me!  If you see a postcard that you'd love to have, email me and I just might have an extra to send your way!

Here I am waving to you,
I have lots of mail goodness
to share too!

Before the mail~

Last fall, I thought I'd open a little etsy store and put a few envelopes in it.  I had just started making them and compared to the ones I make now, they were blech...at least to me.  Instead of closing my store, I put myself on vacation until I could decide what direction I want to take, fast forward to now.

I've always loved paper, punches, twine, garland, tapes just about anything in those areas and my stashes, stacks and piles of those things prove it to be true.  I found my direction, fantastic!  Finding direction is one thing, implementing direction is another animal.

I thought I knew how to take semi fair pictures until I started trying to take photo's of product for my shop, talk about hitting a major road block!  If you've ever been to or looked around on etsy you'll see that most photo's have a white or light background, natural lighting is preferred, close up images are a plus, size and scale is important and the list is endless.  My head spins just thinking about it now.

I started out taking pictures in every location in my house, at every time of day with every type of light adjustment you can imagine, did that work for me.  No!  Next, I read my camera manual from cover to cover at least seven times, I learned so much about my camera, it was like having a brand new toy.  Did the lighting in my pictures come out great, No.  Got a light box, it helped some but my preference is still natural light.

In a moment of frustration, pondering whether or not to push forward, I noticed amazing light coming in from a wall of windows in my living room.  My sweet spot!  The only hurdle, the entire living room had to be moved around to allow for enough space for me to work.  I stood there and thought, am I really going to move the entire living room around to be able to take pictures for an etsy store?  Without hesitation my mind said yes, and it got moved.

The improvement was immediate, nothing compares with natural light.  My frustration dropped immensely and though I've barely touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to taking great pictures for etsy at least I'm on the way now.

My next novel will be about learning SEO optimization, titles and tags.  My head spins every time I think about all of them.

Now to the wonderful mail~



Such a delight to find this wonderful card in the mailbox from Mariska!


Who doesn't love cupcakes, especially when they are sweetly decorated!
Arrived from the Netherlands.


Netherlands Postage Stamps


This might be my first or second By Kris card to ever receive, wheek!  Love them!
Arrived from Netherlands


Netherland Postage Stamp


Awwww...adorable baby lamb.  What's not to love about this picture.
Arrived from Germany


Germany Postage Stamps


Prace Duque Da Terceira
Arrived from Portugal

Beautiful Long Eared Owl, so pretty among the trees don't you think?
Arrived from Japan


Love and Hearts Everywhere!  There can never be too many hearts~
Arrived from China


China Postage Stamps

Oh Happy Day!
I hope every little
thing is going your way!


I haven't had a lot of time to write penpal letters this week but I did manage to get another one off to Malaysia.


I'm loving the Lancy Cat series of postcards. This one is Happy Time-Thinking of you and wishing you all of life's best today and always.  Looks like the sweet kitty is all ready for tea and muffins.
Arrived from China.


China Start Here Postage Stamp


Contentment by Valerie Baines.  I'm going to assume this is a female cat because she's so beautiful and posing so gracefully!  My female cat often poses like this!
Arrived from Germany


Germany Postage Stamp


Joyeux Noel-Merry Christmas Postcard!  Love Christmas any day of the year, this is a cute Santa with his very full toy sack!
Arrived from Japan



Japan Postage Stamps including an adorable Christmas Kitty Stamp


Still working on completing my State Capitol Postcard Collection-Columbus Ohio State Capitol!


USA Postage Stamps-Bobcat & Benjamin O. Davis, Sr.

Pick up a pen
choose a card
write a few words
don't make it hard.

Tell what you're doing
what's around you
describe your setting
how someone would find you.


Oh, isn't this one of the most adorable postcards you've ever seen!  Such a darling little girl with her sweet puppy.  Honey by Virna Valentina in Russia.



Russia Postage Stamps


I love the entire series of Kotovasiya Cat Postcards and you know I'm always happy to have anything Christmas related arrive in my mailbox at any time of the year...so if you have extra Christmas cards you want to send to someone my mailbox is always accepting! ;)


Russia Postage Stamp


Clay Rabbit Gods-Tu'er'ye, the Rabbit God, is a traditional clay toy which has a human body and a rabbit face.  It is a symbol that is used in Beijing to celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival, and is meant to bring good luck and to enhance the festive atmosphere.  Love this, it's a die-cut shaped card!
Arrived from China



China Postage Stamps


Jetoy Chandelier Postcard-I love Jeytoy cards, do you?
Arrived from The Netherlands


Netherlands Postage Stamps

Postcrossing, Swap-bot, Lettermo
whatever you choose
keep writing and sending,
your words and kindness will
brighten many moods!


The very beautiful St. Isaac's Cathedral located in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Arrived from Russia


There is a little series of these cute cards, I think I have 2 or 3 now, adorable!
Arrived from China


Hong Kong, China Postage Stamps all with birds!


I love birds, this pair of Bullfinch's in flight is amazing.  It allows me to see so much of their colors and beautiful wings.  My desk is by windows and hearing the birds sing in the early morning is one of my favorite times of the day.  What's your favorite time of the day?


Germany Tulip and Sonnenhut Postage Stamp


Owls sleep by day and work at night-love this!
Arrived from Taiwan



Taiwna Chrysantha Postage Stamps

Valentine's Day cards on the way,
Year of the Snake here to stay.
Ann Taintor humor, cute little cat,
Postcrossing Meeting
and that's that!


Valentine's Day Greetings on the way!


It's the Year of the Snake and this cute postcard made it's way to the 2809 from China!


China Postage Stamps-it's the first time I've received a Chinese Zodiac Stamp-love it!


Ann Taintor has great humor on her postcards, this one is no exception!  :)
From a swap on swap-bot.
Arrived from USA


Cute Lancy Cat, I can't help but love cat postcards!
Arrived from China


China Postage Stamps


People all over the world have Postcrossing Meetings, this card is from the 2nd Annual Singapore Meeting.


The back of the card is signed by everyone that attended the meeting and great Singapore Postage Stamps