A Walk In My Garden pt. 1

Here’s the first part of my ‘A Walk In My Garden‘ posts. I got a lot of postcards, letters, cards, and such this January. Thanks to Swap-Bot, Postcrossing and to the lovely people from Couchsurfing. I was thinking of how I will blog about it since I really got so many. And, I’ve decided that I will do it per category– postcards, letters, swaps, etc. So, first off, batch one of postcards.

Let’s start with this yummy postcard from Brooklyn, USA sent by Caroline.

(1313 Postcard Swap by Swap-Bot)

l’obsession. Paris vs New York postcard. LOL!

Isle of Wight, England postcard from Amy.

(Newbie Postcard Swap #2 by Swap-Bot)

Vintage New Mexico linen paper postcard from Dinna. I’m so in love with this postcard!

(Newbie Postcard Swap #2 by Swap-Bot)

Provence, France from Gabriella. Pretty, pretty colors!

(Newbie Postcard Swap #2 by Swap-Bot)

Anatolia, Turkey from Filiz. I was really happy when I got this. I’ve been dreaming of Anatolia since I was 14 years old!

(Postcard Club – Couchsurfing)

Filiz sent the postcard inside an envelope.

California, USA from Judee.

(1313 Postcard Swap by Swap-Bot)

So, that’s the first batch of postcards that I got this month. I’ll probably divide the postcard posts into four. Since, I don’t want picture heavy posts. We have really poor internet connection here in our country. And I still want my countrymen- Filipinos to be able to see my blog posts without a problem or without the hassle. Ha-ha! Till the next post!

© Patricia Milanes 2013 All Rights Reserved

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Zurike Mail Art

Zurike is my pseudonym since I was still a college student. Everybody asks me what the meaning of the name is. But, I just randomly mixed up letters that I liked to create the name. So, it doesn’t have any meaning at all. I started using this name for the mail art that I create for my penpal, Molly. He’s also an artist and he’s from Ireland. He doesn’t know I have this blog so I don’t post the mail art that I have received from him. I’ll post the things that he have sent me once I got his permission to upload it on this blog.

I printed a copy of a painting I did 4 years ago and put it on the envelope. I didn’t really have much time to paint then since I was sending 40+ postcards. But I tried to make it look good as possible.

I also got a new penpal from Sweden!

Calligraphy was written using my revived Mickey Mouse fountain pen. Works like a charm!

Vintage Charm.

Shopped for books again when my best friend and I went to Fully Booked. I saw these fabric bound books, as you can see, I wasn’t able to resist!

I finally got the package that I bought from Paper & Ink Arts. Thank you, April for sending this to me! I’ve tried all the inks and I must say that the Old World Ink is probably the best ink that I have tried! I also bought a lot of nibs. I’ll make a review of the products that I have bought once I’ve tried all of it.

Lastly, here’s a teaser photo of the first batch of mail that I got this year. I received this on the first week of January. I will be posting all the mail that I got on the next blog post!

© Patricia Milanes 2013 All Rights Reserved

ATCs and Swap-Bot

Besides Couchsurfing and Postcrossing, I found a new postal site where you can exchange almost anything you can ‘snail mail’ with other people. It’s called Swap-Bot. This is the description on the site,

“Do you like sending and receiving snail mail? Do you like writing letters, making crafts, or putting together fun packages? You should try swapping! Swap-bot is a online service that organizes group swaps and a community of creative individuals. Swap-bot takes the hassle out of participating in group swaps by organizing all of the participant information and doing all of the partner assignments. On Swap-bot, you can host swaps, join swaps, and chat with other swappers from all over the world. Give it a try!”

It’s genius actually. And this is where I get most of my postcards. You get to choose what kind of mail you want to receive/send. And if you want something in particular and you can’t find it, you can just create your own ‘swap’. Pretty neat, huh?

I’ve tried a couple of swaps and among them are ATC (Art Trading Card) and coin swaps.

Making my own greeting cards made out of the mini postcards that I bought from Bee Happy Crafts. I used my old typewriter to type in my greetings.

Philippine Peso coins for the swap.

Tell me if you know other postal exchange related sites!

© Patricia Milanes 2013 All Rights Reserved

 

S’More Postal Love

So, it’s been a while since I last updated. Well, more like a month since I’ve written a new blog post. I can tell you what I’ve been doing this past few weeks, but I think it will bore you. Since, this is a blog about my love for postal things, right? Haha. Anyway, before the year of 2012 ended. I did a lot of things for my relatives for the holidays. I wanted to give all my 60+ first cousins gifts but I didn’t have to money to buy them all gifts. And since, I’m known to my family as the ‘baker’ I looked up ideas on the internet on how I can give DIY food gift ideas. I found these two from Pinterest.

S’mores package for my cousins. This is a pretty neat idea (very cheap too) and they all loved it! Especially the little ones.

I got the graphics from Pinterest.

‘Make-Your-Own’ Fudgy Muddy Brownies.

My aunts wanted me to bake pavlovas for them. But I didn’t have the time to bake and give all the 12 of them this yummy dessert from ‘down under’. Luckily, I found this ‘DIY’ idea of jar desserts. I  gave them a jar of my Fudgy Muddy Brownies recipe. This way, they can enjoy baking it themselves. It’s on the budget and it saves time!

Also, my mom and I spent a lot of time shopping in Divisoria for my sister’s birthday party. I WARN YOU, don’t go there during the holidays! It was my first time to experience what I can only describe as ‘human heavy traffic’. The streets were literally filled with people. There was a street where the people weren’t even moving because it was so full nobody could even move or walk!

Anyway, it was still a happy experience since I got these lovely treasure boxes. Now, I have something where I can store my letters, postcards, envelopes, stamps & washi tapes.

I also used the ‘vintage’ postcards that I bought from Bee Happy Crafts for the first time. And I was able to revive the Mickey Mouse fountain pen that I bought from Disneyland HK 5 years ago! It’s the one I used to write on the postcard above.

Here’s the last mail art that I sent on the year 2012. Sorry if it’s a low quality photo. I wasn’t able to take a photo of it with my DSLR, I only used my phone camera.

It’s a bit late, but Happy New Year, everyone! I know that 2012 was my best year so far, and I hope it’s the same for everyone. Let’s try to create and do more this 2013, yeah?

© Patricia Milanes 2013 All Rights Reserved

 

Postal Love: Postcards from Saudi Arabia & Spain

Ilde from Couchsurfing, sent me two postcards from his travels. He was in Bahrain when he told me that he was going to send me a postcard. I actually didn’t expect to receive two postcards from him! Thank you, Ilde! Here are the postcards that he sent me.

Pretty Saudi Arabia. It’s actually one of the places that I want to go to. Don’t you just love the pretty handwriting on the right side? 

This is one unique postcard! I thought it wasn’t even a postcard. Pretty cool don’t you think? Looks like the ones that you get from books and magazines. 

Lapis Lazuli colored stamps. The color for royalty and wealth. 

© Patricia Milanes 2012 All Rights Reserved