COLLECTING POSTCARDS (and what to do with them)

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Collecting Postcards – or Deltiology – is the 3rd largest hobby in the world. Even Queen Victoria had a personal collection. Why is it so popular? There’s a variety of reasons. Postcards are:
  • AFFORDABLE – you can purchase them for as little as 10 cents each (in bulk, estate sales, flea markets, thrift stores) and the average cost is $1-$3.
  • VERSATILE – Age, subject matter, publisher or artist, location, item, holiday and theme are just a few of the collections you can focus on.
  • NOSTALGIC – Easily capture memories of trips, occasions, people, buildings, activities, events, etc.

Everywhere we go, I try to pick up a postcard (or 2 or 5 or more) as an inexpensive memory. On trips, I actually write out a postcard and send it home to us. It’s wonderful when days after coming home, we receive a little reminder of the fun we just had.

DISPLAYING POSTCARDS

So, you have some postcards, now what? You can easily just set them in a box, bowl or basket on a table. It makes a wonderful decoration and people (including you) can shuffle through them.

Put postcards in a box and set them out to be viewed. Postcards placed in a bowl make a lovely display. Postcards in a strawberry box has a rustic charm.

Be a little creative and make a paper bouquet or unique display.

Create a postcard bouquet. Be creative! Postcards at different heights held by wire on stones. Keep your eyes open for unusual items to display your postcards. A glass jug, some sand, shells and postcards can capture a vacation in a jar!

You can easily put them in an album or scrapbook, or create a travel ring binder or book.

Postcard albums are perfect for your treasures!

This postcard album was purchased in Ireland - filled with Irish postcards!

Create a travel ring binder for postcards and other memorabilia A hole punch and metal rings can transform your postcards into a travel book. Create a travel book with postcards and other memorabilia

A tiny bit of effort, and some frames or old windows can make wonderful displays!

(You can use the right arrow on the pictures below to forward through some creative ways to display your favourites. Feel free to click on a picture for more information.)

 

With some imagination and a little Modge-Podge, you can make a more permanent display. My friend, Regina, collected postcards on every trip out West and used them to create a border around her wall (in lieu of wallpaper).

Who needs wallpaper? Postcards from travels out West make a great border.

She also had a collection that complemented the outdoor theme in another room.

Forget wallpaper! Postcards depicting a specific theme adds a personal touch as a border in any room.

Need more inspiration? Take a look at these…

(You can use the right arrow on the pictures below to forward through some creative ways to display your favourites. Feel free to click on a picture for more information.)

 

Put a map on your wall and instead of push-pins to mark the places you’ve visited, add a postcard.

Add postcards to your travel maps.A map, some pushpins and postcards can capture all of your travels in one place.

Don’t want to put them on a wall? No problem. You can use Modge-Podge to add them to a trunk, tray, suitcase, furniture or anything that you desire!

Modge podge a desk, trunk or other furniture for a permanent postcard display.  Postcards can be adhered to a tray for a daily reminder of past vacations. Gather postcards with the same subject, mood or event and create a fabulous screen.

They have super graphics, so can easily be repurposed, too. Recreate them by making gift tags, greeting cards, gift wrap or jewelry.

There are postcards for every occasion! Turn some into heirloom ornaments.Postcards can turn plain brown paper into elegant gift wrap.Use postcards to create unique, memorable jewelry.Make one-of-a-kind gift tags using postcards.Gift tags made from postcards can be used for more than gifts!

I love postcards! But not as much as some people who created permanent memories by turning them into tattoos!

Have your favourite postcard tattooed for a truly permanent reminder of great days!

Now THAT’S a display!

Feel like a Fancy French Lady or Gentleman

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Micellar Water makes you feel like a fancy French woman!

My friend Denianne, offered me a peek into her monthly Birchbox to see if anything was interesting. I was curious about the Micellar water and snagged it.

What a wonderful surprise! For me it was the unicorn of skin cleansing. It’s a facial wash, makeup remover and toner all in one. You don’t have to tug at your eyes to remove (even waterproof) mascara. It’s fast, (I’m always in a rush), and easy (because I’m, well, lazy). Just moisten a cotton pad and, gently sweep over your face, neck and eyes until the pad comes clean. There’s no need to rinse and it’s suitable for sensitive skin and contact lens wearers.

Micellar Water is a miracle! There's no need to rinse and it's suitable for sensitive skin and contact lens wearers.

What kind of sorcery is this?

Micellar water was created in France as a face-washing alternative to its harsh tap water. It feels like water but contains tiny oil molecules (micelles) suspended in soft water that draw out dirt, makeup and sebum.

Not that I workout or go on hikes, but it’s good to know Micellar Water Towelettes are available as well.

Micellar Water Towelettes are available as well.

If you don’t require rose petals, green tea or water from the Japanese Alps in your Miceller Water, try Garnier. It’s seriously affordable at only $6.99 for a huge bottle. Plus, you won’t have to go to a French pharmacy to purchase. Your local drugstore, Amazon, Ulta and Target all carry Micellar Water.

Without soap, alcohol, or other harsh chemicals and detergents to dry out the skin, micellar water conveniently leaves your face feeling hydrated with a glowy, dewy finish. It’s the minimalist’s skin cure-all, so why don’t you get on board?

Easy, Super Delicious, Addictive Bread Dip Recipe for a Party or BarBQ

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Everyone’s had an Artichoke Dip, Spinach Dip or Broccoli Dip, but few have experienced the delight of this addictive Bread Dip.

First introduced to us by my cousin, Lilly, I’ve only met one person (out of hundreds) who wasn’t ecstatic over it. Comments like “I don’t eat mayo (or green onion or sour cream).” are frequently voiced when I tell them the 6 simple ingredients.

This outrageously delicious bread dip only requires 6 ingredients!

Most have taken a taste, shrugged and walked away. Then a few minutes would pass … and they would return for more. Then ask for the recipe. It’s addictive. Usually, we end up with people “hovering” over the bread bowl, including the folks that “don’t eat mayo (or green onions or sour cream)”. One of my husband’s friends liked it so much, he slathered it on his burgers, too.

Inexpensive (All of these ingredients cost under $12 and serves many, many people!) and super easy to make, it was the obvious choice for the Backyard Barbecue I attended this week.

Ingredients:

1 bunch green onion (with roots and bruised leaves removed and washed)

1/4 lb smoked ham

1/4 lb smoked turkey

24 oz Sour Cream

24 oz Real Mayonnaisse

2-3 loaves Good Bread (One should be round for serving.)

Directions:

Grind the green onions in a food processor (or chop super fine). Place in large mixing bowl.

First step to the superb bread dip is chopping the green onions, super fine!

Grind the smoked turkey and smoked ham (or chop super fine). Add to the green onions in the bowl.

2nd Step for the Bread Dip is chop the turkey and ham and add to the chopped green onion.

Stir in one large sour cream and an equal amount of real mayonnaise.

3rd step for the Bread Dip is to stir in sour cream and mayo.

Resist the temptation to taste it! It will taste like green onion (bleh!). Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.

The next day, using a round, good bread, slice about a third of the top off. With a spoon, scoop out the bread from the top and bread leaving mostly crust. Tear the bits of bread up for serving with the dip.

The Bread Dip can be served in a bread bowl. Cut the top 1/3 off a round bread and scoop out the bread.

Tear another 2-3 varieties of bread to serve with the Addictive Bread Dip. I love King’s Hawaiin,  French or Italian and a Sour Dough Rye. It provides a nice variety.

Place the scooped out bread bowl on a plate and pour the Awesome, Delicious Dip into the bread bowl.

Serve the awesome, delicious Bread Dip and watch how addictive it is!

Place the variety of torn bread around it and serve.

The Nephews are Wrong! (I Hate Digital Photos)

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The lectures – I can hear them now. The lectures will start when my nephews hear that I’m going back to printed photos and convincing my sister to do the same. “Noooooooooooooo!” (they’ll say.) But I’ve decided. I’ve made up my mind. I HATE digital photos!

For years, the nephews made fun of me for not jumping on the technology bandwagon: My camera was huge! Get with the century! So, I did. I purchased a tiny, digital camera.

Digital Photos are how i joined the 21st century

You have to understand, I take thousands of photos. Everyone complains when I stop every 2 feet to snap that fabulous memory, but no one complains weeks later when I’m the one with the great shots. Suddenly, my thousands of photos are in demand.

Digital photos are beautiful, I agree. Thousands of photos fit on a memory card, I agree. It’s  cheaper than printing, I agree. So, why do I hate them?

Two main reasons: No one looks at them (including me) and they disappear.

In the 70s, when I visited a friend or relative, someone handed me an envelope just returned from the local developer. I would sit and flip through the photos and smile, admire, ooooh and ahhhhh and sometimes cry. My best friends always purchased “Picture Picture” (2 prints of each for one low price) and let me select a few memories to keep. I still have them. I still pull out the book or box and flip through the photos that take me to times and places I had forgotten.

No one sits and looks at digital photos. Give me back the envelopes of prints and negatives!

Last month, we went to Germany, I met my cousins for the first time (in 60 years). At every home, someone pulled out a photo album (or 2 or 6) and we spent hours looking at pictures of my mother as a girl, aunts and uncles I had never met, my grandparents. Not one relative sat me down at a computer and said “Click here to view the rest.”

I took hundreds of photos of my new-found relatives. I captured as many memories as possible. In the second week of our visit, the unthinkable happened: My computer was full. I couldn’t download one single photo!

OK, now what? Well, I had been well versed about keeping photos in “the cloud”. I spent an entire, precious evening moving everything on my computer to space I purchased on Amazon and Dropbox.

Storing digital photos in the cloud has not been successful for me!

When the moves were complete (yes, they notified me), I deleted the files on my camera and computer and emptied the wastebasket. Voila! Room on the computer again! The trip continued, photos were taken and uploaded to my computer, and a month later, we returned home.

Then I went to Dropbox (and the Cloud and Amazon) to retrieve my photos. There were none! There were folders, but the folders were empty! Over 800 photos lost forever.

The folders were in Dropbox and Amazon, but the digital photos were gone forever.

Remember I said that I moved everything from my computer? It wasn’t just the Germany photos that disappeared forever. Our trip to Alaska, Savannah, and more. The only photos I had of my grandson growing up.

I’m in the long, tedious process of moving whatever photos there are out there back to my computer. It takes much more time to move them back. So, the decision is made. I’m going back to printed photos.

Keep your digital photos; I'm going back to prints.

I’ll keep my digital camera and I’ll join this century by having books made instead of just prints – in 18 months, when I finish downloading them all.

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