Jetoy Postcards

Posted for @simcoe54

ATC's

Hello my fellow crafters!

You may ask yourself "what exactly is an atc?" and I think it's a pretty simple answer.  It is a small piece of art that measures 3.5"x2.5" (oriented either portrait or landscape).  This means that if the cards aren't super dimensional they are easily stored in sports cards storage sleeves.  The size really is the only hardfast rule which I love!  And provided your finished piece is backed onto something solid like a piece of thin cardboard (think cereal box thickness) and you have your details on the back (your name, title of the card etc) you should be good to go!

Most swaps do allow for any medium to be used, painting, drawing, collage, mixed media etc, but some swaps do call for a certain type of medium only.  I have almost no artistic bones in my body (in terms of drawing or painting talent lol) so my preferred medium is either collage or mixed media.

I would like to share a few atc's I have created for past swaps....nothing fancy/arty but I think they all turned out pretty well :)

This swap was for an atc created with a background made of scraps.  My partner liked butterflies so when I found this diecut in my stash I pulled the rest of the elements from that.  I did some collaging of different scraps on the background and added some chunky glitter to the butterfly for some sparkle.

This swap was for a teal themed atc.  With my favourite colour being teal you just know I had to join it!  I did some collaging on this one too...and I added some pretty sequins and thin sparkley washi too.

This was made for a swap for a flamingo atc.  I had just recently purchased a very cool flamingo stamp set so I just knew I had to join this one too.  I used the stamp set to create the flamingo, decoupaged mulberry paper for the background, and used some Stickles type product for the "water" at the bottom.

I am no atc expert, by any stretch of the imagination, but if you have any questions etc about them or need some pointers to some good atc swaps please let me know.

Until next time!
CrystalZ

New Swap Supplies & Where to Find Them

Hello all!

We all have them, some of us even hoard them (me!)....I am of course talking about swap supplies and various flatish goodies we buy to swap away with others.

Some of my favourite places to find swap goodies are secondhand shops....nothing is ever the same and you always find the most random things.  Most of the items are at pretty good prices because a lot of the shops seem to undervalue paper/flat goods....bonus for me right?!  Everytime I go to a thift shop I always dig through the baskets of things, the bagged goods, any card or stationary section they have, party supplies etc.  I love the thrill of a good hunt!

Some of my other favourite places to find things are nearly any dollar store like Dollar Tree or Dollarama, Daiso, Ikea, or sometimes even Walmart has some good postcards.

Today I went shopping and we stopped at DollarTree, Dollarama, and the Salvation Army (the one I go to has an amazing "stationary" section.....super unorganized and baskets of crap everywhere but the prices are super cheap!).  I found some goodies for me but most were bought to share.  I just love finding goodies I know someone else on SwapBot would really enjoy and I know I can't be the only one!

• At the DollarTree I found some "decoration strings" that I plan on removing the string from and that will leave me 36 tropical bird diecuts...all for $1.25!
• At Dollarama I picked up some Canada themed stickers and some page flags, each was $1.25. The stickers will go on future international happy mails and the page flags I use to label my postcards (they are easily removed and don't leave a residue if you buy the right ones which I hope I did!).
• And finally at the Salvation Army I feel I struck gold!  I picked up a set of 5 Ikea cards with ferns on them for 99 cents, 30 vintage art & cool Bavaria themed cards for 99 cents, and 5 different "diary refills" with cute Kawaii characters for $1.99 for all. 

So everyone keep searching in your area.  Do not be afraid to dig in the bins etc and do not get discouraged....you never know where a cool thing will surface!

Until next time,

CrystalZ

Postal Service Woe's

Hello!

Today, after many complaints from myself and my neighbours about undelivered mail for two weeks (we live in an apartment building), the post office FINALLY delivered all the mail they had been holding for our building.  Two trucks came in to us today....one with the held back mail plus the regular lady with the regular mail.

Suffice it to say my box was jammed full of happy mail!!! 😁😁

Please be patient while I go through each envie and rate everyone that has sent me something.  I am including a picture of what I have received today so if you see your envie please know I will be rating you soon!

Thank you,
CrystalZ

Incoming RAK from Paige

Hello!

Today I would like to quickly share a wonderful rak I received from Paige1900....she sent them for myself and my mom as she too collects postcards.  Such a wonderful thing she did!

I will definately be sharing these with my mom and adding a couple to my own collection too.

Thanks for sharing!

Until next time,
CrystalZ

Incoming Happy Mail!

Hello!

I received a wonderful birthday envelope from Monika, aka Drachenfrau on SwapBot, in Germany on April 13th.  She sent me some goodies towards my April wishlist in the Make A Wish! group.

There was a pretty tulip birthday card, some stickers (great for my future happy mailings I send), and great postcards for my collection.

Thank you so much for sending me these goodies Monika!

Until next time,

CrystalZ

Incoming Swap: Maple Leaf ATC

Hello all!

Today I am sharing an incoming swap I received from Karmi53 for the Maple Leaf ATC swap in the Canadian Swappers group on SwapBot.

I really like the atc she created for me...pretty stickers and such and I just now noticed the textured background she used so that's pretty cool!

I will be adding her pretty atc to my growing atc collection and look forward to using the extras she included on future projects.

Until next time!

CrystalZ