my little mochi

Postcard II Gallery is up!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Is it strange to feel guilty when you don't post? Like you should check in with your blog? I caught a cold last week and it's been cold here too, so instead of crafting I've been nesting in bed every night and working on the postcard gallery which is now up!

I've really loved doing this swap. Everyday I looked forward to seeing what kind of poochie goodness my postal worker would have waiting for me. And boy did you all out do yourselves! What a fantastic and creative lot you all are. There were sewed cards, cut and paste collages, paintings, photography, illustrations, embellished cards, fabric cards, altered cards, origami, calendar cards, button cards, cards with magnets, stamped cards, and prints. It just goes on and on!  I also hope that everyone enjoyed discovering and getting to know a bunch of new blogs you may have not been familiar with.

Thank you to everyone who participated and for all your creative efforts, it's been so much fun. And thank you again to Tania for making another great button for this round!

So if you want to see what everyone has been up to go check out the gallery over at flickr. And if you notice any errors or don't see your card there, please email me at mochiPCswap @ yahoo.com.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Wag your tails and start swapping

Whew! All 108 of the Postcard Swap matchup emails have been sent! So go check your email and make sure you received it.

I'm so excited about the swap! We have New Years greetings flying across the globe from Australia, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, Belgium, Northern Ireland, Norway, The Peoples Republic of China, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands and the U.S.A! If only I could visit all the places these postcards will travel to.

Please be sure to check out the Postcard Swap page for all the deadlines, details and FAQs. And please, please send all your postcards out and on time. Postmark deadline is Saturday January 28th, 2006.

Thanks everyone!

Swap update

I've been working on the matchups for the swap and I also sent out a confirmation email yesterday. So if you haven't heard from me please let me know.

In other news, too much surfing and not enough crafting going around here lately, but at least I found some neat links:

Ping Mag - a very cool web magazine based in Japan about art, design and technology.

Peter Callesen - an amazing 3D paper artist. More pics at this blog.

Keiko Tsuji - another paper artist who cuts very tiny figures out of newspapers and magazines in a brilliant way. Her site is a bit hard to navigate but you can see some of her works here (scroll down).

(Added: I knew I forgot something, here's another great link.)

Vegan Lunch Box - a vegan Mom's daily diary of the lunches she packs for her son.

Postcard swap sign up ends

Thank you everyone for the amazing response to the New Years post card swap! We are right at about a 100 participants so I'm going to close the sign ups early to give me a couple extra days to do the match-ups.

And, the wonderful and talented Tania made an updated button for the swap! So please feel free to post it on your blog. Yah! Thank you Tania!

I plan on doing the match-ups for this swap the same as last time. Which means you will not be receiving postcards from anyone on your list of people to send postcards to. We also have a nice number of international swappers again, so I will make sure that everyone will be sending and receiving postcards from all over the globe when I do the match-ups.

Happy Friday

I can't believe it's already Friday. Short work weeks always fly by. Just a short post before I dash out the door.

The New Years Postcard swap sign-up is still open. I'm still considering limiting it to 100 participants (for admin purposes) and we're currently at around 80. So if you want to join in, email me your details at mochiPCswap @ yahoo . com as soon as possible.

If you're looking for other things to join for the New Year. Cynthia over at Big Girl Feet has started the very cool Artsy Craftsy Challenge. And this month's Tie One On theme is Apron from clothes.

And on a last note, crab rangoons? I've never heard won tons called that before. I guess it's like soda vs. pop. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Postcard loose ends

Just a couple more things about the swap:

You don't need to be in the US to join in, nor do you need to have a blog an english to participate. For the last swap we had participants from 13 different countries swapping.

And since participants are from all over the world, it's not necessary for "Happy New Year" to be on the front of your postcard in english. Eg. "Akemashite omedetoo" "Haole Makahiki Hou" "Kung Hee Fat Choy" or any other language would be wonderful to see.

Also, you don't need to make postcards with 10 different designs. One design repeated 10 times is fine. For the last swap some people did more than one design, but it's up to you.

Lastly, here are a couple of links for inspiration:

A Japanese New Years postcard site - click on the small rectangles for some doggie inspiration.

Some amazing fiber postcards (link from Pamdora).

Gallery of a postcard swap organized by Tracy.

Gallery of the April 2005 postcard swap.

Don't forget, sign up ends Friday January 13, 2006.

Postcard Swap's gone to the dogs

Well, it's been almost nine months since the last postcard swap, so I think its about time for a new one. And what better way to ring in 2006 than with a bunch of fun snail mail bringing tidings of the new year from crafty folk around the world.

As I was saying yesterday, I've always been interested in the Japanese New Years postcard tradition of nengajo. This custom is similar to the sending of Christmas cards except the Japanese postal system times it so that the postcards arrive exactly on New Years Day. It is also customary for nengajo to include a picture of the Asian zodiac and 2006 is the Year of the Dog so here's what I'm thinking for the swap.

You will send and receive 10 postcards with the words "Happy New Years" that include a dog in some shape or form (i.e. picture, photo, print, or even the word "dog" spelled out) on the front.

Here's the rest of the doggie details:

1) Want to play? Then email me your name, URL for your blog and your snail mail address to mochiPCswap @ yahoo . com (remove spaces) by Friday, January 13, 2006. This time I'm also going to require that you have a blog to participate, so if you don't have one please start one now.

2) Sometime on Monday, January 16th, 2006 you will receive an email from me with the names and addresses of 10 people you will be sending your barky greetings to.

3) Get your paws busy and start crafting, printing, pasting or photographing your postcards.

4) As with the last swap, the postcards must be craft related (not bought) and can be either:  a) hand made, b) collages, c) photographs of a completed project (softie, sewing, knitting, quilting, etc.), d) copies of an illustration/picture/painting you made, e) instructions for a craft project.

And don't forget to include your blog address, the words "Happy New Year" and a dog somewhere on the postcard. Also be sure to take a photo of your postcard before you send it and email it to me so that I can add it to the postcard gallery.

5) Run on down to your nearest hydrant postal box on or before Saturday, January 28, 2006 (Chinese New Years eve) and mail your postcards out.

6) Sit! by your postal box and wag your tail as your canine cards arrive.

7) The Poochie postcard flickr gallery will go up sometime mid February.

Details, deadlines and updates on the swap can also be found on the postcard swap page. Thanks!

Postcard Gallery

By now everyone should have received their 10 postcards in the mail, if you haven't yet, I'm sure the rest of your postcard goodness will arrive very soon. Since most people have already received their cards I've decided to go ahead and post the Postcard Gallery! (If you don't see your card there or I have the incorrect information listed, please email me so I can fix it). It took quite a while to put the gallery together since so many of you made more than one original postcard. I'm still blown away by all the wonderful and cool cards that were created. I love love them all and I am so grateful to everyone who participated! Mahalo nui loa everyone - thanks so much!

Got postcards?

My email box this morning was full again with postcard wonderfulness. Thank you to everyone who emailed me pictures of their postcards. If you haven't done so yet, please email me a picture so that I can add it to the postcard album.  It is so exciting seeing everyone's fantastic creations! If you haven't sent your cards out yet, please try to mail them as soon as possible. It's wonderful knowing that these fabulous cards are making their way to their new homes. I can't wait to post the album!

Postcardpalooza

I had to shut my office door this morning when I opened my emails because of all my squealing and carrying-on. The postcards that are coming in are amazing! I am blown away by the cards I am seeing. I had to call Mr. T because I couldn't contain myself. "Works of art! All of them, works of art!"  And now I'm thinking, why didn't I sneak myself onto everyone's list? :)

I really want to post the album already so everyone can see them, but I don't want to ruin anyone's surprise, so I will wait till next week. But please feel free to post your cards or any cards you received on your sites. The deadline has passed in some parts of the world, but there's still time if you haven't got your cards out yet. Don't forget to take a picture or scan of your cards before you send them out and email it to me so I can add it to the album. Thank you again to everyone who participated, this has been so much fun!