What to Put On The BACK of Your Postcards

So we've all been busy making beautiful mixed media postcards.

Any ideas what you're going to put on the BACKS of them?

Fear not, lovelies. I have some suggestions for you!

Aren't these vintage postcards beautiful?

This one was made when postage only cost a penny!

Of course the first thing on the the list will be the recipient's mailing address. This should be the easiest thing to see on the back since a lot of the postal services now have scanners that read the address instead of having an actual person read it. Keep this in mind when you are decorating the backs...

Here are some other ideas for what you might want to put on the BACKS of your postcards:
1. The recipient's mailing address
2. Your own name
3. Where you're from
4. Your blog/website address (if you have one!)
5. Your email address (if you want encourage further contact)
6. A little message (similar to what you would write on any "vacation-style" postcard)
7. A favourite quote or saying
8. A description of how you created your art postcard and/or what materials you used
9. Paste on a moo card or your artsy business card
10. Words of encouragement - remember, another real live artist will be receiving this, so what would YOU want to read on a card?
11. Leave room for stamps!

Most importantly of all, perhaps, is to leave room for postage. Remember that if you are sending internationally, you might have to put more than one stamp on the card. Make sure the stamp(s) won't cover over any of your message!

My Fake Romance With Teesha Moore

*Just a reminder that today is the

LAST DAY to sign up for the

International Mixed Media Postcard Swap!

In the meantime, here's a little eye candy for you.

By Teesha Moore



By Teesha Moore



By Teesha Moore

Have you been wondering where to start when working on your postcards?

I have recently watched the entire series from Teesha Moore on how she assembles her amazing journal pages and I thought that a lot of the ideas are so postcard-friendly

I decided to post the video below on here since she is a major inspiration for my own work. All of her videos can be found at http://www.teeshamoore.com/.

She takes these two pages from start to finish in her overall series, so they're really interesting to watch. I really thought that watching her go step-by-step was great, since I am in awe of some of her other pages.

I love how she fills her pages right up and makes them look energetic without being overcrowded.

Sit back and enjoy the process, Lovelies :)

WIWO Wednesday - It's What I'm Working On.

The last couple of days I've been really engaged in creating my first zentangle. Similar to mandalas, zentangles are supposed to be really therapeutic because they take FOREVER to complete.

This is pretty helpful to me, since I focus a lot on the final product and have a hard time slowing down to enjoy the process.

I've taken photos of my first zentangle step by step. I used two pens: a Sharpie fineliner and a Sakura Pigma 1.

This page is a pretty important one to me since it is the inside cover of my new journal ie: it had to be PERFECT.

Is it? You be the judge!

The lighting is a bit wonky in these photos, despite my attempts at brightening them. I hope you'll get the general idea...

I started out by drawing a big S and then drawing stripes through it to break up the page a little.

Coming up with different patterns for each section was the hardest part of this... 

Little by little it started to take form. I obviously tend toward organic shapes!



Since this is the inside cover of my new journal, I wanted to include a little blurb for inspiration.



Really taking shape now!
You can still see the general shape of the S although I made a point to not outline it directly.  

Et Voila! The finished product! My favourite pattern is the brick.
I also like the face on the left, and the tree, and the rose.. and the... just kidding.
I'm really happy with how this turned out!

Getting down to business!

While I'm hard at work this weekend at A Real Gem, I wanted to give you some pretty things to look at.

Have you visited any of my favourite sites yet?

Here are some things that inspire me.



Dyed fabrics in gorgeous colours.
From iHanna: http://tinyurl.com/7w4ugx7




A collaboration with an amazing result.
From A Little Imagination and A PIle of Junk: http://littleblackkitty.typepad.com/a_little_imagination_and_/




Dramatic Decor.
From WHORANGE: http://www.whorange.net/whorange/2011/11/floor-to-ceiling.html



A page from a most amazing art journal.
 From Dispatch from L.A. : http://dispatchfromla.typepad.com/dispatch_from_la/