Stamp Head Postcards - Due January 11th

Happy New Year, dear swappers!

To kick off our 2016 swaps, Christie will be hosting a postcard swap featuring “Stamp-heads”

Your challenge:  Make up to 4 postcards incorporating a postage stamp as the head of a person/animal.  Here are some examples Christie made when we did this swap a few years ago.

(note:  these are actually pictures of ATCs, but we'll be making postcards for this swap)

There's really only one rule for this swap - you must use an actual postage stamp.  It can be new or vintage, cancelled or un-cancelled, US or not - as long as it’s an actual stamp and not a copy or print-out.

Create your postcards and get them in the mail by January 11th.  Send them to:

Important reminders for a successful swap:

It’s a sad thing when you put a ton of time and effort into creating your art for a swap and you don’t get something in return.  Our hosts are diligent about getting all the postcards back out in the mail to their new owners, but sometimes postal mishaps occur and items get lost in the mail.  There are several things YOU, the artist, can do to prevent this:

·     Put proper postage on your postcards before you send them to your host.  If you’re going to use a postcard stamp (currently $.35) you card must not be larger than 4”x6”. This is important - please don’t just estimate this.   Get out your ruler and measure your card.  If it’s bigger than 4”x6” you need a “forever” stamp ($.49)  Insufficient postage is a short road to the dead letter office.  Make sure your mail is deliverable and take the extra moment to measure your card size. (And if your card isn’t a rectangle -if it’s square or round or another funky shape - you’re going to need $.71 postage.  No joke.)  You can find all the US postage rules and a handy postal calculator here: http://postcalc.usps.gov/

When in doubt, add more postage! 

·       It’s incredibly helpful if you put your return address on the cards you create.  That way, should there be a postal mishap, your card will come back to you instead of being lost and undeliverable. 

·     Your host will send these postcards to their new homes “naked” (without an envelope) so make sure they are not too thick or lumpy and make sure everything is glued down securely.

·     Include address labels in the envelope you send to your host– these will be used to mail your new cards to you.  This way your host does not have to read your handwritten address and write it on the cards (increasing the possibility of an address error).  Plus, it saves your host a ton of time.

We have a great line-up of guest hosts for the first part of the year.  I'll be posting many more swaps in the coming days.  If you are interested in guest-hosting this year, send me an email!

iamrushmore@gmail.com

Looking forward to another great year of swaps.

-Karen