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missing my blog
sat 20 mar 2010 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2010/100320.html |
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Okay. I've been working on so many different things, and I don't want to bunch them up into one blog post. I've been working on postcards today, so that's what I'm going to type about today! FYI: I make my own postcards and I send them out in a monthly exchange! My postcards are usually a photo I have taken. I print them up with my desktop publishing software. my january postcard:
This was a photo from last year's Community garden. January is dreary, and I felt the need for some brightness. and the february postcard, which actually got sent out at the beginning of march. (I just didn't have a decent photo, okay?!)
The march postcard; you don't get to see because I haven't mailed them and I want to keep them a surprise! I had major printing problems *grinding teeth, arg*... My old but wonderful printer does not play at all with my new computer Sheep. So I've got the printer hooked up to the old computer Tiny. I make my files on Sheep then move them over the home network to Tiny and then print from there. The reason I put up with this crap (and don't just buy a new printer that will work with Sheep), is that my old printer is the most wonderful thing in the world. It will print on anything without a complaint, never jams. And most importantly, I print A LOT! but replace the inks less than every six months. Printer ink is expensive, but I don't even care when I am spending only about 100$ in a year! But anyway, back to my recent printing problems. The printing computer Tiny was crashing after printing about two pages. And, for some annoying reason, the print job would stop as well. right in the middle of the stupid page, it would just stop printing! bah, wasting my paper and my ink and my time! sighs. I still love my old printer. But a new printer, is looking a bit inviting, at this point! |
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looking up
tues 20 apr 2010 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2010/100420.html |
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I have a massive Amazon run coming at me, and today the first book arrived. ∞ Good Mail Day by Jennie Hinchcliff and Carolee Gilligan Wheeler I paged thru the book when I got home, and it looks delightful. There's a website on the back cover, too... good-mail-day.com and I was happily surprised to see that it's active! Went to the "about" section at the website, and weird thing: I recognize Jennie Hinchcliff's avatar. I can't figure out where I've seen it before, tho! huh. (darn, it's going to be one of those things that drives me crazy, isn't it?!) Anyway: book in the mail, heck yeah, it's a good day. :) |
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Stamps
wed 5 may 2010 | |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2010/100505.html | |
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The stamps I ordered over the weekend arrived today. Yay. I got the new Animal Rescue stamps: and the new Abstract Expressionists stamps:
These are all okay, but my current favorite stamps are the Kelp Forest ones!!
The real reason I had to go on a stamp buying spree: I ran out of postcard stamps. You know what the problem is with postcard stamps? There's only one. With regular, first class 44¢ mail, you've got several different choices of stamp art. Heck a couple handfuls of art to choose from! But there is only one 28¢ postcard stamp design. And if you're sending a postcard out of the US, there is only one 98¢ International stamp, and there is only one 75¢ stamp for Canada.
What kind of foolishness is that?
You can find out more about the stamps above here:
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postcards
sat 22 may 2010 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2010/100522.html |
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In March 2008, the Yahoo group Purple Ink shut down. It was a large group of people who did paper journals (and many trades and exchanges), and I had been lurking there for a very long time. I was incredibly sad to see it go. As were hundreds of members. I joined one of the spin-off groups, Blue Haze. It was a small group but they re-started the postcard exchange almost immediately. Which I decided to join. My first postcard was a drawing... of one of my stuffed animals! :) With some text that defined what a "vegan" was. :) I sent it in July 2008. And I've been making postcards monthly ever since then! In September 2008, I joined PostCrossing, with the encouragement of the memembers of Blue Haze. Oh, I loved it! I sent postcards to the world, all through 2009. At the end of 2009, with the holidays, I got bogged down with responsibilities. I put the PostCrossing on hold. And it's still on hold, now six months later! But I continue with my monthly postcards at Blue Haze. It's important to me! |
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postcards continued
sun 23 may 2010 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2010/100523.html |
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And I started reading the book, Good Mail Day which is about mail art... Good reading plus interesting photos of mail and postcards and envelopes and artistamps. And now I want to re-engage my PostCrossing account. But, I don't have time to add another ongoing project to my life. Which makes me want to dump my entire life and just start over. heh. Too bad I like my day job so much, and paying rent is kinda nice as well. ;) In truth, I have so many interestes and hobbies! I *could* dump my life and "start over" but I'd have the exact same problem. Running out of time to do all these cool things that I want to do! oh well. |
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postcard
mon 24 may 2010 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2010/100524.html |
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I had finally figured out how the macro setting on my camera works. Yeah, okay, the camera is like three years old or something! And I have the manual within reach all the time! So I'm slow, okay?! I always used the zoom when I was doing bug pictures. Using zoom is just something I automatically do... but the camera couldn't focus on small, close things when the zoom is on. It just never occured to me to quit zooming and get physically closer! ha. Well, getting physically closer kinda freaks out the little ones. I think I was about an inch away from this poor little ladybug and I could practically hear him shouting at me to get out of his face! I did apologize to him. |
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postcard
tues 25 may 2010 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2010/100525.html |
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I decided that I liked the colour of the sky on this one. :) It's February's full moon, rising. I think I had my camera tripod at this time... but I wasn't able to use it because I was standing on the bed to get the shot through the window! haha. |
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Postcard?
sun 20 june 2010 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2010/100620.html |
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I put my name in, tho haven't received anything yet. But I've been thinking about it for a week... and I'm thinking that I need a form thingee on my website, to send out some "no strings" postcards! (Form removed, see notes below!)
Okay? Your address will be used for the power of good only! June postcards... I'm printing them right now, and I'm aiming for the end of June to get them out the door. My plan is subject to chaos, of course. I just love sending out postcards!! :) Update! 25 june 2010... Postcard Update! Thank you for your interest! The back of the June postcards have been printed and I'll be writing on them this weekend. Out the door on monday morning! If you are interested in a free, "no strings attached" postcard, sign up soon! This is not a trade, this is a free and ongoing experiment! Sign up, because getting a postcard from me will make you happy! :) Update! 30 june 2010... Postcard Update! postcards are out and I'm taking down the form! Look for the next "free" postcard sometime in mid-July! Thanks again for your interest! |
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Weekend!
fri 16 july 2010 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2010/100716.html |
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It's kind of like I am savoring them. I open up Paint Shop Pro, and I look at all my hundreds of photos and I am happy. And I think about the story with this photo, and the story with that photo, and this one could be a postcard, oh, and that one too! And I know that once I get my vacation blog entries written, I won't go through my photos anymore. Making the blog entry, kind of "finishes" the vacation, ya know? Plus, hundreds of photos are a little bit overwhelming! *laughs* I know, I should just start! But there are so many other things to think about as well. Mostly "thank you" cards to all the major players in the vacation. I like to procrastinate those. And now I'm all gung-ho about postcards again. (well, like I ever wasn't?) I've re-activated my PostCrossing account, and I've got a little bit of action from the GoodReads group I joined, plus the new account at SendSomething.net. Everyone should have rcvd my June postcard by now. (Except for the new people!) So here it is!
I took this photo in April, just outside our community garden. I love crows and I wish I could get their photo more often!! |
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Vegan Things
thurs 19 aug 2010 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2010/100819.html |
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That's a long time to live with yourself, knowing that you are not the best you. And now, I've been vegan for seven years! and I still Love, Love, Love being vegan. In fact, I'm pretty sure it gets more wonderful every day! For those of you who missed out on my July postcard... This is Justice!
... and that's Ember in the distance. They live at Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary which I got to visit on my vacation to Colorado at the beginning of July. |
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Postcard and Stamps
sat 18 sept 2010 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2010/100918.html |
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Yay Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary! This is Sunshine, who lives there... She was busy with her mud bath. I just love pigs!! And I really like the stamp sheet that came out on 1 Sept...
The Hawaiian Rain Forest 44¢ stamps are the last in a series called Nature of America. There are 12 sets in that series, which started in 1999. I'm kinda sad, knowing no more of these stamps will be made, because the art is just incredible on every single set! The Hawaiian Rain Forest and the set before, the Kelp Forest, are also made into stamped large postcards! This makes me happy. Probably will make my recipients happy too. :) Oh! And speaking of "recipients"... I ran into a most wonderful blog the other day. In 2009, the author, Carla, wrote a letter every day. This year, the blog is about letter writing ideas. It just delights me! Not that I could write a letter every day. Okay, actually it's been a while since I have written a letter at all! In August I sent out about 45 postcards. But postcards are different! There is just this tiny space to fill. With letters... potentially you have Pages to fill! I used to send a few letters a year to my Great Aunt and my Grandma. But they have both moved on to the next plane of existance. So I'm not really sure who to send letters to, anymore! :/ I will have to think about it... |
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Postcards
wed 3 nov 2010 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2010/101103.html |
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That got me hooked. I've been a member at PostCrossing for about two years now. I've sent 202 postcards from PostCrossing, so far! I try to keep track of the postcards that go out my door... I did a quick count and I've been sending between 40 and 60 postcards every month! crazy, huh? ("60" even surprised me!) Postcards are such an easy and fun little project. I've got a template set up in my desktop publishing software, and I can whip a digital photo into postcard shape in just a few seconds. Print it up, cut it out. Write a few sentences on the back, stick on a stamp... and that's a little piece of ART, and _I_ made it, and it's going to make somebody very happy at their mailbox! :) |
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Letter Writing
sun 21 nov 2010 |
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Permalink: http://www.static8.com/journal/2010/101121.html |
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Technically, I do not write letters. I do send out quite a bit of mail tho... in the form of postcards. I am thinking about experimenting with some over-size postcards so I can write a bit more. And of course, there are the typewriters that I may some day use to type letters.
Anyway. I really enjoy reading the letter writing blogs.
The links led me to this blog post from last year: The author talks about a couple of her favorite books, which are written in letter format. At the end of her post, she asks, Do you think the art of letter writing is dead? There are about a million comments, and I've been reading through them. Many people say the art of letter writing is dead, or dying, or has transformed into emails and blogs. Most people say they love receiving a letter, but won't write one. Just a handful of the commenters do write letters. And only occasionally get a letter reply. My thoughts? heh, I get mail every couple of days from PostCrossing. And if I were better about timely replies, I would have a handful of regular pen pals as well. The Art of Letter Writing is not dead. It is an Art, tho. Capital letter A and everything, and letter writing definitely intimidates people! But there will always be artists. And I think that as long as we have postal services, there will be letter writers. And postcarders! You just have to find the right web sites, and put a stamp on something every once in a while! :) |
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