I had to slow down my postcrossing habits a bit due to time and finances during the holidays, but thanks to several gifts of stamps and postcards I am back to it with the start of the new year! I hope to have many more lovely cards to continue to show you in 2017, but let’s wrap up 2016 for now.

From Canada, from a lady who said she dreamed of designing costumes for theatre when she was a child.

I’ve always really enjoyed this style of art and so I was excited to get this card in the mail. What a fabulous outfit! I’d love to know what she’s up to. Perhaps someone gave her those flowers? I sense a scandal!

The next one is from Japan, though it was sent by a Chinese student. I was happy to know some Japanese for this one, because the student wrote a portion of the card in Japanese, mentioning it was easier for them than English. (Bilingualism, here I come! Someday…)

I didn’t get to see any cherry blossoms when I went to Japan myself last year, we were too late in the spring for that, but I absolutely adore any cards from Japan and it’s rare that I get them!

How can one not love this little owl from Germany? (And that squirrel on his hat is adorable. I love its ears!)

He makes me think a bit of if Robin Hood were an owl, which means I can’t help but think of the Disney film ‘Robin Hood’ and its cast of animal characters. I always loved that film growing up. Alright, let’s face it, I still do.

This card didn’t have an international trip. It didn’t even have a cross-country trip. It came from Kansas, right next door to me, but the tagline made me giggle and right now I’m really wishing I were on a warm beach worshiping the sun too. Wind chills are in the single digits and I’m more than ready for some warmer weather! Anyone want to sponsor a week-long writing and relaxation vacation for me to the Florida panhandle? Pretty please??

Little known fact: I love maps. Particularly old maps.

This is a map of the United States sent to me by a lady in the Netherlands. The card tells me this map should date to 1788? It was drawn by Samuel Dunn.

I love seeing how maps change over time, both politically and as the world was still being ‘discovered’ (at least by those who were making maps such as this).

And finally this beautiful rose from Finland. It came to me with the note “With friendship this rose is sent your way. Hoping you have a wonderful day!” which absolutely made me smile and therefore got my day a little closer to being wonderful.

What is lost a bit by posting this online is the texture of the card (I love textured postcards), but one of the things that made me love this card as well are the muted colors of it. 

Something I don’t normally share on here are the stamps that come on the cards I receive. I’m not really a stamp collector and while I do enjoy pretty or unique stamps, to me they are more of a vehicle for delivery than a collectible. (And honestly, I don’t need another collector hobby!)

But these cards have some pretty cool stamps that brought them to my door and I thought I would share those as well this time.

Happy 2017!!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.