Fun with Postcards

Did you create a postcard for National Postcard Week?  I did, and I've had loads of fun hearing the kids come in singing "You got Valentines!" and then going through the day's greetings together.  We've received cards from all over the country and each one is like a tiny jewel.

If I haven't mentioned it before, 'Valentines' is our word for friendly mail.  Bills and circulars are not Valentines.  Birthday cards, wedding invitations, and NPCW postcards are.

Boxes and fat envelopes on the other hand, are "Sea Monkeys" (as in, "Your seamonkeys have arrived!").  That explanation probably doesn't help at all.  If you were around the CompuServe stamping forum in the 90s though, you get what I'm saying.

In case you weren't on my mailing list (see this post for info on how to get on a distribution list) below is the card I sent out this year.

The submarine (actually a transformed helicopter), fishies, and foliage are all from Eat Cake Graphics.  The bubbles were drawn by me, with the help of Inkscape* and a circle-brush in PhotoShop.  I used Inkscape and PhotoShop to create the faux postal cancellation mark, too (who knew that would be so complicated?!  Perhaps a tutorial on this?  Are you interested?).

Happy NPCW to all the deltiologists out there!

*Inkscape allows you to input mathematical functions, then it will draw a line representing that function.  The bubbles are the result of a sine function.  The line itself didn't make the final edit, but I used it as a guide to draw the bubbles.