r/postcrossing

I wanted to make my own postcards for soo long but I have no artistic abilities. AI is out of the question because we as a community want to promote human art. I myself am not an artist whatsoever and I don't want to send anything ugly to people out there. The reason I want to make my own cards is because I just moved to a small town that is not touristy at all, and has no cute post cards that represent it well. So, any advice on where I can start? I tried drawing on my iPad, but again, it's kinda ugly....ugh

I wrote my profile like this in order using ALL 3000 characters

• ~ 400 characters of quick-info
• 🛑-- if you've read enough, start writing, if not... -- 🛑
• ~1250 characters of myself like what I'm studying, languages I'm picking up on, my friends, my beliefs, being LGBTQIA+ since I was 12 (i'm now 16yo), fun facts about my country of Singapore and how small the country is
• ~ 600 characters of questions for the writer and some highly specific country questions
• ~ 450 characters of some postcards I want (NO OBLIGATION WRITTEN IN CAPS)
• ~ 200 characters of some other cool stuff they could add if they can
• HAPPY POSTCROSSING!

>so how do you guys write your profiles? I've seen multiple profiles that have stunned me.

There's the completely profiled profile. I love to take time to read these and go like "woah this guy/girl has really seen the world or done these super cool stuff

Yet, I find a certain charm in the PostCrosser with 7,000+ sent and has a concise and professional, yet surprisingly authentic profile.

I've also seen people who have a wishlist for postcards/postcard designs. like absolutely straight-to-the-point, respect.

it's 3 distinct profiles.
One where I can pick a postcard through characteristics and their life story,
one where it's kind of ehh, this or that?
and another where I know immediately what they want.

I tried to aim for a very fine mix of everything. Curious to hear!

I'm pretty new to postcrossing and will be on vacation for two weeks at the end of July. I'm wondering when most people set their profile to "traveling."

If I only enable it the day before I leave, I could still receive a card that has already been traveling for some time and then it would just sit in my mailbox for another two weeks (I don't have anyone who can empty it).

How do you usually handle this? How many days before your trip do you switch your profile to traveling?

I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences :)

EDIT: Set flare

Do you get to draw more addresses? And if so, how many? It's my partner's birthday that day so I don't want to be spending it holed up writing letters to other people!

Yesterday I sent my first 3 postcards! I was really happy and all until I realised I put it in the wrong place(on the right side of the postcard after the whole adress). Now I don't know if they will reach their destination at all. Does anybody know what happened in this kind of situation?

(probablyis a stupid question but I'd appreciate the help)

I’m going to my very first meetup in a month. Can anyone give me an idea of what happens at these events? I’m not a social butterfly by any means so any info will help prepare my expectations.

i recently had my very first postcard received by someone. i spent a lot of time hand drawing the card and making it look as nice as i could. i checked postcrossing and found that the recipient didn’t leave a message about the card or even upload a photo of it. it’s been a week and there’s still nothing.

i’m left feeling pretty disappointed that i put quite some effort into making my first postcard be something special and unique and not have anything to show for it besides seeing that it was registered. this person even stated in their bio that they enjoyed handmade cards and i drew them something that was included in their interests.

i guess it’s just the luck of the draw. it’s made me discouraged to hand make a card again with the anxiety of this happening again looming about. hoping that maybe this was just a super unlucky pull. :T

Hi everyone,

My post isn't strictly about postcrossing, but it is about postcards and I would love to get your opinion. Sorry if that is a bit off top.

I love sending postcards to friends, family and myself when I'm traveling. However, I’ve always wondered why souvenir postcards are so generic. I always thought it would be amazing to make them more personal - featuring something you actually saw and heard, rather than a stock photo heavily photoshopped by someone else. So, I decided to try and make that happen (not yet fully ready though).

I'm currently working on an app that creates a postcard using a photo you took on your phone and the ambient sounds you captured at that moment. The app embeds a QR code onto the photo, which you can then print out. Most photo booths or printing kiosks have options to print custom photos postcard quality. From there, the rest of the ritual remains exactly the same - you still write your message and the address by hand. That part of the experience is priceless.

I have a couple of questions for the community:

What do you think about mixing a physical postcard with a digital experience? Would you be interested in listening to the real sounds of the place a postcard came from, in addition to reading the card itself?

I will do it in any case even for myself, but if somebody else is interested, then the feedback will be super helpful.

Thanks