Hello from Toni: The Great Postcard Experiment

Greetings, everyone!  My first official Monday post. I'm going to have to get used to this new day. I was looking over my assignments for the week and had an "oh, crap!" moment when I remembered that my DB post is on Mondays and not Tuesday now.  Best get writing! LOL

A few weeks ago I had it in my head that I wanted to send out postcards to people, you know, as though I had actually gone on a vacation.  Towards that end, I asked for a few volunteers to test out how handmade postcards would survive USPS.

Note for all of these postcards I used Strathmore Bristol Smooth 100lb and Avery Elle Monkey Sea Monkey Do.

Let's start with the upper left corner.  This postcard was mailed to Rosie Thompson of White Tundra Designs in Alaska. I used Distress Oxides and Copics, keeping it one layer. I then applied a coating of  Distress Micro Glaze which makes the surface highly water resistant.

As you can see, the postcard faired well with only a few marks from going through automated post office machines.

Next up we have the postcard that was mailed to Kathi Rerek in New Jersey.  For this one I stamped the ocean floor images with Distress Oxides.  Then I used a Distress Embossing Dabber with a stencil, sprinkled with result with Distress Broken China Embossing Glaze and glued down the images over the top.  I then embossed the entire surface with a few layers of UTEE for a really shiny, watery look.

Here the post office applied a barcode sticker (easily removed without harming the surface beneath) and there's little scuffing on the surface.

Now we're at my favorite postcard of the bunch which I sent to Lyndi June in Virginia.  This one is watercolored and stenciled then embossed.  The surface was really marked up by the post office rollers. Fortunately, Lyndi was able to remove much of it using a bit of alcohol later. I do wonder if the orange peel texture was hard for the machine(s) to deal with but you'd think the UTEE would have been worse since it's even slicker.

The final postcard was sent to Ashley Stoker Harris of @ashleyharriscreates in Arizona. This one really surprised me.  There is no special coating AND the images have been glued on, yet it's hardly marked up at all.  What the what?

It's certainly the easiest option for sending a postcard as it's little different that how I would make a regular card front except needing to adhere all edges of the images.

So there you have it.  I love the look of the regular embossed postcard (bottom right) but if the plain jane (bottom left) works just as well, if not better, then I'll save a bit of time and go with that.  How about you?

Again, a special thanks to my little helpers!  You're the best!



Have a great rest of your week!  In the meantime, if you'd like to check out my other creations, you can visit my blog, Frankie Helps Craft, my Instagram, or my Pinterest Board.

Products Used and/or Recommended Include: