201 Letters (and Postcards)

Lately I've been spending a lot of time on the Postcrossing forum. I've been so fascinated by sending and receiving mail. A couple of days ago, I received a message from a girl who is home-schooled, along with her two other sisters. Together, they have a project called 2011 Letters. Their goal is to collect 2011 letters, postcards, any piece of mail during the year 2011. It sounded like a great goal and I wanted to start my own as well. But then I thought about it, money-wise. 2011 letters = approx. 2011 dollars. Since I normally send something and then receive something, usually a trade off, I figured I would have to spend at least $2011 dollars in order to receive 2011 letters. So I brought the total down to 201 letters. I feel that's an easier goal for me (and less on my budget). I also participate in many swaps and trades other than letters and postcards so I probably be spending a lot more than $201 anyway. I haven't receive that many pieces of mail so far, so I will count everything beginning of 2011. By definition, my 201 pieces of mail will NOT include bills, statements, junk mail, or anything that isn't really personal. I'm going to college soon, so nothing received from colleges/financial aid don't count either. Only personal letters, postcards, and swaps/tags.

Want to join in? Send me an email at explorelovegrow@gmail.com.
Other ways to contact me: Postcrossing website - Postcrossing Forum
Or, leave a comment below! :]

Thanks for reading!

Packages Sent

Soo.. after browsing the Postcrossing forum, I was hooked! I loved the idea of swapping items with other people in the world. Simple things to you may be extraordinary things to them and vice versa! So today I sent out my first shipment. They weren't "packages" but they weren't all postcards either. I took some pictures but I don't have them with me right now.. probably will add them later. Anyways, today I sent out about 5 official cards - meaning they have a US-xxxx number. And about 4 envelopes for swaps/tags. I have two big swaps to go shopping for this weekend. I'm so excited - I can't wait to receive some stuff in the mail! :]

Today I also received my first postcard of the year. From Diane from Philadelphia, PA. It is an official card and it is a picture of PA's state capital building. I love it! One of my collections is the state capital buildings. I will upload a picture later also.. For now, I'm gonna eat dinner. Then I will be back with the photos! :]

Back in Action!

Soo.. after being on hiatus for almost a year, I've decided to start with Postcrossing again. I sent out about five postcards last week (four already registered) and I will be sending out five more tomorrow. I love Postcrossing! This time around I will be putting more effort into it. I want to create/send/receive more artistic and handmade cards. I will also be updating this blog when I receive new cards or when I send out a handmade card. I am also open for direct swaps so if you would like to swap with me, just send me a message to my Postcrossing account. Don't know what Postcrossing is? Or interested in checking it out? Please click on the image below:

Other than the cost of the stamps/postcards, Postcrossing is free. You don't have to pay to use the site or anything like that. Since you will be receiving cards in return, I think the price isn't too bad!

Project Update

Sooo.. I finally updated my blogwear. Now it looks nice and pretty! I love the new look. I know it's been a while since I've updated and scrapped.. ugh. At the end of last month, I got a new laptop. It's faster, slimmer, and a whole lot better. I finally have a laptop that I can use for Photoshop. Before I had to use a different computer and Photoshop would always crash on me. This laptop is totally different. I was able to complete two LOs tonight and it didn't crash on me at all! :]

I will get to the new LOs soon, but first I wanted to update my projects. I know I'm such a slacker and I hate to admit this, but I haven't started any of my projects. As for P365, I'm throwing it in the bucket. I have been doing something else that similar to it though. My new laptop has a webcam and I use to take, what I call, an almost daily snapshot. I try to take a snapshot everyday but I have missed some days and that's okay with me. Who really needs 365 photos anyway? At the end of every month, I will compile the photos and put it in a LO or 2-pager, depending on the amount of photos. And at the end of the year I probably will pick my favorites and make another 2-pager.

On to the Day Zero Project. I've decided to just update my last list and keep the same date. I figure it's less time to complete the goals. And that makes it more of a challenge, right? I probably will update my list soon, once I figure out what to put on it. I still want to do the 30 day challenge and the Love, Me Project, but I think they will have to wait. Starting too many projects at one time is too much for me at the moment. Right now I'm focusing on getting into and paying for colleges. Personal projects can come later.

Okay, I know I said I was gonna post the LOs but they will have to wait for tomorrow. Good night everyone! :]