Postcard Challenge 2012

So our 52 Pages is almost at an end, and many people have asked me if I am doing a prompt challenge next year...well I  am...sort of. I will try and explain what I am going to do, and then if you would like to join in that would be wonderful.

I have a gorgeous set of books, 6 of them, in a wooden box by NICK BANTOCK , the books are the Griffin and Sabine series. I urge you to read them if you have not already, they are truly beautiful books.  The theme of the books is two people who correspond by postcard  and the books are full of the postcards.

Here is a link TO THE BOOKS on Amazon, you can look inside them.go and look they are beautiful.

I have loved these books for a long time, and decided that next year I am going to make my own book of postcards and create a story to go with them.

There is a button that you can grab, over there on the left...

So here is the challenge, based totally on the Nick Bantock books.

Step one ...create 2 characters, and 2 addresses.

now they can be 2 guys, 2 women, a man and a woman, 2 kids, 2 old people...whatever you want. the address can be anywhere in the world as long as they are fictitious. All you need to start with is a name for each person and an address for each person

Step two... cut out 52 postcards. You can use whatever you want, plain card, textured card, patterned card, watercolour paper...whatever you want, as long as they are 6inches x 4 inches.

If you wish to join in every week you will need 52, you may only want to join in fortnightly, or even monthly in which case you need less cards.

Step three...make or buy a book. you need enough pages for all your cards, depending on how often you are joining in.

Step four...decide how you will attach the cards into the book, you must be able to take them out..so you could use a pocket on each page...an envelope...or bought/hand made photo corners...

that's all you need to do for now.

On Monday 2nd January the challenge will begin. You will need to visit here to find out

...the first country...


this is a really long post, click to see the rest of it.x




each week I will post the name of a country. You then take inspiration from that country to decorate the front of your postcard. In whatever way you wish. you can stamp..collage...draw..paint...whatever you want, as long as it ties in somehow with that weeks country.

On the back of your postcard, make it look like a real postcard. A space for a stamp, some lines for an address..

then write your postcard....from one of your made up people(person A) to the other made up person(person B)

on week two....your postcard will be sent from person B to person A...and so on.

Now what do you write on your postcard?....well that is up to you.

your 2 people are strangers, so how do they have each others addresses? maybe thru an advert? maybe one found the others wallet and it had an address inside? maybe thru a penfriend organisation??

each week you will write from one to the other, asking questions, maybe answering questions, giving snippets of information so these 2 strangers can get to know each other.

perhaps one is a glamorous model, and will talk about her job...maybe one is a travel journalist and will write about the country...maybe one is a spy and will be mysterious...think how your people are able to travel so much...

here is a list of possible peoples to help you;

military..retired people..actors..travel journalist..secret agent..politician..author..designer..event organiser..lottery winner..food critic..dancer..muscian..athlete..researcher..pilot..flight attendant..cabin crew on a cruise...archaeologist..wildlife photographer...spokesperson...time traveller...

IT IS UP TO YOU...have fun with these characters, make them flamboyant, silly, adventurous.

I don't want you to panic and think...OMG I cannot write a story...this is going to be a series of short conversations between 2 people, grammar and composition is not important.

Have you ever picked u a really old postcard and read the message on the back and wondered who this person was, who were they writing to, what kind of life did they have? I am fascinated by these little glimpses into strangers lives. you can make your 'story' elaborate if you want, adding in names of families and details of jobs etc, or you can keep them simple. have fun...fun..fun playing with these characters and their lives.

when your postcard is written post a photo of the front and the back on your blog, this should be done sometime fri-sun each week, ready for the new country to be posted the following Monday.

We will all want to visit each others blogs to read the unfolding stories each week.

and then pop your card into your book. The reason for keeping them in a book is so they are always kept in order, should you want to read them again in the future.

If you want to decorate the page of the book too that is up to you. If you do I suggest using the country as your inspiration for that too.


So are you interested???

My friend Dede has a fabulous show on making a book from file folders which would be perfect for this project. Watch her show HERE...

this is the book that I have made..

I stitched signatures together...

Made a book cover and covered it with wrapping paper in a travel theme.. I added maps to the inside covers.. I then glued an envelope on some pages and stuck photo corners on other pages..

It is already chunky....love it...

I super glued an old belt around it, to keep it closed and to make it look like an old travel journal...

here is the back of my postcard.. I have a bagful of old postage stamps from around the world, so on most of my postcards I will actually be able to use a real stamp from that country.

and here it is in the book. I still need to decorate the page around it.

you will have to come back in January to see the postcard properly and to read the start of my story on the back.


So are you interested in joining in? I do hope so. I would love to come visit your blogs, to see your cards and to read your unfolding story between your 2 characters.