postcard swap

January 5, 2015 by Kat

Liberate Your Art 2015 Postcard Swap is here!

It’s here for 2015! The Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap has officially opened for the 5th Annual Swap. Can you believe we’ve been doing this for five years?? And it’s just as fun every year!

If you are not familiar with the swap, here’s how it works: You create postcards printed with your artwork on them. Any type of artwork, all mediums are welcome. You send me five postcards, and you receive six back — from five other participants and one from me! It’s a fun and easy way to learn to reproduce your work and to get your art out in the world if you haven’t done it before. There are also lots of ways to connect with the participants and increase your network, like the Facebook Event group, the Participant List and the Blog Hop. I’ve got more ideas, too!

Last year, we had just over 200 artists from 10 countries participating. Do you think we can increase that this year? I think so, but I need your help. I need you to share, share, share about the swap! Blog about it, post it on Facebook, tweet it. Use #liberateyourart on social media. Send everyone to the swap landing page to get more info and sign up. Working together, we can get the word out!

To get all of the details, sign up for the email list here. Already on the list from last year? Great! Check your inbox, because I sent an email yesterday to kick things off.

Ready, Set, Go! Let’s make the 2015 swap BIG!

April 16, 2014 by Kat

Liberate Your Art 2014 Blog Hop

Round the world the postcards go. Where they stopped, we all now know!

The Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap has wrapped up for 2014, and the fourth year was just as much fun as the previous three. Just when I think I have everything in this swap figured out, there are new things for me to learn about. This year, it was the US Postal Service changing the postcard rate and not yet having stamps available, right before the swap deadline. It keeps things interesting! I didn’t quite meet my goal of 250 participants this year, but that means I’ll just have to keep the swap going another year. 😉

Here are the final stats for 2014:

1254 pieces of art liberated
209 participating artists
10 countries represented

Every year as I open the envelopes, see your art and read your notes, a message seems to emerge for me. This year’s message:

When you liberate your art, you liberate your heart.
Your heart goes into what you create, so when it’s liberated, a little piece of who you are is sent into the world. Because of that, it can be incredibly hard to liberate your art. Exposing your self in this way is difficult, but it’s the first step on a journey that will take you to amazing places. You can’t help but grow and expand your heart as you send your art out into the world.

How do I know this? The first art I ever liberated to others was in the form of postcards. From that small beginning, I’ve continued to evolve the way I share my art, from postcards to cards to individual prints to collections to exhibitions. I have found my voice artistically and I have a confidence in myself around my art I could never have dreamed when I liberated those first few postcards into the world. That’s a very big reason why I run this swap, to encourage others to take this small step too.

Whether you are at the very start of your journey or somewhere further down the road, this postcard swap gives you the chance to go back to the basics. You liberated your art and your heart into the world, where it can do the greatest good. Thank you so much for your participation. I hope you’ll join in again next year!

Now, it’s time to HOP! I have a special bonus for the blog hop participants in the form of a giveaway drawing! At the end of the blog hop, by random drawing from all blog hop participants, I will be giving away:

One copy of the book Good Mail Day: A Primer for Making Eye-Popping Postal Art. I found this gorgeous book in the gift shop at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington, DC, and couldn’t resist.
One 6×9″ fine art print, matted to 11×14″, of this year’s Blog Hop image, shown above. I love how this image came out, and thought the message could be inspiring on your wall. It’s already up on mine!

If you’d like to purchase your own 6×9″ fine art print of today’s image and help me defray the extra expenses I incur on behalf of the swap, I am making it available for purchase during the time of the blog hop. To order, click here if you are within the US and here if you are outside of the US. Postage is included in the purchase price. (Don’t worry, if you purchase the print and then win the giveaway, I’ll refund your money.)

Enough words from me… Let’s hop!

An InLinkz Link-up

March 4, 2014 by Kat

What’s in the Mail?

It’s less that two weeks until the big swap Sunday for the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap! That means it’s time to mail for everyone involved, and boy, are the envelopes rolling in. As of Saturday I had received 120 envelopes! I’ve got my fingers crossed that I’ll meet my goal of 250 participants this year. It’s looking good!

And the envelopes are pretty amazing this year too. I’ll share a few of my recent favorites here with you today…

Lynn created some bright, happy doodles. I loved how the hand-cancelled stamp matched perfectly.

Judith encourage us to liberate our art, or our cat, whichever suits! I think I’ll stick to the art, Judith. My cat is an indoor cat. 🙂

A gorgeous, hand-drawn envelope from Melody encourages me to write. Isn’t this an adorable little mouse? I’d write back if I got to see more of him!

Suzette created a wonderful message in her envelope art. I didn’t want to open this one, for fear of messing it up, but there was a little message inside the envelope, too! Payoff! Not to mention her gorgeous postcards…

I love it when people re-use things! Meredith was one of many who re-used the Moo packaging her postcards came in. She decorate the envelope and the sleeve too. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo of the inner sleeve… mostly because I didn’t know it was decorated until just now. It was like a secret surprise! Gorgeous!

Some shimmery flowers in rich colors decorated Evelyn’s envelope…

Sheila tempts me to warmer climes with her palm tree. Which echoed the art on one of her postcards. Very cool! Sheila also sent some extra postcards for my helpers. NICE!! They will appreciate them on swap day!

I saw Barbara‘s envelope on Instagram before she mailed it. I couldn’t wait to get this gorgeous envelope. I just love the soft colors! Don’t forget to use #liberateyourart on social media, and find each other!

Finally, Valerie from Germany always sends me a big, decorated envelope. Her envelope usually has an extra little surprise in it. This year it was a little covered notebook and bookmarks. Fun!

You know what’s really cool, the folks at my UPS store even recognized her as one of the past participants. When you decorate an envelope, many people get to enjoy your art along the way. I imagine these envelopes bring lots of smiles, as they go from you to me.

And we’ll bring more smiles as we Liberate our Art as postcards! Not long now!

February 18, 2014 by Kat

Let’s Swap!

I’m back with another Liberate Your Art postcard swap update! We have less than one week left for sign up to join the swap, so if you’ve been delaying, it’s time to get in gear. You can sign up here until February 21st. After that time gets too short to make postcards and get them mailed to me before the deadline of March 15th.

So far, 52 envelopes have arrived! Yay! I started “checking in” envelopes this weekend. “Check in” involves opening every envelope, making sure there are the right number of postcards, stamps and labels, making sure the postcards have a greeting written on them, and removing all of the extra bits and bobs that get sent along, like lovely notes or extra postcards for me. (I love those little surprises!) Envelopes from international participants are matched up with their Paypal payment, and a note is sent to confirm receipt. If anything isn’t right about the package, I’ll try to contact the artist if I have their email address. It’s possible to resolve issues for those who send early.

Some more gorgeous mail art to share with you…

Amanda Bradley is a calligrapher in Washington, and her envelopes are a piece of art in themselves! I wish I had a link to send you to, so you could see more of her work. It doesn’t seem she has a website, sadly. I would happily lose myself for hours in the beautiful words and flourishes she creates, if she did. But instead I’ll just look dreamily at the envelope she sent!

Paula Bogdan transformed a plain manila envelope into a dramatic piece in red, white and black. I love the touches of yellow which blend in the few places the envelope is showing!

Jane Peeks is a mixed media artist, and veteran envelope decorator in the swap! I think I’ve posted her envelopes every year. This year her envelope had lots of hand drawn flourishes in a gorgeous purple and green…

…and a perfect sentiment on the back!

I agree, Jane! Let’s Swap!

February 4, 2014 by Kat

A Stack of Letters

Finally, finally! I’ve been anxiously waiting for weeks for that first decorated envelope to arrive, and now I can write a Liberate Your Art postcard swap update here on the blog. The envelopes have been trickling in, but there hadn’t been any decorated ones until this week. Now it feels like the swap is officially under way, and it’s time for a swap update! There is still plenty of time to join us in the swap, if you haven’t already. Just visit the swap page here to get the details and sign up.

Here’s the stack of envelopes I’ve received to date. Pretty amazing to receive this many 6 weeks before the swap deadline! You all are overachievers. 🙂 The very fun purple envelope on the top of the stack is from Tina Wittmer. I am partial to purple lately, so this one tickled my fancy!

I love what Carlyn Clark did with her envelope: Using what looks like a magazine ad, she created an envelope and managed to make the tiger lick the stamp. That’s pretty cool!!

Lynne Foerster added some lovely little hand-drawn details to her envelope. Personal touches like this just make me smile. I almost don’t want to open the envelopes sometimes, for fear of ruining the art!

And finally, a different kind of mail art, stamps from a new country — Malaysia! It’s the first-ever time we’ve had someone living in Malaysia in the swap. I’ll be saving these stamps, for sure.

So there you have it, the first Liberate Your Art blog post for the 2014 swap. I look forward to sharing more in the coming weeks. If you decorate your envelope, you just might find yourself featured here!

And the winner is…

Stephanie Skiff wins the drawing for a print of the The Last Tree. Thanks to everyone who entered. While I expected a number of entries, I didn’t quite expect all of the lovely comments that you all left. Thank you so much. I wish I could give you all a print! (Oh, I guess I can, and do, in the swap!! Join us!)

May 9, 2013 by Kat

Liberate Your Art 2013 Blog Hop

The postcards have been mailed, received, swapped, mailed and received. The Liberate Your Art postcard swap is complete for 2013. It’s time to party a little bit, and celebrate what a fabulous swap we’ve had for 2013!

The Liberate Your Art 2013 stats:
1290 pieces of art
216 artists
11 countries

But there is so much more to the swap than the numbers. Every year a phrase or theme comes to me as I look at all of the art that passes through my hands. This year, it was “connection.” You are all doing an amazing thing, connecting through art. Each piece of art that was liberated represents a connection, or two. I saw these connections sharing love, joy, nostalgia, encouragement, acceptance, color, creativity, beauty, peace, emotion, inspiration, light, laughter, memories, words, and life. You are influencing the world in a positive way when you connect through art.

Of course I had my own moments of connection, too. All of your notes and extra postcards and of course, your art, touched my heart. As I opened the envelopes, I found the art of old friends I’ve been in contact with online since I lived in Italy. I saw the art of local friends, people I see often in my real life, going out to make new connections. And one of the most special things was seeing a couple of postcards from artists where I was with them when they took the photograph they shared, both in the US and in England. Wow. I got chills, from the way these connections reverberate and spiral back.

Who knows how this year’s connections will spiral back to you?

Enjoy this year’s video, which includes one piece of art from every participant. The collection is an amazing tribute to the individuality and expression that comes through art. (Be sure to watch it in HD if you can, it looks awesome! Also note that there is a pause partway through, as the songs change, so don’t stop watching too early.)

And now, there’s one last opportunity to connect through the 2013 Liberate Your Art swap. Let’s hop!

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