I love a great postcard. Anywhere and anytime I travel, I make an effort to find postcards, write them, and mail them (preferably from the place where I got them). I like the scarcity of space, the need to be succinct…maybe even pithy in my composition. I mostly send postcards to my grandsons. I want them to feel the pleasure of getting mail, of knowing that I am thinking of them, and sharing a tiny glimpse of my travel experience with them.

I encourage my students to write and send postcards to our class anytime they travel. I want them to feel the pleasures of snail mail, understand the connections their words can help forge, and to delight our class as we get to study the postcard, notice the stamp and postmark, and read the message written especially for us. We have quite a collection growing! When school ended last year, I sent each of my students a postcard (Target had National Parks postcards in their dollar bins) with a “would you rather” type of question on it. As school began this year, many of those students were eager to tell me how much they loved their postcard!

My youngest son is an artist. Over the years postcards have been a part of his art process. In the past there were times when he bought a postcard and used it as his canvas for creating art. The fun part of this medium is that the artwork then shows up in your mailbox. Here’s a couple of examples.

Nick’s most recent art has been the creation of blob sculptures. He posts a daily reel of his creation on Instagram @nickdouillard to the delight of nearly a million followers who sometimes watch his reels millions of times. Just last week he offered a sale at his site, which included a variety of one-of-a-kind handmade blobs as well as packs of blob postcards drawn by him. His sculptures sold out in no time–he has quite a fan base for these quirky, adorable pieces. I knew I would be ordering some of his postcards–and they come with sticker hats (another feature of his blob sculptures) to mix and match the blobs’ looks. My order came in the mail today!

Now the big decision…who do I sent my brand new postcards to? My grandsons are definitely on my list of sendees… I’m thinking I’ll also write an unexpected postcard to a friend or two I haven’t seen in a while and maybe a colleague who won’t be expecting it. I have ten…it will be fun to pick out people to send them off to!

Who would you send a postcard to?

(Shameless plug: cute blob postcards are still available, just visit Nick’s Instagram site. He’ll even send a postcard for you to the addressee of your choice!)