Random Act of Smiliness - Sini from Finland

Another Postcrossing meet-up, another wonderful card from my Finnish friend Sini. I am lucky! When this card arrived I had just finished reading this book, the timing was amazing. The book itself was OK, my favourite parts being the communication amongst the characters using flowers and plants. Sini followed up with an email providing a translation of the various definitions. Another beautiful Finnish stamp and a very nice cancellation as well.

Kukkaiskieli - language of flowers

Kielo - Lily of the Valley

Olen jo kauvan sinua rakastanut - I have loved you for a long time.

Red Rose - My love is making me wretched.

White rose -I can't.

Thistle - I am dying of jealousy.

Bellis - I favour you.

Nettle - In vain

Pansy - Courage

Thorn - No

Hops - humulus lupulus - I wish I could embrace you

Gentian - Thank you

Jasmin - I don't love, but respect you

Platanthera - I miss being with you

Leave of a rose - Share

Juniper - Wait

Write your name under the plant, which correspond the feeling of the sender. 

Random Act of Smiliness - Sini from Finland

Right around Easter time these lovely little sheep found their way into my mailbox courtesy of Sini. Once again she was lucky to be attending a Postcrossing meet up. As she writes "this time" in Jarvenpaa (my computer won't let me make the accents over the "a's"). Have you ever attended a Postcrossing meet-up?

Random Act of Smiliness - Sini from Finland

Imagine my surprise to receive a second card from Sini within a few days of each other. This card she sent from a Postcrossing meet-up she went to in Helsinki. Love the card and the stamp - very cool!

Lottery Win - Finland

Elenna hosted a lottery in October on the Postcrossing Forum. It had a really neat twist to it. She opened the lottery and offered six different cards featuring the Swedish Royal Family. You were to choose which card you liked best and answer the question she posed about Royal Families. The twist was she asked the winner to open a new lottery, kind of paying it forward. I really liked that idea. Lucky for me I was the winner and chose this fantastic card showing Princess Madeleine and her groom. What I didn't know was Elenna took the card to a mini meet-up with a few Postcrossing friends and they all signed it. The icing on the cake is the beautiful foiled wedding stamp. This was the first postcard I received for 2015, a great way to start off the year - thank you Elenna!

Random Act of Smiliness - Montreal Meet-up from Elaine

Every once in awhile it seems my Postcrossing account gets out of sync. Mine has been like that for close to a month now. Somehow my received cards is greater than my sent cards. When this happens your name is not given out until it is equal again. There are several different reason why this happens which I won't bore you with right now. All I know is it can be annoying! This time I had received 8 more than sent. It can take a long time to catch up when there is a difference like that, especially when I send only three officials a week. Frustrating! In the meantime to make my mailbox happy I have the swaps I've completed to post or a few RAS like this one.

Elaine and I swapped some blank cards a little while ago. She recently attended a meet-up in Montreal and very kindly sent me a signed card from there. To say I was surprised is an understatement! I was thrilled that she thought of me. The card is not only a great design but loved seeing all the signatures. Thank you Elaine!

Random Act of Smiliness - Genek from Denmark

Genek and I have never swapped. I have asked him for his address and so far he has successfully avoided sharing it with me. This is the second card he has sent me, the first one you can see here. He too attended the big Bielefeld meet-up in Germany last month. So many signatures are the same and so many new ones, that place is crazy busy! The card is great - vintage black and white bird photo, the caption on the back is hilarious - "The reward for feeding great Tits". Certainly gave me a good laugh!!! Thank you Genek, my goal is to track you down for Christmas.

Random Act of Smiliness - Meet-ups from LyndaC

My friend Lynda has been travelling on a trip of a lifetime through Europe the past few weeks. I have been following her adventures on her blog, and as we are friends on Facebook I also get to see the pictures each day. She has been really diligent in keeping both up to date while being so busy. One of her goals for this trip was to attend the big annual meeting in Bielefeld, Germany. It is a HUGE Postcrossing meeting - 50 or 60 people rent a house and it runs over 3 days. Wowza! Before that she had a mini meet up with a few Postcrossers while she was staying in Amsterdam. I was lucky that she sent me cards from both meet-ups. The 3D Hallowe'en card she made herself and it arrived on my birthday - icing on the cake! Thank you Lynda for thinking of me on your travels, truly appreciated and totally envious.

OFFICIAL Card - Germany

This card was a wonderful surprise when it arrived in my mailbox. Yvonne had just attended a meet-up in Cologne a few days before she drew my name. The timing was perfect! This card came with many signatures - thank you to all the attendees too!

Lottery Win - Prague Postcrossing Meet-up

Ana, is one of Postcrossing Team members. She was holding a lottery for cards to be sent for the Postcrossing Meet-up that was being held in Prague at the beginning of September. It was part of a larger stamp fair that was being held. The "catch" with this lottery is they did not notify the winners...as they already knew our addresses they just sent the card. So, it was certainly a big surprise when I found this card in my mailbox a few weeks later. She mentioned in her post that she tried to have as many people sign as possible, however they were so many and scattered about. That is fine by me, I am just thrilled to receive this special designed card. They even has a special cancellation done for the event. Thank you!

Random Act of Smiliness - Yantai Meet-up Card

Craig won one of the cards in the lottery we held for the Ingersoll Meet-up. He too was organizing a meet-up for the first time in his hometown of Yantai, China  on the same day. He had a few questions surrounding meet-ups which I was happy to answer and help share our experiences with him. He offered to send a card from his meet-up and I was happy to recieve it. He later emailed me to tell me for a first effort it was a success!

Random Act of Smiliness - Tampere Meet-up card

I have got to know a few people online through Postcrossing and just like "real life" some I have clicked with more than others for whatever reason. Claudia and Mervi are two ladies I have had a few interactions with but honestly not too many. I was certainly surprised when I received a card from them from a recent meet-up in Tampere, Finland. Claudia is from Germany and was vacationing in Finland and decided to join Mervi (and others) for the meet-up. They obviously have really clicked! It was such a nice surprise made all that more wonderful with the Postcrsossing stamp. The view is of Helsinki harbour. Thank you ladies!!!

Summer Meet-Ups

This summer I was lucky to be able to attend two different meet-ups. Lots of swapping, shopping and chatting!

This first was July 5th in downtown Toronto. We met at the gift shop in the Art Gallery. It was so nice to meet so many new people and reconnect with old friends. Literally, the lady to the right in the photo is someone I hung out with 35 odd years ago! I'll save that story for another day! We continued through many shops in Chinatown and ended off the day by signing over 300 postcards!

I am the third from the right in the back.

Two weeks later I went out to Ingersoll. Hard to believe this is our third meeting! There were many new people at this meeting as Lynda and I sent out many messages letting people in the area know about it. There too were lots of familiar faces. Can't remember how many cards we signed that day, my guess is somewhere in the 300 range again. Should point out that LyndaC designed the cards for both the meetings. Always does such a great job. After the meet-up a few of us drove to neighbouring London and did some card shopping. Such great finds that day too!

I am sitting down on the far left.

Random Act of Smiliness - Langton Meet-up

At the end of June a few of the ladies that I know from the Ingersoll Meet-up were getting together for a mini meet and lunch. It was the last week before the kids were home from school for the summer and just a bit further than I could travel that day, so sadly couldn't attend. I was pleasantly surprised when this sweet bird card arrived two days later. I can tell the meet was in Alida's neck of the woods as it has another great unique cancellation. Thank you ladies!!!

Thank You Card - Samuel from Mauritius

I sent a birthday card to Samuel's Dad in Seychelles as a RAS. In return he sent me this card titled "Summer Collage" that he designed and sells here. It was a nice surprise to see his whole family signed it too. Thanks everyone!

OFFICIAL Card - Indonesia

This card was a real surprise for me. Bats attended a "mini" meet up in Yogyakarta, Indonesia at the end of May and sent me a card from there. With 9 attendees I wouldn't call it a "mini" meet up either way, hope the day was fun! Lucky me!

Random Act of Smiliness - Ines from Germany

Ines sent me this great card from a meet-up she attended in Hanover. Love all the signatures and stamps - look at the detail on the kitten! I have a stamp and personalized stickers to use when I send a card. What about you? Stickers, stamp or good old-fashioned pen?

OFFICIAL Card - Finland

Heidi drew my name in February and sent me this card. Lucky me she chose to send me a second card, this one is from a Postcrossing meet-up in Jyvaskyla. How kind of her to do this - thank you - Heidi!

Direct Swap - Dhany from Indonesia

Dhany was attending the Postcrossing Meet-up In Jakarta, Indonesia in March. They had this great postcard designed and had many people in attendance. Once again lots of signatures, stamps and even a kiss! Prior to this I was not aware Indonesia had also issued a Postcrossing stamp. Have you ever attended a meet-up?

Meet-up Card - Dublin, Ireland

Another great meet up card sent from Kodzos in Dublin, Ireland. Guinness is one of my husbands favourites so a perfect card choice - thank you!

Direct Swap - Amit from India

I responded to a post in the forum offering cards from the Mumbai Meet-up. This offer caught my eye for two reasons - first the date of the meet-up was December 11, 2013 (11/12/13) and secondly because Amit was asking to send him a card postmarked on that day and he would send a second card in return. When I see requests like that I can't help but not want to help! I like to know that you can help make a stranger across the world happy by a simple gesture. The second card is one that Amit designed himself to commemorate the day. At the time I made these arrangements I did not know it was the same meet-up that Sita was offering cards. So lucky me I received three from that day!