Introducing Sara Stroman

iPostcards? :: the Postagram app

I never click on ads. Almost never. My husband clicks them all the time. He's in ad sales, so he calls it research. It's a little irritating because if he's on one of my devices, it means that I will later be served ads for all kinds of crazy things. Last night, though, it finally worked in my favor...I was compelled to click an ad on, of all places, my iPhone.

Behold: POSTAGRAM by Sincerely

How cool is this? Take a picture on vacation. Put it on a postcard in the Postagram app. Write a note. Send it to a friend...wait for it...in the snail mail! And for $0.99! That includes postage & printing, which I think is pretty cheap, especially since the app is free. Boom! Done!

I will be testing this next week in Florida. Stay tuned...

Hello, Lover!

  

Please welcome the newest member of the K. Batty family - the Canon Rebel T3i/600D. After a mishap with some salt water back in October, I've been DSLR-less. It's been rough. But, thanks to the No-Sales-Tax sale at Calumet Photo this weekend & lots of help from Mr. B & the Calumet staff, I was able to bring this baby home today.

What I love about it: It's SOOOOOOOOOO freakin' light. The features are all upgrades since my previous Rebel was the very first one Canon ever made, so I won't list them all. It's like climbing out of a Model T into a space ship as far as I'm concerned.

What I am not sure about: Did I upgrade enough? I was ready to step up in cameras for a while, but the miser in me just kept shooting with my golden-oldie Rebel. I wanted a 50D - no longer made by Canon. The model that replaces it, the 60D, was a bit heavy & the grip made my hands feel smaller than that already are. Perhaps the 50D would have been the same, but the 60D felt like taking an elephant gun to hunt a mouse. The small differences in technology will have to wait...

What I got in the box: I went with the start kit because my old wide angle zoom was also part of the saltwater disaster. But!! I looked at a 50mm fixed focal point lens for shooting my cards. Gotta sell some more of those first...

Prepare yourself for an up-tick in product photos! The battery is still charging, but then I'm taking this bad boy for a spin!

Hitting the Map Lottery

Yesterday, walking by my local Housing Works shop, I noticed a woman in the window sorting through a bin of vintage maps. I stopped. Could it be?! Do my eyes deceive me?! The grocery store be damned! I had to go in.

JACKPOT!!! 

I came home with 8. As my grandmother would say, I just couldn't pass them up.

What will I do with them?! 

Not sure. Perhaps they will line the envelopes of a lucky client's stationery or invitations. Or perhaps my own. OR!! Maybe they will provide backing for custom wedding invites. A friend of mine did that with vintage wallpaper for her wedding invites & I've been dying to try it ever since.

So, you know, just mentioning that I have these. Just in case, you know, anyone is thinking "wow, I wish I knew someone who had vintage maps. I could really use them in my (custom paper product here)!"

I am so freakin' excited about finding these things that I'm beside myself!

{photo credit: me!}

{post}Cards of the Week

{Happy Sailing / kraft postcards by One Fine Dae}

 On our recent trip to Puerto Rico, I looked all over for postcards to bring or send home. Found none. Zero. Zilch. Nada...well, none that my highly-evolved taste deemed worthy of my family & friends (not to mention postage. Ye-gads!).

So, to Etsy I went to find out of postcards can still be cool. The answer is yes!

  {Fine Art Postcards Set of 4 - "The Traveller"}

This set of 4 postcards is made from the fine art photographs from the proprietor of Jackdaw Boutique on Etsy, Louise Knight-Richardson of Chichester, England. I especially love the clouds & Fly Away cards in this set. You could send them from anywhere.

{Bon Voyage / Mixed Set of Postcards by One Fine Dae}

By land or by sea or by air, this super cute postcard set covers all your travel bases. Linda of One Fine Dae paints these on chipboard. Adorable!! Each design also comes in it's own set. Might order the Happy Sailing set (pictured up top) for our trip to Key West in 2 weeks. Oh wait, in 1 week. Yikes!

{Paris travel postcard set- Paris street photography cards- Colorful photography with Paris streets- Eiffel Tower by Visionary Fish}

Last year my in-laws went to Paris for the first time. Many of their Christmas & birthday presents leading up to their trip were all French focused. These would have been a great addition to their lot. I LOVE the photos. And, when I think about it, isn't that what most postcards are?? I always look for fabulous photographs of the place I'm visiting, the kind I would, for whatever reason, not have been able to take myself. These are from the photography shop Visionary Fish by Adina Rafaila who is a photography student from Romania. Her Etsy shop is to help pay for her studies in the UK. Good luck Adina!!

{Personalized Travel Postcards by Not So Modern Millie}

These cards are from Camille at Not So Modern Millie of Windemere, FL. She has an adorable shop - love the cross stitch - that includes these generic & fun postcards. Send them from anywhere...or no where. You get to decide as the destinations choices are all customizable & chosen by you. Great gift for anyone you know that will be backpacking this summer.

Anyone have any more get-a-ways planned this winter? Spring Break coming up?

Valentine Freebie!

Forget to buy your sweetie a card?? Download my FREE Valentine's Day card! Then, follow the instructions on the bottom to print it to get yourself out of the dog house before it's too late!

{Right click the image above & save it to your desk top}

To deliver the card, I found a great envelope template here that you just print & cut out. Fold it on the inner black lines. I tried it & folded the flaps over the guidelines so that they don't show. Have a little extra time? Print the envelope on colored paper!

Good luck! Let me know how it goes...And Happy Valentine's Day!

How do I love thee? :: Writing a love letter

'Tis the time of the year when hearts take over shop windows. Everything seems to be dripping in pink, red & white & Cupid's image is everywhere. It all signals the approach of Valentine's Day, which I've already started talking about here on the blog (and here).


Sooooo...do you have a Valentine? And if so what are you doing for him or her? Have you thought about writing them a love letter? Want to learn?? If the answer is yes, then you are in luck! I'm ready to help you with that.

Before we get started, I just have to take care of one small thing:

**Mr. Batty, if you're reading this stop! It contains information about your Valentine's Day present!! Abort!!!** 

Ok! Here's how you can write a love letter too...

Watercolor Love

 

{New York at Night by Jessica Durant on Etsy}

Trying to remember how I found this shop...probably from an Etsy email. Doesn't matter. I love it & I want some of Jessica Durant's watercolor prints. They are virbrant! Messy & refined at the same time. Like the top picture of this post & these two...

 

{Dior and Paris print on the top,  Get Your Leather On above}

Aren't they amazing?! Her Wanderlust section is also a fave of mine. It's full of travel inspired prints. Where to put them all???

She has an invitation line available on Piing...I smell a cards of the week post coming...

Cards of the Week: Valentine's Day

Cards of the week obviously has to be about Valentine's Day since it's right around the corner. I had a lot of fun putting this treasury together over on Etsy. There are some funny peeps over there!

'I heart Valentine's Day' by kbatty

Cards & notes for everyone on Valentine's Day

Valentine Cards, Letter... RubyPress $9.00	It's Simple I love ... rewersdesigns $3.25	Valentines Day Greeting... sweetperversio... $4.00
Letterpress Cards i lov... alohaletterpre... $12.00	Funny Valentine card : ... 4four $4.00	YODA BEST, Letterpess V... DingbatPress $5.50
valentine card . shot t... letterhappy $3.00	Valentine Letterpress C... Honizukle $4.50	Funny Valentines Day Ca... JulieAnnArt $4.00
Valentines Day Love Car... GinnyAndGeorge $3.00	custom valentine's ... westwillow $15.00	Your Kiss is on My List... LoveLettersbyM... $4.50
Funny Valentine's D... sadshop $5.00	Funny Valentine card, L... RedLetterPaper... $4.00	Sexy Valentine Card, Fo... NeatThings $4.50
Funny Valentine card. I... dandee $6.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

Are you sending any V-Day cards this year? I have this one for sale on my shop which a few people will get, plus I have other designs I need to "test drive" in order to have them ready for next year. Will be posting about them later!

Etiquette of Yore :: Correspondence Card Strike Out?

Let's see a show of hands for those who read Matchbook Magazine! My hand is up & waving in the air (me, me, meeee!)

Interesting piece of correspondence card trivia in this issue's Dear Matchbook section. Have you ever gotten a correspondence card with the sender's name crossed out at the top? I haven't. Seems crazy, but in the days of frequent note writing, it was apparently a sign of a truly personal note or that your buddy actually wrote the note instead of their social secretary. Social secretary? Cool! Like the days of Ms. Pettigrew.

Also in this section, they clear up the Ms. vs Mrs. rule. I always get that confused!

Puerto Rico!

 {taken with the Hipstimatic app on my iPhone. Love!}

Had a great time on vacation last week. Soooooo sorry about the HORRIBLE typo in my blog post before I left. Fixed it. Clearly I needed a few days sitting on the beach.

Feeling recharged & looking forward to getting back to work! If you'd like to see pictures from the trip, I posted some here.

Love Letters on Letters of Note

Today I discovered a great blog called Letters Of Note, which collects & publishes letters, telegrams, postcards that they deem interesting. This letter certainly qualifies! It's a love letter (transcript after the break) from American Artist Rockwell Kent to his wife from waaaaaaaay back in 1926.

 {Image from Archives of American Art}