My Favourite Stamps : Finland

Hello! I found a lot of stamps from my crafts boxes this weekend and I decided to make a post of my favourite ones. I love all moomin stamps very much, but I decided to choose a bit different stamps this time. I've collected finnish stamps for a few years now. 

Which one is your favourite? :)

1. "Eläinten joulurauha" 05.11.1999 Pirkko Vahtero

2. "Porot ja revontulet" 01.11.1996 Mauri Kunnas

3. "Visit Finland - Saimaa" Europa 07.05.2012 Johannes Ekholm

4. "Lemmikkejä - Kääpiöjänis" 03.09.2012 Satu Lusa, Eric Isselée

5. "Onnenpuu - Linnut" 06.05.2011 Päivi Unenge

6. "Makeaa ystävänpäivää - Vaahtokarkki" 21.01.2013 Sini Henttonen

7. Postiliitto - PAU 100 vuotta" 11.01.2006 Asser Jaaro, Tapio Mustasaari

I've worked twice in finnish post and my dad has worked as a postman for almost 40 years so all these postman and post car related stamps are very close to my heart. :) 

8. "Postin jakeluautot - Ford Transit Connect" 06.05.2013 Ari Lakaniemi, Susanna Rumpu

9. "Ahomansikka" 28.04.2004 Pirkko Juvonen

10. "Sydän ystävälle" 23.01.2012 Päivi Unenge

Sending postcards again!

To Russia

To Indonesia

To Germany

To Russia

To South Korea

Amish card + other postcards of week 34

It's Friday again! So I am posting the incoming postcards of this week. :) I received very interesting postcards this time. So funny, those first three cards have traveled 11 days. :D

NZ-129946 from New Zealand

Travel time: 11 days

TH-205291 from Thailand

Travel time: 11 days

US-3532721 from USA

Travel time: 11 days

DEU-1345 from Germany

Travel time: 5 days

You can find received cards of week 33 HERE.

5 letters

Here are some letters I've sent during the summer. I am making this post so late that I've received replies to these letters already. :D In my opinion pictures of letters are so inspiring! That's why I like to read snail mail blogs very much too. I always get my writing mood back when I see pictures of letters written by others. Does anyone else have the same? :) 

To Christie in Hong Kong
She totally loved the moomin chewing gums so I decided to send her some more! 

To @yuejardin in UK

To Eveliina in Finland

To Ansku in Finland

To Anna in Belgium

Postcards from Postcrossing and Postcard United (week 33)

NL-3103716 from Netherlands

Travel time: 5 days

DE-4439838 from Germany

Travel time: 6 days

NL-3105702 from Netherlands

Travel time: 3 days

GB-6849711 from UK

Travel time: 3 days

AUS-204 from Australia

Travel time: 8 days

USA-2543 from USA

Travel time: 5 days

FI-2470107 from Finland

Travel time: 3 days

You can find received cards of week 32 HERE.

Chain card

Has any of you swapped chain cards?

My penpal @yuejardin asked me to come to a chain card group. There were 5 swappers (from: UK, Australia, Japan, China and Finland). My card had to skip the last stop (in China) because there was no space enough for the last stamps. This is the card that I sent to its first stop in the beginning of July and I got it back from the 4th stop today. There are so many nice stamps!

Thank you very much @rinapu0811 @e_evelyn11 and @yuejardin. ^^

IG-swaps and other cards of this week!

It has been a very good mail week so I am going to post my received cards in two or three parts. Here are the Instagram-swaps, postcards from penpals and others. :) 

1. IG-swap from @wakka1222 in Japan

2. Postcard from Soili who visited Croatia :)

3. IG-swap from @raffaellalii in China

4. Postcard from my penpal Katharina 

5. A surprise postcard from my mother 

A guide to postcard swaps on Instagram

I was asked to post about swapping postcards on Instagram. :) These are my personal opinions and experiences - feel free to leave a comment if you have more good tips or if you want me to correct something. :) There is more than one way to swap!

Add a postcard for swap on IG: 

-  Take a picture of the postcard and post it with hashtag(s) (#forswap #postcrossing #postcardswap #directswap to mention but a few). It would be good to write some kind of a wishlist too. Then it is easier for others to offer cards you really like.

How to find swaps:

- In my opinion the best hashtag for finding postcards that are available for swap, is: #forswap. There are a lot of cards with this hashtag!

- You can contact swappers by leaving a comment below the picture or sending a dm.

- People don't like comments like "may I?" although they are used quite often. So when you are asking for a swap - tell the swapper where she can find your available cards or if you dm them to her.

Address + other tips 

- You can give your address to a swapper by sending a DM. There are two options: 1) you can dm a random picture and then write below your address 2) or you can make a picture of your address with Textgram or an other application.

- If you want the card in an envelope (written? blank?) or stamped, let the swapper know about it. :) I think most swappers prefer to have their card written&stamped, but many swappers may want it blank in an envelope too.

- Before you bring the card to the mailbox, it is good to take a picture of the card (picture of the backside - including address + stamps). If someone doesn't receive your card - you can prove you really sent it. Some swappers might ask for the photo proof to be sure their cards will be sent.

- Do not publish anyone's address on IG pictures. :)

Additional things

- Swappers love to hear that you received their cards! Usually swappers on IG post a picture of the cards they received.

- Many swappers have different goals at postcard swaps. The most popular ones are to try to collect a postcard from all countries in the world or collect a map card from all states in usa.

- Moomins, northern lights, hello kitty and maps are very popular right now!

You can also follow me on facebook HERE! :)

Incoming postcards at week 32

Hello! :)

It was my husband's first week at work after the summer holiday and I spend the days alone again. So sad, the summer holiday is always too short. ;) I've been doing exercises for school and I should be graduated in September! Our plan for this weekend is to do geocaching again. ^^

Anyway, here are the cards I received this week. ^^

Pippi card from Anna in Sweden

GBR-231 from UK
Travel time: 4 days

RU-3857744 from Russia

Travel time: 30 days

MYS-2393 from Malaysia

Travel time: 11 days. (Wow!)

You can find received cards of week 30 and 31 HERE.

Outgoing this week!

I've been on a swap break on Instagram, I've swapped just a few cards there lately. That's why I haven't received so many cards anymore. Nowadays I've been sending a lot of cards via postcrossing and postcard united again. Here they are. :) 

To Czech Republic

To Germany

To China

To Russia

To Finland

To Lithuania

To Russia

To Bahamas