Napapiiri, Arctic Circle, Finland

I want to wish every one a very Merry Christmas!

My Christmas this year was great, since it was the first time in 4 years I didn't have to work.  I was able to enjoy Christmas eve and today with my loved ones and of course the highlight of the day, seeing my grandkids eyes light up and taking part in their excitement after Santa came.  It was wonderful and such a joy!

I received some beautiful Christmas cards this year, but since I've been way too busy with things and I'm way behind with getting my cards scanned, shame on me, I don't have any of them to show yet.  

I received this gorgeous card for the September Round Robin.  It's a real special card from the 'Postcards story event in Haemeenlinna, Finland.

This beautiful arctic card was sent to me by erjamaarit of Finland.  It has loads of signatures on it from all the participants at the meet-up.  It's always exciting to get a card from one of these events and I hope that some day I'll maybe be able to take part in such an event and meet some other postcrossers.  

A big thank you goes out to Erja for this gorgeous card.

A really special postmark on this card of the meeting and awesome stamp too!  Love it!

Nouvelles Images

Yoohoo, grin, 3 Nouvelles Images cards in one envelope.  It was like Christmas finding them in my mail box.  I loooove them!

I was so happy to get them.

This one was for the November Alternative Round Robin from Miss Maple.  Since pink just happens to be my favorite color, this is a perfect card for me and a Nouelles Images on top of that, wow.  Gotta love it!  

Thank you so much Saskia for listening to Andy and choosing this card for me.  I loooove it!

This one of  'The Cats'  was also for the November Alternative Round Robin from Duplevista.  He's the host of these Round Robins and he's doing a fantastic job.  One thing about joining these RR's, they become quite addicting, but they're so much fun and it's a great group of people participating.  Back to the card, of course I love this one with all the different cats.  Soooo cuuuute!

A big thank you goes out to Andy.

This is called 'The small breakfast'.  Looks yummy and all those cute utensils and coffee pots and things.  So cool!  These are awesome cards.  This one is for the October Alternative Round Robin, sent by Miss Maple.  Thank you so much Saskia.  

All 3 of these cards are awesome additons to my collection.

I love them all!!!! 

The envelope was sent from The Netherlands and it has a clear readable postmark.

Suzdal, Russia

Here you can see a typical view of one of the small towns in Russia.  This is Suzdal and it's a popular tourist destination. I love the architecture of the buildings and churches there and the town covered in snow.  It's snowing here right now.  So, we actually got some snow for Christmas, which is rare here.   I received this beautiful card for the October Alernative Round Robin.  Thank you so much Galina for the beautiful view.  

The stamps are really great and always so detailed.  I love the Russian stamps!

Ohio, USA

I'm always happy to find map cards in my mail box.  They're so cool and so much fun and quite informative too.  I still have a long way to go to get one from each state of the US and of course many countries, but I got a good start and love everyone I receive.

This map card of Ohio, nicknamed 'The Buckeye State' came from tanya 1138 for the North American October Round Robin.  

Thank you so much Tanya.

It's an illustration by Ideaman.  I really like them a lot!

Matreshka Dolls from Russia

Where does the time go?  I can't believe it's been several weeks, since I've posted some cards here.  I just stay so busy with everything and I've got so much going on, it totally overwhelms me.  Sometimes I really don't know how to deal with it all.  And on top of it, Christmas being less than a week away.  I got all the presents bought, that I need to get.  Still have to get them wrapped.  

Also, I've joined several Round Robins this month and already received some absolutely beautiful cards.  I still have to write a few more and get them out too.  I've received some gorgeous Christmas cards too!  As usual I'm way behind with getting my cards scanned.  There just doesn't seem to be enough time in a day to get everything done, that I'd like to do.  Hopefully in the New Year, I'll get myself more organized and get caught up on getting my cards sorted and scanned and so on. 

And now to the cards!!

 I just love these Babushka dolls.  I've been wanting a card of them for a long time.  This beautiful card was sent to me by Kaurry from Russia for the November Alternative RR.  

This card is special in 2 ways, one,  it's a card I've been wanting and two, it's from the Moscow Postcrossing Meeting with a lot of signatures of the participants.  I love it!  

A big thank you goes out to Olga for sending me this gorgeous card!  

The Russian stamps are always so beautiful.  I just love the colors and detailed pictures.  So pretty!

Alsatian Flavors

I absolutely love the Nouvelles Images cards.  They have become one of my favorites and every time I find one in my mail box it just makes my day.  

This one of the Alsatian Flavors came from Tiffie in the Netherlands for the October Alternative RR.  It's just adorable and I'd love to try some of these different looking delicious baked goods.  They all look so yummy!  

Love this card and a big thank you goes to Tiffany for sending it my way!

A very clear postmark from Amsterdam with a nice stamp of a heart shaped world.  

Cat making dinner

Loooove this card.  It was in my favorites for a long time and thanks to Taavi from Germany, it's now in my collection.  This is such a cool card.  I think it's just adorable and surely if a cat had this chance, it would go for it lol.  

Thank you Claudia for taking the time to go through my favorites and sending me this awesome card for the October Alternative RR.

Vielen lieben Dank.:)

Very nice stamps, especially the one on the right, such a detailed picture.

Australia

This awesome map card from Australia was sent to me by Aussiebear for the September RR.   I looove it and all the cute characters on the card.  Such a fun card and a great addition to my map card collection.  Thank you so very much Alison!

Unfortunately the stamp was a bit destroyed on the way to me.

Lighthouses

Love lighthouses and I received this beautiful panoramic lighthouse card from Miss Maple for the September RR.  They are from the original driftwood paintings by Martin Wiscombe.  I really love this card and I want to thank Saskia for sending it to me!

These great stamps were on the card.  I especially love the seal one.  So cute!!!

Cities of Poland

The week-end is already half gone again and it seems like that it took forever to get here.  Such a long week, even though we had our Thanksgiving holiday this past Thursday, but I had to work.  Still had turkey and all the goodies to go along with it, yummy!!!  And now there are a lot of  leftovers to eat.  

Now to the card!  How cool is this card?  I love it and it has become one of my favorites in my collection and it's  also my first round card.  It's gorgeous and shows different cities in Poland and the country seal in the middle.  Fantastic card, even though I didn't do a real good job of scanning it! 

A huge 'Thank you' goes to Likaa for sending it to me for the November Alternative Round Robin #1.  

Great stamps and a really clear postmark, which is always nice. 

The Flavors of Morocco

Yeeeeah, another Nouvelles Images card.  I love them and my collection is slowly growing. :)  This one is even more special to me, since I'm quite familiar with the items on the card.  Couscous, on the top of the card used to be served about every Friday and I loved all the great baked goods you see on the bottom.  
A special big 'Thank you' goes out to Sheila for sending me this awesome card as part of the September Round Robin. 

Love this stamp on this card.  Sooo cute!!!

Switzerland

I love map cards and this one of Switzerland and all the seals of each state surrounding it,  is really an awesome one. I love this card and I want to thank Zasa for sending it to me for the August Round Robin.  

Nice stamps, I especially like the real colorful one on the right.  I think that it says 'World of the circus in Geneva 2010'.

Saaremaa, Estonia

Kiipsaare lighthouse is located on the north west coast of Saaremaa Island, which is the largest island in Estonia.  The lighthouse is inactive now, due to wave erosion. The basement of the tower has been severely undermined and as a result it has become inclined sea ward.  

I've been wanting this card for a long time and a big 'thank you' goes out to Ella for sending it to me for the September RR.  I love this card. 

The card has some really beautiful stamps.  The one on the right has a really pretty golden background, which  can't be seen very well here.  The one on the left is a great lighthouse stamp.  Love them both!

Belgrade, Serbia

Well, another week-end is over.  I slept off and on, I guess I needed it, catching up on my rest.  Also this week-end I went to a postcard show here in Richmond, which was really fun and very interesting.  There is more about it here.

Now about the card.  My dear friend Ana took a recent trip to Belgrade and sent me this gorgeous card.  Thank you so very much Ana for thinking of me.

I loooove this card and it's also my 1st card from there.  Yeeeaaah, a new country!!!

This is Kalemegdan Fortress. The back of the card says,  it's one of the biggest preserved medieval fortresses in Europe. Favorite Belgrade Park area with a lot of cultural, historical and sports facilities and events, as well as clubs and restaurants.  CharlesVI (KarloVI) gate was raised in 18th century, in the honor of the Austrian Emperor, conqueror of Belgrade against Ottoman Empire. 

The stamp is very beautiful..

Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts

This cool map card of Marta's Vineyard came from Silencedogwood for the North American November Round Robin.  A great addition to my map card collection.  Thank you so very much Debbie for sending it.

Martha's Vineyard is an island located 4 miles of the the southwest coast of Cape Cod.  It's a popular tourist destination.  

Grizzly Bear, Canada

Loooove this 'Did you know?' card.  Not only is it very informative and a bear too.  A perfect card for me.  It was sent to me by phuleshouse for the North America September RR.  Thank you so very much Rose for sending me this adorable, awesome card.  I love it!

The card tells all the facts about Grizzly Bears, which is great.  The maple leaves on the card are embossed.  Beautiful card!!!!

Really nice colorful stamps of different insects and the big one on the left top is 'Home Children'.  

Brazil

This card of the Brazilian flag was sent to me by Tarcisio for the October Alernative Round Robin.  Love this card and it's a wonderful addition to my flag collection, which is still pretty small.  Thank you so very much Tarcisio for this great card.

The 27 star version of the Brazilian flag was adopted on May 11th, 1992. The blue disc represents a starry sky.   Each star represents a state.  "Ordem E Progresso" is the national motto, meaning order and progress.

Love the stamp with a picture of Santo Andre - SP.  Really pretty.

Malta!!!!

Maaaalta!!!  Yeah, a new country for me.  I was so excited to receive this card.  Ulpa, one of the GTKY girls was lucky to visit there this summer and she was so nice to send me this beautiful card from there.  I loooove it!  Ula writes, that the architecture there is so impressive and the villages are very charming with white house and narrow streets.  She said the sea was warm with clear water and beach with orange sand.  Sounds like a lovely place to visit.  Oh yeah, maybe some day............

The card shows Ta' Pinu Church in Gozo, which was built between 1920 and 1936.

Thank you so very much Ula for thinking of me on your vacation and sending me this lovely card! Hugs to you!

 The stamp, although upside down is showing the 'Knights of St. John'. The postmark is very visible.  

From Russia With Love

I had this card in my favorites, because I think it's a really cool card.  Not only is it a map card, but it has the colors of the Russian flag and of course the babushka dolls, which are really so nice too.

Loooove this card and mad_madchen was so nice to send it to me for the September RR.  Thank you very much Julia!

Love the stamps too.  Russia has some really nice animal stamps and so colorful.  Love that bear stamp a lot. 

Getting Around In English

What a fun card!  Getting around in English, Lesson Twenty-Two, Words You Need!

This is a totally awesome card.  I love it and definitely had to post it here.  

This card shows the use of the word "sorry" in different situations.  

I received this great card from Duplevista for the August RR.  Thank you so very much Andy for going through my favorites and sending me this card.  Andy is also the host of the Round Robins and is doing an absolutely wonderful job.  Thank you!!!

I'm sure Andy chose this stamps, because he loves cards with any kind of transportation on it and stamps too, looks like.  This really is an great looking stamp.

Teddy Bears hanging out to dry

This is such a fun card.  First of all, I love bears and this reminds me of when my daughter was about 3 years old and she had a stuffed dog, whom she took everywhere with her, so he had to get washed from time to time and got hung out to dry as these guys here.  

I received this card from Paola72 for the September RR.  Thank you so much for this adorable card.  I love it.  No stamp for this one to show, since it was mailed here in the states.

Happy Halloween!

Since I received quite a few cards this month for Halloween, I thought it'd be a good day to post them.

My grandkids were so excited about going to go out 'Trick or Treating' today.  The older one, who is 3 years old wanted to wear his costume this morning already and he was ready to go, lol.

It's fun to see the little ones at holiday time.

Now to the cards, I received them all for the North America October Round Robin.  It's a real fun RR and I really enjoy participating in it each month.  I have done so for over a year now and hope to be able to continue with them.  They're a great bunch of people. 

This adorable card came from jenhart75.  I love it!  A great reprint from the early 20th century.  Thank you so much Jennifer for sending it.

Another great vintage reprint.  This one came from cawindt.  Thank you so much Craig for the cute card. Love it!

This is a really awesome one with a cat sitting amidst jack-o-lanterns.  It came from Lori, she is from the GTKY gang and loves all cards with cats.  Thank you so much for this cute card Lori.  I love it!

Another great vintage reprint.  This one came from zeroday.  Thank you so much for the cool card.  Love this one.

This card is Chas Addams card.  He was the creator of "The Addams Family".  It was a great series on television back in the 60's and I still enjoy watching the reruns, when I get a chance.  There were also 2 movies in the 90's and now a Broadway hit musical, which I didn't know about the later.  

I received this cool card twice this month.  From emeraldmist and skowt.  Thank you to you both for this great card.  I love it!  Thank you Corinne for the information about it;)

This last one, another really cool vintage reprint from nhigh.  She has been our host for this Round Robin and is doing an excellent job.  Thank you so much Naomi for the great card and running this Round Robin.:)

Thank you to everyone for the cool cards.  I love them all!  It's been  real fun receiving these great cards for this month.:)

The Versatile Blogger Award

Wow, I was selected for "The Versatile Blogger Award".  I never expected it and quite honestly, I still can't believe it.  I was totally stunned, when I found out. In shock!!!

At the same time though, I'm really thrilled about it and not sure that I deserve such an honor.

My dear friend Ana selected me for this award.  She is truly such an amazing friend and so very special to me and much too kind.  

Thank you soooooo much dear Ana.

And here it is........

and there are some rules that have to be met once you receive this:

* Be sure to thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.

* Share 7 things about yourself.

* Pass the award to other bloggers who you think deserve it.

* Be sure to let the bloggers know you chose them to receive the award.

Here are 7 things about me:)

1. I'm an only child also, as Ana. I used to be the kid with a key on a chain, as both of my parents worked and I spent a lot of time by myself.

2. I have one daughter, whom I'm very proud of. She has given me two adorable grandsons.

3. I love doing crafts, but unfortunately I don't have a lot of time for it. I just recently got back into crocheting and joined a granny square exchange, which was a lot of fun. I also like cross stitching and trying to make my own cards and jewelry.

4. I collect magnets. My refrigerator is covered in them and I have a door almost full and a few magnetic boards, that display them.

5. I love bears and anything with bears on them. I have over 50 teddybears and of course lots of bear postcards and other items around the house with bears on them.

6. I love to go bowling. I was in a bowling league for quite a few years. Even though I'm not a real good bowler, I do enjoy it a lot!

7. I love travelling, which in the recent years I haven't been able to do, due to limited time off and income, but it's fun to just arm chair travel now with all the great postcards I receive. I can see so many beautiful places all over the world and meet lots of really nice people.

Well, those are a few things about me!

There are several great postcard blogs that I've been following and I'd like to pass this award to some of them in no particular order.  Diane, who posts her beautiful cards almost every day and has way over 2000 of them  already.  Ave, who really loves map cards and has some awesome ones and Pinar, who says, she's an obsessed postcrosser with her great blog.  LOL, I think we are all obsessed.


Many thanks again and a big hug to my dear friend Ana for selecting me for this award!

Tasmania, Australia

I can't believe it's has been over a month, since I've posted some cards here.  For a while there I wasn't feeling too well and all I managed to do is go to work,  sleep and lay around the house.  Needless to say, it put me way behind with everything.  Still catching up on writing my Round Robin cards :(  

These guys are part of Tasmania's nature.  The card is a panoramic card, really beautiful and over sized.  I love it!  

On the left is the Eastern Grey Kangaroo.  In the middle a pair of Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoos.  On the right the Tasmanian Devil, like the cartoon character 'Taz' lol.  

A big thank you goes out to Melissa for this gorgeous card.  She sent it to me for the August RR. 

The stamp is of the Kokoda Isurava Memorial.