How to Make Cool Postcards from Your Travels

Kelly making post card collage at Sitka, AK library.

Marty looking for material.

While traveling 10,000 miles over 3 months with our most recent Alaskan adventure, we (mostly Kelly, ha!) managed to collect several tourist magazines, maps, brochures, etc... while stopping at several visitor centers.  It's a good way to familiarize yourself a bit when you arrive in a new place.  But, it's a bit problematic when you have a BIG bag of magazines that are no longer very useful when you are living out of a tiny car.

Instead of recycling all of the materials, Kelly had the great idea to collage the materials to make postcards.  Although it takes a while, the end result is much more interesting then a typical postcard with a cheesy font.  It's also a fun way to re-contextualize the popular reoccurring icons that define a place while reflecting on your experience.

All you need is:

-A bunch of travel brochures

-Thick white paper or post card stock

-Scissors

-Mod Podge glue (and small foam brush to apply)

First, we cut out the magazines and sorted elements by background, text, people, animals, etc...

For white paper stock, we had a book of water color paper that we used to cut several postcards from.  We went to a library to borrow their paper cutter and set up a work station.  You can use several different papers as long as it's thick enough and you can write and address it.    Make sure you cut your postcards to the right size by USPS standards.  That way you save on the reduced postcard stamps.  If you're mailing a lot like us, it adds up.  Or, if you don't have any paper already to use/reuse, you can try to find blank post card stock to make it easy.

Next: collage!  Your imagination's the limit!  A few ideas: We really enjoyed sending people "bear tips" which were found in several of the travel mags.  Another approach is to cut out a map and write notes about your route and the places you visit.  This gives a better visual description of your adventure and is much more personal.

When you've created your collage idea, glue it down with Mod Podge.  Your average glue stick won't cut it.  We tried a few post cards and the pieces fell off.  You can pick Mod Podge up from a craft store.  Get a small foam brush for applying the glue.  Glue the backs of your pieces first with a nice coat.  Once it dries, apply a coat over the entire top of the postcard to give it a nice seal.  Mod Podge also gives the post card a nice texture.

Although it's fast drying, the longer you can wait, the better... then write, address, stamp, send, boom!

We mailed nearly 65+ post cards for our Kickstarter backers.  It took Kelly and I 4-5 full days to do everything.  We had a lot of fun with our work and would like to share below!  Some are fun, some ridiculous, and some may not make any sense!

Enjoy!