nellswell

As you can see, most of my current profile is focused on my postcard interests, but if you happen to have questions about anything else, feel free to ask! :-)

General Interests:

Travel (especially train travel), music, GENEALOGY, pop culture, secondhand shops, old and independent movies, writing, reading (mostly nonfiction), occasionally scrapbooking or attempting other crafts, occasionally maintaining several blogs/journals, volunteering, learning, collecting various random things, watching scam-baiting videos, dogs, Siamese and gray-colored cats, the 1960's, fashion, New York City.

Any card with the following subjects:

~Cats (especially SIAMESE CATS)

~Dogs (especially poodles, Bichons, Yorkies, or Silky Terriers)

~Other animals

~Daisies, sunflowers, or other flowers

~Vintage-style label cards, especially SEED PACKET LABELS (in honor of my great-great grandfather and his brother, both noted in their time for selling seeds!)

~Seashells

~TRAINS/railroad-themed

~New York City

~New England (especially RHODE ISLAND)

~CALIFORNIA (especially Los Angeles, Disneyland, the San Francisco Bay area, Mt. Shasta, and Santa Rosa/SEBASTOPOL/Sonoma County)

~Pennsylvania (especially the SCRANTON region; I like Lancaster County/Amish cards, too!)

~Germany (especially BAVARIA) and the Scandinavian countries

~Washington state

~Missouri (especially SPRINGFIELD/the Ozarks)

~Roadside attractions (i.e. giant peanuts, PAUL BUNYAN/MUFFLER MEN statues), DINERS, ROUTE 66, and the like

~"Greetings from..." cards from anywhere

~KITSCHY/tacky/weird cards, especially ones from the 1950's-1970's (i.e. similar to the kind of card featured on this blog )

~MAP CARDS! I now have at least one card for each of the U.S. states; thank you so much to everybody who helped me complete this collection! I'd still love to receive any map card: states, cities, countries, continents, subways, I welcome them all! (Especially vintage maps!)

Update, 5/20: I've moved a couple of times since posting the above paragraph about maps; and I recently realized that I'm missing several of my state map cards! They're very likely buried in a bin somewhere (possibly in storage). But just in case they're (sigh) gone forever, I'd especially love map cards from any of the following (currently missing from my collection) states: Iowa; Minnesota; Montana; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New Mexico; New York; North Carolina.

~Sweets/desserts

~RECIPE cards! This is the collection I'd like to focus on next; I'd love at least one "recipe" card from each U.S. state (international and other recipe cards are welcome, too!). I still have a long way to go with this goal, so for now I'll list the states that I do have at least one recipe card from: FL, GA, ID, KY, LA, MD, MA, NM, OH, TX.

(If you have a recipe card from one of the states I've listed and want to include it in a swap, that's definitely okay; just like with maps, I don't mind having more than one recipe for each state!)

~Christmas/holiday

~SNOOPY AND WOODSTOCK or other Peanuts characters, VINTAGE DISNEY CHARACTERS, or 1980's-era Strawberry Shortcake

~BLACK-AND-WHITE or color cards of classic Hollywood film/tv stars/musicians

~Vintage or vintage-style pinups

~Any vintage!

~EMBROIDERED SILK FABRIC CARDS, such as the ones designed by Elsi Gumier . One of the very first cards in my collection -- sent to me by a childhood pen pal -- featured a pair of flamenco dancers, with the woman dressed in a beautiful embroidered skirt! I still have this postcard and recently became curious about its roots. Upon searching, I didn't find much about the artist, but I learned that apparently there are several more of these embroidered cards still out there; and I'd LOVE to expand my collection of them!

~

Those are just some ideas; but I love most postcards, both touristy and non-touristy!

There are a few subjects I'm less excited about receiving; I wouldn't rate anybody down just for sending these (provided all swap requirements were met), but just for the record, I'm not much of a fan of: vampires; wizards, demons or most fantasy-type stuff; "hot", shirtless or scantily-clad "himbo" or "bimbo"-looking model types; crude or "R-rated" humor and... that's pretty much it, as far as dislikes go!

*As far as "controversial" topics: I'm open to religious/spiritual themes as long as they're respectful -- and political themes as long as they're non-biased or in a historical context (for example, I'm certainly not a "fan" of all of the U.S. presidents, but I'd still like to have a postcard of each of them, just for the historical aspect!).

Basically, anything goes as long as it's tasteful/respectful.

A bit more about postcards

-I love both touristy cards and non-touristy ones, but if I had to choose a favorite, at this time I'd lean more toward slightly preferring touristy cards. In swaps that call for sending multiple cards of either/or, it's always nice to receive a mix of both touristy and non-touristy. :-)

-If and whenever possible, please send 4x6 cards or 3x5 cards. I do like larger cards, too (and if you want to send them, that's fine; it's just harder for me to find places to store them, so I might be more inclined to pass these on).

-If you're wondering whether to send "naked" cards or blank ones in an envelope, whatever the swap calls for is fine. I definitely don't mind receiving single postcards "naked" and stamped (and most swaps that call for multiple cards will be sent in an envelope, anyhow!).

-I'm repeating myself, I know, but I always welcome and enjoy vintage postcards, even ones with messages on back! In fact, I love the ones with messages; it's fun to read them!

-With touristy cards, I generally prefer the location to be named on the front of the card (as opposed to cards with a full photo in front and the location only on the back). However, it's okay to send me cards where this isn't the case if you think I'll like the card.

-Cards from Zazzle and similar sites are okay if they're well-made. Hand-made cards are also nice to receive once in a while, so long as they aren't obviously rushed or slapped together (I've yet to join any specific handmade pc swaps since I'm not the greatest artist myself, but I've received some beautiful handmade cards in swaps that welcomed them!).

-I don't mind free/ad/promotional cards if they relate to any of my interests and/or to my postcard wish list. However, I'd VERY much prefer if the "ad" part didn't take up the back of the card.

Thank you to all of the swappers who have sent me such wonderful postcards so far!!