Postman sticker design: which do you prefer?

Dear blog readers, I need your help! I have two different designs of new postman stickers I will soon be selling in my etsy shop, and I really need feedback on which design folks prefer.



Above is design 1. It is a longer shot of the postman, and shows only his torso and includes the ornate "Postman" script in red on the top.



And here we have design 2. It is a closer crop on our friendly postman, but no words.



Incidentally, both are exactly the same size, though one of them has the stickers set a little closer together. Don't let that sway your decision - I'm only lookin for which sticker design people like better. Would you comment or convo me on etsy and let me know which design you prefer? Thanks in advance for your feedback, I really appreciate it!

No unicorn postcards?

I've only got 5 people signed up right now for my Unicorn postcard swap and I'm wondering why. I blogged about it earlier this week and I'm really excited about it; I'm surprised there are so few people participating.

Honest feedback, anyone? Deadline too soon? Don't have unicorn postcards? Just not interested in this theme? I'd love to hear your feedback, as I'm planning on coordinating some more postcard swaps later in the summer and want to know what works and what doesn't. Thanks in advance for any comments!

Walltype, anyone?

Through reading a swap partner's profile on Swap-bot, I just discovered a link to Walltype. It is apparently another postcard exchange website, similar to Sendsomething and Postcrossing... but different.

I've never even heard of it before today, but apparently this Swap-bot partner of mine is pretty active on it. I'm intrigued, and I'm very curious to check it out.

Has anyone else ever heard of or used Walltype?

Thanks, all 300 of you!

Oh my golly, today I hit 300 followers. I am so touched and humbled! The occasion probably deserves a better post than this, but I'm so excited to have access back to blogger (how frustrating was a whole day without blogger, and two posts removed while they fixed the data??) that I just have to kvell about it immediately.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

More than one Postcrossing account: what do you think?

Last week I sent this postcard to someone in Germany. It arrived in 6 days: awesome. Then yesterday another German address came up... and it was to the same name at the same address! Wait a minute, I thought this wasn't supposed to happen on Postcrossing? Lo and behold, it was the same person with a different account.

I've heard that people do create multiple Postcrossing accounts - I guess to get around the limits on how many postcards they can send? Initially I felt sort of cheated, like - hey, I just sent a postcard to this guy! But I pondered it a bit further, and figured he's really enthusiastic about postcards, and he clearly cares enough to register them quickly. He also has a full, robust profile, and has had both accounts for nearly a year with around 200 postcards sent and received in each. So why not send to someone who's really enthusiastic and will register immediately?

One of the things I love about Postcrossing is the serendipity, so I did feel taken aback to be assigned to send a postcard to the very same person basically one day after he registered the first one. In that sense, having multiple accounts is sort of cheating the system. But I'll admit I have often toyed with the idea of opening a second Postcrossing account myself - my username there long predates this blog, so it is not Missive Maven. Something always holds me back from doing it, though; I guess it's a combination of some weird sense of ethics plus really wanting to keep all my stats in one place. Under my current account, I am allowed to have 15 postcards at once, and the way it works out, I usually end up sending one new one a day.

I've got a postcard traveling in the USA right now that's been traveling for 40 days and the recipient hasn't logged into Postcrossing for a month, so I am pretty well prepared for that one to expire... and then there are all the postcards that get sucked up into that giant country on another continent that has a poor track record, in my experience, with postcards actually arriving or getting registered. So I've had the max number traveling and, again, I've been tempted to make that second account. I'm now repeating myself, so I'll just stop and ask for your feedback:

What do you think? Do you have more than one Postcrossing account? Do you think it's inappropriate or no big deal?

New etsy shop

UPDATE: after a minor PayPal snafu, my shop really IS open now! I already sold one of my three items, yippee!



I am finally running out of room for my stationery and supplies.

I have to cut down. Argh!

I get a lot of things in eBay auctions that come together with other things I really don't want, or know I'll never use. Or I bought some stationery that I find isn't fountain-pen friendly. Or whatever.

It's a tiny little shop, and right now (grand opening: today!) I only have three items listed, and I didn't make any of them myself. (I have fantasies of making and selling some hand-made envelopes and the like, but... we'll see.)

I doubt it will see much action until the summertime, when I have a lot more time, but this was something of a lark and I really had to share it.

Comments? Suggestions? (Do the banner graphics suck?) Berate me for shameless self-promotion? (I really have been thinking about this for months, and it's pretty much a break-even, niggling-profit, I-need-to-make-room-on-my-shelves / why-the-heck-did-I-buy-this? sort of thing.) I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Here's the link:
missivemaven.etsy.com

Might you also like? I can't stand it

As an update to this post, I'm making an executive decision. I can't stand it. I'm taking it away. Most of the time it won't even load properly for me (my connection is twitchy), and it slows everything else down.

If you want to browse my blog, use the tags, or browse by month, or just search. I would use the feature if it weren't so sluggish, but it's driving me nuts so it's going away.

Missive Maven stamps, in honor of my 2-year blogoversary

To celebrate my Blogoversary (Missive Maven is 2 years old today!), I present my new Missive Maven stamps. I designed and ordered these photo stamps through Zazzle.com and I'm pretty pleased with how they've turned out. Some of them have already traveled out on letters. The first-class letter rate and postcard rate are represented. They are made from my own photos.

You can take a closer look at the image on Flickr.

I am playing around with the idea of a Zazzle store. I have in fact already started one, but I'm not quite ready to share the link.

Would anyone else be interested in buying stamps like this? Should I sell them on Zazzle or is that too opportunistic? Do be honest. Your reader feedback is invaluable to me.

Might you also like?

I just added a new blog widget that puts the "you might also like" links at the end of each post. I've seen this feature on other blogs and it seems kind of cool, so I added it.

However, it seems to be adding significantly to page load time, and that piffles me. Also, the recommended links seem rather nonsensical. (Do I tag badly?) So you might not also like them at all.

Might I request your feedback once again? Do folks like this feature or think it should take a hike?

(Now I'm curious what will end up suggested after this post.)

Statistics and The Pile

Enough pen pals have been asking that I bit the bullet and counted the letters in my needs response pile. The tally today, before receiving Thursday mail, is as follows:
98 letters
25 postcards

So there we have it. It seems insurmountable, but it's not about the tally, it's about the letter-writing experience.

That being said, a lot of pen pals and blog readers say they like my outgoing stats, and so far no one has offered any negative feedback about them. Some of my fellow mail bloggers also post incoming stats. What do you think? Should I do that? I have felt hesitant to do so because I don't want to be bragging about the amount of mail I receive - it is really quite a lot - but some folks are curious, and it might hold off those that start saying "why haven't you written me back yet??" two weeks after they sent their letter or postcard. (I have averaged my stats, unscientifically, and the mean average turnaround time for a response to a new letter or postcard - meaning someone who has never written me before - is about 3 months.)

Feedback welcome and requested!

Feedback on blog giveaway rules

I'm curious, and I'm opening up Pandora's Box to reader input.

What do you think about the rules to my blog giveaways? Are they too strict? Too loose? I am particularly interested in the rules for my most recent Very Special Giveaway just for those who've written to me in the past. Do those who qualify appreciate the strictures?

If you want to have a look, here are all the giveaways I've done in the past.

Fire away!