The BPS on Instagram

I'm very excited to tell you about the BPS on Instagram! Every week I'll be sharing the collection of an individual BPS member, so you'll be able to see the amazing variety of postcards we all sent to each other over the duration of the project. Today I'm kicking things off with all the postcards sent to Rachael in California. You can follow me on Instagram here — or you can just do a quick search under #benevolentpostcardsociety or #bps if you prefer not to follow me directly (it's set up as my personal Instagram account). Hope to see you there!

(photo by me on instagram)

Postcard Returns

My sincere apologies for neglecting the BPS blog for so long — work and life have a way of sidelining projects that are done for sheer pleasure alone, and the BPS book is sadly still waiting for me. I have a basket chest of your beautiful postcards still waiting patiently to be scanned, but happily I now have a fantastic new backup drive to store them on and can finally start returning your postcards. If you've moved or have a new email address since we've last been in touch, please drop me a line at benevolentpostcard(at)gmail(dot)com with your new address so I can be sure to get them to you. Thanks as always for your stellar patience — you are all amazing.

Lori
x

(photo via lucy laucht)

My Solo Show

After several very busy weeks, my solo show at Exposure Gallery (upstairs at Thyme & Again in Ottawa, Ontario Canada) officially opened at the vernissage last Thursday, April 12. Called If You're Afraid of Butter, Use Cream (a quote from the immortal Julia Child) the show has a food theme. Take a virtual tour of the show in today's Atelier post on my automatism blog here.


(artwork by me from my show)

The News So Far

So my brilliant plan to work on the BPS book over the next couple of months has been put on hold — I've been offered a solo show at a local gallery, but turns out the only available time slot is April. This means I'll be frantically getting an entire show ready — with no time for anything else, sadly. I hope to get back to the book in the spring — I will keep you posted on how things progress.

Hope all is well with you all!!

xo


(photo by mikkel rahr mortensen, with styling by gitte kjær)

Rue Magazine

I am beyond excited to tell you that I'm in the holiday issue of Rue Magazine! You'll find me in the Blogger Side by Side feature on page 28 with fellow blogger Katie Quinn Davies of What Katie Ate, accompanied by gorgeous illustrations by Katie Rodgers! Have a look here.

Yule Multi-Artist Exhibition

If you're in Ottawa on December 1, drop by and say hello to me at the Yule Multi-Artist Exhibition vernissage, 6 to 9 pm that evening at the Exposure Gallery, upstairs at Thyme and Again! Check out some great affordable art, sample delicious food and meet the artists, too! Details on the Facebook event page here.

Of Books and Deadlines

That sound you hear is the sound of deadlines whooshing by — specifically, the deadline I'd originally set myself for getting the BPS book completed. In an ideal world I would have taken 6 months off, retired to a little cabin by the sea, and spent my days diligently putting together the perfect book. Living in the real world, I've had to try and fit in working on it around my regular paying work (with its own tight deadlines) plus all the other stuff that life brings every day. Which means that though I'd hoped to have it ready for September, the reality is that it's just not going to happen. But it will happen — I promise. Thanks so much for your patience — I really do appreciate it.

xo


(photo via dwellings)

Globe and Mail Illustration

Hello all! I thought BPS members might be interested in an illustration I did for the Globe and Mail newspaper today, accompanying a Facts and Arguments piece by Paige Raymond Kovach about her great aunt's long tradition of letter writing to family members — and how it's created happy memories that continue to this day. Read the article here.


(illustration by me)

Brazil Postcard Exchange Update

A quick note for BPS members participating in the Brazil postcard exchange with Hane — she's had a bit of a setback as she didn't get the financial support she'd hoped for, but this month Hane's changing to a new (and better!) job and will be looking into starting the exchange at her new workplace once she's settled in. I'll update you again once I have more news, too.


(vintage brazil postcard via miludica on flickr)

BPS Badges

You might recall that my fab designer pal Clare designed some gorgeous BPS badges for members to display on their sites — and then I promptly forgot to upload jpg versions here so we could all actually use them. D'oh. Well, at long last here they are, over in the right sidebar — just drag and drop. The large ones are 250 x 250 and the small ones are 125 x 125 — please let me know if you need another size. So horribly sorry for this being so late!!

What's New

Sorry for the long pause between posts — it's been busy! But now that the final deadline for postcard mailing has come and gone, I can really get started on the BPS book. Presently it's a lot of organizing, but I'm looking forward to putting it all together and seeing it turn into a real live book.

And I'll try to post here a little more regularly, too!

xo


(lovely photo by Roland Bello)

The Story So Far

A quick update — packages of postcards are still trickling in from members, so I haven't been able to get started as yet on the BPS book — I'm looking at settling down to it in early February now.


(photo via the Oct 2008 issue of LivingEtc)

Happy New Year!

A very happy new year to you, lovely BPS members! Hope it's a good one. For me it'll be all about putting together the BPS book — looking forward to sharing the finished product with you a few months from now! In the meantime, I'll continue to post fun postcard and mail related things here on the blog — hope you'll pop by regularly to see what's new (or to just say hello).


(sweet little fawn photo by Sharon Montrose — prints available here)

A Sad Day

My brother Greg's sweet little cat Pi passed away yesterday after a too short life — she'll be greatly missed.


(photo by odnelem on flickr, via we heart it)

Mailing Fees

Some of the European BPS members have mentioned that they're having trouble sending payment for the return of their postcards, as PayPal and international money orders are not options for them. If this is the case for you, please email me and I'll happily help you to arrange an alternative. Thanks again!


(lovely photo by the wonderful imke klee available from her shop here)

BPS Book Email

I'm in the process of sending out the official email about contributing your postcards to the BPS book — bear with me as I'm having to do this manually, so it'll take me a few days to work through the list and get them all out to you. If you haven't received yours by Monday (October 25) let me know.

P.S. I'll need your postcards in the mail by November 20 so that we can miss the worst of the holiday mail rush, too.

P.P.S. Oops! Greg sent out an earlier version of the book email by mistake — sorry for the confusion. The final (official) one is titled The BPS Book, and is addressed to you personally.

Thanks as always for your patience!

:-)


(photo by Douglas Friedman for Domino magazine)

Hey, Where'd Everybody Go?

Sorry for the apparent silence recently — it's been one round of crazy deadlines after another for me (and for Greg, too) so the last couple of weeks have pretty much been a blur. We'll have an email out to you as soon as we resurface — definitely before the end of the month.

Thanks as always for your patience — you are all just wonderful.

xo


(photo of Iggy via the brick house)

What's Next

Wondering what's going on? We've been waiting for everyone to receive their September postcards — and in the next few days we'll be sending an email out with details on what to do with your BPS postcards. Stay tuned!


(photo from oh hello friend)

September Mailing

It's hard to believe, but it's now the very last mailing of the Benevolent Postcard Society. Your mailing address will be arriving soon — as always, don't forget to check your spam folder too. But before you send off your last postcard, give yourself a well deserved pat on the back. Your generous participation brightened a lot of people's lives. Thanks.


(photo via paper n stitch)

What's Next

We're gearing up for the very last mailing on September 1 — and once the addresses have been emailed, we'll be sending out another email a week or so after it with info on what to do with your collection of postcards. Basically, if you'd like the postcards you've received to appear in the book, you'll need to send them to me. If you'd like them returned once I've scanned them, I'm happy to ship them back to you — all I ask is that you send me a small amount via PayPal to cover the return postage. I'll have more details in the official email about this, but I just wanted to give you a bit of advance notice so you can decide what you'd like to do. Thanks so much again for making the BPS so much fun — I couldn't have done it without you!!!

:-)


(postcard wall photo from homelife, via from the right bank)