I am always on the lookout for good postcards. Oftentimes the problem is no postcards, or they want to charge too much for the card. Sometime the postcard options are not the greatest.

In past years, I have mailed some pretty unique items with no issues. For example, I mailed Dad flower seed packets. I did not modify the packets or place them in an envelope. All I did was add a stamp, mailing address, and note to the outside of the original bag. The seed packet arrived with no issues. With Mother’s Day around the corner, this is a great way to mail flowers and have Mom grow her own flowers :-).

I used a similar approach for postcards by printing photos at Walmart which are the perfect size. The USPS requires postcards to be no larger than 6 inches by 4 inches and no smaller than 3 1/2 inches by 5 inches. Most pictures are printed at 6 inches by 4 inches.

At Hobby Lobby in the scrapbooking area, I found 8.5 by 11 inches thick sticker paper.

Step 1 was placing the photos on the sticky paper. Only 3 postcards fit per page.

When at Walmart in the craft area, I found a small paper cutter that can go through up to 11 pages at a time. I didn’t know if it would work, but it turned out great. The cuts are straighter than if I used scissors. The downside is that, on the first use, I did not cover the sticky area that was not attached to the pictures, so the paper stuck to the cutter. I was able to get the paper off the cutter, but it wasn’t easy 🙂

I ended up cutting the sticker top paper into smaller pieces to cover the sticky area.

Then back to the cutter 🙂

Walla. I now have homemade postcards at the cost of 40 cents per card. Typical postcard cost ranges between $0.75 cents and $2.50. The most common price is $1.00 to $1.50.

I made 9 postcards. 1 had to be discarded because of poor cutting. The discarded postcard was my first attempt at using the straight edge cutter.

The remaining 8 postcards will be mailed to various family members with the request to respond with receipt and condition. I’m hoping all goes well because this will be a fun way to keep in touch with a more personalized postcard.

Please note: Being able to make postcards will not stop me from buying them, especially if I can get a cancel stamp to add to the cards.