What to do with antique postcards?

Question

I have so many antique postcards. They're all gorgeous. Now that I have so many, I don't know what to do with them, lol. Ok, so I hoard. Any ideas?

Mimi · Answer

What a great item to collect/hoard lol.
Sooo many uses...cut into different shapes and decoupage stuff.
The real problem is knowing when to stop using for personal enjoyment vs gifting.
If your environment starts to look overcrowded make a coffee table book?

Ann · Answer

Coffee table book?  How?

Tracy Hudson · Answer

What a great collection of history you have. You could use scrapbooks or photo albums to create a display book.

Kayo Frazier · Answer

Here's my 2 cents...You can do this 1 of 2 ways...Gather some poster size picture frames then take the postcards & lay them out to fill the whole frame. The other way to do it would be to gather frames the size of the post cards & then hang them up gallery style thru out your home.

Heliane Ripley · Answer

Or use them in a collage. Make or buy a deep frame, mount the postcards and then add some travel related items like vacation momentos, ticket stubs etc.

Lee Cunningham Green · Answer

I would decoupage a treasure chest, memory box, or trunk with them. I love postcards as well.

Pam brimhall · Answer

Photo copy the cards. Use the copies to decoupage. This way you have both

Carol · Answer

You can also use a large frame for a collage, but keep them out of strong sunlight.  Or put under plexiglass for a border in your kitchen. Or copy and use as border.

Andrea Ferrer Solek · Answer

Before you use or sell the postcards, SCAN them! Make a high resolution .jpg of each one so that you can use the images over and over again in art projects. Don't worry about flaws, those are often the best ones that add a vintage feel to a project.

The images are great for scrap booking, collages, decoupage, etc. You could decoupage a table top, for instance.

Cynthia H · Answer

Would you like to display them? Pull out your favorites, purchase some frames (or reuse some that you have), and frame them. I have tons of beautiful pictures I have printed over the years, and I purchased some simple frames at Walmart that fit my pictures and made small groupings of them to hang on the wall. If you want to do specific seasons, etc., rotate your groupings. If you want a specific color frame, you can always paint the frame to fit what you want (I recently painted some plastic frames with pink chalk paint for my granddaughter and that was an amazingly easy project!. If you want to mat them, that would require a bigger frame. I've also seen pictures and mementos displayed under glass on a table. I have a glass 'mat' on my desk, that I rotate pictures under. Enjoy your collection!

Dee · Answer

If there are one or two of the postcards that you really like the picture of but wish it were larger, take it to Office Depot and have them blow it up into a blue print size. That way you can have a great piece of artwork for your walls.

Ann · Answer

1 or 2?  Lol. How about 20. Lol. But that's a cool idea
Thank you ladies. I really appreciate your help and great ideas. I do believe I will do some of each suggestion

Terrie Brockmann · Answer

The neatest thing I saw was a birthday card made by putting the postcard between two pieces of glass in a plain frame. The recipient could see the front and read the greeting on the back. (The greeting from the early 1900s was 'Happy birthday! I love you and miss you.') Turn your postcards into 'get well,' 'congrats,' etc. greeting cards!

Ann · Answer

With all these suggestions I can collect more lol
Thanks ladies

Ruidoso · Answer

I bought some antique post cards when I got married. My hubs and I exchange one every year writing something on the back in remembrance of the past year. We even give some to family members for them to send back to us in (SAE). We don't read them until the next year on our anniversary keeping all of the cards in a wooden box shaped like a book. It's handy just in case we have someone over we haven't seen in a while who might be willing to add to our anniversary 'little party'.

Heather Edwards · Answer

You can buy album that have sleeves inside that you could put them in at least they will be kept clean and you can browse them at anytime.

Bit similar to stamp albums

Cynthia H · Answer

A nice obsession! I think it's a lovely way to remember your mom.

Monica Camilli · Answer

Wouldn't you first check if the antique post card has a greater value before embellishing it?

Mary · Answer

I collected a lot from different trips. After awhile to many. So I got a photo album with the dividers for different photos. These are double sided. Now I have it on the coffee table. Add more sleeves as you collect more

Nancy landers · Answer

Print them for decoupage sheets?

What to do with antique postcards?

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What to do with antique postcards?

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