Shameless copy from the BookCrossing forum because I couldn't explain this project any better:
A few years ago, Bflybabe began a thread called 'Holiday Wish List' which was a
lot of fun. Everyone posted their personal wish list, not just books, but
anything they wanted, big or small. Others tried to fulfill the wishes, as they
could. USED items that fulfilled a specific wish were just as wonderful as new,
and there were NO OBLIGATIONS- everyone did what they felt like doing.
BookCrossers give constantly. We have projects going to needy folks all the
time. I don't think it's unreasonable to remember that we need care, too. Unless
we take care of ourselves, we can't continue giving to others.
If you're interested in participating, all you have to do is post a list of gifts you'd
like to receive. You can choose books, or world peace, hand-crafted items or new
cars- anything you want or need. YOU MIGHT NOT GET ANYTHING AT ALL, but this is
a generous community. Someone might have the very thing.
I joined this project last year and have had so much fun with it, so I just couldn't resist participating again :)
This is why I've made those "greetings from Ochten" postcards and it's also the reason why I'm translating the bookplates I designed: to send out to other participants!
<-- this was the very first surprise I received. Beautifulhooker sent it to me; she must have recognized a fellow skull-stuff-lover in me :) Both the bookmarks are in my current reads already, I simply adore them because they're so different from any bookmarks I've seen. I've taken a peek at beautifulhooker's deviantArt pages. Lovely! Thanks girl!
Yesterday, another mysterious envelope in the mail...whoohoo!
A book?
Yes, a book!
A Puschkin book!!!
lot of fun. Everyone posted their personal wish list, not just books, but
anything they wanted, big or small. Others tried to fulfill the wishes, as they
could. USED items that fulfilled a specific wish were just as wonderful as new,
and there were NO OBLIGATIONS- everyone did what they felt like doing.
BookCrossers give constantly. We have projects going to needy folks all the
time. I don't think it's unreasonable to remember that we need care, too. Unless
we take care of ourselves, we can't continue giving to others.
If you're interested in participating, all you have to do is post a list of gifts you'd
like to receive. You can choose books, or world peace, hand-crafted items or new
cars- anything you want or need. YOU MIGHT NOT GET ANYTHING AT ALL, but this is
a generous community. Someone might have the very thing.
I joined this project last year and have had so much fun with it, so I just couldn't resist participating again :)
This is why I've made those "greetings from Ochten" postcards and it's also the reason why I'm translating the bookplates I designed: to send out to other participants!
<-- this was the very first surprise I received. Beautifulhooker sent it to me; she must have recognized a fellow skull-stuff-lover in me :) Both the bookmarks are in my current reads already, I simply adore them because they're so different from any bookmarks I've seen. I've taken a peek at beautifulhooker's deviantArt pages. Lovely! Thanks girl!
Yesterday, another mysterious envelope in the mail...whoohoo!A book?
Yes, a book!
A Puschkin book!!!
This is Puschkin.
I figured he might have read his own books a bit too often, since he fell asleep on top of it :)
The book is in German and the lovely thing about that is that the name Puschkin is spelled exactly the same as the name of our cat.My collection is growing and it's time to create a special spot in the living room. I've got several Puschkin/Poesjkin books in Dutch, one with amazing illustrations in French (Pouchekine), 2 in Russian and now 2 in German.
I've also found a Pavlov book and I'm hoping to get my hands on one of the books about or written by Sacharov. Munchkin has his own card game, would be great to find that some day and I think there will be a book somewhere that has Molotov in the title...
And this laminated card is a cute contribution to the collection as well!
<-- :)
The surprise came from Germany, from ApoloniaX.
It came with a nice chatty notecard, telling me about a coincidence: while she was registering the Puschkin book she wanted to send me, her mom called her to tell she received my postcard. One of ApoloniaX's wishes was for people to send cards to her mom, who isn't in the best of health.
She also told about her cat, in the same way we often do: "she was my cat, i.e. I was her servant"
LOL, same here! :)
She also granted another wish I made. I was hoping to inspire others to eat vegetarian / skip meat for just one day. Looks like my German friend here has been a veggie girl for a looooong time already :)
Cute sticker!
Thank you, ApoloniaX.
You didn't know it, but I felt horrible yesterday morning and your mail made me smile. So, thanks for that as well!
I have been sending out envelopes as well and a few have arrived already. Wonderful to hear what people think of the stuff you sent. Actually, the most fun is in finding little surprises that are inspired by their wishlists. All small gestures, like bookplates I've made, bookmarks and BookCrossing stuff.
The bookplates/labels I've been working on are at the print service now and I think they'll arrive somewhere this week. Several wonderful BookCrossers translated the text I wanted on the labels and I've used those translations in my design. Now I've got 10 languages available (Dutch, English, Finnish, Greek, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Italian, Swedish and German) and 2 more to come (Chinese and Malaysian).
They'll be available for printing/download on my Photobucket account soon!
Ha, I'm finally liking Summer again! :)
Usually I'm not too fond of my grandma, but at the moment we're so thankful for the airco she gave us last year (she bought a new one and needed to get rid of the old one). It's very noisy and it has troubles cooling the whole room, but what a difference! Thanks, gran! ;)
