Birthday Princess

I celebrated my Birthday greatly with my close friends on Tuesday. A friend of mine reserved a table at a Chinese hotpot restaurant. Because it was Tuesday, the restaurant was empty, when I came in. I felt special, as if my friends had reseved the whole restaurant for me. 

Every year on my birthday I miss my Mum so much. I wish she was by my side and we would cook something and eat at home like we used to do, when I was younger.

I believe, it doesn't matter, how old I am, I am always a little princess to my Mum and every year on my birthday she will surprise me with an unique present - her love but always in a very different way.

To my Mum: 

Thank you for loving me unconditionally!

 

To my friends:

Thank you for making my birthday a sweet one!

 

Fireflies Night

For years I've dreamed of getting lost in a meadow at night where a great number of fireflies usually gathers.

Born as a city child, I never had a chance to experience this spectacular scenery. I saw some fireflies in the garden of the house where I've lived since 4 years in Germany. However, the city light makes many things, such as the starry night sky or fireflies glow, less beautiful. What a shame! 

Balloon Sky

The weather of April seems to be chameleonic.
This week's been grey, cold and rainy. It made me long for a perfect blue sky with thousands of colorful balloons.

A cocoon of love

While listening to Norah Jones' new album "Little Broken Hearts", I wanted to create a new postcard which could remind me of the fragileness of love and its care dependency. 

I remember that someone once told me, that love is a tree. It takes nourishment neither from the earth nor from the air, but from you. 

Macarons for N.

 

Macarons are tiny and  have lovely colors. That's maybe the reason why they caught my interest, since I don't have any sweet tooth. Actually, they are tasty. However, I won't eat more than four macarons at once. It will be too sweet for me to stand. I can hardly tell the distinction between a biscuit and a cream cake. All right, they're sweet, and that's all.

N. is just a fictive person. His role in this small watercolour painting is to excite your curiousity. I hope, N. has done his job well.

Last week, I, strangely enough, bought me a book to learn how to bake macarons at home. (I'm kind of being obsessed with making tiny and cute things by hands.) Wait and see my first try! Since I won't be able to eat all my baked goods, I can pack some of them in such small, clear bags tagged "macarons for..." and give them to friends.

Dahlias in winter

I like to have flowers in my room. They cheer up grey winter days. Dahlia is one of my favorites. The complex arrangement of its petals fascinates me.
I purchased two dahlia, one rosa and one white, two weeks ago. They are now fading little by little, but beautifully.

 

Bottle postcards (3)

Let's see, what Grandma has in her garden: Strawberries, snow peas, daisies, yellow pansies and lavender. :)
The strawberries look yummy. Such a shame, because of an allergy, I cannot enjoy their tasty flavor.

Bottle postcards (2)

If we could put one's memories into bottles and lay them on a shelf, I wonder, how many bottles we would need? 

As child I used to live with my grandparents at the seaside. To me, memories of the sea are memories of the childhood at the same time. As teenager I was asked, if I were a thing, what I would like to be. I remember to have answered, that I'd like to be a lighthouse. :)
However, today's theme for the bottles of memories is Love. Van Gogh's painting "Starry Night" and a heart carved in a tree as symbol of puppy love were my inspiration.

Actually, I didn't have either memories of  a romantic starry night or a heart carved in a tree. How about you?

Bottle postcards (1)

Don't throw away empty bottles.
Let's fill them with a lot of beautiful memories that you're afraid you will forget.
These two belong to a set of postcards about my favorite motive: treasures in a glass bottle.

Speedpost Service

A brand-new speed post service offer for lovers of culture of writing and vintage style or eco-warriors...

Be bored with Airmail etiquettes and troubled by greenhouse effect?

Let's GO GREEN by the use of our new Snail Mail stickers! 

(Caution: This is just a work of fiction.)

I wonder whether Mr. Postman could feel offended due to delivering this postcard. :P

Front side:

 Back side:

Sleeping She-Snail

Back from a busy day, she's now sleeping peacefully in her very cozy shell. Sweet dreams!

Front side:

 Back side:

Momiji (Red leaves)

Tree leaves are now changing color. Winter is near.
A paper cut greeting card with warm colors as a welcome to the new season has just been done today.

Ajisai

Mum like charming paper cutting greeting cards from Japan. Since I myself made paper cutting, she asked, if I could make some greeting cards of this kind. 

Ajisai is the Japanese word for Hortensia- Mum's favorite flower. Do you see the small yellow snail on the leaf? It's me, Silent Snail. :)

Longing for the sea

As a child, I used to live by the sea with my grandparents. At the beginning of my elementary school, I moved to another city. Since then, I've always longed for the sea.
I love all things related to our oceans: mysterious creatures of the sea, sounds of waves, sea shells, lighthouses, ship, navy uniforms, etc.
In the postcard, you can see a schoolgirl wearing sērāfuku (Japanese for "sailor outfit") and holding a French navy sailor hat with a red pompon. While looking at a painting hanging on the wall, in which a German lighthouse with red and white rings around the tower and Scarlet Sails-my favorite literature symbol of powerful love- from the children's book with the same name, written by the Russian writer Alexander Grin, are shown, she's picturing herself being surrounded by many beautiful citizens of the sea.

"Himawari no uta"- The song of sunflowers

 

I drew this postcard last week on the day before I went to Madrid. On that day, I saw a cute Asian girl at the main train station in my city. She was carrying a guitar hard case on her back. The T-shirt she wore was beautiful. She might be a student of the academy of music. Germany is one of favourite choices for Asians wanting to study classical music.

"Dr.Dolittle's Practice" postcard set

As a child, I read a Russian book named "Doctor Aybolit", writen by Korney Chukovsky, told stories of a vet living in a jungle in Africa to help sick animals. Many years later, I heard of  Hugh Lofting's "The story of Doctor Dolittle" and found out, that "Doctor Aybolit" is an adaption, although its poems are original works.
Few days ago, I sent a postcard to a Taiwanese studying Phd veterinary medicine in Japan. She asked for postcards with pictures of animals of all kinds. It somehow reminded me of Dr. Dolittle and my favourite Russian children book. Although  I prefer the character Dr. Aybolit and the book's Russian cultural aspects, I named my postcard set "Dr.Dolittle's Practice" because of the popularity of British children's literature.

Bear: I tried to get honey from a beehive on a high branch of a tree.
Rabbit: I was deep in thought of my grandpa's race with a turtle and fell into a hole.
Dog: Hey, it was an accident that I trod on your tail while being chasing after a bumble-bee.
Cat: You startled me. I didn't intend to bite your neck.
Hedgehod: I'm fine. When I got up and found this apple on my back, I thought of the doctor and wanted to give it to him.

Because I really liked Rabbit's scarf, I wanted to draw it again. I thought to myself, why don't create a postcard set which shows what the animals had done, before they went to the practice.

 

"On the way to Dr.Dolittle's practice"

Rabbit loves colourful daisies. "They smell nice and taste good in salad"-he said. In a field of daisies, he has always forgotten the time. His Mum told, his Grandpa had the same preference for these flowers. Who knows, years ago he might have discovered some daisies with a rare colour in the race with the turtle and also absolutely forgotten the time, then later lost to the turtle.

"Breakfast before seeing Dr.Dolittle"

Bear loves honeys. His Mum has always told, that he should use a spoon while eating. Bear doesn't think, this way of civilisation makes fun. Eating honey from jars by hands is the best. "Don't tell Mum!"-he said and smiled.

 "Reading while waiting for Dr.Dolittle"

Hedgehog loves to read. He'll read everywhere. In this morning, he woke up and found a beautiful apple on his back. Hedgehog thought of Dr.Dolittle and how kind he was to him last week, when Hedgehog had a terrible throat sore. Therefore, he wanted to give this apple to the doctor so much. While waiting to be called, he is reading. 

As you can see, Dr.Dolittle is very busy. Of course, he must be very busy. Because... how many people in the world can understand  animals' languages?

(These stories are made up by me, Thao Mai)

From Me To You

The Earth is a fun place to live in. While I'm now in Germany looking forward to hot summer days and meadows full with red poppies, a friend of mine in New Zealand wrote to me: "It's getting colder here day by day, so send me a bit of summer sun and the sense of flowers..."

Teru Teru Bōzu

I remember first hearing of a teru-teru-bōzu from Doraemon, a famous Japanese manga series created by Fujiko F. Fujio. More than 15 years have gone by, I forgot the function of most magic tools which Doraemon can put out from his fourth-dimensional pocket. However, his teru-teru-bōzu is related to rainy weather for sure.
It's said, until now children in Japan still make these little dolls and hang them outside of their windows to wish for sunny weather.

I'm forever blowing bubbles.

 

I remembered Doris Day's "I'm forever blowing bubbles" and drew this postcard for a postcrosser in Oregon, USA. "Pretty bubbles in the air. They fly so high, nearly reach the sky. Then like my dreams, they fade and die..."

Totoro postcards

Spring is coming. Daytime is longer. February is cruel, because it's short, full of cebrating atmosphere ( Chinese Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day and Carnivals) and also hard exams at the university.
I deadly want to draw something new, but don't have time. Therefore, I've continued digging up some old stuffs. At this time, these are some Totoro postcards I drew last year.

Front and back views of the postcard Tanpopo (Dandelion)

 

 Front and back views of the postcard Tori no su (Bird's nest)