THE POSTCARDS OF YESTERYEAR VS. THE POSTCARDS OF TODAY

There is something so unbelievably enchanting and romantic about vintage postcards. In stark contrast to contemporary ones, the postcards of yesteryear evoke nostalgia, sentiment and soul. Today's postcards are, well...frankly, quite unappealing. Not only are the majority of them overly Photoshopped, most of the city and landscapes seem unrealistic, digitally enhanced and can be hard to look at. Why are some of our most beautiful cities being captured in such an unattractive manner? Somehow postcards from the past were able to capture the spirit of a busy street, the tranquility of a beach vacation and the glamour of a majestic city building. While I understand that they had limited tools and colors to create postcards way back when, but there is just some sort of subtle elegance and concern to enhance the natural beauty of a setting rather than make it bold and distorted. Although art is subjective, I think that contemporary postcards are simply soul-less and uninspiring.

Are the days of soft colors, decorative fonts and romanticism gone? Just because we have such a multitude of digital tools, colors and effects available to us does it mean that we need to take advantage of all of them...at the same time? I truly believe that if someone were to resurrect the art of the antique postcard that there would be a worldwide postcard revival. In fact, there should be a postcard revival. Here is a collection of some of my favorites from the European countries I love most. HOLLAND

POLAND

FRANCE

CZECH REPUBLIC

I, for one, would love to see where my friends have travelled rather than viewing photos in a Facebook album. So in an attempt to bring back the vintage postcard (at least in our home) we purchased this great wall organizer. It's very similar to the Rustic Wall Organizer from Pottery Barn just a slightly different print on the burlap and distressed wood finish.

These are currently the only postcards we have, which is sad considering all the countries we explored on our backpacking trip. I wish we would have started collecting them years ago, but until I pick up some more, these will have to suffice. They are no way near the beautiful vintage ones that I lust over, but you get the idea. As soon as I get some more attractive ones these will be filed in an album or something.

I cannot wait to find some vintage postcards at flea markets in Prague and Warsaw. I have high hopes that they will have exactly what I'm looking for.