Heritage Month Day 11

Friday, September 11, 2026 – What gives you a smile?

How’s it going with your exploration of Ukrainian heritage and culture? Have you tried some new Ukrainian recipes or eaten in a local Ukrainian restaurant new to you? Maybe you’ve found an interesting read about Ukrainian history or art? Let us know.

Building on yesterday’s idea that a postcard can be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud (Maya Angelou), I decided to try something very different on a postcard.

A few of our postcard warriors apply uniquely personal creativity to their cards, and every time I open an envelope full of such cards, I think to myself, I should try something like this!

Well, today’s the day! I’m on vacation so I’m taking some extra time to go outside my comfort zone to try something uniquely different. But I don’t want it to be too difficult. Time, I have. Creative genius, not so much … 😉

I started to scroll for ideas on Instagram, and as soon as I saw one posted by @ab.journaling.aus I knew I could manage it. She posts journaling ideas, but from what I can see on her Instagram feed, a lot of her ideas can be easily transferred to postcards.

What you need: a black marker, a white gel pen [as I’m on vacation, I just had a yellow one], a yellow marker, and whatever else you might like to use.

1. Starting at the top/middle of your postcard, draw a hanging lamp in black marker.
2. Using a yellow marker, draw a line downward and moving slightly at an angle, first from the bottom left corner of the lamp, then from the bottom right corner of the lamp. You’re creating a bit of a triangle shape with these yellow lines.
3. With the yellow marker, draw a light bulb (about ¾ of it) from the bottom/middle of the lamp. Then, draw some yellow light beams downward from the bulb. Kind of like drawing a sun beam.
4. Using white [or yellow] gel pen, write text on the black lamp. The post suggests WHAT lights YOU UP? I didn’t like that idea because it reminded me of explosions, so went with WHAT gives YOU a SMILE?
5. With a fine black pen, write your message inside the boundaries of the lamp light.
6. With the black pen, draw some horizontal lines across the page. The post creator left the horizontal spaces blank, but I wanted to use some colour and Ukrainian phrases, as well as add some hearts, so away I went with it. I even drew a floral stamp.
7. I always write the year on my cards. Not the day or the month. Just the year. In case a Defender decides to keep it in a scrapbook. 😉

It’s not a complicated effort and doesn’t require many tools, but it did take a bit of time. You can clearly see that my version differs from the creator’s version. I’d love to see what others do with this idea.

Tomorrow … easy florals.

Each day through Ukrainian Heritage Month, we’ll share some easy-to-do ideas that you can try on your postcards to Defenders. 30 days. 30 cards. Simple art.

Our Ultimate Heritage Challenge to you, dear postcard warrior: one postcard per day during September. Try some of the postcard ideas we offer. Prizes will be drawn for three winners who have tried at least three of the ideas that we’ve shared through the month of September. We’ll know because your cards will ‘show’ us. Deadline: we must receive your Ukrainian Heritage Month challenge package of postcards in our mailbox by October 20.

Share your creative ideas with us, and any other ways in which you acknowledge Ukrainian Heritage Month.

Email your ideas and images to us along with a brief explanation and we’ll share: postcardstothefront.canada@gmail.com

Tag us on Instagram, Facebook, Threads. We’d love to share your stories with others. Don’t forget to tag the creators whose ideas you use.

IG and Threads: @postcardstothefront_canada   @ukrainian.heritage.month   @ab.journaling.aus

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