(Note: That is not a drawing of Christian Bale. We asked.)

We were charmed by Emily Grenader’s 365 Postcards from the second it hit Kickstarter. While the majority of the projects at the time originated from a place of need, Emily’s had more of a sense of whimsy. She wasn’t doing this because she had to, she was doing this because she could.

The proposition is simple: for $5 get a homemade postcard in the mail at some point over the course of the next year. If you pay a little more, you can schedule your postcard’s arrival. The highest tier offered one postcard per day for a month (an option that I very nearly picked, and kinda wish that I had).

It’s hard to quantify what’s so disarming about this project. Is it the simplicity? Is there some aura contained in a postcard, which is essentially a text message sent via post? Whatever it is, we often see eyes light up when we mention 365 Postcards in conversation, a little bit of childlike glee at its modest audacity.

We’re looking forward to more projects like Emily’s (we’d put New York Makes a Book in the category of interactive art project, too). We’ve always viewed Kickstarter as an opportunity to flex those creative and passionate muscles that the nine-to-five seems custom built to atrophy.

We sent Emily a few questions about her project, and here are her responses.

Tell us about your project.

I am creating and sending a postcard every day for a year to a backer, friend, or stranger.

How did you decide on your rewards?

I wanted to pay for the physical costs of my project. I did not include my time, but estimated how much I would need for supplies.

How many of your backers do you know personally?

I know 12 out of 53.

I’ve been posting pictures once a week of the cards. [LINK]

Have you learned/discovered anything from the experience?

I was pleased to see that people from all over the world stumbled on my project.