On the way

The proofs are coming from the printer this week on Card #1. We don't know whether to be scared, excited, or a little bit of both. But they're on their way, and I'm choosing not to flip out. Yet.

Green trees, less trees

Hallmark this week announced that it will unveil a line of enviro-friendly greeting cards, "for businesses to minimize environmental impact while building relationships with customers and employees." There will be nine cards with pro-environment or traditional holiday greetings, made of a mix of sugar cane pulp and recycled paper.

After having spent several months looking for an affordable green printer, I hope that this becomes more of the norm in the larger printing and publishing world for cards, to help smaller shops like us and dedicated green printers across the country. It's a small margin business, but we should be unified in our efforts to produce quality, smart products.

Weekend fun!

Went to Michael's today and picked up two magazines for inspiration and to keep up with current trends: Artful Blogging and Just Cards! They seem like fun magazines, and I'm a sucker for impulse buying. There should be a picture of me at their board meetings with the words "Target Customer" written under it ha ha.
In other PEP news, we think we have finally found a printer we like! Woo hoo! I am sending out our first card for proofs this weekend. So be on the look out for our shop to be open soon! Have a happy and safe 4th of July weekend everyone!

Blended families

As a child of several versions of blended families, I was excited to hear about the thestepcardcollection. This should make mother's and father's days a lot easier moving forward. Considering how many marriages end in divorce, I wonder why they aren't rolling it out to more regions of the U.S. Fear of conservative backlash?

And since when is Delaware a test market?

Everything's A-OK

Sunny days at American Greetings, which has renewed its licensing agreement with Sesame Workshop. Strange that they never specify the actual length of the contract, though.

Even jerks should know that we are thinking of them

I am a huge fan of this idea, proposed by Illinois comedy club owner Dave Sinker:

This could be a multimillion-dollar business for greeting card companies. The same people who gave us such made-up holidays as Sweetest Day, Grandparents Day and Secretary's Day need to expand. How about Meddling Mother-in-Law Day, Smelly Co-Worker Day, Cheating Husband and his Tramp Day, and Ex-Girlfriend with the Restraining Order Day?

Because, at the end of the day, everyone deserves to get a card in the mail. Or nailed to their doorjam.