The notecards I found on this site, have caused me this poem to write.
The design called, “Floral Expressions” has on me made quite an impression.

When you think of someone who’s sad, or working through troubles they’ve had,
Do you worry about what to say, to help in your own little way?

The beautiful Tulip bouquet, somehow helped me to know what to say.
A notecard has let me express what might verbally come out a mess.

A word or two from the heart can possibly make healing start.
Keep a notecard in mind, when you’re in such a bind.

Perhaps you’ll agree with what happened to me.

Upon a recent promotion, I received several greeting cards with well-wishes from co-workers. My boss gave me a business congratulations card and on the inside wrote “Congrats…or should I say God bless you?” I guess you are wondering what sort of inside joke this could possibly be, right? Let me backtrack.

It all started with a sneeze. It’s pretty much a given that if someone sneezes, they will get a “God bless you” in response. Inquisitive beings that we are, a few of us wondered how God’s blessings became the response of choice to a loud, germy sneeze. Of course to find out…we “Googled” it.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember what I did before Google. Have a question about something? Google it. Need to look up a factoid or rumor? Google it. None of the other search engines made it into a verb in our daily conversations. I only wish it had been around when I was a kid. It would’ve been so much easier to Google something than ask Mom to drive me to the library so I could look it up in an encyclopedia.

In any case, Google made good on its informational uses. It turns out that back in plague times, the Pope made it a law that you should bless someone in case the sneeze was a precursor to an untimely, plague-related death. Prior to those times, if someone sneezed, they were congratulated for getting rid of an evil sprit!

Some of us have started to congratulate our colleagues when sneezing. Sure, we get odd stares at first, but when we explain the origin, the stares stop (well, usually). Our Congratulations Movement has yet to pick up steam, but I am determined to make it catch on, even if it means bribing with days off! (Ok, maybe not. Bribery is not the best way to go about things, folks.)

If you have particularly sneezy friends or co-workers, and are tired of blessing them every time they let out a big one, think about handing them congratulations cards. Include a tissue, and maybe an explanation of why you’re congratulating them. That should save you from having to react to the sneezes at all for a very long time!

Do people who receive get well cards actually recover faster than those who suffer in solitude? Proponents of positive thinking would agree that well wishes and greeting cards from the world outside the sickroom can’t help but have a healing effect. When I’m not feeling well, even if it’s only a temporary state, it’s easy to fall into an “invalid mode,” moping about in a weakened state and feeling left out of life as though I’ll never again be myself. So, when a delightful dose of sunshine comes to me via greeting cards in my mailbox, it’s amazing how my spirits and attitude get a burst of good energy.

Some get well cards will make you laugh, even though it may hurt to laugh; for instance, right after surgery. Some greeting cards can be so touching to you that they give you “misty” eyes. The best may be those greeting cards whose pretty designs cause you to smile every time you glance at them, because the greeting cards bring to mind the kind and thoughtful people who sent them. You could even get all three of those reactions from a single get well card sent from an unexpected source.

When I’m unable to say “Get Well Soon” to a person with a chronic or terminal illness, I will still send a gentle-looking greeting card that says “Thinking of You.”  I hope the greeting card helps them feel less isolated by knowing that I remember them and care about their situation. Even friends who are “sick at heart” over personal setbacks can use pleasant notecards to point them toward a brighter day. My rule of thumb is to ask myself, “Would I like to be thought about when I’m away from social action?” (Of course I do!) “Do I want to answer the door or the phone to visitors?’ (Oh my goodness, NO!) “Would get well cards make me feel better?” (You bet it would!)  And then I go ahead and do just what I planned to all along…I send the cheeriest greeting cards I can find!

Business get well cards are among the different types of corporate greeting cards that companies often send. While these cards are usually passed around within an office for a variety of serious ailments, another reason to send these types of greeting cards is to spread humor and cheer among co-workers.

For instance, one day I missed an afternoon of work due to a dental appointment. This appointment arose from an incident where, during a particularly vivid dream, I managed to chip a tooth on the corner of my nightstand. When I got to work the next day, I found a corporate get well card in my inbox, compliments of a bemused co-worker. I managed to return the favor when the same co-worker suffered a minor ankle-sprain as a result of the all-too-uncommon ping pong injury. And since our supervisor, a notorious foot-shuffler, suffers from an acute static-electricity problem during the winter months, one fellow employee managed to have fun passing out get well cards to her numerous shock victims.

As you can see, some of the more humorous uses of business get well cards can help keep the mood light while fostering positive feelings among the office staff.

Prudent Publishing is announcing a new website and charitable program to assist those who wish to honor our veterans by sending cards of appreciation and caring. The website, www.Cards4Veterans.org, will be coordinating shipments of free greeting cards to schools, charities, churches, and other organizations that wish to send cards to veterans and veterans’ organizations.

Cards4Veterans.org is in the process of being designed and should be up and running soon. Please check back in a few days.

A business Christmas cards advertisement for The Gallery Collection was recently featured in the souvenir program and guide for Destination: Opera!, a three day celebration which took place from September 12th to the 14th in Ocean Grove at the Jersey Shore. Our company President is an opera enthusiast and serves as Chairman for the New Jersey State Opera. His daughter-in-law is a distinguished soprano who also serves as the Managing Director for the NJSOpera.

Here is our ad that was featured in the souvenir program and guide:

The three day Destination: Opera! celebration included a presentation of “A Century of Opera at the Jersey Shore,” which was held at the Bishop Janes Tabernacle; a walking tour of Ocean Grove’s renowned historic streets; and the Grand Opera by the Shore concert, which took place at the famous 6,500 seat Great Auditorium built in 1894. The concert showcased several international operatic luminaries with the New Jersey State Opera Orchestra and Chorus, all led by Maestro Jason Tramm.

Under the direction of Alfredo Silipigni, the Opera Theater of Westfield was established in 1964 and renamed the New Jersey State Opera ten years later. The NJSOpera had several decades of success followed by many years of debt. Silipigni died in 2006 and the company entered a temporary period of reorganization. Mentored by Silipigni, Jason Tramm was named his successor as Music Director earlier this year. The Grand Opera by the Shore concert was the first performance by the New Jersey State Opera since Silipigni’s death two years ago.

Hats off to the NJSOpera’s effective reformation. We wish them many years of success under the direction and musical genius of Maestro Tramm.

We’ve recently made a very special donation of 12,000 personalized greeting cards to Gilda’s Club Northern New Jersey. For those of you who may not know, Gilda’s Club is named in honor of comedienne, Gilda Radner, who died in 1989 after battling ovarian cancer for several years. Radner was an advocate of community support for those living with cancer, and so the Gilda’s Club was established as a place where people who’ve been touched by this cruel disease can share and learn how to help themselves by helping others.

Our donation consists of 23 different greeting card designs appropriate for numerous types of occasions: sympathy, thinking of you, all occasion, thank you, birthday, season’s greetings, get well, and anniversary. Below are some of the designs we’ve donated:

Gilda’s Club Northern New Jersey will have the 23 different designs on display in their clubhouse in Hackensack. Anyone who makes a donation will be given the option to send a card to a family member or friend whose life has been affected by cancer.

If you’re interested in making a donation or finding out how to get involved with Gilda’s Club Northern New Jersey and the organization’s numerous cancer support programs, please visit: http://www.gildasclubnnj.org.

The business notecards I found on this site, have caused me this poem to write.
The design called, “Floral Expressions” has on me made quite an impression.

When you think of someone who’s sad, or working through troubles they’ve had,
Do you worry about what to say, to help in your own little way?

The beautiful Tulip bouquet, somehow helped me to know what to say.
A notecard has let me express what might verbally come out a mess.

A word or two from the heart can possibly make healing start.
Keep a notecard in mind, when you’re in such a bind.

Perhaps you’ll agree with what happened to me.

Everyone likes to feel welcome, don’t you think? Welcoming people is very important for the psyche, the ego, and the sense of belonging.  The stresses of getting a drastic haircut, moving to a new state or starting a new job can be alleviated (to some degree) by a smiling, welcoming face. I started at my current job almost two years ago and I still remember walking in for the first time. I was directed to my desk where there was a big poster signed by my team that shouted in bold typeface, “Welcome Janine!”  There were also business welcome cards on my keyboard that were signed by the President and the Chairman of the company. These small gestures were able to bring me back to earth a little bit; to make me feel like I was a part of something and not a foreign intruder.

This warm, fuzzy feeling I got stuck with me.  I have lived in the same neighborhood for many years now, and I have seen it change a great deal.  The old neighbors I had who saw me in diapers have all moved away and many of the homes have moved from single families to two and three families with renters. I like that feeling of camaraderie, but am trying to keep up with modern times. Rather than bake a pie and bring it over to my neighbor’s door step, I decided to organize a “Welcome to the Neighborhood Wine and Cheese Party.” I invited everyone over to my back patio for some hors d’oeuvres and friendly conversation.  I placed an order for welcome cards and gave one to all of my neighbors as they walked in.

The party was a hit and the lasting effect on the neighbors was immediately obvious.  If my garbage cans are in the street, someone always retrieves them for me.  My neighbors always end their parties at a reasonable hour, someone waters my outdoor plants for me and I get personalized holiday cards from almost everyone on the street! It is crazy…I feel like I am living in an alternate universe, Pleasantville or somewhere over the rainbow.  See what a little welcome can do for people? Try it in your neighborhood…you’ll be happy you did!

Here’s a little story of business get well cards and a visit to my doctor…

If you are anything like me, you really have to be feeling pretty bad to call and make an appointment to go see a doctor.  Who wants to waste a vacation day or leave work early to go sit in the waiting room of a doctor’s office with a bunch of other people sneezing, coughing, and spreading their germs on you?  I am convinced that at this point you are actually getting sicker than you were when you walked in.

But there are three things I can always count on when I dial the phone number to make an appointment.  The first is that I know I will always be caught up on all my news and gossip, as my doctor subscribes to every magazine available.  The second is that I will go home with a great new recipe since we all watch the Food Network while sitting in the waiting area.  And the third is that I know in a couple of days my get well card will be arriving in the mail.

I had never even heard of such a thing…doctors sending get well cards?  I mean, can you imagine how many cards they must send out each year?   But when I’ve thanked my doctor in the past and expressed that I thought this was a great gesture to his patients, he always replies that this is his business, and just like any other company or organization who orders business get well cards for their employees or clients, he does the same.  I guess it’s not so bad after all to go and watch TV, read a magazine, and then get some mail a couple days later that isn’t a credit card offer or a bill!