2008 Custom Christmas Cards Strategy Session

When my sister left for her overseas military duties, her biggest fear was missing out on all the special occasions: cookouts, birthdays, Thanksgiving, and even worse – Christmas. Every Christmas season our family comes together for our yearly custom Christmas cards strategy session. Each year we come up with a new Christmas card as a family; this was a tradition my grandparents established in our family. The fact that my sister was going to be absent from that holiday tradition, but even worse, not there for the Christmas season, was very upsetting for me. I have a very close relationship with my sister and the 2008 card would not be complete without her input.

My youngest son saw how heartbroken I was. He would look at me confused and ask, “Will Aunt Sophia be there?” I didn’t have the heart to tell him that she wouldn’t be there and that he wouldn’t see his favorite aunt for a very long time.

I attempted to cancel the Christmas card meeting but my attempt was met with a slap across the back of my head; I became the family Grinch. So when the day for the gathering came and everyone was together in my back yard lined up, I decided I wouldn’t participate. Sure I was creating a huge argument with my wife, but it was a matter of principle. Then, as I watched everyone discussing across the lawn, I saw my son holding up a picture of my sister. He waved at me and said, “I told you.” The gesture was heartwarming and I felt embarrassed for my behavior and the 2008 card was born – a family photo card. We took a photo of the entire family, my center in the center holding my sisters picture.

Off course we needed to make this card happen, so we went to our favorite personalized holiday cards website – The Gallery Collection. I chose a very festive card design that let me place our wonderful family Christmas photo as the front cover. I knew my sister would love it because it would show her that we all missed her that day and she would now have a complete family photo to comfort her.

When she received the card, she and her troops were astounded by the quality and perfection of the card. I wouldn’t expect anything less from this site. They always come through and this time they provided me with a way to help my sister feel a part of the moment.

Be the Early Bird with Business Thanksgiving Cards

Ah… the energy of autumn! Children rushing back to school, leaf raking (and that annoyingly loud leaf blowing), crisp air, football mania, the hyper festivities of Halloween, the bustling crowds of Christmas shoppers. Amidst all this hurly-burly activity, Thanksgiving is that all-American pause that calms and restores us during this hectic season. (If you are the lone chef/host of your family, just go along with me here anyway, okay?)

Whether your year was banner or bust, Thanksgiving is our honored traditional time of acknowledging gratitude for the harvest from our labor. It’s also time to gather the seeds we’ll need for planting next year’s harvest. That’s where business Thanksgiving cards come into play. Arriving before Thanksgiving Day, they precede even the earliest of corporate Christmas cards, guaranteeing the uncluttered attention that sets you and your business apart and above the crowd.

Consider design #611CX, Fall Reflections Thanksgiving Card, which shows three very relaxed ducks (no fear of hunters here!) floating along on a glassy-smooth body of water. The colorful autumn trees overhanging the water shed their leaves around the handsome trio of birds. This peaceful reflection of nature has a masculine appeal. It is framed with simple embossing and sedate gold foil lines. “Happy Thanksgiving” in gold foil is gracefully centered below the frame.

Design #611CX - Fall Reflections Thanksgiving Card
Design #611CX - Fall Reflections
Thanksgiving Card

On the other hand, design #064CX, Autumn Tapestry Card, seems to make a bolder statement with its tasteful blend of autumn-colored, multi-variety leaves. It is richly pleasing to one’s tactile senses, with its deep embossing and considerable detailing. Coppery-colored foil states your wishes for a “Happy Thanksgiving” from an artful off-center position.

Design #064CX - Autumn Tapestry Card
Design #064CX - Autumn Tapestry Card

I have one more piece of advice for choosing your business Thanksgiving cards. While you want to be the “early bird” and while it may be all “yummy-good” for your personal Thanksgiving cards to picture a steaming turkey, I don’t think it would be a good idea for your business Thanksgiving cards to represent you as a turkey – steaming, stuffed, strutting, or hanging in a butcher shop window!

Why Custom Christmas Cards are More Personal than a Holiday Newsletter

Which would you prefer to receive…a custom Christmas card or the increasingly-popular holiday newsletter? Some say custom Christmas cards, with an imprinted holiday message and the name of the sender on the inside, are impersonal. I disagree. I think a customized imprint actually reflects the care and thought that you put into choosing your holiday card. When I have ordered such holiday cards, I always take the time to address them to each recipient and sign each individually…this is a simple way of making your holiday correspondence more personal.

Personalized holiday cards are distinctive and beautiful, often with embossed designs with shiny foil details. In the past, I have been told by friends and family that my cards are the prettiest…so pretty that they kept and stored my card with their other holiday décor instead of just discarding it like the other holiday cards they received.

I find the holiday newsletter (or the “dreaded holiday newsletter,” as I often refer to it) to be quite impersonal. What is so thoughtful about writing down all the events that have occurred in your life in the past year, printing it on some cheap paper (often with faded holiday designs), and photocopying it 50 or 60 times to send it to your nearest and dearest? If they were truly “near and dear,” they most likely already know about all the things you wrote about, especially in the age of email communication. If they do not know any of it, then perhaps they are not so near and dear after all and sending them such a newsletter will just reinforce that fact.

Environmentally Friendly Holiday Cards for Every Climate

Some people can’t relate to the winter holiday season without thinking of snow. If you’re not one of those people, you might have more difficulty finding business holiday cards that suit your taste. Add to that your desire for environmentally friendly holiday cards, and you may find even fewer from which to choose. Fortunately I’ve found quite a number of Gallery Collection holiday cards that fill these criteria, and two that I think are especially appealing.

Holiday Meadow Season’s Greetings Card, design #129CW, features an intriguingly beautiful scene. You wonder where this place is because you have a sense of wanting to step right into it. Its foreground is lush with evergreens and magenta-colored heather. In the mid-ground there appears to be an expanse of misty meadow, backed by a horizon line of evergreen trees. Beyond those, a sugarloaf of snow-dusted rocky mountaintop rises to smoky violet sky. This scenery is set within tastefully shaded embossed framing, below which are the gold foil words “Season’s Greetings.” As if all that were not enough to entrance the viewer, to the sides of the frame, and superseding into the picture, are embossed evergreens and heather stem silhouettes, coated in pearly white. The framing and pearly embossing really draw the viewer into this peaceful watercolor scene.

Design #129CW - Holiday Meadow Season's Greetings Card
Design #129CW - Holiday Meadow Season's Greetings Card

Whatever your climate, whether your lifestyle is urban, suburban or rural, you can appreciate the gloriously graceful design #138CX, Golden Holiday Wreath Christmas Card. This is one of those cards that must be seen in person because no mere photo can do it justice. Set on a background of creamy matte-finish sturdy card stock, all elements of the wreath and ribbon are deeply embossed and finely detailed. The body of the wreath is shaped with three different forms of greenery, adorned with pinecones and burgundy-colored berries. Two kinds of gold foil, one shiny and one buffed, bring true three-dimensional depth to every detail. This golden wreath is crowned with a large bow of wide, flowing ribbon in a charming burgundy and gold plaid. “Season’s Greetings,” in shiny gold foil positioned lower right of the wreath, is a lovely finishing touch.

Design #138CX - Golden Holiday Wreath Christmas Card
Design #138CX - Golden Holiday Wreath
Christmas Card

The fact that both of these exquisite all-climate cards are produced using environmentally friendly methods is just the cherry on the icing on the cake!

Business Get Well Cards Speed Recovery

Business get well cards carry a great deal more weight than their size might imply. As a valued measure of one’s likability, dependability, and loyalty, business get well cards can help speed recovery. When someone is injured or ailing, the best “medicine” may be in knowing that your presence and talents are missed and needed.

Even if, perhaps especially if, an illness is chronic or terminal, the thoughtfulness of warm and caring wishes can soothe and soften a difficult endurance. If it’s not appropriate to say “get well soon” or “wishing you a speedy recovery,” you can still say “Thinking of you…”

Nor does it have to be an accident or a germ that gives you reason to wish someone well. Many good people wage daily battles against addiction, whether of alcohol, narcotics, cigarettes, foods or even nail-biting. Your private acknowledgment and encouragement of accomplishments can help a valued employee strengthen his or her resolve.

When economical fortitude is tested, business get well cards can foster perseverance. They can let others know, “We’re in this together and together we will heal and succeed!” A timely business get well card may help to keep your favorite vendor from giving in and giving up. It may help your valued client to act from optimism instead of from pessimism. And, in the great wheel of what-goes-around-comes-around, this thoughtful statement will demonstrate your own strength, optimism, and fortitude – a winning combination!

Personalized Holiday Cards with Polar Bears and Penguins

I love nature photos. Design #123CS, Polar Bear Greetings Christmas Card, features a great photo for a Season’s Greetings card. It has the appearance of two polar bear cubs almost kissing. What a nice scene for the holidays! However, as I look at the picture, it reminds me of my two brown labs. One is a little more mischievous than the other. I have often seen him using nips to get her to play. They mimic the same posture as these two cubs right before they end up flat on the floor in a real tousle. I wonder how long the two polar bear cubs remained standing after this photo was taken.

Design #123CS - Polar Bear Greetings<br />Christmas Card
Design #123CS - Polar Bear Greetings
Christmas Card

All that aside, this design is perfect for your personalized holiday cards. It can be used by anyone, whether sending cards for personal or business purposes. Due to their shrinking habitat, polar bears have been featured in environmental awareness advertisements over the past years. Whether you are environmentally conscious or not, Polar Bear Greetings is just the right card to send to clients, customers, friends, and family.

In looking at design #170CS, Penguins on Parade Christmas Card, another design featuring a nature photo, I can’t help but wonder where these delightful penguins are going with such determination. This card would make a perfect personalized holiday card from a team to display their team spirit. It certainly looks like they are on a mission, and somehow they look like they are enjoying their little march through the snow.

Design #170CS - Penguins on Parade<br />Christmas Card
Design #170CS - Penguins on Parade
Christmas Card

Penguins are amazing birds and a great choice to feature on your Season’s Greetings cards. The penguins pictured on in this design are Adelie penguins, the smallest of the Antarctic penguins. They are the most common of their entire genus. Penguins get used to humans and don’t consider us a threat, so they can be photographed easily.

They build their nest of stones on rocky beaches…and they will fight over the best rocks! Early to arrive, penguins have to guard their nests from latecomers. When latecomers arrive and all the good rocks are in use, they will pilfer from the nests of others. Whatever it takes to get their job done!

Mostly we think of birds flying through the air but the only time penguins are airborne is when they leap out of the water. They spend most of their time when not mating or raising young in the water, and just like other birds, they cannot breathe underwater. They jump out of the water to take a breath before diving down to feed on fish. They are also airborne for a short time when they leap out of the ocean onto land.

When you want to express the greetings of the season with your clients and customers this year, keep our polar bears and penguins in mind.

A Business Christmas Cards Reminiscence

As the corporate greeting cards Creative Director for The Gallery Collection, I ‘m privileged to have been involved with our business Christmas cards designs for the last 20 years and I have watched, in amazement, our growth in technology, creativity, and talent.

When our Creative Team gets together to review ideas and designs, they will groan when I start reminiscing about “back in the day” when my only design tools were a pair of scissors and some rubber cement and there was only one computer on the entire floor, reserved for management only…no artist-types allowed! Groaning aside, those old-fashioned ideals that I was fortunate enough to have been taught then – of making quality and imaginative corporate Christmas cards, with quality materials supported by top-notch customer service – were lessons well-learned and principles that have remained strong in this fast-paced, electronic world we live in now.

Today, the Creative Team works away on state-of-the-art Macs with the most up-to-date programs, utilizing all the newest technologies available. Although, in maintaining traditions, we still pull out the scissors and some glitter pens from time to time and still manage to go home with glue in our hair!

Business Thanksgiving Cards with Glittering Maple Leaves

The Gallery Collection has introduced a new business Thanksgiving cards design that’s sure to impress friends, relatives, and business clients you wish to extend Thanksgiving wishes to this season. Design #132CW, Glittering Maple Leaves Thanksgiving Card, shows off the Thanksgiving fall colors in true autumn splendor. The design has a thick framed border in smooth chocolate brown that looks as though chocolate syrup was poured around the outer border of the card design…and let’s be honest, who doesn’t love chocolate of any kind

Design #132CW - Glittering Maple Leaves Thanksgiving Card
Design #132CW - Glittering Maple Leaves
Thanksgiving Card

In the center of this rich chocolate brown frame is a raised picturesque array of sun kissed orange maple leaves with hints of red, brown and green. The large orange-hued leaves that appear in the forefront sparkle with tiny beads of glitter reflecting off the sun and resembling morning dew drops brushed onto the leaves. The glitter is actually printed directly into the card design so there aren’t any flecks that come off on your hands that would undoubtedly end up on your face or in your hair. This is a unique feature of The Gallery Collection’s greeting cards.

Framed around this slightly raised picture of maple leaves is a thin sea foam colored border that goes around the picture of the leaves but not quite to the inner edge of the chocolate brown border. This gives the maple leaves added depth around the centered frame edges. The final touch that pulls this elegant design together is the words “Thanksgiving Wishes” centered below the picturesque leaves in an antique gold foil.

This elegant design places you right into the seasonal view, where you imagine yourself walking through a park or a neighborhood lined with beautiful trees on a brisk autumn day; the leaves are floating down around you. As you stroll along taking pictures, you spot a pile of leaves that have fallen to the ground and a sun beam bounces off the maple leaves. You take that perfect picture of nature’s foliage. Now that’s the way to express your Thanksgiving greetings, showcasing the true colors of the season.

Business Holiday Cards that will Keep you in the Minds of your Recipients

Design 149CW, Golden Snowscape Holiday Card, is one of my favorite business holiday cards introduced into The Gallery Collection line this year. It is a photograph of a lake with the sun, low in the sky but glowing brilliantly. The surrounding trees and foliage are reflected in the water. The golden sparkle effects enhance the warm earth tones of brown, gold and rust, while the snow covered banks and branches add the winter touches that celebrate Christmas. The deep brown border and simple “Season’s Greetings” sentiment allows you to send this holiday card to friends and family or to use as your business Christmas cards.

And FYI, this photograph was the winner of The Gallery Collection’s 1st annual Create-A-Greeting-Card $10,000 Scholarship Contest. It was submitted by Elizabeth Digre, a junior at the University of Southern Maine.

Design #149CW - Golden Snowscape Holiday Card
Design #149CW - Golden Snowscape Holiday Card

I know what you’re thinking about design 864CX, Red Berry Greetings Holiday Card – when did black become a Christmas color? Who would send black holiday cards? Red, green, and white are the typically holiday colors. Trees, candy canes, ornaments, snowmen, and snow flakes are the common reminders of the holiday season. But if you’re looking for a business holiday card to put you a step above your competition, this is the one for you!

Just take a good look at this gorgeous card! It is such a simple design yet the classic gold foil and red berries make it so elegant! This card is rich with texture. You can feel how the branches are imprinted into the black matte paper. Without seeing the card in front of you, you probably can’t see the detail on the bottom right, but the ground where the berry branches are growing is actually raised! The red berries are embossed and add such flavor to the design.

Design #864CX - Red Berry Greetings Holiday Card
Design #864CX - Red Berry Greetings Holiday Card

Don’t forget, you choose the greeting that appears inside your holiday cards. It will be printed in gold foil. Centered below the greeting, we offer two lines of personalization at no extra charge. How chic and sophisticated your company name will look!

This beautiful card will leave a lasting impression with your friends and clients. They will remember how thoughtful you were for taking the time to select a design with such timeless class and elegance. Sending this card has a two-fold purpose: one, to send well wishing holiday greetings and two, to keep your name in their minds!