Month: September 2011

Give Your Holiday Cards A Chance!

I’m not a sentimental person. In fact, my co-workers would be more likely to describe me as a cynic by nature; always playing “devil’s advocate”. Holiday cards meant little to me, especially the ones from my employer. I always thought they were just an attempt to get everyone to work harder.

I changed my mind last Christmas.

It was a snowy morning, and it had been snowing much of the night. I was just getting around to opening the mail from the previous day, and had one envelope in my hand as I looked out my back window at the falling snow. The landscape was bleak. An ominous sky, deep snow, icy bare trees. A scrawny evergreen provided the only sign of life. I opened the envelope in my hand and it was this year’s corporate Christmas card. Without thinking I took minute to look at it. On glossy white paper was a photo of a brilliant red Cardinal on an evergreen branch. It was in an embossed “window-like” frame, with sparkling snow falling and a simple “Season’s Greetings”. A classic and timeless scene: the beauty of nature braving the harshness of winter.

Then, I had to smile. When I looked out the window again, there was a hardy Northern Cardinal in the evergreen, brightening up the yard…and my day. The card in my hand had come to life! I’ve been singing a different tune ever since. Maybe I am just a little bit sentimental after all…  Live and learn!

Thanksgiving Cards Are Great For Use In The Catering Business

For those in the catering business who normally send business holiday cards to former and/or potential future clients, I propose that this year you instead send Thanksgiving cards, for many reasons. What better holiday to associate your food-related business than to the holiday which some think of as a celebration of all-day eating! Sending a  Thanksgiving card will also allow you to get a jump on those who are sending business Christmas cards.

It also can’t hurt to remind customers of your high-quality food and service right before the holiday season madness begins. Sending a Thanksgiving greeting card might encourage customers to contact you for both their personal and business holiday catering needs in December and beyond. Businesses that are late in booking their holiday parties and find themselves shut out of banquet halls and restaurants can turn to you to cater their Christmas parties at alternative venues. Individual recipients of Thanksgiving  cards will consider you to help out with their culinary needs for their family celebrations. If you send it out at the right time, you might even get some last-minute Thanksgiving catering work from stressed-out hosts!

City Scenes Christmas Cards Featuring Photos of Your Favorite Cities Have Arrived!

Ok, I’m a creature of habit. I pick the same type of holiday card every year. I tend to gravitate towards winter, landscape scenes. I look and compare and look some more, until I find the perfect card that calls out to me! I like to look at the card and imagine myself transported into a peaceful village, with smoke swirling out of the chimneys. I always feel at peace as I look at these wonderful holiday scenes. I was very content picking my cards. Until, that is, our new City Scenes Christmas Cards arrived.

These beautiful Christmas cards depict scenes of great cities. As I look at them, I can imagine myself transported into some places that I have not had the privilege to see, as well as a couple that I have.

Design 76ACW - New York City, Tribute in Light Christmas Card
Design 76ACW - New York City, Tribute in Light
Christmas Card

My personal favorite card is Design 76ACW – New York City, Tribute in Light Christmas Card. No matter where you are or what cities you have been to, we can all relate to these powerful, symbolic lights that commemorate the World Trade Center! As I look at the scene, I feel some sadness, but more than that, I feel such a sense of pride. I’ve always known that I live in a great country, but this event showed that we are also a great people and capable of great things when we all work together!

Some other scenes show the Boston Harbor, Seattle’s Space Needle, Philadelphia’s Independence Hall and the White House, in Washington, D.C., just to name a few. Take a look through our selection and I’m sure that you will find one that jumps out at you. Like me, you might just have a hard time deciding!

Saving Paper Twice: Using Environmentally Friendly Holiday Cards

Every year around the holidays, we all send out dozens (sometimes even hundreds!) of greeting cards. Usually, we save some, display some on the mantle or the fridge, but most of them end up in a pile to be recycled. I began buying environmentally friendly holiday cards in order to make my efforts to be festive a little more green, but I still ended up recycling so many holiday cards that I received. It seemed so wasteful that I had almost given up on sending holiday cards and decided to send e-cards instead. Then I went to a friend’s house during the holiday season, and she had streamers made of cards strung up throughout her house. At the top of every doorway and even hanging from one window sill, she had ribbons strung which were holding old greeting cards. I was amazed at her ingenuity in re-using old Christmas cards as decorations. Her idea only works for horizontal cards, however, so I began to give some thought to new ideas of re-using greeting cards to decorate. This is the list of ideas I’ve come up with over the past two holiday seasons:

•    Holiday Postcards:  If I receive a holiday card which only has writing on the one panel inside, I cut the front off of the card and use it as a postcard. I draw the lines and boxes on the blank side and leave the design from the front of the card as the front of the postcard. Then I can mail someone a Christmas postcard! It costs less in postage, too. If the card design is a photograph with no writing on it, many times it is suitable for all occasions, not just holidays.

•    Holiday Streamers: My spin off of my friend’s idea was to create streamers from all kinds of cards: vertical, horizontal, even photo cards. I simply punch a hole in the top and bottom of each card and string a ribbon through the holes. The ribbon covers the back of the card so that the front design can be seen when the streamers are hung. In order to avoid the streamers being too heavy, I usually cut the card in half if it is a folded card and use only the designed half. These streamers look beautiful all over the house, and they can be used year after year. The greatest part is that you’ll never run out of materials!

•    Paper Ornaments: For those of you who want to be even more creative, you can cut ornaments out of old greeting cards. Simply make a stencil of a holiday-related object, such as a candy cane, a stocking, a Christmas tree, a dreidel, a snowflake, or any object that relates best to your holiday traditions. Using the stencil, you can cut out many matching and non-matching objects out of received greeting cards. We decorated our tree with these paper ornaments last year and they looked beautiful! This is a great, easy craft to do with children, and then you can let them color on the blank side if they wish. You can even use a little glitter glue on the edges to make it extra special.

Being eco-friendly can be so much fun, and it can be a money-saving adventure in these trying times. Kids love craft projects, especially around the holidays, and even more so when they know you’ll be displaying their beautiful artwork around the house. These ideas are just a starting point. If you think of more great craft ideas to re-use recycled greeting cards, please comment below and let me know. Happy Recycling!

Corporate Christmas Cards: Employee Edition

Corporate Christmas cards help spread holiday cheer to clients and patrons alike. And they can be good for business too, seeing as they are a great way to advertise. But during the holiday season, it’s a good idea to share some of that Christmas cheer with the people who help make your business possible—your dedicated employees!

I’ve been working retail the past three years, and, most of the time; it feels like a thankless job. Let’s be honest, there isn’t much glamour in cleaning out messy fitting rooms. And sometimes, customers can be rather…interesting, to put it nicely. It’s hard not to feel like just another cog in this well-oiled machine, being that I have sales goals to hit, and levels of service to reach. Every day. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. The under-appreciated life of a sales clerk.

But there is hope! I work for a company that sends out company holiday cards. My bosses take the time to show us that they do value the work we do, and sometimes, all it takes is a small token of appreciation to help you make it through the day. And they don’t just stop at holiday cards. I’ve also received cards for my birthday, and one card every year for my job anniversary. It’s nice to know I work for a company that cares about me.

Calendar Cards Say Thank You and Happy Holidays

The holiday season is a great time to thank all of your clients, employees, and peers for supporting your business throughout the year. The problem is how to say thank you. For years, our firm has sent out corporate holiday cards but, a few years ago, we began to look at other tokens of appreciation as well. We looked into ordering flowers, calendars, gift cards, and many other small gift items. Thankfully, we stumbled upon calendar cards, and they have proved to be exactly what we were seeking.

For the past two years we have sent out calendar cards as our holiday cards, and they are quite a hit. We have the cards imprinted with a holiday message and a Thank You from our business. I have had more clients remark on these beautiful cards than ever before. Not only do they look great, but they’re functional, too! I am so glad we switched to calendar cards. I hang one by my desk so that I have a calendar there, but also a reminder to be grateful for all the people in my life who help make my business work.

September 11th – Ten Years On

This year marks a few anniversaries for me. Ten years ago, I moved into my first apartment. Ten years ago, I started working at Prudent Publishing. And, somehow, ten years ago four jets attacked us on our own turf – two of them crashing into buildings not ten miles from the one I sit in today.

I feel as though this past decade has gone by in no time at all. Wasn’t it yesterday that we sat down on a clear September morning to start the workday? The memory seems vivid enough. Though the Prudent Publishing offices are very close to New York City, we felt a bit removed as misinformation spread through our floor. We knew that planes had flown into the World Trade Center, and we had heard about the attack on the Pentagon. I clearly recall being told that planes were headed for all of the major cities in the U.S., and many of the landmarks that define our country. The dismay and shock in the room was palpable.

Then, an email was sent. “One of the Towers has collapsed.” I can hear coworkers on the phone, trying to get through to family in the City. I can see the plume of smoke that rose over the skyline. My new apartment’s beautiful city view would be shadowed in smoke for weeks afterwards.

We were dismissed late that morning and I can still picture the faces in the cars around me, driving to their destinations in silent shock. I can still feel the adrenaline pumping as I would awake in the middle of the night and tune to the cable news channels, wondering what would happen next.

In the ensuing years, it’s been quite an experience to watch Americans come together to volunteer in the days after 9/11, collecting supplies for workers at Ground Zero or putting together care packages for the troops who were sent overseas. There was a sense of patriotism that became more prominent after such a horrific day. As time went by and political lines were drawn, we seemed to lose some of that camaraderie, but on this tenth anniversary, I hope we can remember what we are capable of when we come together instead.

Editable Text Cards are Now Available at The Gallery Collection!

How would it feel to be able to create a holiday card that enables you to provide your company’s name, website URLs, twitter handles or anything else you can think of directly on the front of the card?  Editable Text cards allow you to do just that!

When someone displays cards in their home, workplace or business office the first thing that is noticed is the cover design.  The front of each editable text card allows one to provide any information that is considered to be important.  Website information, email addresses, a short message or any other bit of information you’d like to be seen by all can be added to the front of any editable text holiday card design.

Design 54CJW - Botanical Thank You Christmas Card
Editable Text Cards Design 54CJW
Botanical Thank You Christmas Card

Personalized Christmas cards have been around for quite a few years but the opportunity to customize the front of a card is relatively new.  You might think that the design choices for cards that can be customized on the front must certainly be limited.  Not so.  There are numerous beautiful designs in this new line of cards.  Whether your taste in Christmas cards is traditional, whimsical or anything in between you will be pleased to know that there is a card that will suit your specific needs.

The Many Reasons to Send Business Holiday Cards

In this age of political correctness where we have to decide between Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas, it may be tempting to forget about the practice altogether. I submit to you that no matter what your message there is always a good reason to send corporate Christmas cards. Our customers and clients, or just those people or organizations that are dear to our heart, remember the little ways you say thank you to them. Sending holiday cards is one way to do that with class and elegance.

While everyone is debating over how to say it, just make sure it gets said! The holidays are such a time of thanksgiving and sharing that it is always appropriate to show those who help your business run that you appreciate everything they do for you.

To everyone out there who isn’t sure what holiday greetings to send, do not let the debate over the message prevent you from spreading your cheer. The message that you appreciate your business relationships and that you were thinking of them during the holidays is one that will always be appreciated.

Design 731CS – Snow-Covered Tree Holiday Card

Design 731CS – Snow-Covered Tree Holiday Card, is a photograph of an apricot tree on a Rocky Mountain ranch in Western Colorado.  On the surface of the photograph, which has been embossed to appear three dimensional, is a light sprinkling of silver foil which brings the snow to life. There is something soothing and peaceful in winter scenes holiday cards, like a hush. Winter scenes are also perfect for someone looking for Season’s Greetings cards. This scenic design is printed on kromekote which is an FSC certified paper.

When I found that the photograph on Design 731CS – Snow-Covered Tree Holiday Card, was of an apricot tree I wondered how it survived in what seems to be a blizzard. I think of fruit trees as growing in warm climates not Western Colorado of all places.  Turns out that apricot trees can tolerate the cold weather unless they are just starting to blossom and there is a late frost.  Maybe winter scenes holiday cards should come with a fact sheet so we can admire while we learn!

 

Design 731CS - Snow-Covered Tree Holiday Card
Design 731CS - Snow-Covered Tree
Holiday Card