Christmas Cards for forgotten friends.

Most of us buy cards at Christmas, barring your religion or Scrooge mentality, it's a nice thing to do.

I do it to remind folk that I don't have much contact with throughout the year, that although we may not see or speak to each other, I still like them, miss them, think about them.
I sometimes think that it's those people that I get on with the easiest!
I call these people, my forgotten friends. They aren't really forgotten, just not at the forefront of my mind every day. That's probably because they cause me the least hassle & worry, unlike family & close friends that may burden me with their troubles continuously throughout the year.
Don't get me wrong, I really don't mind this, and I will do all I can to help them, as they would for me ...  I hope!
No, it's just that my "forgotten" friends become far more interesting at holiday times, purely because we haven't had day to day or week to week contact and everything they tell me in a Christmas card or Easter card, is new and refreshing.
Likewise, I am able to unburden myself to them in the knowledge that they will read, sympathise & then forget it all until the next holiday greeting card from me.
Long live my forgotten friends!
No snow yet!
Oh, and a very Happy Christmas to you all.

Halloween Cards are popular.

Halloween will soon be here again and it seems to get more & more popular around the world.
Halloween parties, Halloween BB Q's and Halloween trick & treat nights are now something for all the family to enjoy.
Ghosts, ghouls, witches and goblins are all part of the fun and not really a sinister thing at all these days.
Greetings cards for Halloween are becoming increasingly more popular and a great way to suggest a Halloween get together, a Trick or Treat procession or just to say Happy Halloween to friends, family & neighbors.
There's always a bit of a lull after the summer, and thanksgiving is traditionally a family time, so why not send out those Happy Halloween Cards early and have a get together with those you love best.

Patriot Day USA

The time is fast approaching for us to remember all those who have given their lives for their country.
Whether we are remembering 9/11, the first or second world wars or indeed any conflict or act of terrorism, we should also think about the family and friends that remain to grieve.
Life can never be the same again, but it's better to remember our lost loved ones with pride than grief for our loss.
Patriot Day means that every citizen who gave their life for the United States Of America, will be remembered with such pride, even if no family members remain.
God Bless America. 

Rookies in the services, USA & UK

Do you have a young family member joining the services?
I can understand your worries and your pride at the moment.
It's a big bad world out there, that's for sure, but the armed services do everything in their power to look after their own, and it's probably the next best thing to a family that a rookie can have.
Army rookies in particular are having a hard time just now, but I see the look on these lads faces, even when they are returning for a tour of duty in Afghanistan or Iraq for the umpteenth time. It would take a mean parent to deprive them of the comradeship, pride and unity that they feel for their fellow soldiers.
Some have a short life, it's true, but what a life they lived, on high energy, with their mates and to the fullest that anyone could.
So, I feel for all those parents with sons and daughters on the front line, but be proud, be very proud, for you children are what the world needs now... and in the future.

Verses or no verses?

Well, I am in a quandary today.

I have noticed in my card store, that some cards are getting loads of clicks, but they don't result in a sale.

That seems to indicate that buyers quite like the front of the card, but not the inside sentiment.

I have tried putting verses in, not putting verses in, just putting a couple of lines of good wishes etc.

Has the flowery greetings card verse gone out of fashion?

Should I just put a couple of words inside the cards?

I guess I'll have to do some research & see what everyone else is selling & why.

If you do take a look at my card store, see what you think & leave me a comment. (Not too rude eh!)

Have a good week.

Selling Greeting Cards

Hello and welcome  to my blog update.
The French countryside has received some welcome rain this week, and this has also allowed me to stay indoors and make more greetings cards.
I now have over 300 in my store and I am adding to them daily.
They have started to sell all over the world, and with luck, the word will go round about them & they will become even more popular.
We all have differing tastes in greetings cards, whether they be birthday cards, anniversary cards, thank you cards or cards for unusual occasions.
With this in mind, I try to make a wide variety of styles and verses, and once I have a thousand cards in my store, hopefully, I will have covered a large part of them.
I can also change the card occasion to suit the customer, so in essence, I probably have ten times the amount of cards available than are actually showing in the store front!
I began with my photographs, but have now also added digital art and
hand painted cards.
I would love to know what people think of them, so feel free to leave me a comment about them on this blog.
Have a good day.
Inkflo

New to making Greetings Cards & don't know where to start?

Many of us have a creative side, whether it's for writing, painting, drawing or working with our hands. Trying to decide which particular artistic or design route to follow, with what limited time most of us have these days, is more difficult.
I have chosen to design my own greetings cards. It is becoming a very popular hobby and it encompasses writing, composition, colour co-ordination, photographic skills as well as being an aid to keeping the brain ticking over.
At my age, I have to tell you, this is an added bonus!

Knowing where to start can be complicated, but I first searched the internet to see if any greetings card companies were looking for contributors.
Most of them these days seem to employ their own artistic staff, but there are still one or two that will accept unsolicited contributions. You may have to search around their home page, but usually in small print somewhere, it may say submissions or artists contact us.
Clicking on that link will usually take you to details of what they expect and their payment rates. If you decide to go down this route, I would strongly advise you to try & find some of their published cards in the shops and check out what type of greetings they publish.
It would be a total waste of your time and theirs if you submitted a risque, adult card to say a company that specialized in religious verses!

I have decided to try a POD or Print On Demand company called Greeting Card Universe.
It's a relatively easy way of designing and selling my own greeting cards and being able to have a totally free online card store that reaches a global buyers market. There is also a large amount of help and information for the beginner together with an Artists Forum if you need to ask anything.
I like taking photographs, so I take my little digital camera everywhere in the hope that something unusual or humerous will catch my eye.
I can then download the images using Picasa or something similar, or even directly to my picture files.
That's the easy part, but how do I resize them or add text?
There are many photo and graphics editors to purchase, such as Adobe Photoshop, but if like me, these are a bit complicated, then I would recommend you go for some free software. I use Fly Free photo editing, because it does what I want, simply, and without taking up masses of memory on my pc.
GCU ask that images are in jpg form, sized 5" x 7" and using RGB colours. Fly Free has all the facilities to accomodate these and as long as the image is of a good standard, I don't mess around with it apart from putting some text on the front of the image. This is then downloaded at "manage cards" on my GCU store administration page and it will give me the image quality. I don't use anything that is not on the high side of "good" or "best".
I always insert a small verse or sentiment as this helps to sell the card, choose the category and then it's a case of waiting for the submission to be accepted.
This can take a few days, and sometimes it will come back with a note from the reviewer, but it's usually because I've chosen the wrong category!
Then it's a case of waiting for the card to (hopefully) sell and GCU to make the payment.
It's not a get rich quick scheme, I don't expect to be buying a villa on the south coast anytime soon, but perhaps over the course of a year, I may earn enough to help with fuelling the car. If not, I'll be seeing the bank manager to ask for a second mortgage!
I am getting better with practice and although this is a very simplified overview of what I'm doing, I hope it will give others the encouragement to have a go at what I find to be a very interesting, fulfilling and absorbing hobby.
I'll keep you updated as I go along.