Give a card… Get a card…

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Jackie

I’m one of those odd people who looks forward to seeing what came in the mail each day because you never know what you’re going to get when you open that mailbox. We rarely get bills in the mail because my husband has all of that set up electronically so that only leaves the fun stuff to show up… like my monthly Birchbox, random things I’ve ordered online, and once in a while a fun letter or card. The latter is always unexpected and more welcome than anything else.

There is something special about getting a little note in the mail from someone. It puts a smile on my face and brightens my day and I hope that when I send one that it does the same for them. Physical mail is so much more than what an email could ever hope to be… when you take the time to find someone a special card or just write them a little note it shows that you were really thinking of them.

I joined up with some lovely ladies for the Karing Card Club where each month there is a theme and you’re paired up with another blogger and you send cards to one another based on that theme. In April, the theme was happiness. I had the perfect card lined up for happiness too thanks to the Hallmark Get Carded challenge.

With the Hallmark Get Carded challenge I sent a card a day to 7 lucky people in hopes that I would brighten their day and put a smile on their face. And you know what… it worked! The feedback that I got from my friends was great! They never expected the card that they got and the note that I wrote made them laugh, giggle, and smile at the end of a busy day.

I’ll let you in on a little secret… I have cards put away in a box from my childhood. They’re birthday cards, Halloween cards, Thanksgiving cards, and cards for all sorts of reasons from my family. Each and every one of them holds a special place in my heart.

You can take part in both the Hallmark Get Carded Challenge AND the Karing Card Club! May’s theme is Friendship. To participate in the card exchange, click here and fill out the form by May 17th and encourage your friends to join in the fun and spread the word using the #karecard when using Twitter.

You can use the discount code BLOG30 to buy cards for 30 % off on Hallmark.com throughout the year to help spread some smiles!

I was provided a great assortment of cards & stamps by Hallmark to take part in the Get Carded Challenge but all thoughts, opinions, and crazy mail checking is all mine.

The best holiday cards ever… at Minted

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Jackie

Okay… Okay… I’ll admit it. I have not ordered my holiday cards yet which means that I won’t be sending them out until next week at the earliest.

There are a couple reasons why… you can be the judge of whether they’re good reasons or not.

First of all, I haven’t reviewed our family pictures yet (that will happen this week) so I don’t know what picture I’ll be using and I have gone through an entire year worth of pictures. There was not a single decent picture at all. Not one… and you’d think I’d have one or two but in every single picture one of the kids is making an odd face or something. Second, I haven’t found a card that I have been able to fully customize to my liking. You see we’re a blended family and it just doesn’t seem right creating a card with just one last name. Most websites have you input a last name as part of the cards customization and if you leave it blank what shows up is the letter “S”… not exactly what I wanted. Oh… and lastly… I rarely ever do anything on time. I am the worlds best procrastinator.

Just recently I found out about Minted. I have no idea how I’d never heard of them before! Seriously, they have the most incredible selection of holiday cards and the options that they have to customize your card is pretty much endless.

Check out this one that I customized without any names whatsoever! I’m sure that I could have tried to add all of our names individually but I did something more generic with the text and then I changed it from the traditional rectangle shape to something a bit more fun. This is one of my can’t find a good family picture options!

If we have a totally awesome family picture this year I picked a few other options for our holiday cards.

Both of these are customizable… I can change the text & color of it at the bottom of both cards as well as the shape. So, tell me which one is your favorite?

I really can’t decide which one I like the best and don’t even get me started on the rest of the card! Why do you ask? Well, you can customize the back of the card with text and more pictures or even something more cool like an infographic! And then there are the envelopes which can also be customized after you finally decide which one you want.

I’m worried now that I have the most amazing site to create my holiday cards that it’ll take me so long to really decide what I want that it will be to late to send them!

Have you heard of Minted? Have you sent out your holiday cards yet?

I was compensated for this post with some gift code to get some awesome holiday cards to send out. As always though the thoughts and opinions are all mine.

Treat Greeting cards by Shutterfly

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Jackie

I love getting mail and it’s even more fun when I get something that isn’t a bill… you know like a card or a letter. Something special from someone who took a few minutes to think of me and find that perfect card. Likewise, I like browsing through all the cards and finding one that I think really fits the occasion and the person that I’m buying it for.

Once in a while though I get behind or forget. Well, I may have found a solution for that! Shutterfly has a new service called Treat.

Treat is Shutterfly’s exciting new greeting card brand that makes it easy for people to create and send one-of-a-kind greeting cards. The cards are perfect for holidays, birthdays, congrats, thank yous and every occasion in between and what’s even better is that you create the personalized card and then they will send it for you! It’s not an ecard service… they’re real cards!

I have a great deal for you too! I have an offer for one free Treat card good only today and tomorrow (Monday 11/19 & Tuesday 11/20)! All you need to to do is use this special code, TREATBLOGR, and you’re all set.

I was compensated for this post but I really do love greeting cards… all thoughts & opinions are my own.

One for every occasion

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Jackie

Every year without fail I would get a birthday card from all my grandparents, my parents, and my friends and every year I would put those cards in a special place and kept them safe.

Every year I would get a card for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter. You name it and a card was sent from either one of my grandparents or parents. Each card was carefully selected just for me and then sent out with love. And each of those cards joined those that came before it and put in the special place where all my cards were stored.

To this day I have cards that stretch back more than 20 years and each one of them holds a special place in my heart. Once in a while I pull them out and look through them… remembering my grandma through her perfect signature on each card or the special holidays that I missed spending with my dad because my parents were divorced. Each card reminds me of how much each of them loved me and it warms my heart.

Image via Wikipedia

I love getting something in the mail other than a the normal junk mail and of course the bills (who doesn’t?). I like that someone took the time to think of me and that they went out of their way to get a card that spoke to them.

I also love sending cards and little notes to my friends and family and hope that they get enjoyment out of them as well. I hope that it brightens their day a little bit when they open the mail box and see that envelope addressed to them, by hand. I hope that they know how special they are to me.

I know that there is a card for every occasion. Birthday, holidays, weddings, and everything in between. Without a doubt I can always find that special card I’m looking for no matter what it’s for.

A while ago Hallmark gave me along with other writers from Just Be Enough, some cards for their Get Carded Challenge. The Get Carded Challenge was part of Hallmark’s Life is a Special Occasion campaign, which encourages all of us to push the “pause” button on the blur of daily life and think about the beauty of unplanned, perfectly imperfect moments we share with those who mean the most to us.

Going through all the cards that I was sent made me smile as I read each one and planned out who I would send each of them to. I knew that my friends and family would love them… and I was right. The calls, tweets, and messages I was sent all confirmed what I already knew. I brought a smile to their faces and made their days a little more enjoyable! Mission complete.

Do you still send cards out for birthday, holidays, or any day?

**Hallmark provided cards to use with the Get Carded challenge. No compensation was received for this post. All opinions are my own.