Gallery Collection Blog

Choosing Our Yearly Birthday Cards

Choosing yearly birthday cards shouldn’t be so hard, right? You pick a card and customize it! Done! Not so fast. I get my catalog from The Gallery Collection and that is when the problem begins. It is not because the designs don’t look good. It is because they look so good! Every design is beautiful. They are enhanced with foil and many are embossed. If you don’t see a design in the catalog, there are many more available on The Gallery Collection website.

Because I can never make up my mind, I request samples. I then show them to my colleagues. Having the actual card in hand, allows us to make a choice, knowing that the recipients will be just as impressed as we are. Here are just a few of our choices:

Design 305326 Glittery Confection Card – The cupcake on this design looks good enough to eat. It is highlighted with shades of blue and foil confetti. This is sure to be a hit.

Design 305328 Sweet Sentiments Birthday – Colorful frosted cupcakes each have their own birthday sentiment. Enhanced with gold foil, this card is a standout.

Design 305414 Contemporary Gifts Birthday Card – Sophisticated birthday presents adorn this photo. It is mounted on the card and is framed in gold refractive foil.

Design 305334 Forest Friends Birthday Card – When you want to send a “From the Gang” design, this card is sure to delight. Whimsical animals are ready to party. The gold embossed lettering and colorful critters invoke thoughts of celebration.

Resources to Help Your Business

When you own your own business, it is important to use all the resources available to you to help increase and maintain your clientele.

Presentation Folders are a great way to do that. You can imprint your logo on the front and add other information in up to 3 other locations. Customizable Folders are helpful when putting together proposals or just giving out basic information about your company. People will remember the thoughtfulness and organization a folder provides. You can also get up to two business card slots on the inside of your presentation folder.

Speaking of business cards, these are another great tool to get your name out there and to have your name remembered. When talking to someone, it is always great if they have a take away even if it is just a business card. I have so much trouble remembering names so I find it extremely helpful when I walk away from a conversation with a business card.

Another great resource to help your business is greeting cards. Sending your employees and customers greeting cards to celebrate milestones such as birthdays and anniversary will make you stand out above the rest. I also think the idea of sending calendar cards at the end of every year is a great way to keep your name posted at your clients’ desk.

Be sure to use all the resources available to you to help your business prosper.

Tips For Appropriately Closing a Business Greeting Card

When it comes to greeting cards, the most challenging part has already been done for you. The greeting and illustration is complete, now all you need to do is sign the greeting card. This is where it gets tricky because this sends a message to the receiver of how you feel personally.

Its always challenging trying to figure out how to close a greeting card. You think of all the possible salutations you can choose and still you can’t decide which is best. Is it too casual or too personal or if it just doesn’t fit what the body of the letter gives off.

Since it’s a business greeting card, this is where it gets confusing. Your sending this to people you rarely see or interact with on daily basis. So what can you say? Keep it professional at all times but not too stiff like “Sincerely” might too formal.

I think “best wishes” is perfect and “all the best” works good also. Both are equally acceptable. If it’s a client you plan on speaking to soon, you could always go with “speak with you soon.” You could also use “looking forward” as an ending. Another way, is to end it with the type of card it is like “Merry Christmas!” or “Happy Thanksgiving.” There are really so many options.

14th Annual Create a Greeting Card Scholarship Contest – Round 9 Finalists Announced!

Congratulations to our Round 9 Finalists!

Should I Send a Get Well or Thinking of You Card?

I think the rule of thumb when deciding to send a Get Well Card or Thinking of You Card is the level of illness of the recipient. So, if the patient is sure to recover I would send a Get Well Card followed up with a Thinking of You card later. If the patient is terminal, sending a Get Well Card is thoughtless and cruel so I would send a Thinking of You Card.

Let’s say you don’t know the degree of the patient’s condition but you want to send a card to let them know you care and you want to boost their spirits. Sending a Thinking of You Card or a Get Well Cards with subtle message like “Wishing you the Best” are options. Also, if the card has a preprinted greeting-read it!-if the sentiment offers prayers during a difficult time and the patient has a broken finger, may be overkill.

It is difficult to know the right words to write in a Get Well or Thinking of You card, here are some suggestions:

I am so sorry to hear you’ve been ill.
I’m wishing you the very best during your recovery
I hope you’re doing well and are on the road to recovery.
And my favorite, You are in my thoughts/prayers.

What not to do is also important as:

Don’t compare illnesses – not a great idea
Do not tell stories you heard about the hospital, doctor or your Aunt Jane who had sort of the same thing…

Showing someone compassion is a virtue which should be admired.

14th Annual Create a Greeting Card Scholarship Contest – Round 8 Finalists Announced!

Congratulations to our Round 8 Finalists!

Millennials and Greeting Cards on the Rise

Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media typically use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years.

Millennials are choosing to buy more paper greeting cards over social media and texts. They have learned to appreciate a more personal connection and creative side. Greeting cards today offer digital wizardry if you can’t draw a stick figure and give you the opportunity to choose from pre-made templates and add digital photos.

It’s an old fashioned callback to a more intimate experience. Standing in the drugstore and choosing that particular wording that expresses how you feel. Pops of color and even pop-ups jump from the card to give you a big hug. It’s a keepsake, but it’s also an expression of whatever sentiment you’re trying to convey.

Let’s Talk Business Cards…

Is it important to have a Business Card? Surely, it can help identify us and our business to the party we are meeting or individual. This identifier can give the parties we are meeting an idea of our role in the business at stake. I find myself fascinated by all the details represented on a business card. It is uncanny to see the beauty behind such graphic art, text and color.

I particularly love the industry specific cards, these have the most impact. Business cards really make it hard to forget the contact. The business card should tell the recipient something about you and your business. Very common for dentists, lawyers, realtors and photographers to have industry specific cards. Not only is the face of the card important but the feel of it as well.

More and more you see expensive stocks and finishes being used on business cards. They identify the industry and give you the card holder an identity. The ability to give the business card a personal touch shows us where technology meets new trends. A great marriage between art, paper and personalization in a 3.5 x 2 business card. It is not a lot of real-estate. I am excited to see how technology will continue to affect the quality and function of the business card.

Working Remotely – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

When the subject of working from the comforts of my home was suggested to me, I couldn’t be more excited. I thought about rolling out of bed, pulling out my laptop and moving to my enclosed deck still in my pajamas with a cup of coffee in my hand. I even thought I was going to be able to keep my favorite talk shows on in the background. After about a week, I realized I was not productive and working remotely was not all that I expected.

Being as I am not one to fail, I changed my attitude. I realized that the first step was to put on real clothes…maybe not the suit, but jeans and decent shirt. This helped me get my mind in the business state of mind. I also set up a work area designated just for use during work hours. Besides that bottle of water that I always have at my desk, all eating and drinking is done during my break and lunch times in a different room. Work was back on track but then came the loneliness.

I feel that it is normally much more efficient to communicate with email, but since working remotely, I have adjusted my thinking. In most recent weeks, I have picked up the phone to have that human contact and it has made a huge difference on my mental state. I have also organized a lunch meeting monthly or bimonthly depending on the situation.

There are plusses and minuses to working from home. It is all what you make of it!