Purchasing bulk birthday cards makes all the sense in the world. It is an economical way to have a birthday card at the ready, whenever the occasion arrives. Buying in bulk usually results in the unit price per card being lower. As we know, a good quality card can run up to well over $4.00 each and in some cases more. Add to that the cost to go get them and the aggravation and time taken away from other important things, the savings can be quite high. Not to mention the irritation when you discover that you do not have birthday cards at your disposal when you need them.
Whether you send to your employees or your customers, it will be appreciated. Who doesn’t love to receive an acknowledgement on their special day? It’s a small token, but an extremely important one.
If you are concerned that all of the birthday cards will be the same, I would recommend that you consider purchasing at least two designs. There are so many birthday designs to choose from that it will be easy to find a design for both the ladies and the gents on your list. The hardest part will be choosing among all the beautiful designs available.
Our newest update in the Create-A-Greeting-Card ScholarshipLook Back Series is an interview with the 2011 Scholarship winner Whitney Fuertes. We love getting in touch with past winners to see how they are currently doing. In Whitney’s case, she has just finished up her first year at Grand Canyon University and is working part time on campus while volunteering at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital weekly. However, it looked like things might have been a bit different for her if it weren’t for the $10,000 scholarship prize. Check out the interview below to find out just how much the scholarship helped her.
Interview with Whitney Fuertes
2011 Scholarship Winner Whitney Fuertes
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1. How did you hear about the scholarship contest?
I first heard of this scholarship through a website called Zinch.com, when I received an email notifying me about the opportunity.
2. How many scholarships did you apply for?
I have applied to about fifteen to twenty scholarships.
3. What was the idea behind your entry?
My grandparents had called us a lot from Mexico throughout the week asking my family about what we were planning on doing for Three Kings day, and my mom had suggested the idea about drawing an image about it.
4. Did you create the entry specifically for the contest or did you submit a piece you already had?
I did create the drawing specifically for the scholarship.
5. How long did it take to create your entry?
I worked on it for about a week with each day spending two to three hours on it.
6. Does your entry have any special meaning to you?
Yes it does, my Grandma was one of my inspirations when I was younger to draw and create what I loved. She always helped me create drawings before she passed away and learning to draw helped me out so much.
7. Where were you when you received the news that you won the $10,000 Scholarship prize?
I was at home getting ready to go to work when I received the first call letting me know that I had won the scholarship.
8. What was going through your mind when you found out that you won?
The first thing that popped into my head was, “Is this really happening? Did I just really win a 10 grand scholarship?”
9. Who was the first person you told after you found out that you won?
The first person I told was my Mom since she was the person right there with me then I called my Dad and told him what happened.
10. Did you celebrate in any way?
I went out to eat at my favorite restaurant with my family as well as going to celebrate with my best friend and play soccer.
11. Have you recommended this contest to other people you know?
Yes I have, I know a few people younger than me that love drawing and have the talent and potential to create beautiful art work.
12. Did receiving the $10,000 scholarship change your school plans in any way?
Yes it did greatly! I was planning on going to a community college and even considered joining the military since I was struggling at the time and wanted to better myself.
13. How did receiving the $10,000 scholarship help you with your education?
It helped me with paying for a majority of my tuition.
14. What did you use the $10,000 for?
I used it to pay for my tuition and housing.
15. Which school did the $1,000 prize go to?
It went to my high school La Joya Community High School.
16. What was your schools reaction to receiving the $1,000 prize?
They were very grateful and thankful for receiving the money.
17. What are you currently doing?
As of right now I just completed my first year of college, working part time on campus and volunteering at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital weekly.
18. What did you or are you planning on studying in College?
I am currently going to Grand Canyon University home of the Lopes, “Lopes Up!”
19. What are you planning on doing after you graduate school?
My two biggest goals are to be able to travel and help in third world countries and work at the children’s hospital as a registered nurse.
20. What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about entering the scholarship contest?
Never give up! Always try and try and don’t forget to create something different something you don’t see normally, something when people see it will think that is something different.
21. Were you always interested in art or design?
I have always loved to sketch and draw random things as a stress reliever since I was younger.
22. How did it feel when you first saw the card produced with your design?
When I saw my drawing as a card I couldn’t believe it, to this day I still cannot believe that something I drew was created into a beautiful card.
23. Do you still have one of your cards?
Yes! My family loved the cards so much that they ordered some.
This concludes our interview with Whitney Fuertes. We loved having a chance to catch up with Whitney and see just how much of an affect the $10,000 Scholarship had on her life. Moments like these really allow us to see just how much this scholarship program means to students and gives us the continued motivation to keep going!
Check back next week when we finish up our 2011 Edition of our Look Back Series with some of Whitney’s favorite cards from our own line!
When you receive a birthday card at work do you push it to the side, do you toss it next to your TPS reports and let it collect dust? If that describes your yearly birthday ritual maybe it is time to start thinking about this another way. In a world of impersonal hiring and firings, where a lot of workers barely actually set foot in an office…there’s something special about being remembered. There’s something special about not being forgotten. There’s something special about those birthday cards.
Business birthday cards signed by your co-workers are a keep-sake. Believe me; I have a whole wall of them. Take some time to look at these old cards. Oh look, there’s when I turned 35. Bill from accounting wrote about how my Yankees aren’t that good. Little did he know they would go on and win the World Series that year! Now let’s gander at the year I turned 32. Nancy from production drew a funny picture of my cat Smitty. Little did I know I would end up getting Smitty cat friend to live with that we now call Ms. Holly. And little did I know I would have to deal with seven kittens then next year. All these birthday cards are reminders of where we’ve been and how we got here. Not to mention it’s nice to know your boss cares a little bit.
From early childhood right into adulthood, I used to dread dental office appointments. Having moved around a lot in my adult years, there was a fairly sizable list of dentists whose practice of their art in my mouth caused me trepidation.
Now, I make my next 6-month appointment at the end of each office visit, and actually look forward to it. Why? Business birthday cards!
The cards aren’t the only reason, but they are the icing on the cake. Also, parking is easy. The waiting room is attractive and comfortable. Everyone who works there is cheerful, pleasant, and warmly welcoming. My dentist is gentle, sure-handed and an entertaining chatterer. They make me feel like an old friend, or even part of their family, by sharing tales and photos of their families and asking about mine with genuine interest. I always depart with good and positive feelings of my time there.
Every time I leave this dentist’s office, I’m also carrying a “goody bag” of dental products and other useful items (he passes out the greatest pens!) with his name and phone number on them. I guess you could say that I think of him and his staff every day because I’m using the promotional items from that gift bag.
I suppose a number of dentists give out little take-away “favors” but I don’t remember any former dentist of mine who also remembers my birthday every year! What a nice surprise it was when I first received birthday cards. His appointment reminders come on a postcard so it was a bit of a mystery to get an envelope that was obviously not a bill.
Here they are, remembering me on my own specific, special day, not for advertising or appointment reminders or bill sending, but just to wish me a happy birthday! Warm, charming, and first class quality: in the practice of their business and in the way they live. This is my dentist for life!
Welcome to our second installment of the Create-A-Greeting-Card Scholarship Look Back Series. Today we are taking you behind the curtain and giving you a look into the test sampling phase for the 2011 Scholarship Winning Design, Gilded Nativity Christmas Card.
Each of our card designs goes through a significant testing phase before a final design is chosen to be added to our card line. These test samples are first provided to our creative team which goes through many different samples consisting of different card stocks, colors, layouts and foil imprints. You can get a taste of some of the samples that were considered below.
Finally, once a sample is chosen for the card and the creative team does not believe any more changes need to be made, the design is passed along to our approval team. This team consists of people from our marketing, production and order departments. Since our order department is our direct link to our customers, we always make it a priority to take any feedback we receive from our customers and inject it into every part of our operation, including the card design process. Once we get the stamp of approval from the team the design becomes a brand new member of our line of cards.
Browse through some of our test samples that were used for the 2011 Scholarship winning design and let us know which version you would have picked in the poll below. Next week we continue our series with an interview of our 6th annual Scholarship Contest winner Whitney Fuertes!
When choosing my birthday cards this year, I decided to purchase environmentally friendly greeting cards. It’s always nice to play a part in helping the Earth we live on. The cards are still of fabulous quality. There’s nothing lacking, so it just makes sense to do something green. What better way to share my thoughts and wishes to those I care about?
Greeting cards always express sincere sentiment. I’ve always enjoyed including a little handwritten note within the cards to add something special. This year, I decided to purchase my cards all at once because I am extremely busy with my job and school activities. It’s difficult to run around to the convenience store on a whim. In order to save myself time and money, I decided to get my own personalized birthday cards. The cards I selected are all recycled paper and show the recipients that I genuinely care about our environment. Inside, I included the family signatures. This is great for us- it’s difficult to get every member of the family to sign cards because we all have very different schedules! Of course I intend on including my little notes within the cards, but the idea of having them pre-signed saves me from scrambling at the last minute!
Do you still send out business birthday cards even with the economy not quite where we’d like it to be? If not, you might want to reconsider. Although not quite as bad as a couple of years ago, we still have a ways to go before we all feel truly comfortable with spending our hard earned money. When and if things ever turn the corner (more than they have thus far), we want to make sure that our customers will spend some of it with us.
Speaking for myself, I like to know that I’m thought of even when I’m not spending my money. I went to a local nail salon awhile back and they asked me to jot down when my birthday was. I’d forgotten all about it as I hadn’t been back in a long time. It had been several months actually. Imagine my surprise when I received a happy birthday card. They had also included a discount for a future service. How clever! I had received birthday cards from other businesses that I frequent, but I expected that. I did not expect to receive it from a place that I hardly ever go. You can be sure though, that I took my business back there.
You know the old saying – “out of sight, out of mind”! No business wants to be that! In this day and age, it is the little things that can make all the difference. For a couple of dollars spent on a business birthday card, you have the potential to make many more! Don’t become one of the forgotten!
We are very excited to launch a brand new weekly feature titled the $10,000 Create-A-Greeting-Card-ScholarshipLook Back Series. This series will look back on all of our previous annual Scholarship contests with each month focusing on one contest with weekly posts full of behind the scenes information, past winner interviews, card transformation and much much more.
With our first official entry we want everyone to get a little more familiar with the Scholarship team that is responsible for going through the entries, selecting the finalists and eventually the winner. Read the interview below to get an inside look into who makes up the team, what they look for and more!
Interview with the Scholarship Contest Team
How many members are on the Scholarship team that judges the entries?
We have a total of 6 members on our panel. We have people on the team from different departments in our company such as Production, Creative and even an artist from our Art Department in order to provide a different viewpoint for each aspect of turning an entry into a card.
How often does the scholarship team meet to go over the entries?
We start meeting a month after each contest begins and go on to meet once a month moving forward until the contest ends. We like to meet once a month in order to avoid having the entries get backed up to such a large number that would be difficult for us to view. During the 2011 scholarship contest, we received over 13,000 entries so saving them all for the end wouldn’t have allowed us the ability go through each entry as thoroughly as we would have liked.
What typically goes on in these monthly meetings?
In each meeting we like to go through the entries that we have received since the last and set aside any potential finalists that we feel could be turned into cards. The first thing that we look for is Creativity and Originality. We want to see an effort was put into the entry and then we go through the remaining criteria. Many times an entry can be very good art but unfortunately does not meet 5, 6 or 7 from the below judging criteria.
JUDGING CRITERIA
Overall aesthetic appeal
Quality of execution
Creativity and Originality
Successful incorporation of design elements
Appropriateness for use as a greeting card
Attractiveness to The Gallery Collection’s corporate and consumer customers
Suitability as a design in Prudent’s Gallery Collection greeting card line
When do you officially choose the finalists for the contest?
Once we start getting close to the end of the contest, we begin to look through the potential finalists that we set aside in our monthly meetings to narrow them down to around 200 entries. Then once the contest officially ends, we go through the remaining entries that we have received and choose any others that we feel meet the judging criteria and could be turned into beautiful cards. We then like to post them up on our website to let everyone see just how amazing the pool of finalists really is.
How do you eventually settle on the winning design?
Once we have the 200 finalists chosen, we begin our voting rounds which we use to narrow down the number to around 5-10 “Super Finalists”. At this point we put together affidavits which are sent to each entrant to ensure that their artwork and identity is confirmed. Once we receive the affidavits back we then go through the final voting phase which also involves some of our executive team at the company to pick our final winner.
What is your favorite part about being on the Scholarship Team?
I think each of us can easily say the absolute best feeling in the world is when we finally contact the winner to let them know they have won. A call like that is something amazing to be a part of because it makes all of the work and time that we have put into this contest worth it. Knowing that the $10,000 Create-A-Greeting-Card-Scholarship is going to help a student further their education means the world to us. We all look forward to this each year.
That brings us to the end of our inside look into our hard working Scholarship Team. We hope this interview gave you a little insight into the amount of work and thought that goes into each years contest. Without this team this scholarship contest would not be possible!
We want to let everyone know to keep a look out for next weeks post in our weekly series which will be a behind the scenes look into the transformation of our 2011 Scholarship Contest Winner, Whitney Fuertes’ entry into a card!
With the 2013 Scholarship Contest currently running, we are more excited than ever to get a look at the types of entries we are going to receive. This is the first year that we have added in a new $1,000 Military Prize that will be awarded to an entry from a member of the United States Military. This is just a small token of our appreciation for all members of the United States Military service that we are very excited to offer.
We invite you to come back soon to get a behind the scenes look into the 2013 Scholarship Contest with things like a winner interview, a look at the transformation process from the entry to the card and much more!
