Welcome back to the 2009 version of the Create-A-Greeting-Card Scholarship Contest Look-Back series. In today’s entry, we wanted to show off a couple of the finalists designs that, even though they were not turned into cards, we still thought should be seen by everyone. You can browse through the full collection of finalists from the 2009 contest in the 2009 Scholarship Finalists slideshow, but below are some of our favorites from the group. We would also love to hear your opinions on which design you liked so don’t forget to vote in our poll underneath the images!
I have a “thing” for Christmas tree ornaments. I simply love them and can’t get enough. I have ornaments from the family trees of my childhood. I have homemade ornaments from those first few, somewhat impoverished newlywed years. I have ornaments collected by, and given to, various members of our family. Each year I buy a selective few more, and my kids have even taken to bringing me ornaments as mementos from their vacation trips so my grandchildren and I can hang them on my tree. Believe me when I say, there is quite a variety of interesting and beautiful ornaments on my tree each year.
None, however, is anything like the stunning ornament depicted in design #072CT, Burgundy Jewel Card, which I’ve decided to use for my custom Christmas cards. The most difficult thing to describe about this card is the intriguing balance it strikes between elegantly traditional and richly exotic. Its unusual shape makes me think of clever Japanese origami. The scrolled vines with leaves and berries, the lines, and curlicues of reflective silver foil look like the finely wrought inlays you might find in the surface of an artistically crafted treasure box. This “box” is of the deepest, satiny burgundy. The pyramidal shape carries a portent of good luck.
Design #072CT - Burgundy Jewel Card
The ornament hangs from a golden foil ribbon, its ends festooned with crystal prisms. This ribbon with crystal ends is a repeated theme, hanging from the bottom tip of the ornament. The large bow at the ornament’s top is striped with solid and reflective gold foils, but tied with simplicity. A sweet sprig of evergreen and berry branches, tucked into the bow, is delicately detailed in mirrored silver foil.
Set within a finely drawn frame of light-refracting foil, with an understated “season’s greetings” at its base, this ornament projects both sophistication and warmth.
Whether you’re looking for simple holiday cards or company Christmas cards, you might have a tough decision ahead of you; there are so many to choose from! It’s hard to pick just one. As I scanned through the vast selection of greeting cards on The Gallery Collection’s website, I looked for that one to jump out at me. There are so many eye catching designs, but two in particular stood out. They were both calling me, but which one do I send out?
I’ll start with my initial choice. If you want a business Christmas card, design #159CX, Glittering Gift Boxes Christmas Card, has the traditional colors of Christmas. With a modern twist, the sleek boxes give you a streamlined, cosmopolitan feel. The red, green, and gold embossed foil grabs your attention like a Mondrian painting. Each gift box is adorned with a sweeping gold bow, just adding that touch of sophistication and class. The buff matte paper makes the textured foils pop with a mosaic of colored blocks. The neatly tailored “Season’s Greetings” sentiment in gold foil polishes it off with the impression of today’s modern world.
Design #159CX, Glittering Gift Boxes Christmas Card
Now, my second choice for a more personal touch is design #168CS, Glimmering Pines Christmas Card. The soothing purple and pink colors fill up the background against the newly fallen snow. Silver refractive foil is sprinkled across the trees adding a dazzling array of light; it’s easy to get lost in that peaceful moment. The white glossy paper is framed out by a raised white border that completes this comforting escape. A centered “Season’s Greetings” sentiment in silver foil to match the glimmering tree sets a mood that you want share with others.
Design #887CX, Golden Accents Seasons Greeting Card, is one of The Gallery Collection’s most elegant and intricate Christmas ornament cards. The design is printed on a heavy, textured deep green paper stock and luxuriously accented with generous quantities of shimmering ruby and gold foils. The primary object of attention is the large garnet Christmas ornament, set left of center, which features a painstakingly detailed golden pattern. Small, swirling etchings populate most of the ornament’s surface around a circular flower pattern at the center. The ornament hangs by a fine string of miniature pearls and is flanked, above and below, by a series of gilded holly leaves and baby pine needles. A few glistening red berries are interspersed amongst the leaves and the words “Season’s Greetings” appear to the right of the ornament in a script font which appears almost handwritten.
Design #887CX - Golden Accents Seasons Greeting Card
This Christmas ornament card is almost majestic in its appearance and is a perfect choice for companies who wish to make a lasting impression on their valued customers. Any client receiving the Golden Accents card is certain to be impressed by its ornate appearance and elaborate design. It is also perfect for private individuals to order, especially those who greatly value the time-honored tradition of sending Christmas cards. Your friends and relatives who receive this design are sure to be awed by its obvious quality and upscale bearing.
I usually get around to disposing the personalized Christmas cards I received during the holiday season sometime around the 4th of July. This year I seem to have gotten a jump on it…I started during the second week of June!
As I toss these cards into the trash I can’t help but notice that quite a few people use personalized Christmas cards. Evidently there are a number of companies that offer individual personalization on the Season’s Greetings cards they sell but I can detect the difference in quality from one to the next. Initially I noticed a difference in the feel of the paper used to make the cards. Some are very flimsy while others are sturdier. There are shiny and textured cards, smooth and embossed cards, small and large cards. Artwork on the cards can range from understated to festive. I also noticed that the color of the inks and foils used in printing differed in quality from card to card.
Design #092CW - Frosty Season’s Greetings
One of the Christmas cards that caught my attention was from The Gallery Collection. Design #092CW, Frosty Season’s Greetings Card, displays a simply drawn snowman surrounded by snowflakes. This image sits atop the words “Season’s Greetings.” This was all deeply embossed on the cover of a plain white card in gold foil. Gold foil was also used inside the card for the greeting and the sender’s personalization printed beneath it. For a simple Season’s Greetings card, I was quite impressed! I flipped the card over to see if the company name was on the back, and sure enough “The Gallery Collection” was imprinted in gold foil and accompanied by the website. Watch out Hallmark…you’re not the only greeting cards company with loyal customers who look to see who produces the cards they receive.
American Homestead Winter Holiday Card, design #624CX, is a reproduction of an original Currier & Ives print depicting a winter scene of years gone by. The sheer simplicity of this winter scene holiday card printed in sepia-like tones evokes fond memories of a life uncomplicated by the hustle and bustle of modern day society. An old style farmhouse surrounded by a somewhat broken down picket fence is set off to the side with a snow covered road separating the residence from a barn across from it. The focal point is a horse drawn sleigh leisurely carrying two individuals to an unknown destination.
Design #624CX - American Homestead Winter Holiday Card
Scattered around this idyllic farm scene, people are going about their daily chores: a man carrying wood with his dog, a woman leaving the house with a bucket, a man in the barn tending to the animals. These people are highlighted by subtle coloring of various hues of clothing in an otherwise sepia-toned scene. Just looking at this snow covered scene with its glistening snow covered trees, makes one have a sense of serenity and peace. The entire scene is bordered within a thin frame of gold foil and a golden plaque at the bottom reads “Season’s Greetings.”
This design is printed on a buff colored matte finish paper stock produced using environmentally friendly processes. The depicted scene on this card will be so pleasing to the recipient, it might be worth framing and hanging year round to remind one’s self to stop and relax once in awhile from the hectic pace of everyday life.
If you’re looking for classy corporate Christmas cards but are more traditional in nature, design #684CX, Merry Christmas Traditions Holiday Card, may be to your liking. It features a festively decorated Christmas tree adorned with thin gold and silver garland, gold ornaments, and blue ribbons with a large blue Christmas bow atop the highest branch. The artistry is so detailed that you can identify each of the tree’s emerald needles. A slew of blue and gold wrapped presents are lined up beneath the evergreen, just waiting to be opened, and the gold foil sentiment “Merry Christmas” appears above and to the left in a graceful script font. You can just make out the embossed outline of a banister curving upward behind the foliage.
This is an ideal card to send to friends and to any customers who celebrate the Christmas holiday. The image will take recipients back to the days of those first magical childhood Christmases.
When I think of Christmas cards, or more specifically, business Christmas cards, I usually think of brightly colored designs with reds and greens…you know, something cheery and uplifting. What I don’t think of is black, as in a black stock card. I always thought of these cards as kind of dull and depressing. I’ve never ordered one before and thought I never would, but then I saw The Gallery Collection’s design #870CX, Golden Greetings Star Christmas Card. It made me re-think my opinion of these dark stock cards. It really is neither dull nor depressing. In fact, it’s a stunning Christmas card! It’s a beautifully rendered design of a magnificent golden star with gorgeous holographic foil and delicate gold filigree trim. “Season’s Greetings” is wished in lovely gold foil script. Take a look at this design. I know you won’t be disappointed! I just may break my own rule and order a box of these Christmas cards myself this year!
Design #870CX - Golden Greetings Star Christmas Card
A wonderful Christmas card from The Gallery Collection is design #145CX, Hometown Holiday Die-Cut Christmas Card. I absolutely love this card! It’s perfect to send as either a Business Christmas card or as a personal one. If you’re into nostalgia, and who isn’t at Christmas time, you’ll love this card as much as I do! It’s a die-cut card, which means the front has a cut-out through which your two line imprint will appear. It’s a wonderful way to showcase your company or your personal name. This particular design depicts a charming vignette of pretty little homes and apartment buildings complete with a trio of festive Christmas trees. Balsam wreaths and poinsettias festoon the cozy homes. “Greetings of the Season” is spelled out in striking gold foil script. It’s so very warm and inviting…it makes me wish this were my hometown!
“More Thanksgiving cards,” you said, and we have added several new designs at The Gallery Collection. We are seeing more and more interest in sending seasonal cards to convey best wishes during the fall and winter holidays. Among our newest cards is Little Tree of Thanks Holiday Card, design #158CX, by Marla Shega.
At first glance the front of this Thanksgiving card looks like a line drawing of a tree, just right for autumn because the leaves have fallen. But then you see the spectrum of colors in the branches, from purples to gold to red, with a few shiny bronze leaves completing their descent. Under this delicate embossed tree is the message, “Happy Thanksgiving” in a gorgeous script font in gold foil.
Design #158CX - Little Tree of Thanks Holiday Card
This business Thanksgiving card communicates your appreciation for the season. At the same time it lets your customers, friends, and colleagues know that you care about them and want to extend your good wishes at this time of Thanksgiving. Complete your message with one of our Thanksgiving greetings inside followed by your two lines of personalization in gold foil and you will be sending a striking card. The gold foil lined envelopes complete the feeling of understated elegance.
I see Season’s Greetings cards, personalized Christmas cards, holiday cards, and all occasion cards every day. No, it’s not because I’m card-obsessed; it’s the job I have. The company I work for produces over 300 card designs in the aforementioned categories. Being objective about these cards when it comes to describing them is a little difficult for me because I think our cards are the best in the world.
As I am writing this, I am looking at design #127CX, Season’s Greetings Jewel Holiday Card. This card design features a deeply embossed tree ornament topped off with a green ribbon that matches the color used on the ornament. Gold foil is used to stamp the designs that appear on the ornament, which is framed in gold foil and has the words “Season’s Greetings” in gold foil stamped in script lettering beneath it. As a personalized Christmas card, it is elegantly designed yet understated at the same time. You really have to see the card to understand how it can be elegant and simple at the same time. It’s a great looking card.
So if you are considering purchasing personalized Christmas cards you owe it to yourself to check out our Season’s Greetings cards either online or in our catalog. I am confident you will find among our many designs one that is just right for your needs. And you can be sure that members of your family and the friends you send it to will be impressed with your splendid taste in holiday cards.
