published in Animals, Beauty, Dogs, Greeting Cards, Inspiration, Pets, Photos by Maryanne | February 12, 2017 | No Comment
For the Love of Dogs – Photo Greeting Cards Capture Canine Spirit
Dog card #1: Soda in the bushes
“Dogs do speak but only to those who know how to listen.”
– Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red
Do you know a dog-lover?
Then you might find our delightful dog photo greeting cards of interest! They make a perfect card to send to someone who loves dogs 🙂
Created by Maryanne Pope of Pink Gazelle Productions, these 5 photo greeting cards beautifully capture the canine spirit of Maryanne’s beloved dogs (past and present): Sable, Soda & Sadie.
Here are the 4 remaining cards in the 5-pack of dog cards:
Dog card #2: Sable & Soda in snow
Dog Card #3: Smiling blind Sable
Dog card #4: Sad Sadie with dog bowl
Happy Sadie on shell beach
To order the cards…
The 5-pack of dog cards are $19.95.
To purchase the cards, please visit the PGP on-line store.
“I don’t really understand that process called reincarnation but if there is such a thing I’d like to come back as my daughter’s dog.”
– Leonard Cohen
Related blogs by Maryanne
Tough Love and the Cone of Cuteness
Remembering Sassy Super-Model Sable Pope
When Caring for a Sick Pet Calls for Sleeping in the Driveway
Sadie’s Story – the Path of a Pet
Parenting Pets – Why We Fuss Over Our Furry Friends
Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is the CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If you would like to receive her regular weekly blog, please sign up here.
published in Beauty, Giving, Gratitude, Greeting Cards, Inspiration by Maryanne | December 12, 2016 | 2 Comments
Thank You or Thinking of You – Does Sending a Card in the Mail Still Matter?
“In a world where so much communication is merely utilitarian, the simple acts of investment, remembrance, gratitude and appreciation can show the people who matter to your life and business that they are important to you.”
Ahhh…the rapidly disappearing act of sending greeting cards in the mail. Other than for Christmas and perhaps a few Birthdays, who sends cards in the mail anymore? Even Christmas and Birthday cards seem to be fewer and fewer. And don’t even get me started on thank you cards 🙁
When I actually do receive a thank you card in the mail, I kiss the damn thing – in surprise and gratitude. I am SO thankful to receive a thank you card because it tells me that whatever I did, said or gave was actually appreciated…and perhaps even enjoyed.
Now, I certainly don’t always send people thank you cards (or ‘thinking of you’ or ‘Happy Birthday’ or ‘congratulations’ or whatever) but I really do try. Based on personal experience (both of having received thank you cards and not so much), I think it does matter.
Thinking of someone or being grateful for something is one thing; actually taking the time to send a card that expresses that is quite another.
Perhaps this why – despite the fact that most people don’t seem to mail many cards anymore and therefore don’t buy them in the first place – I still decided to create my own line of photo greeting cards (alongside the recycled Christmas cards) this past year.
I guess it was just something I wanted to do, regardless of the outcome.
For inspiration, I turned to the some beautiful photos of my beloved dogs (Sable, Soda and Sadie) as well snapshots from some of my recent travels and experiences. Even though I knew selling the cards might be a challenge, I loved making them 🙂
“I am going to spend as much time as I can creating delightful things out of my existence, because that’s what brings me awake and that’s what brings me alive.”
– Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic
I know I’m not the only one receiving less cards in the mail these days. Last summer, I sent a friend a birthday card on her birthday – and she e-mailed me immediately, thanking me and letting me know how much it meant to her because mine was the only birthday card she’d received. In other words, it was special…it meant something.
“Life moves too fast. You may be thinking of a friend or family member you haven’t seen in a while, but before you know it a day, a week, maybe even a month passes before you do anything about it. I challenge you to change that! Stop for just a moment and send a card in the mail to that loved one….it will likely be something they keep, either on their fridge, in their nightstand, or somewhere else safe, so that they can look at it again and again and feel your love.”
– Sherry Ballantyne, Eclectic Soapbox
Yes, it’s easier, faster and free to simply post “Happy Birthday!” on someone’s Facebook page or fire off a quick e-mail or text but I don’t think the impact on the recipient is quite the same as a good old-fashioned card.
“Technology has turned the way we communicate upside down. Sometimes emails become more of a bane than blessing. Receiving emails and texts are fun, but nothing replaces reaching into your mailbox and discovering a handwritten card that reminds you how much you’re adored.”
Personally, the fun of receiving e-mails ended a long time ago. With more than a thousand unread e-mails sitting in my inbox at any given time (despite my best attempts at trying to keep up), it isn’t excitement or anticipation I feel when I open my e-mail – it’s dread.
Sure, I receive lots of wonderful e-mails with good news and valuable information but the sheer volume of incoming e-mails is overwhelming.
But when I open my real mail box and actually see a greeting-card sized envelope with my name and address handwritten on the front, now that is fun! Unfortunately, it happens less and less often – and usually just around my birthday or at Christmas.
From an environmental, waste-reduction perspective, I’m happy to see the shift away from sending greeting cards in the mail. But from a human-relationship perspective, I’m not so sure.
Here are a few more samples of our new photo greeting cards:
Visit Our On-Line Store to See Full Selection
Please visit the Pink Gazelle on-line store to view the complete selection of our themed packs of photo greeting cards. The cards are available in packs of 5 ($19.95 and free shipping).
Special End of Season Offer
From now until Jan 31st, 2017, with the purchase of a 5-pack of cards from the Pink Gazelle on-line store, we’ll give you a second 5-pack (your choice) for free (so that’s 10 cards for $19.95 and free shipping)!
Once you have ordered your first 5-pack, we will e-mail you to find out which second 5-pack you would like 🙂
I’d love to hear YOUR thoughts on sending cards in the mail
Are you sending out Christmas cards this year? Do you send thank you cards? Do you teach your children to send thank you cards? Do you mail birthday cards?
Related Blogs by Maryanne
Using Creativity to Bring More Joy & Beauty to the World
Cute Christmas Cards Capture Re-purposing Chic
Browsers, Buyers & Banning Husbands – Post-Game Analysis of Craft Show
Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is the CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and the Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If you would like to receive her weekly blog, please sign up here.
Still on the lookout for Christmas Gifts?
Our Wise Owl Wisdom Inspirational Quote Cards make a great stocking stuffer…for the quote-lover on your list!
$7.95 for 1 set (30 cards per set) or $14.95 for 2 sets
Please click here for details.
Here is the link to purchase through our on-line store.
published in Change, Christmas, Environment, Face the Future, Giving, Greeting Cards by Maryanne | December 7, 2016 | No Comment
Twelve Tiny Tips to Lessen Our Environmental Footprint at Christmas
Don’t know who this old guy is but ya gotta love his festive enthusiasm…yay Christmas!
I did a little diggin’ on the old internet and came up with this list of 12 tiny tips on how we can lessen our footprint on the planet this time of year.
#1) Buy less stuff for people who don’t need it or want it.
#2) Spend time versus money on people who both need and want it.
#3) Remember to take re-usable shopping bags to the mall and grocery store…really, it’s not that difficult.
#4) Same with jaunts (of which there may be many) to the booze-shop…use a handy-dandy cloth bag that holds multiple bottles versus getting a paper bag for each and every bottle (of which there may be many…just sayin’), each and every time.
#5) If you can’t ease up on the wrapping paper (I suspect some people are genetically predisposed to being addicted to wrapping presents), then at least try and recycle (or re-use) as much as possible after the fact.
#6) Except for the shiny stuff…most metallic wrapping paper can’t be recycled. So yeah, that’s right – don’t buy it in the first place.
#7) Think about packaging of products. That’s how I spend my evenings – thinking about packaging. Sure, I could be watching Game of Thrones or having hot sex with an Argentinian polo player. But no, I sit on my couch and think about where all the billions of pounds of packaging are going to end up after Christmas. Yes, Juan, you guessed correctly: the landfill.
#8) When shopping for said products (that are bound to have far too much packaging) and feel the need for a little pick-me-up (because your Christmas shopping list is bigger than you are) and you swing by your favourite coffee shop to buy your low fat-mocha-whatever, for the love of God, remember to take your own re-useable coffee mug instead of getting yet another disposable paper cup that is destined for the landfill. Sigh.
#9) Haven’t sent out Christmas cards yet? Good. Don’t bother (unless you’re buying my recycled Christmas cards). How’s this for a sobering stat: the 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high. Aye Karumba.
#10) Back to wrapping presents: take it easy on the ribbon, will ya? But if you can’t bear the thought of giving a gift that has no ribbon, then at least try and keep the ribbon (to re-use) after the unwrapping frenzy on Christmas morn. Here’s why: if every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet.
#11) For more great ideas on how to have a greener Christmas, check out the Eartheasy website.
#12) Find the fun in re-gifting. For a laugh, check out Tact, Timing and Titillation: The Tao of Re-gifting and view the “Label Maker” clip from an old Seinfeld episode.
Thanks for reading and I hope you find these tips of use! If you have any other suggestions on how to lessen our environmental footprint this time of year, I’d love to hear them.
P.S. If you happen to have a spare Argentinian polo player lying around and no longer have a use for him, please send him my way 🙂
Maryanne Pope is the author of A Widow’s Awakening, the playwright of Saviour and the screenwriter of God’s Country. Maryanne is the CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and the Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. If you would like to receive her weekly blog, please sign up here.
For further information about the Face the Future Christmas blog series, here is the link.