Showing posts with label Cards
March is a very busy card month in our family. There many joyous occasions like birthdays, anniversaries and this year; Easter. I love sending and receiving special occasion cards and want to pass this love on to my teen daughters, so this weekend I pulled out some cards, our family calendar and a bunch of new Pilot pens I’d received from Shoplet.com to use and share my thoughts here with you. While I did receive complimentary products all opinions, love of a good writing pen and cards are my own.

Assortment of special occasion cards


When talking with my daughters about writing special correspondences, I learned that sometimes it’s the very act of writing, putting pen to card-stock that stalls their creative process and I can understand that. 


Sometimes a pen doesn’t feel right in your hand, or it doesn’t glide across the writing surface, or worse, it leaves blobs of ink behind! I’m happy to report; you’ll find none of those issues with Pilot Pens! If you want your teens to love writing, give them a great pen and these easy to follow steps!


Pilot Pens- great for writing



 1. Pick Your Pen by doing a writing test:

We each chose a different type of pen from the very nice collection we’d received. After you pick a pen to try, hand out lined notebook paper to practice writing on first, that way you won’t ever ruin a card again! Don’t worry about what they write now. Just let them choose a pen solely on how it feels and how the ink looks to them. We’ll get to the wording in another step.


Do a writing test to see how pens feel and ink looks


We all loved the cool pastel color of the Dr. Grip pen that’s light weight and has a cushioned barrel which feels good in your hand. Personally, I found it to be a little too thick for me, but I know my senior mother in law would love this pen as her hands bother her, so I’m gifting this pen and a set of all occasion cards to her.

My teen daughters preferred the fun and sleek looking Acroball pure white pens with their fine points for their writing styles. Both are right handed with a light grip and so they enjoyed the feel and flow of the ink.

I’m a lefty, who turns her paper and tends to bear down on a pen, so if I’m not using a good pen, I’ll either smudge my previous sentence or find a glob of ink at pause points in my writing. I had no problem at all with the Acroball color medium point pen.

My husband chose the Acroball Pro medium point in blue to sign his card and liked how it felt in his hand and how it didn’t drag on the card stock.  To learn more about any of these pens, just click on their links and you’ll be taken to Shoplet.com where you can find them on sale along with a large variety of office supplies.


2. Let your Teen pick the card:

Congratulations card ready to personalize


Whether you buy for one special occasion, or keep an assortment of cards on hand like I do, it’s very important that you let your teen choose the card, not just for the visual aspect, but for the statement inside if any. 


3. Give your Teen Privacy and Time to write:

In other words parents- don’t hover! Nobody likes to write under pressure with somebody watching them, so be patient!  If you want this to be an enjoyable endeavor for your teens and if you want them to ever go beyond a short sentence or two, you must allow time to gather their thoughts and then, allow them to practice writing it out on scratch paper before writing anything on the card.


5. Help your teen address, stamp and mail their cards:

My girls have seen me do this countless times in their lives, so they can do this step on their own. The very best way to make it second nature is to let them take the lead. Give them your address book for cards going to family friends and relatives, or help them look up a friends address with the old school way with the phone book or their preferred way, Google it.  Allow them artistic freedom here as well. If they want to use print instead of cursive writing on the envelope, let them.  It’s their mail to personalize how they choose. 

With a good pen, a nice card and a healthy dose of patience and understanding from us, we can instill a love of writing not only cards, but other correspondence that will serve our teens well from middle school and beyond!


Comments Please:

Do you send out special occasion cards often? 

Happy Friday dear readers! Have you been enjoying my giveaways this week? So far we’ve talked about chocolate cookie bars (divine!) about the newest Nicholas Sparks book and movie The Choice and so it felt fitting to end this week with some Hallmark Valentine’s Day cards and collectible love! My sincere thanks to #LoveHallmark for the precious box of complimentary products you sent me to facilitate today’s post and giveaway.


Hallmark #Valentine's Day greeting cards #giveaway


Receiving a card on Valentine’s Day makes everyone feel special whether you’re in a romantic relationship or not. I love the vast array of greeting card choices you can find with Hallmark like the Signature collection cards here or the all new itty bittys valentines cards! So cute! 


Speaking of cute- look at these adorable itty bittys from the beloved Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat book! 


 Dr. Seuss Thing 1 and Thing 2 itty bittys #giveaway


“Thing 1 and Thing 2- They ran up! They ran down!”  I can’t count how many times I read this book to my girls when they were young, or how many times we’d get up and run just like Thing 1 and Thing 2 and now they both own their very own itty bittys collectible! If you have a Dr. Seuss fan in your life, you are going to want to enter to win these cuties below. Or you can purchase them now by clicking on their links above and if you order by tomorrow, they'll arrive on time for Valentine's day!

If you need another gift idea for a special cutie, I recommend you check out their brand new Love-a-Saurus Techno Plush!  

Hallmark Love-a-Saurus


We received Love-a- Saurus and instantly fell in love with his soft, huggable, loveable self! This little guy brings big love, a bigger roar and some serious dance moves as he dances and sings along to the tune of U can’t touch this by MC Hammer! His tag has his own lyrics so you and your little one can sing along! You can learn more about Love-A-Saurus here and again, if you order by February 6th, you'll receive him by Valentine's Day. 


Win it!
Thanks to #LoveHallmark, one lucky reader will receive a pair of Thing 1 and Thing 2 itty bittys, along with a pack of Valentine’s Day greetings and an extra “every day” itty bitty to share a little love with someone special whenever they’d like!

Terms: 

No purchase is necessary to enter using the Rafflecopter from below.  My WAHM Plan is not responsible for prize fulfillment. Winners will be notified by email used on entry form and have 24 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.  This giveaway is not associated with nor endorsed by Facebook, Twitter, or any other social channel. 

Good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway:

And the winner is...

 Rachel H.

I love giving and receiving cards for the big holidays and celebrations of life and Valentine’s Day is an important one to me.  When Hallmark asked its bloggers if they’d like to receive some complimentary Valentine’s Day cards to review and share our thoughts, I had my virtual hand way up high in the air! My thanks to Hallmark for sponsoring today's post.  All thoughts and love of love are all my own. 


#Hallmark Valentine's Day cards MyWAHMPlan.com


As another Valentine’s Day draws near, I was drawn to the stack of cards I’ve saved from my husband over the course of our 22 year marriage. Countless ones are from Hallmark, so it comes as no surprise that from now until the very last minute on February 14th, Hallmark cards are jumping off store shelves and with very good reason. They speak to us. They help us say what we want to say to all the special people in our lives.


#Hallmark puppy butt! card MyWAHMPlan.com


When I saw this card from Hallmark’s Shoebox collection, I immediately though this would be perfect for my daughter who loves puppies! After reading the sentiment inside the card- I thought, this would also be perfect for any single friends or family in your life because it isn’t about “coupledom” or happily ever after.  It’s just a card that’s funny and says, Hey, I’m thinking about you today.



#Hallmark Beetle Valentine's Day Card MyWAHMPlan.com


Next, I fell in LOVE with the wonderfully artistic and colorful cards by Mirna K. Stubbs for Hallmark’s Studio Ink collection.  If you had asked me about putting a couple of Beetles on a Valentine’s Day card for adults, I would have looked at you like you were crazy talking, but this card works! It’s simple, yet beautiful. It makes me think of far off destinations full of color and promise.  I could see somebody receiving this card and putting it up on their bulletin board, or in a frame to treasure. As a matter of fact, I’m giving this one to my oldest daughter because I saw her positive reaction to it. 



#Hallmark Valentine's Day card collection #MyWAHMPlan.com

While looking through the rest of the collection Hallmark sent me, I would think “Oh, this one is perfect for my husband!” Then, I read another and then another and honestly, there were 3 beautiful cards from different Hallmark collections and artists including Sarah Jessica Parker that I could give my husband and it would be perfect!



Hallmark #PutYourHearttoPaper MyWAHMPlan.com


Hallmark wants to help all of us find the right card and find the right words to express how we feel about those most important to us; to #PutYourHeartToPaper. That’s why they have set up an awesome site full of inspirational ideas on how we can fully express ourselves. There are even some tips for writing a love-letter!  Can you imagine receiving a hand written love letter? Be still my heart. 


The site even have a series of videos that Hallmark shot with six couples (they’re really awesome) that will touch your heart. These couples were asked how they would express their love without using the word love. Their answers are so heartfelt; you may get teary eyed like I did. You will come away feeling hopeful that love can conquer all. As a wife of some 22 years, I was drawn to Bob and Kim’s story. They have been married for 56 years! What an amazing testimony to marriage and life really.  Told you I love love. 


Watch their video:






I invite you to visit the new  Hallmark holiday today site and get inspired to share all the love that’s in your heart this Valentine’s Day.  Ten head on over to Hallmark.com and shop their Valentine's Day card selection. You can personalize it, purchase it online and Hallmark will mail it for you! There's plenty of gifts to choose from as well. 



No matter how you celebrate Valentine's day, remember to lead with kindness, shine your light, and let love live in your heart.

From all of us to all of you: Happy Valentine's Day!




The Greeting Card Cut List

in , , , , , , by Linda A Kinsman, Friday, December 14, 2012
I have always enjoyed the giving and receiving of Holiday Greeting cards. I am a classic; less is more kind of card sender; preferring to send a festive card with a short hand written note inside.As I sat down to start on my cards this week, I realized I needed to re-vamp my list completely since my master list was riddled with notes beside almost every name.
 
It was time for the Greeting Card cut list.
 
 I don’t enter into this area lightly, because I know how I would feel if I were off the list. But wait a minute, I think that shipped has sailed if my notes are any indication!
Over the course of the last 3 years, we have received more e-cards from friends and family who once sent out mailed cards. Is this just a product of our societies need for all things “online”? Is it the downed economy? Have we Kinsman’s somehow fallen off the short list of worthy stamped greetings? Maybe, probably and I hope not!
 
The point is I feel obliged to follow the path in front of me and do my own form of cutting.
 
Here was my method:
If we haven’t heard from you in any form or fashion, like you have fallen off the face of the earth in 4 years: you are cut completely.
If you always thank me for my Christmas card in your e-card on my birthday in May:  you are cut from my mailed list and bumped to e-card status.
If you have never us sent a mailed card, preferring e-cards, but haven’t sent me one in 2 yrs.: you are cut from my mailed card list, put on my e-card list, but only for this year.
If you send us your annual newsletter, complete with a call to donate to your charity: e-card!
If you sent us an e-card last year: e-card.
 
Did making these cuts make me feel Grinch-ish? Nope, it was liberating! 
My new Greeting card list is clean and tidy and shows me that I have a nice balance of mailed cards at 60% and e-cards at 40%.
How does your Greeting Card list look? Is it time to update it?
Have you had to make cuts as well?
 
I'd love to hear from you!
 
 
 


                                        
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