What to do with your holiday cards

Happy New Year! Here is a re-post of a blog from prior years that is appropriate once more as I am tidying up for the new year...
With the holidays ending, I used to wonder what I should do with all of the holiday cards I received. I hated tossing them, but was anxious to clean up for the new year. I found an appropriately sized container to hold my cards and I keep them set out all year. Guests in my home always enjoy sorting through my cards and admiring the wonderful pictures of family and friends I received. Even in the summer your holiday cards can be a source of conversation. Make a family activity out of it by pulling a card every week and vowing to call, write, or pray for the lucky winner!

It's A Wrap For The Season

This is my 10th season selling holiday cards and the week after Christmas is always a time business-wise to sigh and reflect on the season and look at everything that went right and learn from anything that went wrong. I will share 2 of my favorite holiday card orders from this year. Both of these cards use somewhat non-traditional photos of their children that are sure to catch attention and be shared over the holidays. Both of these photographs seem to be candid and are just darling. I loved being involved with both of these for their thinking out of the box approach.

This year I also ended up knowing the 800 number to UPS by heart. I had 2 situations with UPS this season - one that saved the day, the other I was pulling my hair out and my very sweet customer never did receive her darling holiday cards. The first was a situation where holiday cards were delivered a few doors down from my customer -an error by the card manufacturer. I thought this would be simple, just walk on over to the neighbor and get the package. Not so simple as the residents were out of town for an extended period of time and no one on the street seemed to know who was taking care of their mail or where her package might be. After I contacted UPS, the driver not only remembered the delivery, but knew the name of the maid who accepted the package and my customer figured it all out and retrieved her cards. The second situation involved a customer who inadvertently transposed 2 digits of her zip code when placing her order. She had 3 different shipments of things and UPS easily corrected 2 of them. But her holiday cards are still lost in transit after at least 20 different phone calls to UPS over 7 days trying to help them deliver these cards. This was very frustrating and my customer was very patient and is now picking out a New Years card. Orders placed in December for holiday cards leave little time for error and every year I contemplate cutting off my orders at the end of November so there is enough time to deal with problems I cannot anticipate or control.

But overall the season was great with lots of happy customers, some who take the time to email me to tell me how pleased they are with their cards and the service. I love this business and my charming customers who keep me going and striving to give my best.

Cooper and Oliver Close Their Doors

Almost 10 years ago, I went to the National Stationery Show for the first time. This is when I officially fell in love with stationery and the products surrounding owning a stationery and gift business. In May of 2000 I carefully chose the first products I would offer at my brand new business- Charming Cards. Cooper and Oliver holiday photo cards was one of my first picks. It turned out to be a great choice as I sold a ton of them my first holiday season. They offered unique watercolor designs and their book pages were laminated which stood out from the way other books show. I have faithfully sold their holiday cards every year with a few bumps along the way in the early years, but I stuck with them through some of their growing pains and they came back better than ever after one rough season.

Recently it occured to me that I hadn't heard from them about receiving their holiday updates this year and after researching for a few hours on the internet, I found they have closed up shop without a word! (to me at least). Their phone is discontinued, their website is down, no reply to emails, and finally I got confirmation from another retailer who had personally heard they closed their business.

Their designs were so different that I hope they pursued the option of selling the business or licensing the art. I have had several phone calls from shoppers online wondering why they can't buy their cards from my website anymore. I have to say that I hope all is well with them personally and the economy wasn't the main culprit. You get to know your vendors pretty well in this business, especially after a 10 year relationship. They will be missed and I wish them well.

(some Cooper and Oliver favorites)