Making Greeting Cards: A Guide for Newbies

Sending out personalized, handmade or self-designed Greeting cards is a way to make your recipients feel special. Creating your own Greeting cards isn't as uncommon or challenging as you may think. You don't have to be an artist to make professional-looking cards. All you need is a little information.

It's never too early to begin creating greeting cards; you'll need them when a birthday comes up or a holiday arrives. But before you begin designing professional-looking cards, you should be aware that there are full color (process) cards and spot color cards. Spot color cards use programs that have PMS color pallets. Some examples of programs that have PMS color pallets are Photoshop, InDesign, and Adobe Illustrator. Programs like Microsoft Word have an RGB color palette, and designing with this software may cost extra in the long run due to the need to convert your files to process colors. If the files aren't converted, the colors may come out slightly different than from what you want.

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The widespread accessibility to commercial printers now makes it so that large orders of professional-looking greeting cards can be printed with minimal hassle. Smaller orders can be completed by chaining orders together on large offset presses, and digital printing can print quantities from 25 to 250 or more. If you're doing digital printing, make sure to use process colors or CMYK only, as otherwise your final pieces may come out wrong. If you're low on money, it's also important to consider what will be cheapest printing option. If you only want 500 cards, sometimes it's cheaper to buy 500 prints if you buy 1000 and recycle or sell half the finished product.

Many printers have a wide assortment of envelopes you can choose from for your final products, ranging from plain envelopes to specialty envelopes that will fit specially sized cards, such as square ones. Many printers also have templates available that will help you. Envelopes come in all shapes and sizes, but you need to be sure your cards will fit in the envelopes you purchase. Your card should fold no wider than 4"x9" if you use a #10 envelope, for instance.

You can order envelopes with prints on the front or back, or you can even get your return address printed on them. Make sure you leave the recommended margin available for the printer you use, as printers need to hold onto the envelopes while they print.

Do not be afraid of asking for assistance from others. They may have the skills you need to really make your greeting cards a hit among your friends and family.

Making Greeting Cards: A Guide for Newbies

Retirement Quotes For Cards and Greetings

It can be hard to find the right words for a special occasion sometimes. When someone is retiring, it's a nice gesture to send or offer a card with kind words of congratulations and best wishes for the wonderful future. It you aren't sure what to say, you can include some well-known or even obscure retirement quotes in your card or Greeting to the retiree.

If you are related to the person who is retiring, it would be both loving and respectful to include some of your own words and thoughts instead of just relying on the wit or candor of someone who was clever enough to be quoted. If you would still like to include a retirement quote, such as something listed below, consider first including your heartfelt words of congratulations.

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Sentimental and Humorous Retirement Quotes

Consider these retirement quotes as options for some phrasing and sayings you can include in a retirement card or Greeting.

• Enjoy your life to the fullest now that you don't have to work!

• Hope you have fun with the challenge of spending your time as you like without spending all your money!

• With retirement comes better hours, but less money! Hope you enjoy!

• "Retirement means no pressure, no stress, no heartache... unless you play golf."
- Gene Perret

• "Retire from work, but not from life."
- M.K. Soni

• "Don't act your age [in retirement]. Act like the inner young person you have always been."
- J. A. West

• Take the time to smell the roses and enjoy the life to the fullest!

• Enjoy your retirement now that every day is like the weekend!

• Now you can enjoy your life without a job to hold you down. Happy Retirement!

• No more work! Enjoy life to the fullest --- now is the time to chase your dreams.

• Happy Retirement! Now you can enjoy your time and your money....

• Retirement: Fish, golf, and travel to your heart's content!

Tips on Retirement Greetings

Remember, if someone you know is retiring, this is a very special and important time in life for that person. You should do your best to show respect and appreciation for the retiree, offering encouragement and friendship for the future. You can send retirement Greetings in a greeting card or in an e-card, e-mail, or a handwritten note. You can also offer retirement greetings verbally either in person or over the phone.

Most of the time it is nice to offer a true retirement card with heartfelt sentiments on the person's many years of hard work and dedication to the job. Express your own thoughts and feelings about how proud you are of the retiree, and offer a reminder that now is the time to relax and enjoy life. A lot of people look forward to retirement and then may not know what to do with it once it gets here - remind your special retiree that you are always there for support.

Retirement Quotes For Cards and Greetings

How to Start Your Own Greeting Card Business

A business idea can be very simple and very profitable at the same time. To start your own home-based business, you will have to discover something intriguing and sellable that you will enjoy doing over a long period of time.

Though many types of Greeting cards are already available on the market, you can enter that niche and be a success. It takes some planning, preliminary research and determination. You will have to do some initial calculations and research to find out if your idea is profitable. Once you are done with these first preparatory steps, you can get your business going.

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Research Competition
The first step in the business establishment process involves the accumulation of knowledge about the competition. Take several weeks to complete that step. Go to stores and search the web. See what others are doing - examine their strengths and weaknesses.

Classify the competition. Some cards will be general, while others will have something more specific and unique about them. Find out what companies are doing and whether their ideas sell well.

Knowing who you will be standing against will give you an edge over others. It is really important to carry out extensive research and to know the nice in detail before you attempt to discover your place in it.

Discover a Unique Niche
Now that you know what others are involved in, you can determine the best niche for your home-based Greeting cards business.

In order to make good profit, you should offer something that nobody else has thought about. Think about your strengths. How are you different from the competition? Is there something unique that clients could get from you?

Today, technology rules all aspects of life. Greeting cards are becoming increasingly universal and similar. Begin offering something different.

Handmade cards can sell well, especially if you have an impressive artistic style and manner of expression. You can make drawings, collages or other types of handmade work that will turn each card into an individual piece of art.

Focus on something very specific that you are capable of doing well. Competing within a general and well-established niche could be difficult. Discovering your own sub-niche will change the situation.

Calculate Expenses and Purchase Supplies
A Greeting card business consists of several components. The artistic component is one important side. Yet, you will have to do some business calculations and plans. Make a list of all the supplies that you will need to get the business started. Use that list to calculate the preliminary expenditure.

Knowing how much you will have to spend before you begin making cards will provide you with indications about the initial business investment. Expenditure calculation will also determine the price of each card you will make. Knowing what your business will require in terms of finances will also let you know whether the idea is profitable.

Marketing!
Even the most amazing idea will remain unpopular if it lacks good marketing. Advertising is one of the biggest steps you will have to undertake in terms of getting your business recognized. You can utilize a number of inexpensive channels to let people know more about you. Word of mouth is one of the most effective marketing tools.

Start your website. You can use a blog platform and a free template to get started. Once your business evolves, you may begin thinking about a professional website. Utilize online channels to promote your business. Social networks need to turn into your biggest marketing allies.

Starting your greeting card business could be a difficult and lengthy process. Persistence is of key importance. Getting discouraged means giving in to the pressure and losing your positions. Be ready to work hard and make some sacrifices. The business will pay you back as soon as you get it going.

How to Start Your Own Greeting Card Business

How to Make Greeting Cards a Business

Do you like to make images and designs and even writings? Do you love to look at the Greeting cards in your local specialty shops? Then Greeting cards home business might be best for you. This is the business option with great growth, and income potential. It also provides the owner several different alternatives in the business itself. These things usually provide the opportunity to have you doing only as one part such as drawing and especially writing. This same business can be selling e card or those cards that can be easily purchased on stores and shops. It can also entail buying a territory from a bigger card distributor. To further improve your know how about these things, all you have to do is to read on below.

• The very first pace in how to begin a Greeting card business on your own is to make a decision on what part of the card business you want to concentrate on. As a freelance card professional, it is necessary for you to concentrate only on designing cards for other business establishments, there are common costs that are associated with this alternative and it usually include the buying of a computer set and image art software or program if you do not yet have these things. In addition, if you want to be a freelance card writer, your home based card business must usually concentrate on only writing the phases to be used on the cards. For this, you only need a computer set and a fast turnaround time. Of course, you can also freelance as both a artist and a writer. To get jobs, it is necessary for you to contact business establishments to see if they are in need of your service. These business establishments usually pay great amounts for any writing or image-composing task. However, until you build up a great portfolio of the samples of your task, and sometimes even after, jobs can be very hard to find.

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• Another alternative is to acquire a transaction course from a bigger greeting card business. This route usually becomes your way of beginning a card business. It is necessary for you to keep current clients and customers stocked in cards, replace old cards with new ones and get new clients and customers to build up your business profit. All you have to do is to start up cost that can run from hundreds to thousands of dollars in inventory. However, when you take these cards to all clients and customers, they will provide you with their payment instantly after they have it.

• If you want to begin your own line of cards, your cards business tactic must always concentrate on all the elements of the custom greeting cards business. It is necessary for you to design and write each card inside and out. Someone that tells you what they want must not hinder your creative mind and freedom. It is necessary for you to make all the decisions and it will be really a card business. Being a greeting card owner will surely make the internet one of the best marketing tools that you can utilize. You will not be able to compete with bigger greeting card business if you will not make a special niche for your own cards on the internet and in small local business shops.

How to Make Greeting Cards a Business

How to Make Greeting Cards a Business

Do you like to make images and designs and even writings? Do you love to look at the Greeting cards in your local specialty shops? Then Greeting cards home business might be best for you. This is the business option with great growth, and income potential. It also provides the owner several different alternatives in the business itself. These things usually provide the opportunity to have you doing only as one part such as drawing and especially writing. This same business can be selling e card or those cards that can be easily purchased on stores and shops. It can also entail buying a territory from a bigger card distributor. To further improve your know how about these things, all you have to do is to read on below.

• The very first pace in how to begin a Greeting card business on your own is to make a decision on what part of the card business you want to concentrate on. As a freelance card professional, it is necessary for you to concentrate only on designing cards for other business establishments, there are common costs that are associated with this alternative and it usually include the buying of a computer set and image art software or program if you do not yet have these things. In addition, if you want to be a freelance card writer, your home based card business must usually concentrate on only writing the phases to be used on the cards. For this, you only need a computer set and a fast turnaround time. Of course, you can also freelance as both a artist and a writer. To get jobs, it is necessary for you to contact business establishments to see if they are in need of your service. These business establishments usually pay great amounts for any writing or image-composing task. However, until you build up a great portfolio of the samples of your task, and sometimes even after, jobs can be very hard to find.

Greeting

• Another alternative is to acquire a transaction course from a bigger greeting card business. This route usually becomes your way of beginning a card business. It is necessary for you to keep current clients and customers stocked in cards, replace old cards with new ones and get new clients and customers to build up your business profit. All you have to do is to start up cost that can run from hundreds to thousands of dollars in inventory. However, when you take these cards to all clients and customers, they will provide you with their payment instantly after they have it.

• If you want to begin your own line of cards, your cards business tactic must always concentrate on all the elements of the custom greeting cards business. It is necessary for you to design and write each card inside and out. Someone that tells you what they want must not hinder your creative mind and freedom. It is necessary for you to make all the decisions and it will be really a card business. Being a greeting card owner will surely make the internet one of the best marketing tools that you can utilize. You will not be able to compete with bigger greeting card business if you will not make a special niche for your own cards on the internet and in small local business shops.

How to Make Greeting Cards a Business