Is Social Media also killing the art of sending a greeting card?

It used to be that sending a greeting card for any occasion was considered good manners, regardless of the motivation of the sender.  You simply just had to do it.  It was considered low-class not to.  As time went on we began to send them out intermittently; just at Christmas time, or the occasional birthday (if you happened to remember), and sometimes if you had a truly wonderful time at someone’s house you’d actually dig out that old dusty box of “thank you” notes and pop that into the mail.  Unfortunately as time has evolved from the latter part of the 20^th century and into the 21^st century, technology and more-so, social media has eroded a once beautiful way to express yourself to another.

I don’t know about you, but I personally don’t think an e-card on my birthday, or Face Book birthday wishes cut it.  Not even close. They’re impersonal, tasteless and a cop out.  Society has become desensitized to the fact that we don’t use the phone to call one another much anymore, but instead we text.  It’s less of a commitment.  We don’t send letters anymore, we email (and even that is considered by the younger generation as passé).  People are getting hit by cars while walking down the street because they are head down buried in their I-phone.  We are alone in our own little world of technology and we are losing the art of true communication.

I started out painting handmade greeting cards over 20 years when I was then living in Los Angeles.  I stated out collecting them first because I found so many of them beautiful.  And it was hard letting go of one when I actually had an occasion to send it.  But I did.  And it was always appreciated.  When I got serious about it and started my own business, I knew up front that it was going to be more of an uphill battle to build a customer base because hand painted always means more expensive than a printed card from Hallmark.  But I forged ahead anyway and now decades later I am still committed to my greeting card business and I still get excited when people in my life tell me that they have kept the cards I’ve sent them over the years as keepsakes, and occasionally look through them. And it is especially nice to hear the same from them, those cards of mine that they have purchased and sent to their special someone, who too have kept it as a keepsake into the future.  

The idea of purchasing and then sending a hand painted greeting card is that it is truly something special.  It’s an authentic expression to another that they are special and that they are “worth it”.  It is many times the actual gift itself.  Since most high-end hand painted greeting cards are produced on 100 lb. acid free paper stock and measure 5”x7”, they are farmable, especially if you purchase the frame to go along with the card. 

I’m a passionate artist who has been truly immersed in the world of hand painted greeting cards and I consider it a pleasure to create a product that hopefully will enhance another person’s special occasion. 

If you’re a fan like me, then please visit my hand painted greeting card site at http://paintedcard.etsy.com