Marketplace: Save on Boxed Dozen Holiday Cards
It’s time for my annual sale on boxed dozen holiday cards, $10.00 per box! You can stock up now and have them on hand next year so you can get started early. If you scroll all the way down you’ll see it’s not only my feline card designs, but my nature card designs as well.
- All cards are 5″ x 7″, most have messages inside, all come with envelopes, often an assortment of envelopes depending on the colors on the card.
- You can’t mix and match within a box, but you can order as many different designs as you’d like.
- Use the code $10DOZENGREETINGCARDS in your shopping cart for the discount.
Why the annual sale?
The places I’ve had my greeting cards printed has changed over the years, and cards get to look a little tired after I’ve brought them out for several years in a row. Every so often I update the designs too. Now I print with all smaller local printers who can give me a good price on smaller runs (under 100 cards) to save cost, and the need for storage space.
But even though I’m using the same designs and ordering the same basic specifications for paper and finish, each printer is a little different, and when I add new cards into older sets they’re often just different enough that it’s noticeable. I used to end up with a lot of stray cards—no, not cats, but cards!—and could sometimes sell them individually, or box them in mixed dozens, but they usually went to the clearance rack, and in time the ones left had bent-up corners, ripped spines, fingerprints, and the envelope glue had sealed from humidity. The clear-top greeting card boxes I pack them in don’t fare well over time either. In the end cards barely broke even in terms of cost, but customers do like them, and I like to have them on hand for the regular shoppers.
Each year I package up dozens of holiday cards for my holiday events and sales, even this year when people could pick up curbside. A few years ago when I found the local printers who could print 50 to 100 at a time for a price I could still sell reasonably I decided to have a clearance of the cards I already had boxed at the end of the year. When I printed again over the summer I could start fresh and everyone could buy “new” cards, and later I’d have just a small number in the clearance rack.
So, here we go!
Cookie’s Holiday Cheer
You know that Cookie is usually the sweetest tortoiseshell kitty you’d ever want to meet, but she’s less than thrilled about modeling. Especially when she’s been…”decorated”.
On the back:
“You’ll Pay For This.”
Photo • 2006
“This is not how I want to be remembered.”
It all started when I set the silver sparkle ball on Cookie’s head, and she gave me the tortie look, but stayed put. Cookie isn’t really wild about modeling for her mom’s stupid pictures. But you don’t see her running away. Too bad for Cookie. You can read about that photo shoot here.
Inside at left.
This 5″ x 7″ card is printed on 12 pt. gloss card stock and includes a matching envelope, half dozens and dozens packed in a clear-top white cardboard greeting card box.
Star of Wonder
This card features a simple, wordless illustration of a cat looking at a star.
I love to design with silhouettes. As an artist I turn to my surroundings for creative output, and what better models are my family of five black cats than creating with feline silhouettes? Using a photo of Mr. Sunshine looking up at a moth, I created his silhouette including all those lovely long whiskers and fur tips. I created the star motif years ago for another holiday design project for a customer, and I’m glad to use it for my designs this year. You can read more about the design here.
This 5″ x 7″ card is printed on 12 pt. gloss card stock and include a matching envelope, half dozens and dozens packed in a clear-top white cardboard greeting card box.
Click here to purchase these cards.
Can We Get That Thing?
This card features a wordless illustration of the Curious Quartet looking at a star.
Inside the card reads: “…they look-ed up, and sa-aw a star …
…and they WANTED it!
I love to design with silhouettes. As an artist I turn to my surroundings for creative output, and what better models are my family of five black cats than creating with feline silhouettes?
For this illustration I used reference photos I’d taken of the Curious Quartet when they were just little kitties watching birds. I created the star motif years ago for another holiday design project for a customer, and I’m glad to use it for my designs this year. You can read more about this design here.
This 5″ x 7″ card is printed on 12 pt. gloss card stock and include a matching envelope, half dozens and dozens packed in a clear-top white cardboard greeting card box.
Click here to purchase these cards
Sophie Gets a Look at Herself
Sophie was a little goofy, and did at one time look at herself in a glass ornament on the tree…for my holiday card in 1999 I decided to illustrate that memory in a quick little sketch!
On the back:
Sophie Gets a Look at Herself
Pastel • 1999
The message inside reads: “Hope your Christmas is full of wonderful surprises!”
Whether or not Sophie thinks she is all nose with tiny eyes and ears or that every ornament has her image on it, I don’t know, but she certainly looked a little disconcerted at encountering her reflection in this way. In any case, she provided the inspiration for a bright, cheerful piece of holiday artwork!
This 5″ x 7″ card is printed on 12 pt. gloss card stock and include a matching envelope, half dozens and dozens packed in a clear-top white cardboard greeting card box.
Click here to purchase this card.
Peace on Earth
Look a little closer at those markings…what do you see?
A Cat Named Peace, A Dog Named Earth
Pen and Ink Illustration • 1997
For my holiday card in 1997, I was puzzling out yet another way to say “Peace on Earth”. I saw an illustration that had each hemisphere of a globe on either side of a Christmas tree ornament, and thought the idea of using the globe was clever. Creating portraits of spotted dogs and spotted cats at the time, something in my brain put it all together for me. While I regularly create linoleum block prints, I decided to draw this one out instead of cutting it! Don’t know why…
I decided to bring this design back out this year!
This 5″ x 7″ card is printed on 12 pt. gloss card stock and include a matching envelope, half dozens and dozens packed in a clear-top white cardboard greeting card box.
The card is blank inside, but with a minimum order of four dozen they can also be customized with your message or logo (please convo on Etsy).7″ card is printed on 14 pt. gloss card stock and include a matching envelope.
Click here to purchase this card.
An Old Memory
This card is based on a photo I took years ago…
An Old memory
Photo • 1983
Cut-paper snowflakes taped
to a wavy glass window reflecting
the big front porch from an apartment I lived in long ago,
and a cat I will always remember from when he and I were very young,
just beginning,
me just getting to know my camera, and my art;
how did I capture a perfectly blended image to reflect those times?
This card has a message inside: Wishing you wonderful memories this holiday season and new year.
With a minimum order of four dozen it can also be customized with your message or logo (please convo on Etsy).
This 5″ x 7″ card is printed on 12 pt. gloss card stock and includes a matching envelope, half dozens and dozens packed in a clear-top white cardboard greeting card box.
Click here to purchase this card.
Winter Cats
Not really a “holiday” set, but all images of winter light for that time of year.
You know those moments where you walk upon a scene of your cats doing something that you always want to remember, whether it’s a regular habit or a one-time thing? This scene was one of Stanley’s regular habits during his last few years; every afternoon he’d head upstairs with intent and I’d find him curled in the same spot on the bed.
All of my art begins with a moment, be the subject my cats or nature or even a more abstract visual theme. It’s where I go from that moment of inspiration that differs from one work to the next. Sometimes I’ll decide on a more formal portrait, more detailed, more planned, to capture a moment. I’ll take photos and write a few notes and keep it in my files for the day when I have time to follow up, and often this is determined by how often and how clearly my original image appears in my conscious mind—sometimes a painting really wants to be done and I find myself visualizing it all the time, other times it leaves and comes back at a moment that is meaningful. But sometimes I’ll do a quick sketch and leave it at that. The image is simple, it works best small, I only want to capture the mood, and there isn’t enough essential detail to warrant a larger, more detailed piece.
You can read more about each of these images here. Click here to purchase the cards.
Nature and Wild Birds
These sets inspired by nature are designed from my paintings and photographs from my backyard and the trails I enjoy in winter. Each set includes four or more designs. Click on any image to read more about it on Portraits Of Animals.
Backyard Birds
Unexpected Berries
Winter Walks
Winter Beauty
Cardinals Brighten a Snowy Day
This set actually has four designs.
Marketplace
Mimi helps me pack cards.
Take a look at other new merchandise and featured artwork.
Marketplace is a feature on The Creative Cat to share the latest coming out of my studio with my readers. Once a week on Thursday I feature something new in my “shop”.
Read about creating custom items
Find out more about creating custom items for your own home using the images you see here. Visit the “Ordering Custom Art” page to see samples and read bout how to order.
Find out about events and festivals where you can find me and my work.
Sign up for my e-newsletter (below), check the widget on the sidebar on my home page, or sign up to receive posts on Portraits of Animals Marketplace. I plan on plenty of events this coming summer in the Pittsburgh area.
It’s all done under the close and careful supervision of my studio cats!
Copyright
All images and text used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission, although links to your site are more than welcome and are shared. Please ask if you are interested in using and image or story in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of an image or a product including it, check my animal and nature website Portraits of Animals to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.
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© 2022 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski
Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
I am trying to order the Sophie card, but it keeps saying coupon invalid. 🙁
I can’t figure it out! I tried ordering it myself, and I get the same error, but the coupon code is correct. I will work on this! I’m so sorry!
Fixed it! Background coding had a symbol that wasn’t permitted. Probably some kitty stepped on my keyboard!