Tip 2 for Writing Thank you notes

Write them fast. The faster we write them the better the response. My children only have the memory of dog playing fetch unless it involves some offhand promise you intended them to forget (such as "we will buy a cat in 2 years when your brother turns 3") We try to pace our writing to avoid burnout. I've found I only can reasonably expect around 3 or 4 thank you notes a day. After that they deteriorate into silliness or boredom. So the day following a party we try to start to whittle away the list. I let them pick the order since their enthusiasm translates into good writing momentum.

Been Gifted? Thank you note Tip 1

So you've been gifted. For us this usually happens after a birthday. Now it is time to write a thank you note. There are tons of tips on the internet for how to write a thank you note. And I will try to record some of my own.

1st Tip for writing thank you notes: make your kids 'write' them. I let my kids dictate what they want to say. We follow the basic format: Thank you for (blank). I like it because (blank) Thanks for coming to my birthday. My daughter gets very detailed (ex. I hope you enjoyed your cupcake. My little brother can sleep in my new playhouse, etc) My son just draws "pictures" and gives one word responses which I record. But it can be really entertaining or take up lots of space with pictures. Either way we aim to create something fun to read. And, most important, they take ownership of the process. Gratitude, it is a beautiful thing.

I'm back!

Wow. It is has been a few months! I've been busy. In my limited time I worked on updating the website. It is switched over and official. Crazy. What a bunch of work that is...it was a great time to refine my product and pricing. I updated older items and left some off and added and added and added. I'm trying to beef up my boy product line. I've got some more ideas I just need a whole day to work on them all. But they'll come out slowly. The new site is

www.swellcards.com

The old site at swellcard should redirect you to the new page. The croc poster is my new favorite. It just makes me laugh. I wonder what his treasure is? I asked Campbell and he said cupcakes and sparkles. Of course.

Holiday Faire

So the Holiday Faire for my friend's Tiny Tots was very fun. I definitely need to do more of these events because the feedback is great. It is really interesting to see each kid's reaction as they paw through the cards on the table. I always try to mentally guess which card they'll gravitate towards and sometimes I'm totally off. I've been printing up some generic "hi there" and "thank you" cards to pass out as samples. Hopefully, they'll write a note and say "oooh I need more of these" and the recipient will say "ooooh I want my own."

Hot tub santa

The new seasonal card is out. This one was inspired by my husband who makes good use of the hot tub and has a very bright red robe. I wanted something that was more winter themed than holiday themed so it could be used to send notes through January and early February.

nice package

I've had a few ideas that didn't quite make the cut this round. One is a laminated "boo-boo" reward poster that features a sock monkey with little white stars. Each reward earns a sticking plaster for the monkey. My 3-year old is very into covering up all the spots with band-aids. The 1-year old just sticks them all at the bottom for some reason. It was very fun to use two boxes of band-aids (yeah dollar store!) in testing...but I'm not sure this product is quite ready yet. I think I'll let it stew in the back of my brain for a while longer. Anyway, this came about because I made these great sticker charts that the stickers didn't release from. Sorry testers...at least they were free! One clever tester friend is using removable stickers with success, so they are back on the site with disclaimers.

So, I've been busy getting ready for gift fair season. Hopefully I can attend a few and make some sales, spread the word. I just spent some time adding some more products. Door signs are a favorite. We mounted ours nice and low with 3M Picture hanging strips. The posters are mounted in light wooden frames with plastic (not glass) protectors. I like mounting them directly to the door so they don't bounce around. The strips are supposedly removable which is handy when Linnea is ready to swap it out for boy band posters. The other new item is the package section. It will allow you to order a few matching items (poster and cards) at the same time. Nice package means easy shopping.

Happy Birthday to You

After a few modifications, the first two birthday banners are ready to sell! They feature fun patterns and characters from other favorite swell items. I've decided to offer this on both the affordable indoor banner material and my favorite heavy fabric. They are finished just in time for the Greenhaven Mothers Club fall auction and Tiny Tot's harvest fair.

the pink banner
the green banner