Greeting cards in the post

Two weeks ago I wrote a post about my new online art gallery, inviting all my readers to come for a viewing on my opening day. Some of you took up that invitation and I have had some very nice and positive feedback and comments. One thing I could not tell you about in my original post was the quality of the prints from the company where I have my pictures stored, as I had not yet received my first order. That order has now arrived so please read on!

I ordered eight of my prints as greeting cards, it is the most expensive way of ordering greeting cards as there are much cheaper options as a 10 pack or a 25 pack of the same print, but I wanted to see as many different prints of mine as possible so that’s why I chose to do it this way. All my prints can be ordered in many different sizes, including as greeting cards, but some of my prints are made especially for greeting cards as they have text as Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas – not really something you would want to enlarge and put in a frame, well, you could if you want to I suppose, the option is there if you really want to!

I did read some reviews beforehand, and they all said the prints were fantastic, especially the greeting cards, but reading a review is not really the same as looking, feeling and touching yourself. When the cards finally arrived today I must say they thoroughly lived up to all my expectations – and more! The cards have a glossy print, but they also have a kind of laminated surface which make them more hardwearing and less likely to get scratched. The cards simply look like any greeting card you buy in the shops and nothing like what you print out at home, even on the most expensive greeting card inkjet paper around. I am impressed!

The cards come with envelopes too, nice envelopes, not too big, not too small - and thick, not thin and cheap ones. Speaking of cheap, the cards are not that bad in price, even if they are print-to-order. Postage is calculated depending on how many cards you buy, more cards means less postage per card. The cards are sent to Europe with either FedEx or USPS, my parcel came with USPS, United States Postal Service, it took 2 days to print and 16 days for delivery – so long that I actually sent off an email asking if my parcel had been lost. I got a nice reply saying the parcel was on its way, but could take up to 14 working days. So if you make an order, make sure to allow for that extra delivery time. The parcel was delivered to me by Royal Mail along with my normal mail, no signature required, so if you are out when the parcel arrive, providing you haven’t ordered too many greeting cards, they will go through your door with the rest of your mail – well, here in Britain at least.

Some examples for you, in British pounds, although you can choose currency when ordering. All prices include envelope.

Single cards            = £2.63 / card
Pack of 10 cards     = £1.42 / card
Pack of 25 cards     = £1.27 / card

10 cards     = 16.66 incl. shipping     = £1.66 / card

25 cards     = 35.80 incl. shipping     = £1.43 / card

100 cards   = 131.43 incl. shipping   = £1.31 / card

When you order your cards, you can chose whether you want a white or a black back, here you can see both. It can be quite stylish with a black back if the print on the front is quite dark, but this is completely up to each and everyone. You can also create a message to go inside the card or cards, if you for example buy a pack of 25 cards they can all have a message saying Happy Birthday, much love from XXXXX – or you can buy a card with a Christmas motif and simply write Merry Christmas inside. You can also write a more personal message, on single cards or packs of cards.
 

I am so pleased with my greeting cards, it’s almost unbelievable that these cards are made from my pictures. Next step is to order some enlargements prints too, but I think I will need to save up a bit for them, they are a bit more expensive than the printer I usually use here in Britain. Possibly because the quality is higher too, you usually get what you pay for. But the greeting cards has certainly been a success for me and I hope I have inspired some of you to go out and find a place for your pictures too. Perhaps you are worried that your pictures will be stolen online? This company, Fine Art America has done a rather clever thing about that, by putting some software to each photo so the full resolution can only be viewed in pieces and only 50% of the photo. You will have to see that for yourself to understand how it works, but I feel my pictures are quite safe here, as opposed to many other places online where they can easily be nicked by anyone.

So I guess the only thing for me to do now is to give you the address to my gallery, in case you didn’t save it last time, it is www.heleneutaylor.co.uk and if you are thinking about putting your photos with Fine Arts America, but you’re not really sure how to get started, please just ask, I am happy to be of help if I can. Until next time, take care.