Tag Archives: greeting cards

It’s All About the Quail

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A young female Gambel’s Quail walking past the cactus statue.

We have two types of birds that visit every day. Quail and doves. I enjoy quail more than doves, because with their top knots they look like clowns and have tons of personality.

I caught this sharp photo of a male quail alone on the bird block.

This female quail strikes a pose on a backyard bench.

Papa quail is looking a bit round. I can tell the difference between the adults and juveniles who are entering adulthood by their size. The ones who hatched in the Spring look skinny in comparison to this guy (see the first photo for a young one.)

A female quail caught mid step on a bench (above) and a male below.

Wickham Works Cards Update:

It’s been a couple days since my website went live for my photographic greeting cards. I mailed out my first order to a fellow blogger. Thank you!

I went out to dinner with women I used to volunteer with to raise money for a residential facility to rehab sex-trafficked victims. Our group is defunct, but we still get together socially. One of those ladies looked at my cards and asked for custom stationery featuring her name and flowers.

Yes, I can take custom orders, too! I hadn’t thought about that before.

If you get a chance, visit my website: https://www.wickhamworkscards.com/

One of my cards with the star named Red.

Happy weekend! What are your plans?

Creating a Website

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I did it! My website featuring my photography greeting cards is live! Two friends of mine who were graphic designers I worked with during my PR days in Palm Springs, pre kids, suggested I turn my nature photography into greeting cards. We live within a few miles of each other all these years later. They’ve been very supportive and full of ideas for me.

I jumped in and applied for a business license. I signed up to create a website. I ordered a few test cards of Red. I fiddled with different weights of card stock and finishes. I liked the look of glossy cards, but as a left-handed person, my writing smeared. I tried to order a card that I could write on and have my penmanship legible. Lots of little tweaks and more ordering cards.

Then I tinkered with the website itself. Lots of revising, editing and more editing. Deciding what photos I wanted to create cards with. I used Squarespace for the first time and the learning curve was doable but not foolproof.

When I finally published my website this week, I placed a test order. It didn’t work. I spent several hours with their AI chat bot. I followed all the directions, but nothing happened. Then AI said they’d send me to a real person! Woohoo! It took them less then two minutes to figure out my issue and now I’m in business.

The next step is to go in person to local gift stores with a few packets of card to see if they’ll accept my cards for sale. Yes, that makes me more than a little nervous…

When my son was in middle school and high school, he created and managed our swim team’s website. Back then, when he’d make a change he’d have to upload the whole site which would take six to eight hours. Now I can make a change to and it’s done instantly.

You’re more than welcome to check out my website HERE.

https://www.wickhamworkscards.com

Card Update

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This is my first card, second attempt. I’m using the app Canva. I was so excited to receive my first test order of “Red cards” yesterday. But there was something wrong. My excitement soon turned to disappointment.

I thought I had created a folded card with Red’s photo on the front, my logo on the back and blank inside so people can write a personal message. What came in the mail was this:

A flat two-sided card that was blank on the back. No logo. No fold. Not what I thought I had created.

I used Canva AI to help with the layout to make sure I had the pages set up correctly. According to AI, it was ready to go and AI even complimented me on my card!

After delivery, I immediately went to Canva’s website to complain that my cards weren’t printed correctly. Customer service was through a chatbot. What a world we live in! No human beings around. The bot told me that I had selected “Cards” when I should have selected “Folded Cards.” I asked where to find it and was told “Go to Home, click on Print Shop, click on Folded Cards.”

But of course. Silly me. Why didn’t I think of that. Instead, I clicked on Templates. Ugh.

Canva was kind enough to give me an instant refund. After finding “Folded Cards,” I was able to recreate the card properly (I hope) and ordered another small test run. (See first photo above.)

In the meantime, while I wait to inspect round two of test cards, I got my business license, I ordered business cards (with my license number) and I’m creating more cards.

One of my graphic designer friends who encouraged me in this project said, “Next comes your website!”

I’ve tried to stay away from AI, but it pops up everywhere.

Are you finding more and more AI in your daily life? Where and do you use it?

Do you have any suggestions for an easy website app that’s not WP?