Eight colourful cards for autumn

November 16, 2023

My card deliveries seem to come around more quickly, but that’s ok as I’m still enjoying receiving them - and using them. And even more so now that we don’t have a shop around the corner it’s handy to have a selection of cards to choose from. The Card Boys also do a Christmas selection, but once again I’ve decided against that hoping that I will make most of ours, and supplement those that I don’t with charity cards.

Once again though for my homemade cards I’ve gone for Christmas trees - it’s definitely a theme of mine, which also seems to have slipped into the charity cards I’ve bought unintentionally. It’s not something I’m sad about though!

As before the eight cards in the quarterly subscription box are all blank inside, and usually only a couple of the cards in each box have determined use, in this box two are for birthdays, but in previous boxes there has also been a thank you card.

This month I’ve photographed them on a colourful, tropical background which works well for many of the cards which also have vibrant colours, but also works with the more muted colours in the mountain and valley scene above.

The three cheeky monkey cards is one of my favourites in this box and may just have influenced the background - if you look in the top left corner you can just spot part of another monkey! I’m not sure if this was an intentional plan of mine or not.

A simple white figure wearing a pink swimming costume on a blue background with white squiggly waves — ARTIST: MARTHA DUNCAN

I like the simplicity of this swimmer shot, and the squiggly ripples that they’re making. It has a calm about it and I can see this card having many uses. The asterisks with faces card below is cheery and it’s clear what its intended purpose is from a single glance.

multi-coloured asterisks with faces around the colourful text 'happy birthday!' — ARTIST: ABBIE INGLEBY

The cards in these boxes often feature flora and fauna, and these two are no different but their approach in entirely different. Above you have the punchy oranges design, and below a more delicate line drawing of flowers.

Cheery blue, orange and pink flowers on stems with leaves, with the happy birthday banner across them — ARTIST: MELISSA DONNE

The final two cards are by the same artist, and you can see that they’re related both with (and I mean this is a good way) splodgy flowers, which have an almost folklore feel to them.

A pink and white dove with a floral pattern carrying an olive branch on a pale blue background — ARTIST: MELISSA DONNE

My other favourite in this box is the dove card above, it just has a special feel about it and I think could be used for many occasions and correspondence. It also symbolises peace, which I’m sure we all agree the world could do with a lot more of right now.

Eight cards making me smile

August 31, 2023

I’m continuing my quarterly The Card Boys subscription and I’ve even managed to update my address so that the cards come directly to me. We have a post redirection set, and that’s now working as it should - there was a bit of a hiccup getting it set up, so it’s likely that we lost some of our post for three weeks after our move.

And when I say a bit of a hiccup I mean our local delivery office didn’t put the redirection in place, so that wasn’t great! It’s all working now though, and we’ve an additional three weeks tacked onto the end of our paid time period, but we’ll never know exactly what we missed - we know we probably missed some bills, and a car tax reminder - but as we knew to expect these we were able to make arrangements.

What we don’t know, is as always, what we don’t know. And it’s likely we never will. Our former neighbour did pop in to see if there was any abandoned post in our old house and forwarded a letter or two manually, which was good of him, but I’m guessing there can’t have been anything hugely important, or else we’d know by now.

We’ve actually been pretty good at changing our addresses in the many, many places that you discover you need to when you move. I’d written a list (no surprise there!) ahead of our move, and it’s been quite satisfying ticking things off it. Though it wasn’t helped in that some organisations didn’t have the up to date postcode file, so didn’t have our address listed. Even the Royal Mail redirection to start with - that was a bit of a face-plant moment I can tell you!

I’m sharing these summer cards on a drizzly end of August day, a day which feels far from summer - but hopefully it isn’t the end of summer yet, and September will come good with its warm sunny days.

As usual there’s eight cards in the box, and the cards celebrate talented artists. The first for this month definitely has a ‘back to school’ feel doesn’t it? Though it’d also be good for friends who like a spot of mindful colouring.

The second impressionist-like image is growing on me. The more I look at the floral border and tree branches, the clearer it becomes and the more I see - it’s definitely one to lose yourself in, and would carry a thoughtful message well.

The cheery elephants on this next card can’t fail to make me smile. I can feel the warmth radiating from the image, and the coolness of the water as it’s splashed around - how a picture can conjure up those feelings always amazes me.

Cheerful elephants at a watering hole surrounded by palm trees, one elephant is hosing water over its head, the other has its trunk in a pool of water - all on a cheery pastel pink background — ARTIST: LAURA BARNES

A repeating design of orange and blue flowers on green stems as if they're blowing in the wind — ARTIST: ARIANA MARTIN

The next two are both colourful - a flower covered ditsy image and a cheery musical note wishing a happy birthday. I know I’ll use these, but in the meantime they’ll join my card stash waiting their turn.

A black musical note with arms and legs on a green background with a speech bubble for 'happy birthday' above the illustration is the text Just a note to say written in orange, pink and blue on a pea green background — ARTIST: GRACE CHILTON

I like both of the flower in vases designs - and it’s quite a mainstay of these boxes, which is good for me. I find the cards can be used for many occasions, and are really quite flexible - as well as beautiful. It’s hard to let them go at times.

This month this birthday cake card is my favourite. I’m imagining it’s pink blancmange, wibble-wobbling on the plate! Again it’s another one that’s evoking feelings and making me smile. I’m not even sure blancmange is still a thing, it’s probably now called posset or mousse or something, who knows?

So another box of great cards. I saw on The Card Boys Instagram page that they’re hosting a giveaway for a box of cards, which is open until 4 September, so if you want to be in with a chance pop over there and enter - good luck!

Eight new cards for Spring - and a giveaway for UK postal addresses

May 29, 2023

*** This giveaway is now closed, thank you to those who entered ***

I’ve been subscribing to the The Card Boys quarterly card subscription box for over a year now and received my fifth box from them at the start of the month. As it goes I also received my sixth box from them pretty soon after as there had been a small hiccup as I received a duplicate of the winter box. I mean they’re great cards, but I didn’t need another box of the same and of course I was keen to see the designs in the spring box.

The Card Boys resolved this super quickly and the spring box was with me the next day - which given how temperamental the post can be at times is pretty impressive. They also said they were happy for me to share the box with someone who would enjoy it, and so at the end of this post that’s exactly what I’m doing.

The giveaway will be a simple one - you’ll only need to leave a comment on this post and enter using the widget, but please remember I will only be posting the winter box to a UK postal address, so apologies if you aren’t in the UK. The winner will obviously need to provide their UK postal address so that I can post their prize to them.

For details of how to enter please see the ‘How to enter’ section further down in this post.

But first let’s take a look at the cards for spring:

First up is what turned out to be a timely inclusion with the recent passing of the legend Tina Turner, and a play on her Simply the Best, and something that I’m sure all prawns (or shrimps) feel, or should do. But going back to Tina briefly, it’s easy to forget just how remarkable her life and career was, and how much of a difference she made for so many people.

A blue card with a prawn wearing a party hat - the wording shrimply the best above — ARTIST: GRACE CHILTON

Next up is a simply drawn bunch of flowers by Hollie Fuller - what I like about these cards is they often have many uses and can be used for any number of occasions. There’s often a thank you card in the box, and that’s great as I know it’s great to receive thanks, and even better if the card it arrives with is gorgeous too.

Flowers regularly feature in the designs and this box is no different. I like the variation in styles the different artists have, though if pushed I think I’d select the image above as my favourite floral image - I love the drama, and the colour.

A COLLECTION OF SEA SHELLS AND BEACH FINDS ON A PALE PINK BACKGROUND — ARTIST: CLARA BOOTH

The final two cards are again different in style - there’s the beach finds one above, which is nice and calming and my favourite of the whole box, the vibrant jungle cheetah - or what I think is a cheetah anyway!

Edited to add: And one more

The more observant will have spotted that I originally posted this with only seven cards. The final card is added below. I hadn’t noticed that there was a card missing from the box when I photographed them yesterday, but there was and MOH thought he’d be rumbled yesterday - but wasn’t.

It’s my birthday today, and it seems I have a convert to the cards! He said these are much nicer than the ones we can buy in our local small supermarket, and he knows I like nice cards. And nice tins. He’s not wrong on either front!

And so I discovered the eighth card was missing, but for the best reasons!

The trouble as ever is parting with these cards, but also knowing that when you do they’re appreciated by the recipient too. So another great box from The Card Boys, I’m glad I discovered them at last year’s Grand Designs and I’m certain I’ll be continuing my subscription.

How to enter

As I said at the start of this post I received a duplicate winter box in a delivery hiccup, which I will post to a UK winner once this giveaway closes. To enter the giveaway please leave a comment on this blog post telling me how receiving ‘happy post’ makes you feel - and by happy post, I mean not the bills or everyday drudgery such as junk mail etc.

It’s that simple, but please remember I will only be posting to a UK postal address, and I will obviously ask the winner to provide their UK address so they can receive the prize.

The winner will be contacted by email on 5 June.

The prize

You can see details of the cards included in the winter subscription box on my post from earlier this year: Eight cards to brighten a wintery day, they are also included in the short video below.

Contents of the winter subscription box from The Card Boys, the prize in this giveaway.