Design Crafters

It’s rather amazing how sophisticated Christmas cards are
getting. We notice every year that more and more businesses are jumping on
the wagon to create something special with their Christmas cards. It almost
seems to be competitive, not only to outdo their competitors but to outdo
themselves from the previous year.

One way that businesses are doing that is to include their company logo inside
their Christmas cards. We have some special "Logo Christmas Cards" that are
specially designed for this purpose. They have a die cut opening where the logo
shows through from inside the card. That way, the logo is seen before the cards
are even open and then again after they are opened.

To print a single solid color logo can be done for a very reasonable price.
Adding another standard color of course adds to the price, but it doesn’t stop
there. If a special (PMS) ink mix is necessary, that adds to the price. Some
companies have logos that are actually full color.  Of course that beefs
the price up even more but that doesn’t seem to stand in the way of a lot of
businesses who realize that sending out "Season’s Greetings" with a
beautiful Christmas card with a thoughtful sentiment including their attractive
logo, is really a very cheap form of advertising and sends good will to all
their clients.

Christmas is one time of year that businesses can get away with sending
something like that to remind all their customers and clients of who they are
that they are available to serve.

Now days it seems that almost 1/5 of the Christmas card
orders we receive include either a custom verse and/or company logo. It’s not
just the companies who want to put forth a custom message to their clients and
customers. Those sending out personal Christmas cards are also showing their
creativity with custom verses that say exactly what they want to express. Many
custom verses are very thoughtful and some are very inspirational while other
are downright clever and funny.

Adding your own custom verse to any of our Christmas cards is quite simple.
Just add your created verbiage in the space provided on our order form, and we
will send you a .pdf proof for your approval before printing. That gives you an
opportunity to help us fine tune it if necessary before we submit your order
for printing.

You are given a number of fonts from which to choose and the end product will
look just as professional as if you used the verses offered, but adds a very
classic, personal touch with your customized message along with a matching font
for your personalization if that is what you want. You are the boss when you
customize your Christmas cards. We will do whatever you want. The extra fee for
this is a flat $40 fee to cover the printing plate that has to be created with
your special verse image to print. If you are doing a custom verse and a logo,
as long as your logo is all one color and we are printing everything the same
color, that $40 fee covers the logo and the custom verse because we can put it
all together as one piece of artwork, so only one printing plate has to be
made.

The term "custom" Christmas cards or "customized" Christmas cards seems to have a  rather broad interpretation. The most extreme definition would be to design a card from scratch, making it one of a kind, inside and out. To have something like that created is very expensive. In order to make our cards affordable at the same time very elegant with lots of foil stamping and embossing, many thousands are made at the same time and the dies, plates, templates that are used to produce the cards are used over and over for reprints, keeping the cost down.

To customized the inside of a card is still more expensive than choosing a standard verse in which a template is already made to use over and over. However, it is not that expensive and gives you a way to express your own thoughts, sentiments and appreciation in your own words and not those of others that are seen in so many other Christmas cards.

If you are not all that creative but want to do your own thing, you can get ideas by reading several standard verses that come close to what you want to say, but just change it up a bit and even include your name or company name within your verse making it very personalized. Choose a font you like and there you have it.

 We will help you format your verse in you favorite font in the space provided on the card and email you a proof before printing so you have an opportunity to provide feedback in case you want to change anyting before printing. That way you will know exactly how the inside will look before we even place the order.

Some folks think that having their name or company name printed inside the card is customizing it. We in the industry call that "personalizing" the card. Most businesses like to personalize their cards for a couple of reasons. It looks professional and if you are ordering a lot, it is a lot of work to hand sign them all.

There are those individuals who want their cards to appear more personal so choose to sign them themselves. That certainly is a personal choice. We have many clients email us their signatures and we have them printed inside the cards. That is another form of customization.

Some companies who send out thousands of cards probably have no choice but to use labels for mailing, but it is highly recommended that you start early enough and if necessary, get some extra help and hand address your Christmas cards. It just makes it so much more personal. This is one time of year that it pays to take a little extra time and effort to be personal with those receiving your Season’s Greetings.