Yup, finally, this week, I reached ONE THOUSAND greeting cards with USA based Print on Demand Company, Greeting Card Universe (GCU) and I'm pleased to say that my card sales are on the up.  Although GCU are based in the USA, they do have a printing partner in the UK, and as a Brit, I consider this a big plus.

My best seller is without a doubt this one 

featuring our darling little rescue dog, Jack. I don't think a week goes by without this card selling and yesterday one customer from Texas purchased five of these cards all at once.  I'm happy to report that Jack is handling his fame extremely well and will very politely give a paw print to anyone who asks - in exchange for a few treats of course :)  Should you like to purchase this card, just click on the image and it will take you directly to it on the GCU website.

Designing greeting cards is something I have loved to do for many years, long before Print on Demand companies ever started.  In fact, as my late father was a photographer, he created our own family Christmas cards every year since before I was born. He did all the photography and printing himself.

Here is the first Christmas card dad did from 1952 (at least it's the first one I have a record of) and this is him and my mum enjoying the Swiss Alps.

Then when my brothers, sister and I all came along, so we too appeared in the Christmas cards, check out this golden oldie. I'm the youngest at the end sitting with the dog :)  There was no Photoshop in those days of course, so hand made signs to hold up for the photograph was definitely the way to go.  I didn't quite manage to hold my sign up, but who wants to let the world know I was about in 1959 anyway ... ooops looks like the secret's out!  And as you can clearly see my love of photography, design and of course DOGS was born at a very young age.

Although I do have a bit of a preference for designing humorous birthday cards of the doggy kind, I do have many other cards as well.  

Vintage Car

Text 

Hat 

Shoes

And of course, Flowers

If you should be interested in purchasing any of the cards shown above, just click on the image and it will take you directly to the relevant page on the GCU website.

Also, many of my cards, as with the examples above, are available for lots of different people and family members and if you can't find the card you would like, addressed to the specific person that you require, you can always click on the 'Request a Design Change' option that is among the information underneath each card on the GCU website next to the Product ID, and ask me to customize one just for you. Provided it's a simple design change, this facility costs nothing extra.

I can't really write a blog about my greeting cards without mentioning the highlight, and that was when one of my photographic images was used by the Dogs Trust - UK's largest dog rescue charity - for their 2012 Corporate Christmas card. That card was sent out to about 20,000 people and needless to say has a blog post all of its own!  

I'll leave you with an invitation to please do come and visit my store with GCU - Natalie Kinnear Cards - and feel free to contact me with any questions you may have about my greeting cards or photographic artwork.  

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