I'm pregnant magazine - Cococards is listed under the webwise section

I am in the Spring edition of I'm pregnant magazine page 126, I am very very happy about this, they took a shot of my home page and reviewed the website.

The only negative with the article,  is when I tell people I am in I'm pregnant magazine, all they hear is I'm pregnant and think I am having a fourth - do they think I'm crazy, well maybe!!!

Baby Show Excel Fri Feb 27th - Sun 1st March

I am exhibiting at the Baby Show Excel London at the end of feb, 29000 visitors expected over 3 days - ahhhhh.

I have been asked to design the celebrity guest invites and press invites, so I will post these here soon.

If you live anywhere near London, please come and say hello, stand C45

Happy New Year

A happy new year to all from CocoCards, I hope this year will be very exciting for CocoCards even when we are surrounded by doom and gloom - maybe beautiful stationery can help us through it!

My exciting plans are to expand my selection of cards and designers, moving into civil ceremonies and weddings and I will be exhibiting at the biggest baby show in the UK at the end of February, they expect 29000 visitors over 3 days, daunting but a fantastic challenge.

I will be adding more birthday party invitations and thank you cards over the next few weeks, I hope you like them.

It is my oldest daughters birthday party this weekend so I am very busy buying jewels, face paints, balloons and making my own party bags with personalised tags and matching thank you cards.

On the subject of thank you cards, my children loved (well OK loved a bit!) writing their cards this year as they had their own personalised thank you cards which made them very special. I will be adding more designs to this section of my website as I think it is lovely for children to have their own stationery.

Speak soon

Helen

Thank you cards - why and how to make it easier

Thank you cards

We all know that they are a struggle to write, but I have added below hints on how to make it easier and why I think it is a tradition we should encourage.

Why write them?

Joan Grayson Cohen, a licensed clinical social worker, says thank-you notes teach important lessons. These include being gracious about receiving gifts and valuing the gesture of gift giving. Writing thank you notes also teaches children to think beyond themselves and to make the giver feel appreciated. Taking a little time to express thanks teaches the protocols of civility and consideration, which can be transferred to other situations later in life, such as writing a note after a job interview."

Joan Grayson Cohen offered the following tips about writing those notes that should make this act of appreciation more fun for everyone:

Choose a method appropriate to your child’s age. Younger children who can’t write might draw a picture. They can dictate their thanks and Mum or Dad can write down their words. What a wonderful opportunity this is to begin teaching your child to write his or her name!

Find alternatives to writing. A children who can write but for whom writing is difficult (or who is resisting) can design his or her own stationery; cut out a picture of the gift from a magazine or the box and tape it in the note; and/or draw or paint the gift in the thank you note.

Make the task manageable. Don’t be a perfectionist about grammar and spelling. The thank you is more meaningful when it looks like it comes from the child. Brief notes are fine. If a child receives many gifts, space out the notes by writing a few each day.

Share the thanks you've received. Give your child positive models by sharing appreciative notes you have received, showing how much the thanks means to someone else.

Plan ahead. Purchase thank you cards with your child before the holidays (there's still a little time). This will set up the expectation that notes will be written for gifts received – another way to minimize the conflict

 Written by Kate Shatzkin of the Baltimore Sun

Christmas fairs and children's Christmas cards

Spent the last two weeks preparing and doing my Christmas fairs, which was very exciting, it was lovely to get out there instead of being sat in front of my computer and show off CocoCards designs.

The feedback I received on the cards was superb, people commented on the quality of the cards and the lovely designs - so thanks again to all my designers.

The thank you cards did very well, hopefully I encouraged old fashioned letter writing for our children. i will put all the designs on the website this week.

I have just been busy creating all of my daughters pre schools Christmas Cards, I will get them back from the printers today, so I hope everyone loves them I think they are lovely.

Is it really 5 weeks till Christmas

Christmas really has come early for me this year I normally ignore xmas till december, but designing christmas card since september, and personalising designs over the last week has made me panic. I have no idea what to buy for my 3 kids. I am lucky as they do not have long lists of things they want, but just a small list would be helpful!

I am going to browse the internet for original goodies, so if I find an wonderful presents I will list them here.

My other dilemma is which christmas card to choose for mine this year, it will probably have to be a trifold christmas card as they are so original and the ones I have printed so far have been just divine.

Remember 15% off till 20th November on all xmas cards, just click on www.cococards.co.uk.

Bye for now

Helen

Christmas fairs

About to do my first christmas fairs in a couple of weeks and I am going to show my christmas card collection, personalised christmas tags, thank you cards, kids jewellery (pictures to follow) - very exciting, my friend is a jewellery designer and we have made the most beautiful jewellery with scrabble tiles, pearls and silver name beads.