A new mums website called mumsjustlove.com

I was searching the web as I do very frequently the other day and found this wonderful website, funnily enough they had just found my website and featured my mummy cards.

So what do they do - Mumsjustlove find the best products, retailers and offers online for mums and their little ones. everything promoted on mumsjustlove is hand-picked by their editorial team, no listings are paid for which means they are really showcasing the best! their product directory features the best products from literally 100's of retailers and CoCoCards is one of them!

You can link to the article and the website here

http://www.mumsjustlove.com/images/recommended3.jpg  -recommendation

http://mumsjustlove.com/talk/?p=304  - article

Busy busy busy

I am getting busier all the time now, my hubbie made me do an excel chart to show my sales and it is a steep upward curve, so that is great news, I hope it keeps on improving.

I keep getting lots of fantastic feedback which is always lovely and puts a big smile on my face. I have posted some on my testimonial page.

I have designed a couple of wedding invites lately, thought I might dabble in this area, thinking about doing a wedding show to see what the reaction to my cards is, as I know there is a lot of competition. Will put these on my website soon.

It was my sons birthday party last weekend so we did a treasure hunt, luckily it was fantastic weather so 12 lively boys had a great time outside, while mums sipped champers indoors (well sparkly plonk actually!).

I loved making his pirate invitations and treasure hunt clues, that is the bonus of doing this job you are able to treat your children to really special stationery, he just loves his thank you cards, we just need to write them now!.

Baby Show Excel

Gill and I had a great time if tiring at the Baby show last week, met lots of people and the response to my cards and framed prints was just lovely, it was great for people to actually see the quality of the prints and the designs.
Had lots of enquiries and orders already, so if I carry on getting a good response I may go back next year.
Here is a picture of the stand.


[caption id="attachment_54" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Baby Show Excel Feb 2009 Cococard stand"][/caption]


We met some lovely people, our stand was opposite future freak, check out their very way out designs, nothing like cococards, their slogan is 'we dont do nice'.
Some other great stands were lulu sapphire and Huddle and Bliss, i just wanted to have another baby to buy all their gorgeous baby things.

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