Daniel and Halley Talk Moms..or Specifically Mother's Day Cards

Halley: There is all this pressure on us to have a good blog.

Daniel: Don't worry. We can all fail, and it's fine. It's not like anyone is paying to read this.  When you're selling your essay collection, then ou can worry. Tell me about a card.

Halley: This penguin one is so cute! And you're helping folks somewhere, either Africa or Asia. (Goes look at card). It's the Philippines.

Daniel: One L or two?

Mel: One L, two P's, one N.

Daniel: And the K's are silent. My rep tried to talk me out of penguin pencil toppers because they are out of season in the summer.

Halley: Penguins are cute year round. Except for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Daniel: And I should also note that she tried to talk me into bunnies post Easter.

Halley: The babushkas are also part of the Sanctuary Spring line. And who doesn't love babushkas? We have a thing for babushkas?

Daniel: Who doesn't? But I think these babushkas are actually matryoshkas. They are babushka matryoshkas. Were you here when we had the matryoshkas for Christmas?

Halley: No, I wish. I heard they were cool.  What's your favorite Mother's Day card?

Daniel: Aside from giraffe card from Hello Lucky, I really love this kauai style card from Maginating.

Halley: They have great cards for all reasons and seasons. And such pretty colors.

Daniel:  It's kauai style, or "Japanese cute", which means you put faces on everything.

Halley: Cute!

Daniel: At left is a card from Fugu Fugu, another card line with Japanese influences. Doesn't the artwork remind you of Bob Staake, author of the lovely new book Bluebird? Ken and Shino named their line after a puffer fish, both cute and dangerous.

Halley: Very accurate! I like the card from Ghost Academy. They also have it for lovers, without "Happy Mother's Day" on it.

Daniel: These cards are block prints.

Halley: It's from your black sheep child. Not anyone can give this card. They have good designs.

Daniel: And it's another tiny little operation too. But I guess you only need one creative person and one business person to make these things work.

Halley: I like the seventies vibe of this one.

Daniel: Seventies? I thought it was fifties.

Halley: I was referring to the color palette.

Daniel: This is from Hammerpress, the line we brought in from Kansas City. I had hoped to visit their operations at Winter Institute, but we left early to beat a blizzard.

Halley: Their cards are gorgeous!

Daniel: Just one more.

Halley: This is the only funny card we have left, from Fresh Frances. Why did you let the Bald Guy card sell out so quickly?

Daniel: I wasn't thinking.

Halley: You've lost your edge.

Daniel: In my defense, we didn't have very good sell through on the edgy Mother's Day cards. Can you imagine cracking wise to your Mom? No dessert for you?

Halley: My mom demands sassy. No heartfelt cards.

Daniel: Something for everyone.