Twelve (Non-Thank You) Reasons to Hand-write Notes

This is the most current drawing of the no longer open Kaweah Post Office. This card is now available on my website; the older version is only available only in person IF any remain. (The original drawings have sold.) 

Reasons to write notes besides saying “thank you”

  1. Here is the $11 you spent on postage sending my sweater to me.
  2. This magazine article reminded me of you.
  3. Here is the recipe you asked for; I wrote it out so you won’t have to waste printer ink.
  4. I found this old photo of us in which we look like underfed children.
  5. I made you a bookmark.
  6. Isn’t real mail fun? 
  7. I forgot to tell you this when we talked last and it is so important I want you to have it in a format you will keep for awhile.
  8. Wish you weren’t moving to Colorado/Kentucky/Texas/Oregon/Angola.
  9. My printer is out of ink so I decided to use a pencil.
  10. I miss you.
  11. Our post office is terrific and it is good to buy stamps from them so they stay in business because if they don’t where will we mail things that need to be weighed first, like calendars, and packages of notecards for sale, so here is a note just because.
  12. Here is a happy surprise for you—real mail in your mailbox! (Thank you, Louise!)

This is the older version of the Kaweah Post Office drawing. When these cards are gone, this design will be retired, just like the post office itself. 

I bet you can think of a few other ideas yourself.

Let’s keep this quaint method alive of showing people that we care!

Five Different Reasons to Send a Note

Everyone loves to get real mail, and as Crane Stationery used to advertise, “No one has ever cherished an email”. (This was before texting, which has made email look personal and handcrafted.)

The other morning I wrote a bunch of notes. A list had accumulated of people I needed to communicate with, and each one needed to be handwritten. Sometimes email just doesn’t do the trick.

As I carried them to the mailbox, it struck me that each note was written for a different reason.

  1. Thank you
  2. I’m sorry for your loss (any of my cards, blank inside, would work for this).
  3. Get well soon (any card with a blank interior will work for this)
  4. Happy Birthday (nope, none of my cards actually say this inside, but I have great confidence in your ability to write those words)
  5. An invitation (I used a blank card for this too)

There are many other reasons to use cards and hand-write notes to people.  

I’ll give you some other ideas tomorrow.

 

New Cards Available

Now available in sets of 4 notecards, 4-1/4 x 5-1/2″, blank inside, with envelopes,$8

Just in case you want something new to add to your gift baskets, stockings, or to encourage yourself to write notes to people, here are some cards that you may have seen as original art, but not as cards. They are available from my website, by putting a check in the mail, by emailing me for further instructions, or perhaps if we run into each other at the Post Office (unless I can’t recognize or understand you because you are wearing a mask).

Clicking on the name beneath each card picture will take you to the appropriate page of my website.

Oak Grove Bridge #28

Pear Lake Ski Hut

Hockett Meadow Ranger Station

Yokohl Oak

Growth, part two (Cards & Commissions)

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I used to draw pictures that fit nicely into sets of notecards, which then sold very well both retail and wholesale. I still do a few cards, but the market just isn’t as big. In fact, it is microscopic. Tell me, how many cards, thank yous and little notes do you send a year? How many do you receive? Hmmmm, really have to think about that one.  Cards do sell, but not very many anymore. (Despite the handiness of communicating via computer, the truth is, no one ever cherished an email, so there.)

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In addition, I drew cabins and homes on a commission basis. (still do!) That was the sum total of my abilities in the early years, and it kept me quite busy.

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