Here is the Valentine’s card I sent my husband. He must of liked it because he had to take it to work to show everyone. It is still there. His co-workers said it looks like he was robbing the cradle, that I couldn’t have been much over 16. (I was actually almost 21).

Try it, take an older photo and turn it into a treasured greeting card. Very unique and personal. If you’d like to try an easy way to send a real physical photo greeting card, drop me a note and I’ll send you a link for a couple of free ones.

Here’s the Valentine’s Card

In grade school, Valentines was always fun. Cards from all your friends and classmates, candy hearts. My favorites were those who took time to pick a card they knew I’d like or write a special message just for me.

We all love to be surprised by Valentine’s. I just got a great idea for a card for my husband. I was going through old photo albums and ran into photos we’d right after our engagement. That was over 30 years ago. Now wouldn’t that photo make the great front of a Valentine’s day card? Very unique, I bet it is a keeper. Nope the ultimate Valentine’s card isn’t the one at the top, although that one is very cool, a creation of my oldest daughter’s, Jessica Sellers.

So what does my ultimate Valentine’s Day card look like? Can’t show you yet, my hubby gets first peek. I’ll update this post after Valentine’s so you can see it. However, just because it will be the perfect card for my husband, doesn’t mean it’ll be the ultimate card for yours, or your child, sister, best friend. Now if you found photos of them, added your own thoughts, wouldn’t that be the coolest card of all.

Need a way to create such a card? Contact me or go to http://connectsimply.com and fill out the form and I’ll give you a couple cards for trying out my favorite way to send real greeting cards.

The Ultimate Valentine’s Card

Beware of the DogHouse

Think about the present you are giving, are you giving it because it is something you want her to use? (suggesting she is fat, messy, your personal maid and cook) or giving her something you really wanted? Kudos to Penny’s for their creative video, they even have a website where you can put someone into the doghouse.

I’ve never seen anyone complain about chocolate. Ask me how you can send Utah Truffles with the coolest greeting card.

Stay out of the Dog House this Christmas

A donation to a charity in the name of a client didn’t support same charity, make sure it is one they support, all kinds of stuff with your company logo, rotten fruit and rock hard fruitcake, junk that the company overstocked and no one wants to buy it etc.

I was happy to see several of the top suggestions were gifts available through SendOutCards. Blankets, I wouldn’t have thought of it, but SOC has blankets with a book, even better. Food gifts, you can find nuts, candy, cookies, coffee, tea. Gift cards are another favorite, many places available. And of course chocolate. You can add brownies, chocolate truffles, etc.

Upload your database, create your own custom greeting card, add a personal message and choose which gift you want to send. Have that same card and gift sent to who ever is on your click with a click of your mouse, or make each card different. SendOutCards then prints, stuffs, stamps and mails the whole thing out. No need to hire a temp nor take up office space.

Thanks Bobbi Jo, of BWoods Design for the links.

Top Corporate Gift Ideas

OK, for those who’ve asked, here is the schedule of events. Be sure at tune in at 1:15 Eastern and I’ll demonstrate a fun and easy way to stay in touch with your clients, friends and family using the coolest cards in town, SendOutCards. Free gift for those who attend.

I am excited to be a part of this wonderful online event hosted by Beverly Mahone, founder of Boomer Diva Nation and author of Whatever! A Baby Boomer’s Journey into Middle Age.

The event is the 2nd Annual Boomer Diva Day celebration in honor of Baby Boomer Day will be on June 20th from 10amEDT-3pmEDT in the WECAI web conference room at http://www.wecai.org/ewednesdaychat.exe
This is a time of celebration and fun for boomers all over the world who are (as the motto of Boomer Diva Nation) “On the Move and Making a Difference”.

I hope that you will join us for the wonderful event and join in on the fun, community and support for Boomer Divas everywhere!

Also, we are so excited and honored to have my good friend, Heidi Richards, founder of WECAI, to be the speaker of the day to talk about Blogging for Business.

Here is the updated schedule (times and vendors may change):

Time (all times are EST)
10:00-10:15 Welcome/Greeting

10:15-10:30 Kathy Porter – Mia Bella Candles

10:30-11:00 SPEAKER: Heidi Richards – Blogging for Business

11-11:15am Passion Parties rep, Donna Bourque

11:15-11:30am Dortha Hise – Avon

11:30-11:45 Break/Networking

11:45-12pm Rosie Horner – The Blog Management System Organize Your Blogging Today!

12-12:15pm Terri – Pop Art Diva

12:15-12:30pm Debbie Mormino – The Breast Cancer Diva

12:30-12:45pm Lisa Fredette –BeautiControl Rep

12:45-1pm Sharon Williams- The 24 hour Secretary

1-1:15pm Barb Ireland The Sample Cake

1:15-1:30pm Heidi Caswell (http://www.connectsimply.com)

1:30-1:45 Stephanie Fish, Buckeye VA http://www.buckeyeva.com

1:45-2pm pending vendor

2pm-2:15pm Dr Sally Witt (http://www.drsallywitt.com)

2:15pm-2:30pm Michelle Waters , Product Sellers Seminar

2:30pm-3pm Networking/Giveaways

2nd Annual Boomer Diva Day Schedule

Upcoming up, the 2nd Annual Baby Boomer Diva Day. Almost like a tongue twister isn’t it.

This is the day we are celebrating who we are as women—as women who are on the move and making a difference! June 20 is the 2nd annual celebration of Baby Boomer Diva Day.

There will be plenty of prize giveaways with special guest speaker, Heidi Richards, who will discuss how blogging can turn into $$$ for your business or product.

There will be plenty of prize giveaways with special guest speaker, Heidi Richards, who will discuss how blogging can turn into $$$ for your business or product.

Showcase your product for 15 minutes for the very low price of $10. A few vendor slots still left

There will be plenty of prize giveaways with special guest speaker, Heidi Richards, who will discuss how blogging can turn into $$$ for your business or product.

The Boomer Diva day is happening in Heidi’s web conference room

(www.wecai.org/ewednesdaychat.exe)

from 10am-3pmEST

To attend Friday’s Diva Day, you will need to download the room and save to your computer to access it on the day of the programs. When you enter the room, you only need to type in your first and last name (no password is needed for our FREE events). If you have an external microphone you will be able to be heard when you ask questions of our guests. Or you can type the questions in the “room.” You can pickup a very inexpensive microphone at Radio Shack (or equivalent) for about $15.

To get more information or to sign up now as vendor:
mailto: keybusinesspartners at 40verizon.net

Celebrating Baby Boomer Diva Day

Welcoming 2008 with a Bang!

• Remove the nofollow links from your comments. I appreciate my blog readers, value each and every one. More comments are always welcome. (Not spam!) Every website needs good quality incoming links. So each time you comment on my blog you get a good link back to your website. Most blogs are set to nofollow by default.
• Latest comments Again, the gift of More link love for my commenters. My blog’s main index is showing a Google PR4, with those links on the sidebar, I’m giving free links from a PR4 site to yours when you leave me a comment. People pay money for such exposure. Don’t abuse it, post meaningful comments. Sometimes I wait a while before replying to comments, not wanting to bump you off the top page too quick.
• Gift of images. Brighten up the place. My readers enjoy my photos, freely shared.
• How to Articles Do you know how to do something your readers may not know? One of the pages with top comments on my blog is How to Make a header using Gimp. Ryze How To’s also get a bit of traffic. People kept asking the same questions, such as “How do I add photos to my Ryze post?” I no longer type out the answer, I just forward the link.
• Share resources you’ve found. My Favorite Graphic Tools and FireFox extensions are favorites. Google sends more traffic through those pages. Recently I subscribed to ProBlogger, lots of resources and knowledge shared. I haven’t added adsense to my blog yet. I felt I should get traffic built up first, that and adsense just doesn’t look pretty to me. So I appreciated ProBlogger’s tips on the pro’s and con’s of using Adsense. A gift giving blog for sure. Many others.
• Toot Someones’ Horn Followed text links to your website/blog is always a good thing. I did not set up this blog originally with a blog roll, not understanding such at the time. But I do want to give credit to others for the friendship, referrals, tips, great work that they do. So from time to time you’ll find me posting about someone, with text links to their site. (yep people pay good money for such too). Laurie Ayers knows how to do this well. I appreciated her post about me, and you can always use her Winter Driving Safety Tips.
• Gift of inspiration. If any of my posts inspire another person to discover more about who they are and to be a better at anything they do, or make that light bulb click on, then I’m happy. I’m inspired by the blogs I read. The latest one which really hit home was Christine Kane’s 9 Surefire Solutions for Procrastinators. I have several personal projects on hold too long, things I want to do, should do. Yet can’t just get them going. Why? I want it all to be dang perfect, and overwhelm from finding too many great ideas. Dina, expert copywriter that she is, inspires with her 24 Blogging Days Till Christmas Copywriting tips. I think one of the very best gifts a blog can give is the gift of inspiration.

7 Gifts of Blog

]]> http://www.connectsimply.com/blog/7-gifts-of-blog/feed/ 1 http://www.connectsimply.com/blog/appreciation-is-gratitude-in-action/ http://www.connectsimply.com/blog/appreciation-is-gratitude-in-action/#comments Fri, 07 Dec 2007 20:58:47 +0000 Heidi Caswell http://connectsimply.com/blog/appreciation-is-gratitude-in-action/ Sometimes you run into a blog post that just says it all, better than I ever could. So I do what any good blogger would do and point you in the direction of this awesome post. The Art of Appreciation” by Christine Kane. And if you are still looking for Christmas presents you may want [...]

“Appreciation is Gratitude in Action”

]]> Sometimes you run into a blog post that just says it all, better than I ever could. So I do what any good blogger would do and point you in the direction of this awesome post. The Art of Appreciation” by Christine Kane. And if you are still looking for Christmas presents you may want to check out some of her cd’s.

“Appreciation is Gratitude in Action”

]]> http://www.connectsimply.com/blog/appreciation-is-gratitude-in-action/feed/ 0 http://www.connectsimply.com/blog/holiday-gift-ideas/ http://www.connectsimply.com/blog/holiday-gift-ideas/#comments Wed, 05 Dec 2007 11:30:19 +0000 Heidi Caswell http://connectsimply.com/blog/holiday-gift-ideas/ Decisions, decisions! What to do? What to do? You want to send nice gifts to those you appreciate, those who’ve cheered you on, became loyal customers, to show your gratitude for their support. Something nice that doesn’t end up in the trash bin, or collecting dust in a hidden corner. You want your recipient to [...]

Holiday Gift Ideas

]]> Decisions, decisions! What to do? What to do?

You want to send nice gifts to those you appreciate, those who’ve cheered you on, became loyal customers, to show your gratitude for their support. Something nice that doesn’t end up in the trash bin, or collecting dust in a hidden corner. You want your recipient to smile and remember you fondly as they open your gift, not toss your calendar on the ever growing stack. (I like calendars, but only need 1 or 2. Wish there was some way everyone could get together and say, it is your turn to give calendars this year). Handcrafted gifts by self would really add the personal touch, but then hwo would you have time to build your business. I do like food as gifts, less shopping and baking to do here, no dusting later (exercising, yes, we know where those calories go).

Think about the person you are giving the gift to, what do they like what would be a meaningful gift. Most important, add a card to the gift, write down in words exactly why you appreciate them into a personalized card. Dear customer just won’t work here.

Let Someone Else do the Baking

• How about an Italian chef baking all kinds of tasty treats? Hand made Italian Cakes, muffins & cookies from the old country! Let Mama Gloria do the baking this year at My Little Taste of Italy
• Shortbread anyone? Vermont Shortbread Company Brings a Taste of Homemade Goodness to Your Doorstep.
• Jams, jellies, pound cake. From Jalapeno Pepper Jelly to Pumpkin Butter. Gift baskets and sugar-free varieties (splenda). Visit Annie’s Accent Bakery.
• Customize your own greeting card and add it to a box of delicious candies, nuts, cookies, brownies. GetYourCards and gifts here.
• Need something a little healthier, unique? Sage Hill Farms will take care of your with their organic herbs, teas, tell Bea “Hi!” for me.

Gifts that Give

Books are always great, how many time did you say to yourself I’d love to read that book? but never got around to purchasing it for yourself. There are many gifted authors out there who have wonderful, inspirational books out there. I don’t have time to list all the ones I know and recommend.

• Brian Biro, one of the all time best buddy thankers, sent me a copy of both his Joyful Spirit book and his BreakThrough Stories 1 cd which my kids and I enjoyed listening to as they are also swimmers and could relate to Alison’s story.
• Another book you may want to pick up for someone struggling with menopause is Beverly Mahone’s Whatever! A BabyBoomer’s Journey into Middle Age.
• If you have no idea what book to give your can always give a gift certificate such as one from Barnes and Noble available with a greeting card from SendOutCards.
• Give a gift of song, a book on cd or a cd such as Jeanie Marshall’s Guided Meditation cd’s.
• No sure what to choose, give an iTunes gift certificate, again available as a gift card inside your personalized greeting card from SendOutCards.

Other Gift Card Ideas

Other gift cards available from SendOutCards:

• Restaurant Cards, Starbucks gift cards, let them decide what to eat, when.
• Home Depot gift cards for the Do It Yourselfer
• Bed Bath and Beyond
• Gift card for a variety of clothing stores, let them take advantage of the after Christmas sales
• WalMart gift card
• More
• Or even make your own gift cards, free coupon for a new service you are providing clients, discount coupons, referrals to their business, a gift of service. But don’t forget the personal note.

Holiday Gift Ideas

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