Classy, Fun, Heartwarming, and Playful e-cards
Written: Jul 31 '08 (Updated Aug 01 '08)
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Chudleigh made me do it! Jacquie Lawson’s Labrador Chudleigh and his blond Labrador friend, combined with the animated e-cards, caught my eye several years ago. Due to site problems and popularity the earlier site lost my subscription, but it’s much better now. A colleague sent me a card with Chudleigh and friend and I immediately signed up again. This time no confusion and the earlier problems seem to have been corrected.
The Jackie Lawson e-card site is quite elegant but also amusing and relaxing. The first cards she provided were of her dog, her cats, and the English cottage where she lived. She is an artist who now uses her talents to create stylish cards that move into your heart. In 2002 she began working with her nephew to create an online greeting card website. Today she has 111 cards and 14 screensavers and it seems problem and error free.
The types of cards include the ones you would expect: birthdays, anniversaries, get well soon, sympathy, as well as the major holidays. Card types include invitations, Chudleigh, teddy bear, cat, floral, goldfish, animated paintings, cooking, birds, pelmanism and write your own message cards.
Pelmanism cards are memory games and she has these for child and adult birthdays with cat and dog and a special Chudleigh Christmas pelmanism card. Many of the cards have optional greetings and you will find the same cards throughout the various card categories. While I was drawn to this because of the Labrador (who is really a chocolate Labrador/Springer Spaniel mix), I’ve completely enjoyed the animated paintings. The beautiful Jacquie Lawson painting of Swan Lake is created to Tchaikovsky’s Valse from Swan Lake. Click on the picture to start the motion. A sexy, sultry card, Tropical Tango, also offers an opportunity to create your own message. You don’t select the music to accompany the card—it has been pre-selected to match the card’s mood.
Autumn Treasures has a flock of birds and swirling leaves with an autumn harvest finish. The music for most of the cards is original from composer Mike Hughes-Chamberlain. The card has optional greetings: Thinking of You!, Happy Thanksgiving!, Happy Birthday!, Happy Belated Birthday!, Get Well Soon!, Best Wishes!, Greetings!, Thank You!, Congratulations!, Good Luck!, You're Invited! Click on the blackbird to start.
The Chudleigh and cat cards are cute, heartwarming, sweet, or playful. The screensavers are easy to download and install although they currently only work on PCs, not on Macs. Only one, The Frog and the Dog, is not also an e-card.
Chudleigh is Jacquie Lawson’s trademark and he’s found on many of the cards, but the cat cards, especially The Fly where dog and cat appear together, are great. Yes, I have a bias for Chudleigh, but not everyone I send cards to gets the dog thing as much as I do. Instead they’ll receive one of the other animated cards. For those who won’t enjoy the classical music I’ll go to another site.
Chamberlain, is more than a musician and composer—he is also the technical guru for the web design and the software is his project. You can learn more about the staff and their backgrounds/contributions to this delightful site at About Us. The pages are easy to navigate and the cards are easy to preview and request.
Membership
You need to be a member to send these cards. Membership is easy and you can subscribe for one or two years and the fee is $10 (U.S.) for one year, $16 for two years. As a member I receive notices of new cards, access to an address book, reminders of birthdays and anniversaries, and card history (don’t really want to send the same card twice to the same person for their birthday). I can send a gift membership with a card. They provide notification of both when the card is sent and when it is picked up. As with all cards, these can be sent immediately or you can pick the date. If I were really efficient I’d take care of all the family and friend birthdays on one day—but that seems so impersonal. If I did this I’d miss out on the new cards and they claim to be releasing about 20 new cards a year.
The selection isn’t as diverse or eclectic as those with Hallmark, American Greetings, e-cards, or 123 greetings and I continue to use these sites. We have many, many opportunities for cards, but over the run of a year the $10 covers the cost of three, sometimes four cards from a store and I send at least ten from JacquieLawson. I occasionally treat myself to a card to just enjoy watching them for the laugh or the awwwww moment.
You can pay using Visa, MC, Discover, American Express, echeck, or PayPal, Solo, Switch/Maestro. Membership fees are in US, Canadian or Australian Dollars, UK Pounds Sterling, and Euros. You can pay on a secure online site, with PayPal or by sending a check or money order. Memberships are activated upon receipt of payment. They do not offer trial memberships, nor do they have free cards, but everyone can view the entire collection through card preview. You need to fill out an application with your name, email address, home address, postcode/zip code, telephone number and password to become a member. I subscribed for two years this last winter and asked for an automatic renewal, that’s how much I enjoy these cards.
Jacquie Lawson is at www.jacquielawson.com
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Location: Houston
Reviews written: 1678
Trusted by: 218 members
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