Pregnant Christmas Card is Popular!

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Thanks to everyone for all the great feedback we've received on our new Pregnant Snowman Christmas card. We hope you enjoy sending them out. It's a great way to announce a pregnancy to your friends and family, too.

Trouble with Teens?

Parents raising teens will appreciate receiving a new, humorous card designed exclusively for them. Greeting card company Marvelous Mommies has released "Sympathy," a card that mimics traditional sympathy cards, except for the gruff-looking teen glaring out from the card's front.

The inside text reads, "As you adjust to this time of confusion, bizarre hair cuts, mood swings, and indecipherable motivations, our thoughts and prayers are with you. With sympathy on the raising of your teen."

The card is available in through select retailers or online at the Marvelous Mommies site.

According to the card's designer Brenda Brathwaite, "Sympathy" was inspired as much by her own experience as a teen as it was watching her friends and relatives raise their own.

"It's a challenging time for parents and for kids," said Brathwaite, "but it's a funny time, too. As parents, we laugh about stuff as we lean on one another for support. I wanted to create a card that captured that." Artist Sean Wang captured the sentiment.

Marvelous Mommies Greeting Cards offers a full range of cards that celebrate life with children in all its phases from birth to the terrible twos to the teens.

Pregnant Snowmen Christmas Card

Expectant parents now have a holiday card designed especially for them thanks to Marvelous Mommies Greeting Cards. Titled "Pregnant Snowmen", the card features a pregnant snowmen couple in a traditional holiday outdoor setting. The inside text continues the sentiment: "May the miracle of the season be with you. Happy Holidays!"

The card is available in packs of 12 for $9.99 through select retailers or online at the Marvelous Mommies site.

Marvelous Mommies’ Creative Director Sean Wang was inspired to create the unique card after finding no Christmas cards for pregnant women. "The design fits perfectly with the rest of our line," says Wang. "There didn’t seem to be anything else like it out there, which is pretty surprising, really."

"We’ve had such great feedback on the card," says Brenda Brathwaite, Marketing Director for Marvelous Mommies. "I've heard 'It's exactly was I was looking for!' from more than one pregnant woman."

Marvelous Mommies Greeting Cards offers a full range of cards that celebrate life with children in all its phases from birth to the terrible twos to the teens.

Getting ready for the holidays!

With Thanksgiving passed, we're getting ready for the holidays here at Marvelous Mommies. Fortunately for us, the challenge of picking out just the right Christmas card is finished. I suppose it's easier when you design, print and market your own. As for me, I've decided to send out one pack each of our 4 holiday designs.

Happy Thanksgiving from Marvelous Mommies

For most mothers, Thanksgiving is a day of greats highs and lows - seeing your family, preparing the meal and then, cleaning up the mess that remains. For me, it's a bit different. My husband's the cook in our family, and my primary job is to make sure that our 3-year-old twins don't use the cranberry sauce as a new and exciting form of furniture dye. It happened last year, and the piece of furniture in question never fully recovered.

All of us at Marvelous Mommies hope you have a great Thanksgiving holiday with your family.

Expecting this Christmas?

We've received some great feedback on our Pregnant Snowmen holiday card. Those who are pregnant at Christmas will certainly enjoy sending this out. I've included an image of it here.

The card was our Creative Director Sean's idea.

Packs of Christmas cards are available by the dozen for $9.99 on our site. Also, check out our retailers page for stores that carry our cards.

Marvelous Mommies Releases New Holiday Line

The leaves have turned and in a few weeks, many of us will be settling down to write and send out our annual holiday cards. Marvelous Mommies has four great cards for you to choose from this year.

12 Seconds of Christmas was inspired by what seems to be the average length of time it takes my 3 kids to open all their presents, regardless of my pleas to take your time and open one present at a time. Christmas morning is an explosion of boxes, paper and bows, laughter and happy squeals. Pregnant Snowman and Tree Earring, pictured here, were our creative director Sean's take on the season's traditions. Our original holiday card, Christmas, is something all parents can identify with.

Where can you get them? They're available at our excellent retailers or through our online store.

Marvelous Mommies Greeting Cards Signs UK Licensing Deal

US-based greeting card company Marvelous Mommies announced today that it had completed a licensing deal with UK-based card publisher and distributor, Potato Academy. The deal provides exclusive sales and distribution rights to Potato Academy and covers all of the UK and Ireland.

Marvelous Mommies cards celebrate life with children in all its phases from birth to the terrible twos to the teens. Edgy and humorous, the cards are based on the real-life experiences of entrepreneur stay-at-home mom Kelly Minton and Savannah College of Art and Design Professor and game designer Brenda Brathwaite. The mothers launched the company in January 2007 with acclaimed comic book artist Sean Wang.

Potato Academy, an acronym for “People Over Thirty Acting Twenty One”, features cards that take a light-hearted look back in time to when the recipient was younger and cover milestone ages from 30 to 80. Potato Academy entered the UK greeting card market in 2003 with their “What were you like?!!” series of birthday cards.

Mike Short, owner of Potato Academy, approached Minton at the 2007 New York Stationary Show. “Of all the exhibitors at the show, Marvelous Mommies stood out as being really fresh and different. They really made us laugh.” After some initial conversations, Short proposed the possibility of licensing the designs in the UK. “We really wanted Marvelous Mommies to be a part of our line up. There’s simply nothing else like them in the UK,” he noted.

According to Minton, the company’s Director of Operations, Marvelous Mommies cards seemed a natural fit. “When we first viewed the Potato Academy line, it was obvious that we were appealing to the same demographic and enjoyed the same sense of humor, although our cards cover very different material. For us, it was a great opportunity, and a great match.”

Short’s Potato Academy line has proven very popular with consumers who have purchased more than 1 million cards from 1500 specialist card retailers across the UK to date. “We are confident we have another winner on our hands,” said Short.

Marvelous Mommies cards have been branded Marvellous Mummies ™ in the UK, and the card content has likewise been altered to suit the UK market.

Marvelous Mommies products are available at select retailers or on the web at http://www.marvelousmommies.com . They will launch in the UK in November 2007. More information on the UK launch is available at http://www.marvellousmummies.co.uk.

Southern Mamas Launches

Savannah and the Coastal Low Country have a new resource: SouthernMamas.com. Written by fellow Savannah mom and freelance writer for the Savannah Now, Anee Hart, the site offers all kinds of great info.

Marvelous Mommies writer and co-designer Brenda Brathwaite hails from Savannah, too.

Welcome Southern Mamas!

Marvelous Mommies to be on Mommy's Company Podcast

Stay tuned! Next week, I'll be featured on Mommy's Company.

Mommy's Company is an online magazine and radio show for entrepreneur moms. It provides business resources, motivation, product reviews, columns, interviews with business moms, forums, and contests for moms who need a little break from their workday. Mommy's Company also offers assistance for start up businesses, providing guidance and information in one convenient place. Mommy's Company is currently preparing for the Business Facelift Series, coming in January 2008. This in-depth series of webinars will help moms choose the right business for them, update their business image, and will provide assistance in developing marketing materials.

As soon as show times are finalized, I'll let all of you know.

Marvelous Mommies New Christmas Cards

Just wanted to let everyone know that we're about to release some new cards for the upcoming holiday season. As soon as I get the green light, I'll post images here.

We're on Facebook!

Love our cards? Join our Facebook group! We're all online, and we'd love to hear from you.

You'll need to register for a Facebook account first, but that's free (and Facebook is a fun place to network).

A Means of Expression

"I'd rather have the salmon."

That's how I might express my desire to have something else on the menu. My just-three year old son has a different idea, however. It usually takes one of three forms:

1. Saying "No"
2. Saying "Bread. Jam."
3. Shoving the whole production across the table and on to the floor.

The last happened for the first time this morning when I presented him with a snack that didn't suit his fancy. He was alternately delighted and surprised by the ceramic bowl's loud crash and subsequent breaking.

"Wow! Mommy! Crash!"

Of all the times that I didn't serve him in a plastic bowl or a plate, this would have to be the one.

Marvelous Mommies Artist - Sean Wang

Sean Wang is the artist behind Marvelous Mommies Greeting Cards. People who know his work through our greeting card line are often surprised to see is other work, most notably the Runners and Meltdown graphic novel series.

As you can tell by the two images below, Sean is an artist of considerable talent with an amazing ability to move between multiple styles.

New York Times - Real Life Experiences on Greeting Cards

This morning, the New York Times ran an article on something near and dear to our hearts - real life experiences and greeting cards. Check out the article here: To compete With E-Mail Greetings, Funny Cards Try to Be Topical.

As a person in the article notes:

“Women told us that everyday life had funnier situations than anything that is made up,” said Beth Murdoch, director of funny cards for American Greetings, who led the company’s six-month look at contemporary humor.

How true this is. In fact, that very feeling was at the center of the our card line. As moms ourselves, we find lots and lots to laugh about. For instance, just last week, I watched my 2.5 yr old walk up to the refrigerator, undo the child latch to prevent her from randomly foraging, get out a juice box, and then dutifully re-latch the child latch. So far, this experience hasn't made it into a card.

However, if you want to see the real life experience that have, please check out our online store and website.

If you want to see

Valley Kids on Marvelous Mommies

Massachusetts paper Valley Kids recently featured Marvelous Mommies and our new cards. Check out the article here: New line of cards celebrates life with kids.

n western Massachusetts, the cards are carried by Cedar's Chest Kids in Northampton and Female Spirit in Easthampton.

Welcome to Calla Lillies of Sackets Harbor

Northern NY fans can now pick up their cards direct from Calla Lillies in Sackets Harbor, NY. The store features higher end baby apparel and gifts as well as an excellent variety of local goods, including NY State Maple Syrup and custom designer jewelry.

Welcome!

Where do you get your ideas?

Marvelous Mommies cards are capturing a good bit of attention lately because they come from experience. Apparently, there's a trend afoot called "reality-based" greeting cards, and naturally, we fit right in. While it wasn't our intent to surf a trend, we're certainly grateful for it.

As moms, our kids provide the substance for all of our cards. Some cards, like Military Miss You, come from the empathy we feel for other parents.

Stay tuned in the coming months as we release a bunch of new cards. In addition, we'll be welcoming a few new retailers to our ever-growing family of marvelous merchants.

Marvelous Mommies Online Store is Open

Marvelous Mommies cards are now available via our brand new online store!

If there's not a retailer near you, you can now purchase our cards in sets online. Our Christmas cards are even available for those of you who get things done early (or take months to get a single task done... hey, we have kids).

Thanks again for your continued support!

Love What You've Done - Card Inspirations

Baby proofing is usually something that happens over time. Most new parents make an effort to rid their home of obviously dangerous stuff for babies, like, say, the power strip that holds plugs for the television, the Wii, the DVD player and the PS2. Such things are tucked safely away, sharp corners are removed or buffered, and we prepare a place for the babe to come.

Gradually, said babe starts to crawl and to walk and everything is fair game. EVERYTHING. DVD players are stuffed with all kinds of pieces and parts. Couch cushions are removed, stacked and arranged into forts.

Anything that is within reach becomes a potential toy or target depending on the babe's mood.

"We should just bolt it to the wall, about five feet up," I said to my husband. It totally made sense at the time!

Judging by the response to the card - including a LOUIE award nomination - I'm not the only one who's had such a thought.

Marvelous Mommies Adds New Cards!

Greeting card company Marvelous Mommies recently added 20 new greeting cards to its existing line of cards which includes a card nominated for the prestigious LOUIE award. Marvelous Mommies creates and distributes a line of cards that celebrate life with children in all its phases from birth to adoption to the terrible twos. The company launched in January 2007.

Among the company’s new offerings is a card showing support for our soldiers overseas and the families they leave behind. Titled, “Military Miss You”, the card shows a child sleeping with a photograph of his soldier father lying next to him on the pillow.

“The card touched a chord with everyone who’s seen it,” says Kelly Minton, marketing director for Marvelous Mommies.

Brathwaite, co-designer and writer for the greeting cards, said she was inspired to create the card by the many military families she encounters. “We live in a military town,” said Brathwaite, of Savannah, GA, “and you can’t help but feel for these families. Naturally, it was a sentiment we just had to add.”

Other new cards target those having twins, mothers leaving their child at day care for the first time and those trying to potty train their children. “Like the rest of our line, the cards are for moms by moms,” says Minton.

Brathwaite, a mother of 3, and Minton, a mother of 1, launched Marvelous Mommies along with comic book artist Sean Wang in 2007 after testing their cards and ideas for months. Together, the three work to capture the unique experience of raising children with humor and compassion.

Marvelous Mommies products are available at select retailers or on the web at http://www.marvelousmommies.com.

What a whirlwind!

Our cards received a lot of attention at the National Stationary Show, and show follow up has kept us busy for quite a while! We're looking forward to future shows, and welcome retail, wholesale, license and rep inquiries.

Live from the National Stationary Show

As those of you who have attended most certainly know, the National Stationary Show is the place to be for greeting card retailers, manufacturers and designers. Marvelous Mommies is no exception.

The best part of the show?

Our "Love What You've Done" card is prominently displayed in the front of our booth. Again and again and again, people walk by and laugh as they remember, no doubt, how they had to childproof their own houses.

More to come!

Happy Mother's Day

From one mom to another, Happy Mother's Day to all of you - mom, grandmother, and mom-to-be. I'm not entirely sure what the family has planned for me tomorrow, though my six year old has been telling her father "not to let mommy know what we're doing" on an hourly basis. As long as it includes a nice, long and quiet hot bath for me, I'll be thrilled.

Weight Gain - Card Inspirations

We're often asked where we get inspiration for our cards. Here's the story behind our Weight Gain card.

As I reached the ninth month of pregnancy with my twins, I felt like a houseboat. Seriously, I was enormous. They actually went to term, and I delivered a girl at 7 lb 10 oz, and a boy at 6 lb 14 oz. Suffice to say that "houseboat" may be a flattering term.

When I gave birth and my belly deflated, I felt like a supermodel. Sure, I was tired as anything, had wrinkles in places I didn't know you could get wrinkles and overall looked like I was in desperate need of a cup of coffee. However, I felt so much lighter, so much thinner, that I was sure I could fit back into my old clothes.

But I didn't dare try.

As you moms out there know, I'd have looked like a gallon of water trying to stuff myself into a coffee cup. So, I waited six months. After all, I'd already had one kid by that time, so I knew that thin as I felt, it was only in "feeling" and not in "reality."

Six months later, I still couldn't get the clothing on, hard as I tried. It's been a couple years now, and I'm back to where I want to be. This card completely captures that moment I experienced with the dreaded "Skinny Clothes" box.

And that's the story behind Weight Gain.

National Stationary Show - Here We Come!

The National Stationary Show is coming up this weekend in NYC. With 14,000 anticipated visitors, we expect to have our hands full! That said, there are probably few people as well equipped to handle a hundred requests simultaneously as moms of toddlers. We look forward to meeting those of you who attend. Please stop by!

When people see our cards, they always say, "We've never seen anything like them before!" Neither had we, actually, and that's why we created them in the first place. You can read our story here, but the nutshell is this: we wanted a way to share the laughs with others, and were surprised that there was nothing out there.

Look forward to the show, and look forward to seeing you there!

Marvelous Mommies Greeting Cards Nominated for LOUIE Award!

It's not everyday that this happens: Marvelous Mommies - Finalist in Prestigious LOUIE Awards.

The LOUIE awards are the Greeting Card Industry's most prestigious awards, so it's an incredible honor for us. The nominated card was our "Love What You've Done" card. We'll find out this coming week if our nomination will translate into an award. What's so incredibly hip about it is that hundreds of cards were considered, and ours is just one of a handful to get selected. Keep your fingers crossed!

Taking a look at the card, you can easily see the inspiration behind it. As my kids grew (I have a six-year-old and two-year-old twins), the decorating scheme in my house changed. It can best be described as "indestructable" now as opposed to, say, "traditional" or "art deco" or "modern". The cover of the card expresses what I felt all moms and all living rooms were eventually destined to... at least until they get older. Looking at the card always gives me a laugh, and I'm glad it's brought the same laughter to others.

Welcome to Marvelous Mommies Greeting Cards

Welcome!

It's been an exciting year for us at Marvelous Mommies. In just the space of 12 months, our kids (a total of four of 'em between the three owners of the company) have grown up a year, our card line has expanded by 20+ cards, and we've been nominated for a prestigious award.

We welcome your comments, suggestions and stories and look forward to meeting many of you at the upcoming National Stationary Show this weekend in NYC.