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Handwritten Cards with Bond: Teaching Kids a Lost Art in Our Modern World

January 4, 2017 by Cassie 18 Comments

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(This post is sponsored by Bond; all opinions and photos are my own.) Growing up, I remember my parents having me write thank you cards to all the relatives and friends who had given us gifts for birthdays or Christmas.  As a mother, I have the best of intentions, yet I can’t tell you how many times we’ve actually written “Thank you” cards to people and they’ve sat waiting to be mailed until they’d be so embarrassingly late that I finally just ditched them.  Yes, I am truly guilty of and completely embarrassed by that, but owning it!  What is it about that last step of actually mailing something that always kills me?  I don’t think that I am alone in that, and I’m sad to say that handwritten notes have become a thing of the past, a lost art.  When Bond approached me about sharing their unique concept of sending handwritten cards through an app, I knew this was the answer to sending thoughtful cards in a timely manner. Personal cards are a great way to strengthen a relationship and let someone know you took some time out of your day to think of them.  In today’s society, text messages are the norm, but the simple action of sending a card says so much more than any text message could ever say.  Bond provides an easy way to send customizable cards with a “handwritten” feel to them; and the best part for people like me is that they take care of the mailing for you; no more cards just sitting, waiting to be mailed to the recipient.

Since Emmy is a creative child and enjoys drawing immensely, I thought that this would be a great opportunity to create cards featuring her artwork.  I asked her to create something  so that we could send a “Thank You” to Santa.

Emmy Drawing Owl for Bond Handwritten CardsPinShe drew an adorable snowy owl with colored pencils. She also wanted to create a card for a best friend of hers that was moving one town over.  This particular friend loves fun color and pattern, so Emmy and I selected this piece she created in art class this past Fall.Emmy's original pastel artworkPinWith the phone app, using Bond is really simple and the first card you send is free!  (And even beyond that, cards are only $5 each and that includes customization, writing, and most importantly for me, the actual mailing process. 😉  You can simply take a photo of the art using your phone.  In my case, I wanted the optimal photo quality, so I took photos with my real camera and then just emailed them to myself and saved them on my phone.  That adds some steps, but allows me the best photo possible.

Once you’ve added your photo to the app, you can continue creating your cards.  Before creating the meat of your content, you can add a header and closer if you wish.  I took screen shots of the process so you could see how to use the app.

Personalizing MessagePin

Next you can add your personal note.  I don’t know about your kids, but mine LOVE typing on my phone, so Emmy loved this part of the process.  Also, I recall writing thank you note after note as a child, and by the end my hand was so tired and cramped.  With this process, there’s none of that.  Simply type in your message.  And, if you have several to write, you can even copy and paste it, changing it a tad each time to make it personal.  Back in the day I would say the same thing, but I still had to write it over and over and over…Typing MessagePin

Once your note is typed, the next step is choosing the handwritten style.  You can browse several and select your favorite.

Browsing-Font-Styles-with bondPin

After that step is complete, you can select your stationery, and if you’ve added your own images you can choose from those, which is what we did.

Choosing your photoPin

And now, this last part was my personal favorite…. Enter in our return address as well as the recipient address. Why do I love this so much?  Because Bond will mail it for me!  That’s the step I always fail at, but no more!  (Of course we mailed these to ourselves so that I could share this post with you; that’s why we’re listed as recipient as well as sender.)  Check it out… you can also schedule for later, which is ideal if you want to send out a birthday or holiday greeting.bond card previewPin

When the cards arrived, I was so impressed with the quality.  They’re printed on thick cardstock, and the clarity compared to the original is fabulous. (My photo clarity in wordpress is never as crisp as it should be, so please know that they are truly crisp in person).

Kids Art Cards with bond- FrontsPinThe backside and mailing addresses of the cards are printed in the selected handwriting styles.

Kids Art Cards with Bond- Backs and EnvelopesPinSince the cards are so thick and great print quality, they actually will make great little framed pieces as well.  If you’re customizing like we did, the recipient now has a great little piece of your child’s art to treasure.bond cards as artPinI placed one of ours up on the shelf for the moment before we give it to Emmy’s friend.  It adds a fun splash of color for now.Pin

Emmy was thrilled when she saw the cards; knowing her original artwork was on them filled her with a sense of pride.  The process was fast and easy… almost as easy as a text message, yet so much more personal.  Now that Bond has made it this simple, there’s no excuse, and my kids will finally be mailing out those thank-yous before it’s embarrassingly too late! 😉

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Filed Under: Art, Kids, misfits (other craftiness)

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Comments

  1. Emy says

    January 4, 2017 at 7:28 am

    If there’s a subscription service, I’m signing up. My husband got in so much trouble for not sending his mom a card. (Major side-eye to her from me, BTW.) I like the thought of it sending automatically to her.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      January 4, 2017 at 2:18 pm

      right?!?! i mean how awesome to preschedule these things!!!

      Reply
  2. Lisa | Shine Your Light says

    January 4, 2017 at 9:13 am

    That is such a fun idea to use kids’ artwork Cassie. Emmy is the cutest, working so hard and with such a look of intent of her sweet face. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and happy new year to all of you!!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      January 4, 2017 at 2:17 pm

      i love this idea! i was excited when they approached me because this is so in line with what i value.

      Reply
  3. Julia@Cuckoo4Design says

    January 4, 2017 at 11:55 am

    Lilly always makes her own cards. This is such a great idea.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      January 4, 2017 at 2:13 pm

      isn’t it!??!? you can use the same art for several as well if you want!

      Reply
  4. Jeanne says

    January 4, 2017 at 1:12 pm

    I love this post…fabulous…I am checking out Bond. Perfect!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      January 4, 2017 at 2:11 pm

      isn’t it such an awesome concept?!? i was pretty excited about it since i am a terrible timely mailer!

      Reply
  5. Stephanie @ Casa Watkins Living says

    January 4, 2017 at 5:59 pm

    That is so wonderful and thoughtful!!! Such an awesome way to personalize cards. 🙂

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      January 5, 2017 at 9:09 am

      i loved this idea and felt it was worth sharing!

      Reply
  6. Heidi @ Decor & More says

    January 4, 2017 at 6:56 pm

    Very cool! A nice Thank you is ALWAYS appreciated!
    xo Heidi

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      January 5, 2017 at 9:07 am

      it truly is!

      Reply
  7. Kim says

    January 4, 2017 at 9:26 pm

    I’m a bit of an OCD card person, like the crazy person writing thank you notes to put in the mail the next morning. But I realize I’m not normal. And I LOVE that this has handwriting fonts. And I’m obsessed with the idea of using artwork. I used to subscribe to a service that went under, so this would be a wonderful replacement.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      January 5, 2017 at 8:56 am

      i wish i was! i am really good at writing them but the mailing somehoe always kills me… mundane tasks in general kill me.

      Reply
  8. Gretchen@BoxyColonial says

    January 5, 2017 at 9:25 am

    oh, that’s a fun idea! And reminds me that the kids still need to do their thank you notes–we were out of town after Christmas, and it threw everything off!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      January 8, 2017 at 3:26 pm

      we are SO bad at doing them! UGH.

      Reply
  9. Haley says

    January 23, 2017 at 10:47 am

    omg, this is such a great idea! I have sooo many thank you cards just sitting there waiting to be sent from when my baby was born in September. I’m definitely going to start having my daughter make some of these to send out!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      January 25, 2017 at 8:07 am

      it really is so conveniently wonderful!

      Reply

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Hi, I’m Cassie!

I believe that you don't have to spend a lot of money to live a beautiful life and be your best self.  Here you will find budget friendly ideas to live happily, healthily, sustainably, and most importantly authentically.  We all get one chance at this life, and this ordinary girl plans to make hers extraordinary. How about you? Read more...
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Hi! I'm Cassie.

Mother, wife, shop owner, blogger, writer, incurable diy-er, furniture painter, coffee and wine drinker, friend. Seeking happiness and passing it on. Read More…

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