In other words, you’ll have your plate full and the last thing you’ll want to worry about is whether or not your holiday cards are sending the right message.

Related: The Importance of Design

To help you avoid amateur status and keep your holidays bright, your local Scottsdale printing company has listed the top 4 rules to follow when designing your holiday cards.

1. Avoid Clip Art

Clip art may have been cool when you were in school, but it’s a big no-no as an adult. It looks cheap and sends the message that you just don’t care enough to invest the time to create holiday cards that matter.

2. Avoid Specialty Fonts

Decorating your house for the holidays is always a nice touch, but there’s a fine line between creating a festive home and creating a replica of Santa’s village. The same is true when it comes to holiday cards. Don’t go overboard with the specialty fonts, such as the  snowflake font. No one wants to consult an elf just to decipher what you’ve written.

Related: The Worst Fonts for Marketing Materials

3. Incorporate other colors

Think outside the box this holiday season. Instead of creating another cookie cutter red and green Christmas card or black and orange Halloween card, try something a little less expected. Your holiday cards can still be just as festive without being so conventional.

4.  Mind Your White Space

Don’t think of white space as a barrier that needs to be overcome. Incorporate it into your design for a classic, clean holiday card.

Keep these tips in mind and we guarantee your holiday designs will garner more praise than Aunt Sally’s pumpkin pie.

For holiday cards guaranteed to spread some cheer, stop by our Scottsdale printing company.

The post 4 Tips to Follow When Designing Holiday Cards appeared first on Printing Solutions.

Today, we offer an article that provides some great parenting advice for everyone fortunate enough to have children. It comes from our friends at She Knows, a website that offers female-focused content and programming that attracts more than 43 million unique visitors. They were recently honored by Forbes as one of the Top 100 Websites for Women and one of the Top 10 Lifestyle Sites for Women. They are locally based and have chosen Printing Solutions as their Scottsdale printing company. In support of their marketing needs, we have produced top quality business cards, greeting cards, letterhead and envelopes for the last 2 years.

To see this blog in its entirety and to see more of what She Knows provides, click here

We live in a material world, and unfortunately many of us spoil our kids. Parents want to give their children more than they had growing up, so some spoiling seems inevitable. But we don’t want our self-centered kids to become self-absorbed, ungrateful adults. So what can parents do?

Start when they are young

From the time children are toddlers, we can begin teaching them about gratitude. Start by not giving them everything. It’s OK to want your child to have nice things, but when we give our children every single thing they want, they develop a major sense of entitlement.

Make a “get one, donate one” rule

You want to teach your kids about helping others and being grateful for what they have. One of the easiest ways to do that with young children is to make a “get one, donate one” rule. For each new toy (or article of clothing) that your child is given, he must give one away. Donating to the needy or less fortunate is a great way for your kids to learn to be grateful. If possible, don’t just put the toys in a box and drop them off yourself. Let your kids actually see where the toys are going by visiting a children’s hospital or shelter.

Volunteer as a family

Speaking of helping the less fortunate, the sooner you can get your children involved in volunteer opportunities, the better. Volunteering is a great way for families to bond, while also helping out others. Check out these ways that you can volunteer as a family.

Insist on thank-you notes

From the time your child can write (and even before), you should insist on sending thank-you notes for each gift received, no matter how small. Even toddlers can draw pictures on the card or note, and you can sign their names. This basic act of sending notes is a simple task that will help gratitude stick with them throughout their lives.

Take the emphasis off material gifts

Throughout the year (and especially at birthdays and holiday time), downplay the presents. When you are celebrating special occasions, talk about the joy of doing activities together rather than receiving gifts.

Practice what you preach

Your children look up to you more than anyone. If you want them to be more grateful, you need to do the same. Make gratitude a part of your daily conversation. Talk about all the things you appreciate, from your husband taking out the trash to your co-workers helping you with a project. By showing and talking about all the things that you have in your lives to be thankful for, you’ll be on the road to raising humble, grateful children.

The post How To Raise Grateful Kids appeared first on Printing Solutions.

With the holiday season right around the corner, now is the perfect time to include printed greeting cards as part of your marketing efforts. Custom greeting cards are one of the best ways to demonstrate that you do indeed care and wish your customers the very best during this special time of year. Customers want to know that you value not only their business but also them as people as well. Therefore, a simple custom greeting card filled with warm wishes during holiday time can increase the likelihood that your client will remember you when it comes time to order again. Whether it’s a holiday, a birthday, a special occasion or even to just say “Thank You for your business”, sending printed greeting cards can be an exceptional, cost effective tool for securing long-term business as well as increasing customer loyalty and retention.

Greeting cards can lose their effect when they’re riddled with sales literature and special offers. A greeting card is, after all, an expression of your thoughtfulness and not necessarily a direct sales piece, which can cheapen the overall effect. The purpose of a greeting card is not a sales pitch, but rather a subtle and deliberate reminder of your branding. As an easy rule of thumb to keep in mind, the design should remain very simplistic. You are not trying to evoke thought or any complex ideas. Think of it in terms of a quick casual greeting that you may exchange face to face – “Hi we’re Printing Solutions, it’s nice to see you. How are you today?” In other words, a warm friendly greeting is all that is necessary. The front of the card should contain a logo with design that is pleasing to the eye and a very minimal amount of text.

On the inside, plenty of open, white space should be present. The messaging should be brief, concise and to the point. For example, “Seasons Greetings from our family to yours” or “Happy Holidays” are often enough. A simple “Thank you for your business” greeting card can do wonders for your PR and can drum up more sales than an overt marketing scheme.

At Printing Solutions, we offer custom greeting cards sized 10” x 7” and printed flat. They are then scored and folded to produce a finished 5” x 7” card. Our greeting cards are printed on either 14pt card stock with a glossy UV or matte finish or on 100lb linen. With the help of our talented design team, you can add a colorful, branded greeting along with a sincere personalized message to help build a personal relationship with your customers.
So remember ….. when you have something special to say, send a greeting card and make someone’s day!!

The post Marketing With Printed Greeting Cards Adds a Personal Touch appeared first on Printing Solutions.