Hello, Friends.  I’m Ellen Greely Braley, the creative half and founder of the husband and wife team here at El’s Cards.  In 1999, the first El’s Cards website launched from my in-home Milton, Massachusetts studio. At the time every single card was painted and written by hand.   After meeting my husband, Bob, in 2004, I made my way up to the stunning New Hampshire seacoast and re-established El’s Cards in this new location. 

Every design is painted by hand with watercolor paints and is then printed on our cards and paper goods.  Although I have always loved to paint, I have no formal training as an artist.  I taught myself how to paint with watercolor, and am always figuring out ways to expand and improve my techniques.  Picking up a paintbrush is absolutely the best part of my day. Calligraphy is also an essential design element at El’s Cards.  This elegant penmanship is an art form learned in high school and the past 30+ years have been spent practicing and developing new styles.

Bob came on board full time at El’s Cards in 2015 and becoming a team changed everything for the better! Bob oversees the production and shipping of all our beautiful paper goods. He is so particular about everything that goes out to our clients.  Bob’s organized workshop space is truly a sight to behold.  There is a specific place for every sheet of card stock and each envelope used.   Bob has systems in place for every job he does- from print runs to cutting to packaging.  He has a great eye for the most efficient way to do all things production.

When Bob took over the print department here at El’s Cards, he developed a large in-house print shop to accommodate our extensive wedding business and all our other products.  We use cotton and recycled papers of only the highest quality.  And with Bob in charge, there is minimal waste.  He recycles all packing materials from shipments he receives from our suppliers.  Because we keep the printing in our home print workshop, we can keep our costs down and pass that on to our customers. 

In 2020, the whole world experienced such a different year. Because so many weddings were postponed and craft shows cancelled, we decided to branch out and offer some products that were not produced in house-namely tea towels, notepads, stickers, and gift wrap!  We tested many different vendors to assure that the highest quality would be available to our customers, and we are so pleased with the results. Now we have added a number of new high quality products to our storefront for you to enjoy.

Maintaining great relationships with our customers is our biggest priority.  Whether we meet you at a craft show, or in our home studio to plan your wedding invitations, we appreciate every interaction.  When you reach out through the website, you will be communicating with either myself or Bob.   Offering the very best art we can and keeping our pricing fair is important to both of us.  Everyone should be able to enjoy something pretty!

We both truly love working in our Greenland, New Hampshire studio space (El upstairs and Bob downstairs) and visiting our favorite places when on the road doing craft shows. In our down time, we both love taking walks together, reading good books, eating at our favorite restaurants, enjoying live theatre, playing with our cats, Marty and Sundance, and savoring sweet treats with coffee…brownie sundaes come to mind!

Thank you Melissa Mullen Photography for the fun in-house/studio photos.
And thank you Meg Simone Wedding Films for the fabulous 20 year film.