A (Belated) Wrap up of El's Cards 25th Year!
It's hard to believe it's been over 25 years since I started El's Cards in my dining room in Milton, MA! Our 25th year was one to remember....both personally and in business. Lots of high points and sadly, some loss too. But as my old friend Beth always said, "Such is life". I was looking through some photos and thought it would be fun to celebrate each month of our 25th year.
January-the year started off strong! The episode of Chronicle where we were featured on in 2022 re-aired and we had another great response to the show. So many great orders and new customers. Our weddings were already a flurry of activity for spring celebrations.
Bob being interviewed by award winning journalist, Karen Meyers of WGBH.
February-We had wedding contracts falling into place and lots of wedding proofs and designs happening in preparation for the months to come.
Sadly, we also lost my dear friend, Jeanne Athas. She was my co-teacher and mentor when I taught second grade way back when. She was so good to me-especially when I was a clueless young teacher at St. Agatha's all those years ago. I miss her.
March-we made the HUGE decision to have our website redone-and started this process with Aeolidia-a company we have been following for a long time! We took a brief trip to Florida to see Mum. And (of course) more wedding invitation mailings going out for summer weddings. Our wedding year kicked off with Sophie and Jon in Naples, Florida!
A few details from Sophie and Jon's wedding in Naples, Florida-I love how we used the Naples map creatively in so many ways-seating chart included. Photos by Madeline Paige Photography.
April-Paris, France map launch! Just in time for spring! The international map collection continues! Little did I realize (when starting this design in January), that the Olympics would be in Paris. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not great about following the news....Paris was (and is) a HUGE hit!!
Bonjour! Paris map photo by Melissa Mullen.
May-Bob and I celebrated 15 years of marriage and went to Captiva, Florida for a beautiful vacation. We spent every day on the beach, savored many great meals and enjoyed the down time 100%! Then it was back to business. Our friend Melissa Mullen came and took some beautiful photos for our new website.
June-Show season kicked off locally with one of our favorites-Market Square Day right in Portsmouth, NH. And SO many weddings this month-14 in total! Between mailing out invitations for later in the summer and fall, and creating wedding day details for June weddings, plus working on all the new photos for the new website...this was definitely the busiest wedding month of the year!
July-We enjoyed doing two of our favorite shows-Camden, Maine and kept it local in New Castle, NH. In between those two shows, we went to Chicago to visit my niece and her fiance. More map inspiration in that fabulous city! We also did our 2025 desk calendar launch! And of course....we worked on the new website.
Chicago selfie! Such a great trip!
August-Completed and shipped my favorite project of 2024!! A hand painted seating chart for a NYC couple getting married on the NJ shore. Loved working with this thoughtful Mother of the Groom, Bridgid, to paint something special for Caroline and Ryan.
This is the seating chart header. You can see the full chart featured on this page!
We also worked a LOT on the new website...fine tuning our photos, wording, and started learning about all the new features. Maybe we took a couple of beach walks-ha! Seriously....it was all about the website. OH, and we did 3 craft shows!
September-We had our best year ever at one of our favorite shows, Laudholm Nature Reserve in Wells, Maine! We also did a new show at Eustis Estate in my old hometown, Milton, MA. It was so fun to see many of my Boston friends AND some former favorite students and parents. And (I'm sure I sound like a broken record...) we worked non-stop on the website, getting ready for an October launch.
October-Drumroll, please! We launched our new website and it was met with great reviews from all our customers. Bob spent so much time on all the navigation-we are really pleased with the results. All the hard work paid off. Aeolidia, the company we worked with on this huge project, truly set us up for success. This endeavor was definitely a big professional highlight of 2024.
In between designing new holiday cards, towels, and all our other products, and fine tuning the website for our big Christmas launch, I went with my friends Nancy and Maggie to Tower Hill Botanical Gardens for a beautiful day off-wandering around the property and getting lots of great artwork inspiration.
Three friends enjoying a beautiful day
November-Another huge professional highlight....we were asked by Holy Rosary Credit Union to create a mural of the area as artwork in the brand new Greenland branch! Very exciting! We enlarged our map of Great Bay and had it printed on wallpaper for HRCU. A fun project and it looks really great.
The Great Bay map mural in action at HRCU in Greenland, NH.
December-We wrapped up our show season (15 total for 2024) in Ogunquit, Maine on December 14th, then really enjoyed a wonderful holiday season with family and friends, and of course-the boys!
We thank you all sincerely for being a part of our year! Looking forward to 2025! We have so many fun designs and surprises in store for you. Thank you for being a part of our El's Cards journey.
xoxo
El, Bob, Marty, and Sunny
