YOU CAN BUY OUR PRODUCTS...

1. Watch us on youtube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn7xVMuiUXc

2. Email us at prittiehartpress@gmail.com

3. If local to the Laguna Niguel area, call (949) 310-0135.

4. Here's our Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/PrittieHartPress

NO EXCUSES :)

MY FIRST GREETING CARD...

(designed by Design Design Inc. with image and verse supplied by me) hits the shelves in January! It'll be really exciting to see what the actual card looks like versus a jpg, which is all I've seen so far. Hopefully, I'll have more sales than just my 8 followers here on my blog :)

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WANT THE SHORTER VERSION...

You can watch a Youtube video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn7xVMuiUXc

A TRIBUTE TO MY DAD (THE MAN BEHIND THE CAMERA)

Since I just signed up for Twitter, I thought I would repost the tribute to my dad I wrote previously so that anyone who decides to follow me would know the PrittieHartPress history.

While I was designing these greeting cards I couldn't help but think of my dad and how much he would have loved seeing his photos in print. My dad died 16 years ago June 16th and I thought a Father's Day tribute would be appropriate at this time. I remember growing up and HATING to pose for these photos but now, as an adult, I am so grateful to dad for taking them and capturing our childhood on film.

My dad was a newscaster for WWJ TV and taking photos was his hobby. His "stage name" was Don Perrie for obvious reasons...can you imagine going on the air and saying "This is Don Prittie with the Channel 4 News?" Can you imagine BEING A KID with that last name???? One of the best memories I have of my dad when I was a child was having cherry coffee cake in the middle of the night after he got home from work. As a newscaster, his work schedule was such that we didn't get to see him very often and those middle-of-the-night visits were really special to me. He and I would leave notes for each other since we didn't get to see each other much. I remember that I got to meet Bozo the Clown at his TV station one time and that was actually kind of disappointing because, as it turned out, he was just a regular man.

When I was about 6 months old dad had me on live TV with him and he somehow let me fall off a table...that's why I have a permanent dent in my forehead and it's the reason for everything wrong with me :) My older brother (Bro #1) and I also got to be on TV when we were a little older. It was a segment about safety and he and I were supposed to walk across the street together holding hands. Bro #1 refused to hold my hand and I ended up just trailing after him...looking like a total dork.

My dad also hosted a call-in radio show while I was growing up and there was one black woman who lived in Detroit with her 3 children who would call in and talk to my dad all the time. My dad wanted us kids to know how privileged we were so every Christmas we would have to select one present and take it to this woman's children. Being kids, of course we always picked out the worst present we received--sorry, Bro #2, about giving away that doll's clothes line you bought me one year :) Anyway, it was always awkward for us but I will never forget that woman opening her Bible one time and there were three dollar bills in it...her total savings. She took one dollar and handed it to us kids and said to divide it up. The generosity of that woman still lives in my memory.

My dad also produced a documentary on breast cancer in the early 1960's that was way ahead of its time. Prior to retiring, he also covered the Detroit Riots in 1968. He was unable to leave Detroit for 4 days due to the rioting. Covering the riots took a lot out of my dad and, in 1973, our family moved to Florida where my dad switched to radio. The last time I saw my dad was just 3 months before he died. My husband, 6-year-old daughter and I drove cross-country to see him...Here's looking at you, dad...I love you and miss you.

REJECTED BY AMERICAN GREETINGS, REJECTED BY PAPYRUS, REJECTED BY RECYCLED GREETINGS...TIME FOR PLAN B!

Plan B is labeled "Do it yourself, Tracey" and keep repeating this mantra "I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe..." until you make it HAPPEN!

YOU CAN BUY SETS OF 10 BLANK NOTECARDS/ENVELOPES AT MY ETSY SHOP LOCATED...

http://www.etsy.com/shop/prittiehartpress

THIS IS WHAT MY BLACK FRIDAY SALE LOOKED LIKE

I'VE BEEN TRYING TO MAKE NOTECARDS AND I KIND OF FEEL LIKE THIS...

I RECEIVED THE FUNNIEST REJECTION LAST WEEK...

Remember in one of my previous blogs where I mentioned that "persistence" was my middle name? Well, during the course of the past 3 months I had contacted an art director 10 times via a generic email address at their company and through LinkedIn. Last week I received an email from the art director and the subject line read "Unsubscribe." That's it...just "unsubscribe." Obviously, she thought I was a newsletter she had inadvertently signed up for or spam or something computerized. Well, I just couldn't resist writing back "You CAN'T unsubscribe...I'm a real live person here!" I did put a smiley face after it and said that I would respect her wishes and not contact her again but you just really have to have a sense of humor in this business or you would go crazy from all the rejections!

A LITTLE LATE, BUT HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

MY DAD WOULD ROLL OVER IN HIS GRAVE IF HE SAW...

what a mess I have made of his slides! Over the past five months I have gone through 12 boxes of slides three times. The first time I had a system, the second time I think I had a different system, and the third time there was no system...which leaves me with a huge mess! All of the slides that I have pulled out to have scanned are now thrown in manila envelopes to be refiled at some point. I don't want to put them away now because if a company is interested in them, they want the original slide so there's no point in filing them. However, my brother informed me the other day that he and my dad spent several DAYS organizing them in chronological order and labeling the boxes. I did not, obviously, mention to my brother the state the slides are now in and I don't have to worry about him finding out because, even though he follows this blog, I know he doesn't read it :)

PAPYRUS IS INTERESTED IN MY CARDS!

Yes!!!!!!!! I received an email from them the other day that said they thought my family photos were wonderful and that they think there's an opportunity to work with me!

AMERICAN GREETINGS IS REVIEWING MY CARDS...

the week of October 19th in their Idea Submission Team meeting!!!! I'm desperately attempting to create a PowerPoint presentation (definitely NOT my forte) to send to them along with my other materials. Just wanted to pass this on and now I have to get back to work!

I ADMIT IT--I'M TECHNICALLY CHALLENGED, O.K.?

I apologize in advance to all the companies I am submitting my "artwork" to this week and I sincerely hope I don't become the laughingstock of the greeting card publishing world. Unfortunately, a lot of the greeting card companies actually want you to submit your artwork in the form of an actual greeting card (the sheer nerve of them) and I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO THIS! So here's what I do...I print out the front of the card and I print out the inside text and then I fold them in half to look like a greeting card. Then I put a paper clip around them to make sure they stay together so that the inside text of one card doesn't accidentally get attached to the picture on another card. After that I write my name, address and phone number on the back of the "card" and now that I'm actually thinking about this, I probably should have used a fake name :) All I can say is that I hope that after whoever opens my package stops laughing, they will see the "vision" that I have and realize that all they have to do is have someone "fix it," so to speak. Yep, I hope they realize that it's not a huge deal...they just need to get the card to actually look like a card :)

A VERY PERSONALIZED REJECTION FROM...

Blue Mountain Arts came today in the mail! It was actually very nice to receive this letter because I could tell that they had read and understood the "vision" behind my cards...even though it didn't fit their needs :) I think I should categorize the rejections I have received in order of niceness...here goes, from lowest to highest:

1) The company that told me my cards were a "dime a dozen."
2) Form emails.
3) Form letters.
4) Super nice personal emails.
5) Super nice personal letters.

And just about now I am ready to hear about an acceptance...hello, anyone??????

PERSISTENCE IS MY MIDDLE NAME...

Almost every day this week I have spent 10-12 hours behind this computer designing, marketing, social networking, etc. The most frustrating part of this entire process is that I don't get responses as fast as I think I should. For example, if I send an email with images I expect that within 24 hours someone could take a quick look (say five minutes) and give me a yay or nay. Maybe I'm expecting too much as I'm sure the art directors receive hundreds of emails every day...but then maybe they should hire more art directors? I think eventually all the hard work will pay off but right now I need to get away from this computer and have some fun!

THIS IS WHAT I ENDED UP WITH - DEFINITELY WORTH THE $12!

MY DAD WAS A GREAT PHOTOGRAPHER!

I'm having a slide show today with all of my dad's slides (all 1,500 or so of them) and having a difficult time selecting the ones that I want to have scanned. I think I'm just beginning to realize what a great photographer he really was. I wonder if he ever studied photography or if he just had a natural talent. I, however, was never a talented photographer...just a persistent one. Right before my dad died I remember that suddenly it became very important for me to take a great picture of my daughter. Well, 200 photos, four days later, and $12 poorer (she wanted $12 for her modeling fees)...

I'M SO EXCITED!!

I received an email yesterday from a woman who had seen my Google Adwords ad on her blogsite and she said both she and her mom were interested in my cards...yay! You can't imagine how good it feels to hear from someone...ANYONE!!! And she was such a nice woman who gave me a link to both her and her mother's blogs and I could tell that they were exactly my target audience. Thanks for making my day!

I'M HAVING FUN DESIGNING TODAY!

I decided to take a break from marketing (which is a necessary evil) and get back into designing today, which I haven't actually done in quite awhile. I have had a successful week so far...actually made contact with an art director of a greeting card publishing company who is "going to bat" with her creative director for one of my images...yay! I don't think there's much hope because my images/designs don't really mesh with their greeting card line but who knows?

I alternate between thinking that I have a great vision with so much potential and then thinking "What the heck am I doing?" But right now I'm in the "yes" mode...I KNOW that there's a niche for this type of greeting card and it's simply (ha, ha) a matter of finding the right company that "gets" the vision. O.K...I'm going back to designing now. It's more fun than updating this blog :)

LAST WEEK WITHIN A 12-HOUR TIME SPAN I RECEIVED...

the worst rejection (where they told me my cards were a "dime a dozen") and the nicest rejection (where they commented on their favorite image, told me it just didn't fit their venue, and gave me suggestions of where to submit my images). All in all, I consider it a somewhat successful week since I actually heard back from two companies :) To put this into perspective, you have to understand that each day I send out out many, many images and haven't heard back from most companies...so to hear anything is a plus!

Next week I am going to get back into designing...just for the fun of it!

MARKETING, MARKETING, MARKETING...

Yes...that's what I have been doing for the past week. I have been walking into local stores, giving away free greeting cards, submitting photos to greeting card publishers, mailing sample cards to gift stores, various boutiques, tried selling them on Ebay (bad idea), etc., etc., etc. I am still debating whether to try selling them on Amazon but I think if I do that I will have to create a package of 10 cards because who in their right mind would pay $3.50 for a greeting card plus taxes and shipping that would total around $8??? Enlighten me here if I'm missing something :)

Last week I was rejected by two companies and one informed me that they still hadn't made a decision. That's O.K...I've decided the worst weeks are the ones when you don't hear anything from anyone. It makes you wonder if they received them or not. I think I might have ticked off one company because I think I flooded their inbox with too many submissions. If I did, I apologize!!!

Now that I have Facebook I think I have to start figuring out the best way to use it. I think you have to keep everyone up to date on what you're doing...so, once again, to my friends I apologize if you get random things on your page!

THANKS TO K, I'M NOW ON FACEBOOK...

and not quite sure what to do with it. I invited a couple of people to be my friends but then I asked them to email me instead of posting on Facebook...which might be kind of defeating the purpose of the whole thing :) I guess I'm supposed to join some groups that relate to what I'm marketing so that's what I'll do next time I get on. It was enough for one day to just set up the page and links, videos, etc.

I signed my first contract yesterday licensing my very first image for a greeting card. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. I had them put my dad's name on the back of the card for photography credit since he's the one that took the picture. The company sells to 14,000 retail stores across the U.S. and Canada so, who knows, maybe they will be able to sell a few--they DEFINITELY have a better chance than I do since they've been in business about 20 years. I get 12 free cards when they're done so I think I will mail them to my mom and brothers and sister even though it's going to be a Happy Birthday Mom card :)

Starting tomorrow I'm back at sending out more images and designing and still procrastinating on Tweeting.

KOOL-AID STAND - 1 CENT A GLASS

I AM GETTING READY TO SIGN MY FIRST CONTRACT!!!

Pretty cool, huh? It kind of makes everything seem so official, if you know what I mean. It's exciting and it's sad in a way because I wish my dad was around to see his picture being professionally published on a greeting card. He would have loved the technology today, too. I can just imagine him sitting there with all his slides and spending hours and hours tweaking them with Photoshop.

I have spent the past week submitting the photos to various greeting card publishers and received the fastest rejection ever today. Within 30 minutes there was an email in my inbox but I don't feel too badly because they said they weren't accepting ANY submissions. I have been procrastinating creating a Facebook account but I think it's time...then on to Twitter which I hope I NEVER have to do! I am still hoping for one of the two major companies to come through with an exclusive so that I won't have to Twitter. Why can't we do business the old-fashioned way like the image I am going to post in the next blog???

IT ONLY TOOK ME A DAY AND A HALF TO...

create a video, add music, and upload it to Youtube, which you can hopefully see here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn7xVMuiUXc

This week seems to have flown by. I have been getting the nicest rejection letters and emails from companies. I'm serious, if you're going to get rejected it is much better to be rejected nicely :)

On a side note, I thought it was interesting to note on my HS transcript that I only scored in the 25th percentile in clerical on an aptitude test. I thought this was kind of funny considering I have spent my entire professional career as an executive assistant :) I only scored in the 23rd percentile for artistic which is what I consider what I am doing now. So there you go...that proves that those tests don't mean a darn thing! However, it also said that I only scored in the 18th percentile for "persuasive" and that part might be true considering I haven't sold any cards yet :) (Just so you know I wasn't totally illiterate, I scored a 96% in literary and 85% in verbal!)

Back to the drawing board...

IS THIS A REJECTION OR ACCEPTANCE?

I got an email today from a company that I had submitted my greeting cards to and it states that they have reviewed my materials and yes, this is the style they are seeking for their card lines. However, they did not choose any of the images/cards I had submitted at this time but I could feel free to submit more in the future. What the heck does this mean? It's like saying this is KIND OF what we're looking for but NOT EXACTLY what we're looking for :) Anyway, I need to go mail the check.

THIS IS WHAT I MISS ABOUT THE MIDWEST...

Totally off-topic from the greeting cards, I am applying for a full-time position at a local community college and I needed to get a copy of, get this, my HIGH SCHOOL transcripts to submit with my resume. So I call up good old Grosse Pointe South High School and the woman in the records department tells me that there is a cost of $2 to FAX them to me. I'm thinking that I am going to have to use Paypal or my debit card or some form of IMMEDIATE payment but, no, she says to just mail them a check for the $2. And that's what I miss the most about the midwest...the character, values, and morals that seem to be missing out here in California. They actually TRUST me to send them the check. So I am off to the post office to mail them the $2 check, after I say this: (go to next post)

I LICENSED MY FIRST CARD THIS MORNING!!!!!!!!!

Believe it or not, I actually received a call this morning from a company in Michigan (which I still consider my home state even though I haven't lived there since 1973) who wanted to license one of my cards...how exciting is that? I feel like it's somewhat of a breakthrough after all my hard work so it gave me a little boost to keep moving forward and not get discouraged. Thanks!

4 OF MY GREETING CARDS CAN BE VIEWED...

Here:


http://sites.google.com/site/prittiehartpress/

I SPENT 7 HOURS TODAY JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT...

how to put a watermark on my greeting cards so I could publish them on the web and not have to worry about anyone stealing them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (That's me screaming...I feel a little, but not much, better now.) After FINALLY figuring it out from what was SUPPOSED to be another easy software program (I'm not telling you which one in case it really IS easy and I was just out of it today), here is a link to my first card and my google website:

http://sites.google.com/site/prittiehartpress/our-products/candy-necklace-card-1

Hope the link works...if not, just type it in the address bar because I am done with this for today!

MY MORALS WILL PROBABLY BE THE DEATH OF MY COMPANY...

On my "to do" list was to check out a website where you can use your photos and have them made into T-shirts, mugs, calendars, etc. so this morning I did a VERY little research (like 3 seconds worth). All I did was type in the website address and immediately on the first page were objectionable photos and language so I just got out of there. The whole site (well, the first and only page I looked at) just really turned me off and I wouldn't want to be associated with them. The good part was that I got to cross something off my "to do" list after 3 seconds :)

The rest of the morning was spent submitting my cards and images to a greeting card company based in New York. I should hear back from them pretty soon after sending them 20 emails...if anything, they'll write to me to tell me to stop sending them emails. Several months ago I sent out about 100 resumes to individual realtors at one real estate company and the receptionist actually called to tell me not to send any additional resumes...she commended me on my persistence but said she didn't have time to deliver them to everyone. However, my plan kind of worked (I got a call from a realtor) but kind of didn't (I didn't actually get a job).

Back to work...

THANKS TO MY FRIEND...

"L" who is out there trying to sell my greeting cards today without any compensation whatsoever. I warned her to be prepared for rejection and to not take it personally if she gets turned away. I'll have to wait until she checks in with me later to see if this was the first and last time she'll ever do it...but I give her kudos for attempting it!

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST...

This was just a minor little rejection and it was actually kind of funny. I received an email (thankfully, NOT from the two remaining large corporations) which had a subject line that read: "No Thanks Sample." It was actually nice of them to respond...maybe I should reply and say "Thanks for the No Thanks." :)

REJECTION ONLY MAKES ME STRONGER AND MORE CREATIVE...

Well, today I finally heard back from one of the three companies I sent PowerPoint presentations to where I proposed an agreement whereby they would be the exclusive carrier of my cards. It was, unfortunately, a rejection letter...and a form letter at that. At least they gave me the courtesy of sending back my CD, even though I can't use it for anyone else :) The way I look at it is that I still have a 66% or so chance of succeeding since I haven't heard back from the other two companies and I assume they would at least send me a rejection letter if they're not interested.

Anyway, I had a new marketing idea today and I did a lot of research this afternoon. I identified some exclusive children's clothing boutiques and I thought since mothers usually take their kids clothes shopping and my cards are really family-oriented, what a perfect venue this would be. Instead of driving around to a lot of shops haphazardly, I am going to mail four samples of my cards to each of these places. It's really hard to find out the name of the person you should send something to at these corporations and I just feel like putting the company name and address and writing "Attention: Head Honcho" but I don't know if they would think it was funny :)

That's it for today...

DOOR-TO-DOOR SELLING IS NOT FOR INSECURE PEOPLE!

Well, it was an interesting day today taking my cards out to various stores. These are the reactions I received:

1. A small AIM store..."No, we already have too many cards." (He didn't even look at them).

2. Another small AIM store...super nice young guy in his 20's who had lots of advice for me and said that after I designed 8 more cards that he would carry them on consignment. He actually never looked at the cards either but said that he always wants to help people get started in business. However, my problem is not designing more cards, it's investing another $2,000 into printing costs. He also told me that at this point, I shouldn't be looking so much toward profit, but exposure...which makes sense but you have to be able to afford to do that financially.

3. A small clothing store in Town Centre...the owner was a total "witch with an attitude" and asked me to come back when I had 50-100 cards designed and next time to make an appointment. (Whatever happened to just walking into a store and talking to the owner as long as they're not busy?) Which brings me to...

4. Craig and Karen at Pix & Dubs in Laguna Niguel...a really nice couple who actually looked at the cards and gave me lots of advice and even said that they would carry them on consignment. They are the nicest of the small business owners that I met today, followed by #2 above. #1 and #3 made me wonder how on earth they stay in business.

After all my marketing research, I really think that the absolutely best way to market these cards is for one of the major corporations that I approached to carry them exclusively. I really hope I hear from them soon (one in particular who I would really like to be associated with because I think it's a great fit).

Well, I'm not giving up and I have a few other ideas up my sleeve. I think I'll try those tomorrow.

I JUST RECEIVED MY FIRST ORDER OF 1,000 GREETING CARDS!

I'm so excited...they look really fantastic and professional, if I do say so myself :) I really think there has GOT to be a market for these and now I need to get out there and sell them. I hope that they mean as much to other people as they mean to me...even though the pictures are of MY family, I think that they are nostalgic and that many people will relate to them. I really wish my Dad was alive to see his pictures in print. I think he would get a big kick out of it. Well, I'm off to go attempt to sell them...wish me luck!

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF CO-TWEET?

I was investigating Twitter and ran across cotweet.com which is apparently for employees to use within their organization. They have some major players on there but I was thinking that it would be funny if I signed up because I would just be one person tweeting to myself :)

MY CARDS ARE BEING DELIVERED ON WEDNESDAY...

and I'm still not sure the best way to go about marketing them. In addition to seeing if more local stores would carry them, I was also thinking about opening an Amazon Webstore but after doing some research, I decided not to take that route. I have applied to be a vendor at a major store and I'm waiting to hear back from them. I have a domain name registered but have no clue how to develop a website :) Actually, that's not really what's holding me back...the reason I am not really excited about establishing the website is because then you have to get into SEO and all that stuff to drive traffic to your site and I think that's more than I can deal with. In addition to selling the cards, I also thought I could sell the images on Istockphoto which would be an additional revenue source. I also need to create a Facebook and Twitter accounts in addition to my existing LinkedIn account. A good friend of mine came up with the idea of incorporating the family history on the display racks in stores which was really creative...thanks, J!

I need to get back to designing...

WHAT A WEEK!

I have been busy working on my marketing plan for the past week and designing new cards and, guess what? Designing is WAY more fun! The problem is that I think I am actually better at marketing than I am at designing. When I placed my order for 1,000 cards about a week ago, the graphic artist called and told me that I had designed this humongous card (something like 10" x 14") and she thought she should verify this with me prior to printing. That's what I like about this company...they not only do printing but they actually fix my graphic design mistakes! How cool is that? And...here's a drum roll...I actually have a local store who is willing to carry my greeting cards which is really exciting. Well, I need to get back to work and hopefully design a regular sized card :)

MOM - WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT SOMEONE WHO WOULD HAVE 4 KIDS?

THEN

1. She never could remember all of our names...she'd be yelling for Bro #1, Bro #2, Only Sis, or Myself and even throw in a pet's name sometimes :)

2. One time she was pulling out of the driveway with all of us and our neighbor was saying goodbye to us and asked where Bro #2 was...turns out Mom had left him in his high chair. I'm sure she would have realized it sooner or later...

3. When we were growing up Mom worked at our high school (how better to keep an eye on her kids?)...but guess what, Mom? We got REAL good at forging your signature on sick passes :)

4.. I won't reveal WHICH bro this was but ONE of them (as a teenager) had a certain type of PLANT (if you know what I mean) growing in his room and Mom would actually water it for him...obviously not knowing what kind of PLANT this was (we did end up telling her this when she was about 75 years old).

NOW

In addition to raising four children, Mom had a successful career and didn't retire until she was 73. She just had her 83rd birthday on June 19th and resides very close to Bro #2 and his wife in Delray Beach, FL.

BRO #2 - CAN YOU SAY NARCISSIST?

THEN


1. You know anyone else who would name every single one of their stuffed animals after themselves? Bro #2 #1, Bro #2 #2, Bro #2 #3, Bro #2 #4...you get the idea.

2. When Bro #2 was born I was 5 years old and it was like having my own living doll but he wasn’t too demonstrative. So what I had to do was hide behind a corner and yell “boo” at him and then he would let me hug him even though I was the one who had scared him in the first place.

3. I once received a birthday card from him saying "Keep $15 of the money you owe me." (I kid you not...that was my gift.)

4. I got him back on his 40th B.D. by sending him 40 cards (all on the same day) I printed on my computer that said that he would find money in one of the envelopes...in Envelope #35 or so (my luck!) he found the Monopoly money :) -- That was SO worth the postage!

NOW

Bro #2 has a successful career and is happily married to a wonderful woman. They reside in Pompano Beach, FL.

ONLY SIS - TROUBLEMAKER #2

THEN

1. She would take my clothes without asking and I made her pay me $5 one time because she borrowed my favorite sweater.

2. When we got into fights she would scratch me with her really long nails.

3. We had a laundry chute in our house that went from the second floor down to the basement. One time we made a pulley so we could send things up and down the laundry chute. Well, one day she was upstairs and I was down in the basement and she was supposed to somehow attach one of those hard plastic cups with water (I was thirsty) and send it down to me. Somehow she messed up and as I was looking up the chute, this cup came flying down two flights and smacked me on the lip. Yep, the one and only time in my life I had to have stitches...come to think of it, between my dad dropping me on the floor, Bro #1 hitting me with a golf club, and Only Sis smacking me with the cup, it's a wonder I lived :)

NOW

Only Sis has been married for 32 years, has 3 grown children and lives in Palm Bay, FL. She is a successful businesswoman and, together with her husband, own a homebuilding company.

MYSELF - ONE WORD - NERD

THEN

1. I literally would walk to school reading a book.

2. One summer I read every single biography from our public library (they were orange) and then I would pretend I was the person. For example, I remember writing “Thomas Alva Edison” on my tennis shoes...really :)

3. Forbidden to read Valley of the Dolls, I of course went straight out and bought it and read it under the covers with a flashlight.

NOW

1. Still a nerd but moved my books from Grosse Pointe, MI to Laguna Niguel, CA. I have been married for 28 years and my greatest joy in life has been being a mother to my only daughter (I know it sounds sappy but it's all I ever wanted to be).

BRO #1 - TROUBLE FROM DAY #1

THEN

What I remember about Bro #1 as a young child is this…

1. He colored my Ken doll’s head green and threw it in the pool.

2. One night when my friend and I were out on the balcony outside my room, all of a sudden a hand came over the railing and scared us so much that we screamed. Turned out it was Bro #1 sneaking back in the house. He had been grounded and snuck out and was coming back in.

3. Jumped off the roof of a neighbor’s house into their swimming pool.

4. Hit me in the face with a golf club when I was 4 (I concede that it was an accident, Bro #1) and gave me a permanent dimple (not too bad-looking, if I do say so myself).

5. He called a pizza parlor and had 20 pizzas delivered to the mayor and ended up getting caught and had to do community service. (This was when he was an ADULT.)

NOW

Extremely intelligent, well-read and well-versed on a number of subjects. Bro #1 resides in Detroit and is an accomplished carpenter. He was married to his childhood sweetheart until her death in January of this year.

THE REST OF THE CAST...

For the sake of anonymity, we'll just call them Mom, Bro #1, Only Sis, and Bro #2, O.K.? Here goes...

HERE'S A PIC OF MY DAD AND I

A FATHER'S DAY TRIBUTE TO MY DAD (THE MAN BEHIND THE CAMERA)

While I was designing these greeting cards I couldn't help but think of my dad and how much he would have loved seeing his photos in print. My dad died 16 years ago June 16th and I thought a Father's Day tribute would be appropriate at this time. I remember growing up and HATING to pose for these photos but now, as an adult, I am so grateful to dad for taking them and capturing our childhood on film.

My dad was a newscaster for WWJ TV and taking photos was his hobby. His "stage name" was Don Perrie for obvious reasons...can you imagine going on the air and saying "This is Don Prittie with the Channel 4 News?" Can you imagine BEING A KID with that last name???? One of the best memories I have of my dad when I was a child was having cherry coffee cake in the middle of the night after he got home from work. As a newscaster, his work schedule was such that we didn't get to see him very often and those middle-of-the-night visits were really special to me. He and I would leave notes for each other since we didn't get to see each other much. I remember that I got to meet Bozo the Clown at his TV station one time and that was actually kind of disappointing because, as it turned out, he was just a regular man.

When I was about 6 months old dad had me on live TV with him and he somehow let me fall off a table...that's why I have a permanent dent in my forehead and it's the reason for everything wrong with me :) My older brother (Bro #1) and I also got to be on TV when we were a little older. It was a segment about safety and he and I were supposed to walk across the street together holding hands. Bro #1 refused to hold my hand and I ended up just trailing after him...looking like a total dork.

My dad also hosted a call-in radio show while I was growing up and there was one black woman who lived in Detroit with her 3 children who would call in and talk to my dad all the time. My dad wanted us kids to know how privileged we were so every Christmas we would have to select one present and take it to this woman's children. Being kids, of course we always picked out the worst present we received--sorry, Bro #2, about giving away that doll's clothes line you bought me one year :) Anyway, it was always awkward for us but I will never forget that woman opening her Bible one time and there were three dollar bills in it...her total savings. She took one dollar and handed it to us kids and said to divide it up. The generosity of that woman still lives in my memory.

My dad also produced a documentary on breast cancer in the early 1960's that was way ahead of its time. Prior to retiring, he also covered the Detroit Riots in 1968. He was unable to leave Detroit for 4 days due to the rioting. Covering the riots took a lot out of my dad and, in 1973, our family moved to Florida where my dad switched to radio.

The last time I saw my dad was just 3 months before he died. My husband, 6-year-old daughter and I drove cross-country to see him...

Here's looking at you, dad...I love you and miss you.

ON TO PLAN B....................

Well, now that my presentations have been mailed out (keeping my fingers crossed) I need to be prepared for the fact that Plan A (forming a partnership with a major corporation) won't work and move on to Plan B....I'll keep you posted...taking the day off and will start tomorrow.

I'M MAILING MY PRESENTATIONS OUT TOMORROW!!!!!

They're done, for better or worse, and I am exhausted. Wish me luck...that's it for today.

I ALMOST MADE A HUGE MISTAKE!

I was working on a "Happy Thanksgiving" card yesterday with a picture of my aunt holding what I thought was a turkey leg on a platter...good thing my daughter pointed out to me that it was a lobster and NOT a turkey leg. The text on the front of the card read "Happy Thanksgiving" and on the inside it said "Next time let's remember to tie the turkey's legs together." Can you imagine if I had sent THAT one out?? That would have been a real winner :)

Yesterday and today I spent a lot of time working on my PowerPoint presentation and, believe me, PowerPoint is a lot easier to figure out than Adobe and PrintMaster. I've never used PowerPoint before and my first presentation was kind of boring but I figured out how to jazz it up a little and so far, so good. I had to slow it down a little because at first it made me kind of dizzy looking at it...I had the speed set too fast. I think I am actually be going to put the finishing touches on the PowerPoint presentation and mail it out tomorrow or Saturday to some major corporations and see what they think...wish me luck, because I need it.

TIME FOR A BREATHER!!!

Well, I think I have about 20 cards in various stages of design right now. Unfortunately, though, nothing is yet in print. I decided I need to take some time just to organize everything because my desk is in a state of disarray. My problem is that I am working in PowerPoint and two other programs which I have never used before so it's really a learning process. Right now my vertical cards are on horizontal slides in PowerPoint and it looks like it's a pain to convert them. I feel like the easiest thing to do would be to leave them out of the presentation (which would solve the problem) but they are great photos so I don't really want to do that. Also, I will be working nonstop for hours and be really excited and then all of a sudden I am hit with a wave of doubt...wondering if this idea is as good as I think it is. I hope so. I need to hire people to help me but can't afford to pay them...does anyone want to work for free????

DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES...

(like lack of time and skills) I am not going to make my launch date of June 15th (which is tomorrow). I am actually feeling kind of discouraged today because I have been unable to get my first card printed correctly. The graphic artist said that the printer needs to adjust the color and the printer said that the graphic artist needs to adjust the color...all I know is that SOMEONE needs to adjust the color!!!! Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.

I ORDERED BUSINESS CARDS TODAY...

Yep...that was my exciting day. Well, I actually did a little more than that. I applied for a Seller's Permit with the State of California which, after the governor's statement today that he may just shut down the state government, might be a moot point. Then I actually designed three cards and gave up on the fourth one because I ended up flattening everyone like a pancake and couldn't figure out how to fix it...so I scrapped that one.

Since I didn't accomplish too much today, I actually made a list of everything I need to do which, oddly, makes me feel better!!

1. Finish designing (if you want to call it that) about 30 cards.
2. Work on my PowerPoint presentation that I will be sending to some major corporations.
3. Do the paperwork that those corporations require in order to submit my business proposal.
4. Work on my other marketing ideas because what good are these cards going to do me if I don't advertise?
5. Figure out what good this blog does besides giving me something else I have to keep up with.

I think that's it but I can't remember.

HERE'S MY LOGO

I THINK I'M GETTING THE HANG OF THIS...YES!!!

Yes...I finally kind of have a system down after many, many hours of working on this. You know how it is when you spend forever trying to figure something out and then you finally figure it out but forgot what you did? That's what happened to me yesterday. I spent 3 hours trying to figure out something I had actually figured out the night before...frustrating!!! Today I went through about 1,000 slides that my Dad took and selected 33 to get scanned to hopefully design into greeting cards. I have a lot of ideas and just hope that there's a market for them...which obviously I think there is; otherwise, I wouldn't be doing this. Tomorrow I am going to work on my Power Point presentation that I am going to mail to some major companies hopefully within a week to ten days. I am also going to see about getting my first card printed. It will be exciting to actually see one finally completed.

NEVER MIND...

I figured out how to upload the images but after reading the Picasa "terms and conditions" where Google has rights to do whatever the document said with your images, I decided not to post them here until they're completed. I hate all this legal stuff!

I LOST MY JOB A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO SO I AM BACK USING PRINTMASTER :(

Yep...after working for the same company for 32 years, July 31st will be my last day. I was 22 years old when I started working with them and we kind of all grew up together so it's kind of an emotional time for me. I feel even more pressure now to get these cards going and trying to sell them. I worked all day today and got 8 roughed-out at least but I know that I need to hire someone for photo restoration before I get them printed. Some of the photos are over 45 years old so there are some scratches on them. I am getting a little better with the program which is saying something for someone who this morning had text printing upside down AND backwards :) I think I'll try to post one now if I can figure it out. Let's see...

I QUIT THE PRINTMASTER PROGRAM, TOO!

After working for two days with this program and virtually accomplishing nothing, I quit this one, too! For someone with no artistic ability whatsoever (I still remember getting that "C" on my map of the United States in 5th grade) I sure have chosen a new business that really tests my skills and patience level! I think I need to continue to pay the graphic artists to do what they do and focus on the vision and the marketing of the business. That's it for now...

I'M TIRED......................................................

I spent about 9 hours today and finished about 3 pictures. I don't care what anyone says...this stuff is NOT easy!!! At one point the little girl in the photo looked kind of like a pig and like she was seriously injured :) I bought some card stock today but couldn't figure out how to get the pictures to print out straight on the paper...I'm not sure my printer is capable of it (or if I am). I think I have decided to get these pictures/cards to the point where I could send it to a professional and have them do minimal work in order to get them ready to be printed. I'm really trying hard to meet my target launch date of June 15th which is right around the corner.

Signing off for today...

I BOUGHT A NEW SOFTWARE PROGRAM THAT'S MUCH EASIER THAN PHOTOSHOP

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yesterday I did a little research on programs and decided to buy PrintMaster and it is MUCH easier to use than Photoshop. Of course, it probably doesn't have the capabilities of Photoshop but I think it will be good enough for what I need. Once I get something completed, I'll see if I can publish it on this site.

EXCITING NEWS

I'm in the process of getting the very first greeting card printed...then I'll have to pound the pavement to see if I can sell them. I have the next ten cards planned out and I'm working on getting them designed. Wish me luck!

...NEVER MIND

I decided not to reveal my business plan just quite yet :)

I QUIT ADOBE PHOTOSHOP!

After spending all day today trying to resize photos in Adobe Photoshop (which is supposedly a very simple thing to do), I realized that I am definitely not cut out for the graphics industry. If you click "resize canvas" and change the setting and click O.K. and then you click "resize image" and change the setting and click O.K. again, you would think that the canvas and image sizes WOULD CHANGE!!!! But no...they still look exactly the same. Therefore, I am getting quotes right now from graphic artists to design the greeting cards so that I can focus on marketing and selling them to....(I'll leave you guessing until tomorrow)

NOW WHAT DO I DO?

O.K...now that I have this blog, what am I supposed to do with it? I already told you about the essence of PrittieHartPress. I downloaded a trial copy of Adobe Photoshop (which everyone has told me is VERY easy to use). I worked about 5 hours the first day and managed to get the photo on the screen. The next day it took me about 8 hours to get the text on the page going in the right direction. Don't worry...I still have about 25 days left on the trial version to meet my June 15th launch date. I'm 54 years old...I think I can do this blog thing but no way can I Facebook, Myspace, Youtube AND Twitter like a bird just to advertise my business. Whatever happened to the old-fashioned way of doing business by word-of-mouth?

ANNOUNCING THE GRAND OPENING OF PRITTIEHARTPRESS JUNE 15, 2009

The launch of PrittieHartPress, a vintage and All American photo greeting card company located in Laguna Niguel, CA, is scheduled for June 15, 2009. We're excited to offer an extensive collection of greeting cards with photos from the 1950's and 1960's (taken by Donald R. Prittie) and photos from the 1980's and 1990's (taken by Tracey Hart). The cards focus on simpler times in America...taking you back to the "good old days."