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Thinking of you 2016

Thinking of You Week 2016

This year I am excited to announce that Phoenix are providing special packs of 7 cards for you to send during Thinking of You week (26th Sept to 2nd Oct).

Normally a pack of 7 cards would cost you £12.25 but these are being made available at a special price of £8.40.

Thinking of You Week 2016

Last year I made my own packs and donated £2 from each pack to my local charity Hebrides Alpha Project. It was obviously such a good idea that Phoenix have decided to roll this out nationally!

Thinking of You week is all about lifting people’s spirits, letting someone know you care. #sendingcards can have such a positive impact on mental health that these packs will support Mind and Hebrides Alpha supported housing project (1 and 2 pounds from each pack respectively)

Last year you helped me to raise £100, can we do it again?

If you can’t order online then you can email me at janet@cardsandgiftwrap.co.uk for a pack (£1.30 postage) thank you x

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ALL our Christmas Cards are charity cards!

reindeer stable christmas cards are charity

Charity Christmas CardsYou may not know this but most wholesalers don’t give a percentage of their profits from the Christmas cards they make to charities. Flamingo Paperie are different. For every Christmas card sold the Phoenix International Charity donates 1p to charity. They have so far donated over £1.8m to good causes. Our Christmas cards are charity cards.

Every single one of Flamingo Paperie’s Christmas cards are charity cards.

Just to clarify – this is the donation from the wholesaler, not the donation from the retailer. When you look at the back of Christmas card packs you’ll usually see the donation made by the retailer. In the case of the cards I sell, I am the retailer!

So do I make a donation to charity?

Yes! Nearly every event I attend is a charity event. Whether it’s the stall fee or a raffle prize there is nearly always a charitable donation made (this is for any event, not just Christmas ones). I also do loads of fundraising events for local charities. For example a gift wrapping evening for a local church women’s group. At an event like this I donate a minimum of 10% of all sales (not just Christmas cards) to their charity of choice.

Businesses who wish to buy cards for sending corporately this Christmas can choose which charity they would like their 10% to go to. I can do this through justgiving.com so I can link your company to the donation.

Individuals who wish to hold an individual event, like a coffee and cards, can choose to donate 10% of the total sales to a charity of their choice.

Hopefully this helps to explain a little how Flamingo Paperie Christmas cards don’t just look good, but do good!

If you are from the Western Isles you will be interested to know that the wholesale charity donation from all UK sales of Phoenix’s Christmas cards in 2016 benefitted local charity Hebrides Project Alpha. I successfully nominated them as one of the chosen charities for Christmas 2016. They received £150 from the Phoenix International Charity.

I nominated local Beavers and Cubs from Laxdale to receive a donation from Flamingo Paperie’s 2017 Christmas Cards.

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The Jackson Family

The Jackson Family
image

“Before I came I hadn’t heard of Rachel House. I think everyone has this image that you’re going to walk through the door into sadness and death and people crying in corners. It wasn’t until I walked through the front door that I thought “wow”. It’s smiles as soon as you enter.

Rachel House takes the stress away. I don’t have to be running around, cooking meals and sorting Mark out. It lets Morgan, Eden and Sky just be kids. When we’re here, I’m more relaxed and I know that my kids are very happy and safe. It’s just a home from home.”

Help families like the Jackson’s by buying our special butterfly basket products, or indeed anything from my shop as I’m donating 10% of all sales to CHAS

via The Jackson Family.

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The Perfect Cup of Tea – Fortnum & Mason

As it’s National Beverage Day I thought you’d like to know how to make the perfect cup of tea! Who better to ask than Fortnum and Mason?

The Perfect Cup of Tea

WS319_ceramics

Tea advice from the experts. You’re SO welcome.

Here’s all you need to know about the ‘right’ way to make tea. No ceremony necessary. First of all, we have assumed one is using leaf tea. You really and truly should. Secondly, not all leaves require the same approach. Green leaves may prefer a longer brewing time: Darjeeling performs shabbily with milk. But let’s describe the classic process of making a traditional “black” tea as found in most of Fortnum’s (and the world’s) most popular blends.

Here is a simple digest of what works.

Fill the kettle with fresh water from the tap. Yes, your grandmother was right: water that has been boiled already will affect the taste of the tea.

As it approaches the boil, warm the teapot by rinsing it out with hot water.

Treat the teapot to one rounded teaspoon (yes, or caddy spoon) of tea leaves for each person and one extra spoonful ‘for the pot’. That’s the orthodox rule, though many these days find it a little strong. You’re in charge here.

Just before the kettle water boils, pour into the pot. It doesn’t need to be stirred.

Leave to infuse for three to five minutes, depending on taste. Serve, using a tea strainer.

If making tea in a cup with a tea infuser, the same rule applies – one spoon of tea, use water just off the boil and infuse for 3-5 minutes.

To find out more including whether to put the milk in first or last read the rest of the article via The Perfect Cup of Tea – Fortnum & Mason.

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Did you know?

Who came up with Christmas cards?WS319_ceramics

Which country leads the way in greetings card design?

How much money goes to charity from Christmas cards?

What’s the average cost of a greetings card?

Answers to the above and more in my latest video – Did you know?

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Why Flamingo Paperie and what’s cake got to do with it?

why flamingo paperie

People often ask me why Flamingo Paperie?

There are a lot of reasons but here are today’s top 5 reasons why Flamingo Paperie ticks my boxes

1 – Potential

TF22-butterfliesThe UK card industry is huge and growing. Despite what you might think, “that no one sends cards anymore because we all just Facebook each other”, the Greeting Card Association UK (GCA) reports that sales of greeting cards are actually increasing! In fact we spend more on cards than we spend on tea and coffee put together!

2 – Charity

I am passionate about giving something back. Having previously worked in areas like Darfur and Sierra Leone I cannot escape the reality that I am hugely blessed in life. I don’t believe in just giving handouts. On the whole these don’t better someone else’s circumstances. But giving people the tools they need to take control of their own lives and situations – that’s worthwhile. Flamingo Paperie as an organisation always looks to share their success, to give out, not keep it all to themselves. The people who run it have done this since they started as the company, Phoenix Trading in 1995. All our Christmas cards are charity cards. Some of my team donate all their profits to charity, and I love to help people raise some extra money for their cause, be it their Scout group or their local hospice.

3 – Being my own boss

I’ve done the working for a big company and having to work overtime to make more money for shareholders with no personal gain. I’m through with that! Anyone with children will value flexibility in life as planning even a day can all go to pot with a sick child, a well timed nappy change, an unexpected nap (from the child not me…though often I wish!). Working from home and being in charge of my tasks and goals, with no one saying “I know it’s tough and we don’t want to push you over the edge but we do need you to work the overtime” (as a previous boss said to me after I had disclosed that I had depression and was struggling to make it through each day), is a key reason why Flamingo Paperie is best for me and my whole family.

4 – Flitter

What is flitter? Why do I go on about it so much? Flitter is that wonderful stuff also known as fairy dust or magic sparkle that people sometimes mistake for the poor imitation that is glitter. Many of Flamingo Paperie’s cards are flittery – and at no extra cost! If the cards aren’t flittered the illustrations are still stunning. When I first became an independent Phoenix Trader I thought I might send them some of my designs but I’ve since been privileged to see some of the original artwork and, no – I won’t be sending mine in. The artists who illustrated for Phoenix Trading and now Flamingo Paperie are in a league of their own…if you are in that league you might want to look at the info for artists. What’s more all of our flitter is eco-friendly glitter. That’s really important to me as I work to be a plastic free business as you can see from my eco-friendly paper tape that I have designed myself.

5 – Cake!

Sorry can’t get away from it…I’ve tried to eat less of it but there’s no getting away from the fact I love cake. Flamingo Paperie Partners eat a lot of cake, drink a lot of tea – and when we can we love wine with our cards too. Being a Flamingo Paperie Partner is about people. Whether it be listening to what someone wants out of their business, seeing how I can support someone with fundraising or helping someone choose the right sympathy card. These conversations often happen over a cuppa and if possible a slice of cake. I’m not fussy what kind of cake, any will do!

B030-sugar-and-spiceThese are my reasons for today and probably in today’s order why Flamingo Paperie ticks my boxes.

They might change because being an independent Flamingo Paperie Partner means I can be flexible like that. If you’d like to find out more do get in touch. I’ll be happy to send you some information with no commitment on your part. Except possibly the requirement to eat cake if you come to a team meeting. But as I say I’m flexible – you choose how big a slice you want!