Greeting Card Campaign: 12-01 National Pie Day

Click here to download National Pie Day card.

December 1 is National Pie Day. I know we've been doing pies and dessert day a lot lately, but given the season and the fact that I like pie, we're going with National Pie Day.  Pie is, at least in my opinion, the perfect food.  It has that lovely flaky, buttery crust filled with fruit, vegetables, meat, or even gravies. Long ago pie type shells were used to carry food on a long journey - the pie served as a carrying case more or less. The first pie recipe recorded was a Sumerian chicken pot pie. The Egyptians, Romans and other ancient civilizations had their own versions.

Pie can be made with a top crust only, top and bottom or bottom only. I even saw a crustless one once. Cake does not hold a candle to a pie.  Celebrate the day by eating yourself some pie and by telling your sweetie pie how much you love her too with this free downloadable, printable National Pie Day Card.  Just click on the caption below the picture of the pie.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside.

© 2013 by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-30 National Mousse Day

Click here to download card

Mark Twain, whose birthday is today, had little respect for European food frippery. He once said, “A man accustomed to American food and American domestic cookery would not starve to death suddenly in Europe, but I think he would gradually waste away, and eventually die.”  Twain was likely talking about such insubstantial dishes such as the French mousse which was a French restaurant specialty during the 1800s.

Just three years after Twain's birth the conflict over French cuisine spread to Mexico in 1838's Great Pastry War. The war was a brief conflict began between Mexico and France that broke out after a French pastry cook claimed some Mexican Army soldiers had damaged his restaurant. The Mexican government, having no respect for any type of cooking which did not utilize jalapenos refused to pay for the damage and the French, who have no sense of humor about pastry declared war. It lasted till dinner, then everyone went home - the French to enjoy a nice chocolate mousse and the Mexicans to wrap something up in a tortilla.

So enjoy National Mousse Day if you are fond of desserts made from egg whites and cream. The very word “mousse” is French for “foam”? It’s a good name for something that's the consistency of soap bubbles. There are many different flavors of mousse, including chocolate, nut, and various fruit flavors.

Tell your own fluffy delight how much you enjoy her company with this downloadable, printable free National Mousse Day card.  Just click on the caption below the picture of the moose above. Remember, instead of printing from Google Docs, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "Download" and copy the file to your own computer.  Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you use and print the card from there. For some reason Google Docs doesn't handle fonts well, even though they are supposed to be embedded in the PDF document itself. 

This is a top fold card, so when it prints, be sure to tell your printer it's in "portrait" format so you get the whole file. Flip it on the short side to print double-sided. This also flips the inside upside down from the outside when you print in portrait mode, so that, when you fold it over, the inside comes out right side up.  If you're confused, I encourage you to give it a try with a practice sheet.

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-29 Square Dance Day

Click here to download your card

November 29 is Square Dance Day. While we're not sure where Square Dance Day actually came from, we do know where square dancing itself has its origins.  Square dancing was brought to America by English, Irish, and Scottish settlers in the form of circle dances, reels and various country dances that involved groups of four or more. In America, we added a caller to the version that became square dancing to help dancers stay in step. The caller actually changes the order of the steps from dance to dance to make the dance more challenging.  Suqre dancing is especially popular in the south and southeast and in western rural communities and among senior citizens.

It's also a good way to have some fun and get some great aerobic exercise in the process. If you'd like to "Swing your partner" today, try sending her an invitation tucked inside this free, downloadable, printable Square Dance Day Card. Just click on the caption below the picture of the square dancers.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside.

Greeting Card Campaign: Thanksgiving

Click here to download card.

Today is Thanksgiving Day this year (2013). In the United States, the modern Thanksgiving holiday has its roots in a celebration in around 1621 when the Pilgrims and Puritians celebrated their first decent harvest. Days of Thanksgiving were common in England  and were carried to the New England colonies as a religious celebration.  The tradition was continued in later years by the colonial governors and eventually a regular holiday until the late 1660s.

A variety of royal governors and church leaders would make the annual Thanksgiving proclamations. During the Revolution General Washington did it one year as did the Continental Congress. George Washington became the first US president to make a nation-wide day of  thanksgiving proclamation, marking November 26, 1789, "as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God".

Traditions have grown up around the holiday such as the annual official proclamation and the pardoning of a turkey by the president. The "pardon" is supposed to insure the turkey lives out its life running around the farm without fear of its life. There are some nasty rumors that some past presidents went ahead and ate the bird on the sly on the grounds that it was only a one day pardon, I suppose. Sounds like something Taft would have done.
  
So today is the day to thank your Pocahontas that her favorite big old turkey is thankful for her with this downloadable free printable Thanksgiving Day card.  Just click on the caption below the picture of the turkey above. Remember, instead of printing from Google Docs, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "Download" and copy the file to your own computer.  Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you use and print the card from there. For some reason Google Docs doesn't handle fonts well, even though they are supposed to be embedded in the PDF document itself. 

This is a top fold card, so when it prints, be sure to tell your printer it's in "portrait" format so you get the whole file. Flip it on the short side to print double-sided. This also flips the inside upside down from the outside when you print in portrait mode, so that, when you fold it over, the inside comes out right side up.  If you're confused, I encourage you to give it a try with a practice sheet. 

© 2013 by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-27 National Bavarian Cream Pie Day

Click here to download Bavarian Cream Pie Day card.

November 27th is National Bavarian Cream Pie Day. Probably named for the German province of Bavaria, the Bavarian Cream Pie is a  delicious chilled cream pie made of layers of custard and whipped cream in a pie shell, then topped with even more whipped cream. The Bavarian cream pie dates back to the early 1800s. It first appeared in U.S. cookbooks toward the end of the 19th centurey and became even more popular with the invention of better methods of extracting cornstarch and with the concurrent rise of refrigeration technology.  The Bavarian cream pie led the way to other popular custards and cream or pudding pies.

Tell your sweetie pie that sweet pies make you think of her with this downloadable Bavarian Cream Pie Day card. Just click on the caption below the picture of the Bavarian Cream Pie.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside.

Also, here are some good recipes for a nice Bavarian Cream Pie.

© 2013 by Tom King

Greeting card campaign: 11-26 National Cake Day

Click here to download free card.

November 26, 2013 is National Cake Day, a day to celebrate one of the world’s most popular desserts.  Cake evolved from early kinds of leavened breads. The breads were originally sweetened with honey, fruit, and nuts. The name for sweetened “cakes”  comes from an Old Norse word, “kaka”. The name eventually came to mean a baked flour confection? There are all sorts of flavors of cake nowadays including vanilla, chocolate, red velvet, carrot, pineapple-upside-down and other varieties. Wish your sweetcakes a happy National Cake Day with this downloadable National Cake Day card.

Just click on the caption below the picture of the cake. Remember, instead of printing from Google Docs, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "Download" and copy the file to your own computer.  Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you use and print the card from there. For some reason Google Docs doesn't handle fonts well, even though they are supposed to be embedded in the PDF document itself.

This is a top fold card, so when it prints, be sure to tell your printer it's in "portrait" format so you get the whole file. Flip it on the short side to print double-sided. This also flips the inside upside down from the outside when you print in portrait mode, so that, when you fold it over, the inside comes out right side up.  If you're confused, I encourage you to give it a try with a practice sheet.

© by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-25 National Parfait Day

Click here to download card.

November 25th is National Parfait Day. Parfait is a French word that literally means "perfect". We don't know who came up with National Parfait Day or even if it's official at all, but having one would be the perfect way to celebrate.  It's likely the day was dreamed up by marketing folk at Dairy Queen, the master maker of parfaits and sundaes.  A parfait is different from a sundae in that it consists of swirled layers of ice cream, whipped cream, nuts, syrups, candies and fruits. Chocolate is a favorite swirl ingredient, but the fancier ice cream stores will swirl you one out of anything they have in the toppings tubs behind the counter.

Let your best girl know she's a swirl of delicious ingredients herself with this National Parfait Day card that you can download for free.  Just click on the caption below the picture of the parfait.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside.
© 2013 by Tom King


 

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-24 Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day

Click here to download your greeting card.

November 23 is Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day! Where this holiday came from is anybody's guess. Probably started by someone without any visible talent who wanted other people to help him find his.  Seriously though, everyone has some unique talent or skill.

There are nine basic types of human intelligence (there used to be seven, but apparently some people felt left out so they added a couple of gimmes).  and all of us have a few types at which we're above average and some that are at average levels and some types of intelligence that we really suck at.  Einstein was a genius mathematician whose social skills were so poor he had to have help to dress himself and who married his cousin in order to get that help. Verbal and Math skills are the only two skills the standard IQ test measures there are others. The nine types of intelligence are:

1. Verbal skills - Writing, poetry, reading, analysis, research
 

2. Mathematics - Physics, accounting, teaching algebra.
 

3. Body/Kinesthetic skills - (understanding of how to manipulate objects and use physical skills to movement in 3 dimensional space) Basketball players, marksmen and gymnasts
 

4. Musical Intelligence - Singers, musicians, composers 
  

5. Interpersonal Intelligence - (understanding social interaction) Diplomats, counselors, speakers, comedians
 

6. Spatial Intelligence - (the ability to think in three dimensions) Graphic artists, sailors, pilots, sculptors, painters, and architects
 

7. Intra-Personal Intelligence - (the capacity to understand oneself and one’s thoughts and feelings) Psychologists, spiritual leaders, and politicians
 

Here's where they used to stop, but there were two groups who consider themselves highly intelligent and extremely important.  They have apparently been successful got these two types of intelligence added along the way:

 

8.  Naturalist Intelligence - (the ability to discriminate among living things and "sensitivity to other features of the natural world (clouds, rock configurations) Farmers, botanists, eco-warriors, environmentalists and television nature documentary filmmakers.  

 

You've got to love this one it includes not only the hunter-gatherers of the ancient past, but this intelligence also helps us choose the best car, sneakers, kinds of makeup and fashion. So knowing whether to buy White Diamonds or E'sprit or whatever the latest trendy perfume happens to be is a type of intelligence?

9. Existential Intelligence - (the sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why do we die, and how did we get here). At last a place for philosophers, gurus and other such layabouts.

 

So today is the day to embrace those quirky abilities and show them off to everyone else! In the meantime, send your sweetie a "Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day" card to let her know you think she was smart for picking you.  Just click on the caption below the picture of the multi-talented individual above. Remember, instead of printing from Google Docs, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "Download" and copy the file to your own computer.  Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you use and print the card from there. For some reason Google Docs doesn't handle fonts well, even though they are supposed to be embedded in the PDF document itself.

This is a top fold card, so when it prints, be sure to tell your printer it's in "portrait" format so you get the whole file. Flip it on the short side to print double-sided. This also flips the inside upside down from the outside when you print in portrait mode, so that, when you fold it over, the inside comes out right side up.  If you're confused, I encourage you to give it a try with a practice sheet.

© 2013 by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-23 National Cashew Day

Click here to download card

November 23rd is National Cashew Day. Today's the day to go nuts eating cashews. Eat 'em any way you want - plain, salted, chocolate covered or mashed up and made into cashew butter.  All you have to do to participate  in  National Cashew Day is eat some cashews. Don't know who came up with National Cashew Day, but I'm with them on this one. 

Tell that sweet little nut you love that she's as addictive as cashews with this downloadable, printable free National Cashew Day card.  Just click on the caption below the picture of the cashews.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside. 

© 2013 by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign - 11-22 Start Your Own Country Day

Click here to download your card.

November 22^nd is Start Your Own Country Day - a celebration in honor of those free-spirited souls today and tomorrow who have declared their independence and successfully started their own countries.

Start Your Own Country Day was originally conceived the 1939 New York World's Fair at the "Building The World of Tomorrow" event. The depression was still lingering and World War II was building on the horizon. America needed hope, so some of the organizers of the World's Fair decided to champion freedom from bureaucratically idiocy with the first annual "Start Your Own Country Day". At first it was a big joke. I mean, who could afford to start their own country.

Oddly enough, a few hard souls have done just that.

Libertocracy is a self-described "polycentric free enterprise government and socio-economic system whereby sovereign individuals join together by mutual consent in a civilization that respects and defends the freedom, dignity and rights of all people equally."  At this time their website is down, so it doesn't look like it's going too well.

The Principality of New Utopia is a pie-in-the-sky proposed country which planst to build a quote "Oasis in the middle of the ocean: Office buildings, hotels, theaters and shopping centers, sitting slightly above the surface of the sea greenery and flowers, with canals of clear blue water, water taxis and gondolas providing transportation. This is a new Country...that has never existed before, which will be built in a moderately tropical sea, a perfect climate, a paradise: Utopia!"  The founder has apparently died and they still haven't got the thing going again.
The Conch Republic was a tongue-in-cheek secessionist movement on Key West, one of the islands of the Florida Keys in protest of a blockade of the island by the US Border Patrol.

Forvik, located on an islet in the Shetland Islands, declared an independent  Crown dependency by one Stuart Hill. Mr. Hill claims the UK breached a 1469 deal with Demnark which transferred the Shetland Islands to the Scottish crown (which doesn't really exist any longer so it's a tough argument to make).

The Global Country of World Peace is a so-called "country without borders". It was established by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (who else). It's citizens are "loving people everywhere" and it has two capitals: one in MERU, Holland and the other in Maharishi Vedic City, Iowa.

There's even an Internet nation: The Kingdom of Lovely. One Danny Wallace did a BBC TV series called How to Start Your Own Country, and during the filming, established an Internet-based nation and claiming his own London flat as capital of the Kingdome of Lovely and sovereign territory.

North Dumpling Island is an island in the Fishers Island Sound. When owner David Kamen was denied permission to build a wind turbine on the island he declared his independence and built one anyway. The island claims to be carbon neutral and holds a non-aggression pact with the U.S. that was signed by George H.W. Bush.

Outer Baldonia is a micronation established on Outer Bald Tusked Island, Nova Scotia. The place has an odd constitution that bans women from the island. It is used primarily for seasonal fishing by men who evidently want to get away from their wives.

Sealand is a World War II a monumentally ugly abandoned military facility off the coast of England. Occupied by one Paddy Roy Batres, it declared its independence in 1967. British authorities have largely ignored Paddy and his rogue nation ever since.

Many more such micronations have been started up, usually in protest of something or other and with varying degrees of success. One micronation, The Dominion of Melchizedek was apparently created to facilitate large scale bank fraud.

Send your sweetheart a "Start Your Own Country Day" card and make plans to create your own nation just for the two of you.  Just click on the caption below the picture of the flag of micronation The Conch Republic. Remember, instead of printing from Google Docs, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "Download" and copy the file to your own computer.  Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you use and print the card from there. For some reason Google Docs doesn't handle fonts well, even though they are supposed to be embedded in the PDF document itself.

This is a top fold card, so when it prints, be sure to tell your printer it's in "portrait" format so you get the whole file. Flip it on the short side to print double-sided. This also flips the inside upside down from the outside when you print in portrait mode, so that, when you fold it over, the inside comes out right side up.  If you're confused, I encourage you to give it a try with a practice sheet.

© 2013 by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-21 World Hello Day

Click here to
download card.

November 21st is an odd little holiday - World Hello Day. Created during the 1973 Arab Israeli War by Brian and Michael McCormack, the object of the holiday is to greet ten people with a hearty "hello" and that will start to communication between people and from there will come World Peace.

Even if this Pollyanna policy doesn't strike you as particularly effective, that doesn't mean that everyone saying a friendly hello to everyone else won't at least cheer up everyone, at least for today. At least download this World Hello Day card and say hello to your Sweet Baboo.  Just click on the caption below the picture of the kid waving "Hello".  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside. © 2013 by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-20 Beautiful Day

Click here to download your Beautiful Day card.

November 20th is Beautiful Day, a day to celebrate beauty in all its various shapes and forms. I've no idea who created Beautiful Day. It may have come from a U2 song or a Beach Boys son. There was a puppet character on the old Ed Sullivan Show and later on Sesame Street that was called the "Beautiful Day Monster".  Any time it was a beautiful day, the monster tried to wreak mayhem and chaos to ruin it.  Of course, like all good puppet monsters, he fails to do so.

The moral of that story is that any day can be a beautiful day and we shouldn't let monsters spoil it for us. Have a happy Beautiful Day and send your beautiful sweetheart this free, downloadable Beautiful Day card. Just click on the caption below the picture of the "beautiful day". Remember, instead of printing from Google Docs, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "Download" and copy the file to your own computer.  Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you use and print the card from there. For some reason Google Docs doesn't handle fonts well, even though they are supposed to be embedded in the PDF document itself.

This is a top fold card, so when it prints, be sure to tell your printer it's in "portrait" format so you get the whole file. Flip it on the short side to print double-sided. This also flips the inside upside down from the outside when you print in portrait mode, so that, when you fold it over, the inside comes out right side up.  If you're confused, I encourage you to give it a try with a practice sheet.

© by Tom King

  

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-19 National Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine Day

Click here to download greeting card.

November 19 is National Carbonated Beverage With Caffeine Day.  In 1767, Joseph Priestly hung a bowl of distilled water over a beer vat in Leeds, England and discovered a way to infuse water with carbon dioxide, thereby inventing carbonated water and adding to the further deterioration of English teeth. The stimulating effects of caffeine had already been discovered in coffee and tea, so it was only a matter of time before someone put the two substances together, added some South American nuts and creosote and invented the Classic Coke. Priestly’s invention of carbonated water and it's amalgamation with caffeine led to the modern sugar soaked soft drink, sleep disruption, the jitters and a surprising calming effect on kids with ADD.

Some ninety percent of adults in North America consume caffeine on a daily basis. Caffeine acts as a central nervous system stimulant and is used to help people who stay up too late the night before keep from falling asleep on their computer keyboards and being fired by their less than understanding bosses. Caffeine disrupts some people's sleep so much so that they have to avoid cola drinks and such in the evenings. Others who tend toward hyperactivity find a dose of caffeine at bedtime only helps them fall asleep faster. 

So, if caffeinated soft drinks are, in fact, medicinal for you, celebrate. If, on the other hand, you are addicted to the stuff and drink colas by the case, perhaps you should celebrate by abstaining today.

Like that's going to happen.

I suggest you celebrate the day, by buying your Sweetie a Coke™ and giving her this lovely downloadable National Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine card. Just click on the caption below the picture of the cola drinker.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside.

© by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-18 Mickey Mouse Day

Click here to download your card.

November 18 celebrates the birthday in 19289 of Mickey Mouse. Mickey was born when his Father, Walter Elias Disney lost the copyright to his original character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Walt had to come up with a new character, so he picked a mouse and named him Mickey.  Mickey evolved over time from his first appearance in "Steamboat Willie", the first cartoon ever to be synchronized for sound. Mickey turned out to be a much better character than Oswald who disappeared into obscurity. Celebrate the Disney icon's birthday by telling your Minnie that you and she were meant for each other with this simple card which hopefully doesn't violate anyone's copyright enough to get me in trouble.

Just click on the caption below the three black circles above which do not intentionally bear a resemblance to any cartoon mouse living or dead. The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs. Remember, instead of printing from Google Docs, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "Download" and copy the file to your own computer.  Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you use and print the card from there. For some reason Google Docs doesn't handle fonts well, even though they are supposed to be embedded in the PDF document itself.

This is a top fold card, so when it prints, be sure to tell your printer it's in "portrait" format so you get the whole file. Flip it on the short side to print double-sided. This also flips the inside upside down from the outside when you print in portrait mode, so that, when you fold it over, the inside comes out right side up.  If you're confused, I encourage you to give it a try with a practice sheet.

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-17 Homemade Bread Day

Click here to download the free card.

November 17 is Homemade Bread day, celebrating the delicious goodness of bread made, not by machine, but by your own hands (or in my case, my own hands and a $250 Kitchen-aid mixer with a dough hook!  Make your sweetie some homemade bread toast for breakfast this morning and impress her with your mad baking skills.  Get the recipe and secret hints right here.  Also make her a much easier gift - this downloadable, printable Homemade Bread Day Card.

Just click on the caption below the picture of the homemade bread.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside.

© by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-16 Have a Party with Your Bear Day

Click here to download your free card

Have a Party With Your Bear Day - Teddy Bear that is. Where in the world that came from I DO NOT know. Likely from a 23 year old single girl with a bed full of pillows and 200 or so stuffed animals. Fortunately, for us guys, Elvis did a song about it so you can not only send your sweetie a nice card, but you can do a karaoke version of "Teddy Bear" for her. Who knows, you may get lucky and she thinks you're cute. If you're a hairy guy like me, then the Teddy Bear appellation is perhaps less of a stretch.

Whatever your approach, give her this "Have a Party with Your Bear Day" card. Just click on the caption below the picture of Elvis Impersonator. The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs. Remember, instead of printing from Google Docs, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "Download" and copy the file to your own computer.  Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you use and print the card from there. For some reason Google Docs doesn't handle fonts well, even though they are supposed to be embedded in the PDF document itself.

This is a top fold card, so when it prints, be sure to tell your printer it's in "portrait" format so you get the whole file. Flip it on the short side to print double-sided. This also flips the inside upside down from the outside when you print in portrait mode, so that, when you fold it over, the inside comes out right side up.  If you're confused, I encourage you to give it a try with a practice sheet.

© 2013 by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-15 National Philanthropy Day

November 15 is National Philanthropy Day, a day to honor the contributions of the nation's many philanthropists to those in need, and to worthy causes.The official National Philanthropy Day website states that the day is set aside to "recognize and pay tribute to the great contributions that philanthropy – and those people active in the philanthropic community – have made to our lives, our communities and our world." The day was established by Association of Fundraising Professionals in 1985.

Click here to download free card.

Tell your little giver how much you appreciate her generosity to you with this free downloadable, printable National Philanthropy Day card.  Just click on the caption below the picture of philanthropist Andrew Carnegie - the great builder of public libraries in the late 19th and early 20th century. The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs. Remember, instead of printing from Google Docs, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "Download" and copy the file to your own computer.  Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you use and print the card from there. For some reason Google Docs doesn't handle fonts well, even though they are supposed to be embedded in the PDF document itself.

This is a top fold card, so when it prints, be sure to tell your printer it's in "portrait" format so you get the whole file. Flip it on the short side to print double-sided. This also flips the inside upside down from the outside when you print in portrait mode, so that, when you fold it over, the inside comes out right side up.  If you're confused, I encourage you to give it a try with a practice sheet.

© 2013 by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-14 National Pickle Day

Click here to download your free card.

November 14 is National Pickle Day!  Cleopatra thought pickles made her beautiful. Julius Caesar thought they made his soldiers strong both physically and spiritually. The come in dozens of varieties including Dill, Kosher Dill, Sweet, Gherkin, Candied Dill, Brined, Polish, Hungarian, Swedish and Danish, Lime, Bread and Butter, Cornichon, Sour and even Kool-Aid Pickles. The name comes from the Danish word pekel which means "brine".  Some 5.2 million pickles are consumed in the United States, mostly of the cucumber variety.You can get them slice, diced, chopped in a relish, whole or on a stick at the State Fair. We have records of pickles in history dating back to 2030 B.C. around the time cucumbers were first imported to the Middle East from India.

Tell your sweet pickle that you'd be in a pickle yourself without her by sending her a National Pickle Day Card. Just click on the caption below the picture of the pickle.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside. 

© 2013 by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-13 Sadie Hawkins Day

Click here for Sadie Hawkins Day Card

If you were a fan of the Sunday funnies when you were a kid like I was, you probably remember Sadie Hawkins.  Al Capp's "Lil Abner" Cartoon started out back in the 1930's, but lasted well through my childhood. One of the cartoon series had a storyline involving the mayor of the hillbilly town of Dogpatch. It seems the mayor of Dogpatch wanted to marry off his ugly daughter. So he proclaimed November 13, Sadie Hawkin's Day. Every year on Sadie Hawkins Day, Dogpatch held a race. The town's bachelor's were given a short head start, then all the single women took off after them. If one of the gals caught one of the oddly reluctant bachelors, he had to marry her. The voluptuous Daisy Mae Scragg spent years trying catch the surprisingly fleet-footed scion of the Yokum clan, Lil' Abner. The Yokums and the Scraggses were in the middle of a blood feud that the Romeo and Juliet romance between Daisy and Abner did little to dampen.  Daisy Mae finally caught Abner and the two were wed in 1952. Readers rejoiced. Many schools and youth organizations used to hold Sadie Hawkins Day dances where the girls asked out the boys for a change. It was an interesting experience for young men at the time - having girls as the aggressors in the dating matrix.

Tell your own Miss Hawkins how glad you are that she finally caught you with this Sadie Hawkins Day greeting card. Just click on the caption below the picture of Abner and Daisy Mae. The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs. Remember, instead of printing from Google Docs, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "Download" and copy the file to your own computer.  Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you use and print the card from there. For some reason Google Docs doesn't handle fonts well, even though they are supposed to be embedded in the PDF document itself.

This is a top fold card, so when it prints, be sure to tell your printer it's in "portrait" format so you get the whole file. Flip it on the short side to print double-sided. This also flips the inside upside down from the outside when you print in portrait mode, so that, when you fold it over, the inside comes out right side up.  If you're confused, I encourage you to give it a try with a practice sheet.

© 2013 by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-12 Chicken Soup for the Soul Day

Click here to download card.

Chicken Soup for the Soul Day is the creation of Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, authors of the popular "Chicken Soup for the Soul" book series. They were turned down repeatedly by book publishers, all of whom later regretted having done so as the book made millions of dollars and donated over 6.5 million dollars to charitable organizations. Jack and Mark had promised that they wouldn't give up, and that if they ever got a chance to publish the book, they would find ways to "give back."  Their motto is  "Changing The World One Story At A Time".  

Chicken Soup for the Soul Day celebrates "Where you've been, where you're going, and who you will be thankful to when you get there!" according to Canfield and Hansen. Send your sweetie a Chicken Soup for the Soul Day card to warm up her day. Just click on the caption below the picture of the bowl of soup.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside. 

© 2013 by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-11 Veteran's Day

Click here to download Veteran's Day card.

Today is Veteran's Day.  Originally Armistice Day marking the cessation of hostilities at the end of World War I. The Treaty of Versailles wasn't signed until June 28, 1919, seven months later, but November 11 is generally seen as the end of the war. Two years later, Woodrow Wilson President Wilson proclaimed November 11 as Armistice Day to celebrate those who fought during the war.

The original idea was that Armistice Day should be celebrated with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m. Congress passed an act making Armistice day official in 1938. The act was modified by Congress in 1954 after WWII and the Korean Conflict and renamed Veteran's Day. Since then, Veteran's Day has become a federal holiday with government offices, schools and such closing their doors for a three day weekend.

The ceremonies continue as they should, but now include a salute to veterans from every war in which Americans have fought.  Send this Veteran's Day Card to your loved one to remind them of the gratitude we owe our veterans and, if she is a veteran or serves veterans in some capacity, to thank her for her service as well. Just click on the caption below the picture of the soldier.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside.

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-10 USMC Day

Click here to download USMC Day greeting card.

November 10th is USMC Day celebrating the birth of the United States Marine Corps. The first Marine Corps was created during the Revolutionary War on November 10, 1775. The U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) started out as ship-based soldiers responsible for maintaining discipline onboard ship and for boarding and capturing ships in battles at sea. The USMC has participated in every single war the United States has fault. The Marines are the first to hit the beaches, serving as shock troops from one end of the world to the other.

Tell your sweetheart that she has conquered your heart. Send her a USMC Day card.  Just click on the caption below the picture of the Marines at Iwo Jima.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside. 

© 2013 by Tom King

 

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-9 Chaos Never Dies Day

Download your Chaos Never Dies Day Card here.

November 9th is, for no apparent reason, Chaos Never Dies Day, which does seem rather appropriate when you think about it.  Chaos Never Dies Day recognizes and honors Chaos Theory, the physics theory that helps to explain why physicists always seems to be getting it wrong on the whole unified field theory thing.  Chaos theory conveniently explains Murphy's Law (everything that can go wrong will go wrong), ADD, the Goldilocks Constant, adolescence, yawning and why old guys pull up their pants to their nipples. If everything in your life is going all hectic and disorderly, don't fight it. Celebrate it along with all the anarchists and quantum physicists who can't figure out why the universe the universe is expanding at an ever increasing rate? Some people celebrate by picking something in their life that is chaotic and getting it straightened up and in order. Of course, most of those guys are already obsessive compulsive anyway, so celebrate any doggone way you want to.

Send your partner in all the chaos this free downloadable Chaos Never Dies Day greeting card and tell her she brings order to your world. Just click on the caption below the picture of the woman in chaos above.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.
This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside. 

© 2013 by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-8 Abet and Aid Punsters Day

Click here to download your
Aid and Abet a Punster Day card.

Today is National Abet and Aid Punsters Day. Puns are the most widely disrespected form of humor. Alexander Pope said, "He that would pun would pick a pocket." Such literary luminaries such as Henry David Thoreau have been fond of puns and word play. William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and comedians like George Carlin used puns extensively. The Roman playwright Plautus used to make up puns in Latin.

Most punsters can't help themselves. Any time there's an opportunity to turn an innocent and unsuspecting phrase into a painful and tortured pun. On Abet and Aid Punsters Day a group called Punsters Unlimited encourages punsters and on this, their special day, they urge people to unclench a bit and go ahead and laugh at puns.  If you're interested, you can even subscribe to the Pun of the Day and join in the fun. Punning, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play that suggests two or more meanings, using multiple meanings of words, or similar-sounding words with the intent to make you laugh.

This pun is famous since it manages to pull off a quintuple pun -very difficult to do.


One cutting edge aquarium saved a lot of money when its owner discovered a means to make the dolphins live forever -- since the dolphins never died, no money needed to be spent on buying new ones. Extending the dolphins' lives required putting a special mixture into their food; one of the ingredients was baby sea gull meat. So one day, one of the workers was sent to the beach to find some. On the way back, baby sea gulls in hand, he had to pass through a forest. In the middle of the path was a sleeping lion. He very carefully stepped over it, only to be handcuffed by a policeman.

"Officer," he said, "what's going on?"

"You're under arrest," said the policeman.

"But why?" he asked.

The policeman replied, "For transporting young gulls across a sedate lion for immortal porpoises."

Send your wife a gratuitous pun and a free downloadable Abet and Aid Punsters Day card to let her know that she is the apple of his eye and that you love to sit down be cider.  Just click on the caption below the picture of the punster pooch.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside. See if you can come up with a pun of your own to write inside your card. You might try puns and love in a Google Search.

© 2013 by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-7 National Men Make Dinner Day

Click here to download Men Make Dinner Day card!

Some sadist has officially set aside November 7 as Men Make Dinner Day. Apparently this applies only to "Non-Cooking Men", effectively turning millions of rank amateurs loose in the kitchen. It seems some wives out there wanted not only a break, but also for their men to experience how tough it was to work in the kitchen. I have no problem with that. Why not let the men whip up some culinary delight with no help from family members? A little charcoal in the diet is good for you I understand. Also, in a just plain act of cruelty, barbecuing is not allowed on Men Make Dinner. 

Now, I cook myself and enjoy it thoroughly. I bought myself some manly kitchen tools for myself and I cook my way! This blog has a bunch of my recipes that I've actually cooked and posted pictures of. I'm a huge advocate of manly cooking and have taken over most of the meal preparation at home. I figure it will take me something like 40 more years to catch up with the number of meals my Sweet Baboo has done over the years, but I don't mind doing equal time. And I won't even make her take over repairing the toilet when it gets clogged or broken. I'll even wash my hands after I repair the toilet and BEFORE I cook supper. I'm that kind of thoughtful husband.

Celebrate Men Make Dinner Day today with this free downloadable Men Make Dinner Day card. Just click on the caption below the picture of the flaming man cook above.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside. 

Good luck with dinner and take my advice. Be ready with a restaurant in mind in case the kitchen goes up in flames.

© 2013 by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-6 Marooned Without a Compass Day

Click here to download free Marooned Without
a Compass Day greeting card.

I have no idea who came up with November 6th as National Marooned Without a Compass Day. I suppose, given the political, spiritual and intellectual turmoil going on these days I supposed someone needed a day to celebrate being lost in the fog.

So if you feel like you're going around in circles, hopelessly lost, do what your Scoutmaster, Pathfinder leader, Camp Director or Youth leader taught you if you were blessed with one of those super woodsman guys. Stop. Go sit somewhere that you can see the sky from. Look hard at your environment. Check the position of the sun, the moss on the tree trunks. If you can't find your way out today, find a safe place to sleep and when the sun comes up in the morning, you'll at least be able to figure out which way is east.

So have a Happy Marooned Without a Compass Day and let your favorite traveling companion know there's nobody in the world you'd rather be marooned with than her with this free downloadable Marooned Without a Compass Day card!!!   Just click on the caption below the picture of the deserted island.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside. Say something sweet on your card, maybe you can talk her into getting away on an island with you.

© 2013 by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-5 Guy Fawkes Day

Click here to download Guy Fawkes Day Card

November 5 is Guy Fawkes Night — celebrating the failed plot by a group of men who in 1605 tried to blow up the British Parliament. You probably know Guy Fawkes' face or at least the stylized mask based on his physiognomy that appeared in the Natalie Portman film, "V for Vendetta," and at Occupy Wall Street rallies and as a symbol of an anarchist hacker group called Anonymous. In Britain they celebrate the holiday, also known as Gunpowder Treason Day and Bonfire Night by setting big bonfires and throwing parties. There's some ambiguity as to whether citizens are celebrating the attempt or the Parliament, or the prevention of a terrorist act. 

That plot also known as the Jesuit plot was planned by Catholic insurgents against the Protestant royals who had been persecuting Catholics in England. The plan was to blow up Parliament's House of Lords on opening day and take out King James I and most of the nobility of England. Fawkes, the fuse man, was arrested while guarding the 36 barrels of gunpowder underneath Parliament and before he could touch off the fuse. Roger Catesby, the ringleader was killed in a shootout. Fawkes was hanged, drawn and quartered - rather a gruesome foundation for a holiday.

But the good news is you can send your sweetie this Guy Fawkes Day card and let her know she still adds a little combustion to your life. Just click on the caption below the picture of the Guy Fawkes Mask above.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside.  And while you're at it, join the Brits and set off a few leftover fireworks in memory of the unfortunate Mr. Fawkes.


© 2013 by Tom King

Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2013/11/05/2779243/guy-fawkes-night-2013-is-nov-5.html#storylink=cpy

Greeting Card Campaign: 11/4 King Tut Day

Click here to download King Tut Day card

King Tut Day - the date that Pharoah Tutankhamen's Tomb was discovered in 1922. Thanks to Steve Martin, King Tut even has a theme song.  King Tut as he is commonly called became pharoah of Egypt at the tender age of 9 in 1333 BC. He was dead by age 19 by either murder or accident. Given that he was a teenager at the time of his demise with ultimate power in Egypt, it was probably murder.  The boy king's tomb was discovered on November 4, 1922. The find was significant because it was discovered nearly intact in Egypt's Valley of Kings.

Now send a card to your queen to let her know it's her day too with this King Tut Day Card.  Just click on the caption below the picture of the boy king. The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs. Remember, instead of printing from Google Docs, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "Download" and copy the file to your own computer.  Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you use and print the card from there. For some reason Google Docs doesn't handle fonts well, even though they are supposed to be embedded in the PDF document itself.

This is a top fold card, so when it prints, be sure to tell your printer it's in "portrait" format so you get the whole file. Flip it on the short side to print double-sided. This also flips the inside upside down from the outside when you print in portrait mode, so that, when you fold it over, the inside comes out right side up.  If you're confused, I encourage you to give it a try with a practice sheet.

© by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-3 National Housewife Day

Download a card of appreciation here!

November 3rd, Housewife Day celebrates stay at home wives and moms, the wonderful caring women who built the strong American families that made this country great. The term, "housewife" dates back to a simpler time when one income was all you needed to support a family in a manner that was comfortable and comparable to that of everyone else in the community. Financial pressures on families, however, grew steadily stronger following World War II, when women took jobs in factories while their men were overseas. Eventually, families with an at-home mom came to be the exception rather than the rule. Many families, however, find ways to insure that mom gets to work as a full time household management professional (housewife), a very demanding job job indeed.

Celebrate today by sending this free downloadable Housewife Day greeting card to the stay-at-home mom or wife in your life. Let her know you noticed her notable contributions to your personal success story.

Just click on the caption below the picture of the housewife above.  The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs.  Download the file. Don't try to print the file from within Google Docs. I use a lot of fonts and Google Docs doesn't seem to like them very much.  Instead, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "download" and copy the file to your own computer. Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you prefer.  Print the card from there and it should be fine.

This is a side fold card, so when you print it, be sure to select "landscape" and if you have two-sided printing, choose "flip on the short side" so that the inside of the card is the same way up as the outside.

© by Tom King

Greeting Card Campaign: 11-2 National Deviled Eggs Day

Click here to download card.

It's also "All Soul's Day, but I like deviled eggs a lot so, for me, November 2 will always be National Deviled Eggs Day. If you've been paying attention, there is another deviled egg day on July 30.  This is National Deviled Eggs Day, so it celebrates more than one deviled egg at a time and it's a "National" day. Therefore, as your zombie overlord, I command you to go out and make and consume deviled eggs on this very special day. Make more than you consume, though. I really really like deviled eggs.

Also, download a free Deviled Eggs Day card and send it to your sweetie. Here is a good Deviled Eggs recipe

Just click on the caption below the picture of a delicious plate of deviled eggs. The link will take you to a pdf file in Google Docs. Remember, instead of printing from Google Docs, click on "File" in the upper left corner, then select "Download" and copy the file to your own computer.  Open it with Adobe PDF Reader or whatever PDF reader you use and print the card from there. For some reason Google Docs doesn't handle fonts well, even though they are supposed to be embedded in the PDF document itself.

This is a top fold card, so when it prints, be sure to tell your printer it's in "portrait" format so you get the whole file. Flip it on the short side to print double-sided. This also flips the inside upside down from the outside when you print in portrait mode, so that, when you fold it over, the inside comes out right side up.  If you're confused, I encourage you to give it a try with a practice sheet.