Feb 4, 2025 – Both above and below you’ll see Cardie-favorite Meanings of Life cards —those designs that Cardies choose to send most often from the array of 150+ we now publish.
Anyone who holds a Meanings of Life card in their hands can flip it over and read exactly what we had in mind when we created the line 16 years ago now:
Those of us who look for meaning
in life’s signs and symbols generally find it,
then use it to help us on our way.
The world and we have certainly changed since 2008. And almost as many of our Meanings of Life concepts have run their course and been retired in those years as are currently available. But I think it’s safe to say that we’re all still trying to find our way. So, it feels like a good time to ask what symbols seem to have significance for you these days. What signs have particular meaning? Any you would like to see published on a new Meanings of Life design?
Having always been a bit of a dreamer, I can remember all the way back to when a college boyfriend would tease, “I wish I had a dime for every time I hear you say, ‘I wish …’ and I am pretty much the same today, forever envisioning the world as I want it to be. So I can guarantee that you’ll see a magic wand as well as a genie’s lamp featured in an upcoming release.
What about you? What symbols seem to help you on your way? Or that you just love — like a favorite flower, or pandas perhaps. 😉 Don’t worry that we may have tackled the subject before, just please share what you might like to see and what meaning it holds for you and we’ll go from there.
Thanks, as always, for helping us find our way!
Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative
Feb 4, 2025 – Both above and below you’ll see Cardie-favorite Meanings of Life cards —those designs that Cardies choose to send most often from the array of 150+ we now publish.
Anyone who holds a Meanings of Life card in their hands can flip it over and read exactly what we had in mind when we created the line 16 years ago now:
Those of us who look
for meaning in life’s
signs and symbols
generally find it,
then use it to
help us on our way.
The world and we have certainly changed since 2008. And almost as many of our Meanings of Life concepts have run their course and been retired in those years as are currently available. But I think it’s safe to say that we’re all still trying to find our way. So, it feels like a good time to ask what symbols seem to have significance for you these days. What signs have particular meaning? Any you would like to see published on a new Meanings of Life design?
Having always been a bit of a dreamer, I can remember all the way back to when a college boyfriend would tease, “I wish I had a dime for every time I hear you say, ‘I wish …’ and I am pretty much the same today, forever envisioning the world as I want it to be. So I can guarantee that you’ll see a magic wand as well as a genie’s lamp featured in an upcoming release.
What about you? What symbols seem to help you on your way? Or that you just love — like a favorite flower, or pandas perhaps. 😉 Don’t worry that we may have tackled the subject before, just please share what you might like to see and what meaning it holds for you and we’ll go from there.
Thanks, as always, for helping us find our way!
Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative
My favorite one of all times is the Christmas ornament one… the best!
Yes, it was a sweet one, Susan. Alas, all the Christmas (and Hanukah, Easter, Mother’s, and Father’s Day) have been retired due to lack of interest. :(
You already have some of my favorites: 11:11, dragonfly, tree of life, cardinals, music, books, etc.
I’m not sure if butterflies (for hope and emergence), lotus flowers (hope and emergence (beautiful flower grows in mud)), ladybugs (luck or remembrance), ocean and/or sky (endless possibilities (and deep breaths)), dancing as if nobody is watching (freedom to be you)….
Thank you for cardthartic and sharing your story and so many cardies’ beautiful sentiments.
:) Lisa Yero (fellow Surfsider)
I agree that you’ve already done many of the best: the porch swing, the cardinal, forget-me-nots…and of course the hourglass! Your Meanings of Life cards are what first drew me to you.
Have you ever done lilacs? They’ve always been some of my favorite flowers. I love it when, on a breezy day, that scent comes wafting through my upstairs windows. In 2020, during the COVID shutdown, my mother and I were walking through the neighborhood every morning. I went out of my way to smell every lilac in sight. Each one is a little different. Some are powerfully sweet. Some hardly have any scent at all. All are dainty and dear.
How about snapshots? In this day of phone cameras and selfies shared all over the internet, you still can’t beat a good old-fashioned photo album.
Or how about the high school yearbook? Think of all those young, familiar (and some not-so-familiar) faces. So many dreams are in those faces. How many of them came true? How many were lost?
Maybe I’m getting too personal here!!
I think you’ve probably already done a card for reading glasses. How about bifocals? (ha, ha!)
You know I will keep pestering you about lighthouses. ;) Persistence can be a laudable and endearing quality. To me lighthouses are the points of light that can be a beacon a hope in dark lonely nights, a warning of impending danger (not a real hopeful card-creating quality), and show our sea-weary souls that land – and thus hope – is in sight.
Rocking chairs – have you have done a rocking chair card?? Soothing, rhythmic motion – calming inner turmoil and reawakening memories of safe and gentle connection
I just thought of another one. I opened this up again and almost laughed to see how close it is to the suggestion above. THE ROCKING HORSE. I got a rocking horse for Christmas when I was three or four. I think my oldest brother picked him out or put him together…or both. I say “him” because I called him Lucky. I remember the feeling of sitting on Lucky, sometimes while I watched TV, but more often just for a “ride.” I still have Lucky, of course. In fact, my brother borrowed him to make new little Lucky ponies for new babies in the family.
It’s challenging to think of good ones that you haven’t already done! What about swans (mate for life, have attitude), pas de deux (ballet), juggling balls (I’m learning to juggle and it seems very metaphorical ;-), friendship locket, gladiolus (remembrance/gladiator legends), bugle (Reveille, Taps, music to mark a rite of passage), bedroom slippers (like an old friend), snowflake (individual uniqueness), weathervane (facing into the wind through life’s storms), horse and carriage (simpler time, weddings, etc), crows (so like us with their funerals, etc.), maple seeds (we used them for whistles as kids), clover chains/necklaces (simpler time, connection to nature).
I love all of Jessica’s suggestions. One more: TRAINS. There’s no more exciting way to set out on an adventure. Moreover, I associate trains with my uncle Russell. He’s 97 years old, living on his own now since Aunt June passed away, and he can tell you about any train or track (in use or not) across the United States. To this day, he still recognizes a particular engine he waved to from the field over fifty years ago. So, to me, trains represent not just my own thrill of a journey, but also the storehouse of knowledge and the wonderful spirit of Uncle Russell.