70013 The Difference You Make Flat LayMay 11, 2025 – To honor moms past, present, and future, today we want to share a few favorite memories from Cardies who’ve written of the difference their own mothers made in their lives … and how they’ve been inspired to carry on such loving legacies.

“My love of a good card is in my genes,” Ann John emailed us in 2016. “My mother lived every moment of every day and unexpectedly passed away two years ago at the age of 94 while watering her garden on a lovely afternoon in May. She’d apparently stepped out in the middle of writing in a card to a 100-year-old friend. (That unfinished note was mailed as it was, with an added explanation of how it was found.) Thank you, Mama,” Ann said, “for teaching my sisters and me early the joy of being Cardies!”

“By definition, I believe that I am a genuine Cardie,” wrote Barb Stutesman. “I have loved sending cards since I was a child. From my mother, who sent cards to multitudes of people, I learned that sending cards enriches the lives of both the recipient and the sender.”

Paula Anderson shared in 2022, “I have many notes from my mom, who went to Heaven five years ago. I still wait for my phone to ring at 4 pm each day. We talked every afternoon at that time, even if we had spent part of our day together doctoring, shopping, lunching, or just going for a ride and getting an ice cream cone. Mom taught my sisters and me how to write thank-you notes as soon as we could print, and now at age 71, I still enjoy writing (and receiving) handwritten notes. When my only child, Scott, passed away 16 months ago, the flowers, food, etc., were lovely, but I most cherish the notes and cards I received, as I can read them again and again.”

“I have many memories of my dear mother Luvie and her note-writing,” described Maureen Kund. “When I was in college, Luvie would jot a note to me on the back of a used envelope that had contained a bill that arrived in the daily mail. Luvie would pull out the bill and put it in the ‘to be paid’ pile. Then she would use the used envelope as note paper. If she had an extra $5, which wasn’t very often, she would enclose the WAM (Walking Around Money) in a clean new envelope from her stash and send it off to me at the dorm. I luv’d seeing her handwriting. I HAVE SAVED THEM ALL! EVERY SINGLE ONE! I miss her terribly, but the memory of her messages makes me smile.”

Barbara Flanigan Howard shared, “My mom passed a few months before her 100th birthday party, which would have been July 4, 2020. Unbeknownst to her five children, she had asked my sister to help her with writing a letter to each one of us, including her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  A letter in which she told us just how much she loved us. A letter in which she thanked us for all the wonderful care and concern we gave her throughout her life. She spoke of my dad’s passing years before and how we rallied around her to give her love & support. Most of all, she thanked God for giving her what she considered the most wonderful gift of all: her family. I still have that letter today and will cherish it forever. To let someone know how much you mean to them is priceless.”

In 2021, our dear 97-year-old Cardie Oma Hannlis asked me to type this birthday message she wished to send her youngest son, who was turning 55. “Matthew, you were the prettiest of my three babies,” she said. “I remember after bringing you home, our favorite thing was to lie in bed looking out at a beautiful cherry tree with its branches spread so wide. We would cuddle there for hours, gazing out that window, enjoying that beautiful tree. Every year on this day, I can feel myself back there with you in my arms. I cherish the memory as I do you, my darling.” 🥰

I was rummaging around for something recently and happened across a little note from my mother, who has been with us in spirit alone since 2005. It felt so good to see Mom’s distinctive handwriting in which she’d written this Louisa May Alcott quote: “Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.” Below that, in a quote all her own, Mom had written, “Please dwell in sunshine, too, see the beauty, and regard all with love, admiration, and a great deal of respect. Love, Mom”

Paige Baker sums up so beautifully, “My mother was the original note writer. It is our legacy to pass that gift along and see it live on in our children through their thought-filled words. Even now, when I receive a lovely handwritten note, I know for a fact that the writer was blessed with a good mother. Cardies are clearly born of amazing mothers!”

Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative

70013 The Difference You Make Flat LayMay 11, 2025 – To honor moms past, present, and future, today we want to share a few favorite memories from Cardies who’ve written of the difference their own mothers made in their lives … and how they’ve been inspired to carry on such loving legacies.

“My love of a good card is in my genes,” Ann John emailed us in 2016. “My mother lived every moment of every day and unexpectedly passed away two years ago at the age of 94 while watering her garden on a lovely afternoon in May. She’d apparently stepped out in the middle of writing in a card to a 100-year-old friend. (That unfinished note was mailed as it was, with an added explanation of how it was found.) Thank you, Mama,” Ann said, “for teaching my sisters and me early the joy of being Cardies!”

“By definition, I believe that I am a genuine Cardie,” wrote Barb Stutesman. “I have loved sending cards since I was a child. From my mother, who sent cards to multitudes of people, I learned that sending cards enriches the lives of both the recipient and the sender.”

Paula Anderson shared in 2022, “I have many notes from my mom, who went to Heaven five years ago. I still wait for my phone to ring at 4 pm each day. We talked every afternoon at that time, even if we had spent part of our day together doctoring, shopping, lunching, or just going for a ride and getting an ice cream cone. Mom taught my sisters and me how to write thank-you notes as soon as we could print, and now at age 71, I still enjoy writing (and receiving) handwritten notes. When my only child, Scott, passed away 16 months ago, the flowers, food, etc., were lovely, but I most cherish the notes and cards I received, as I can read them again and again.”

“I have many memories of my dear mother Luvie and her note-writing,” described Maureen Kund. “When I was in college, Luvie would jot a note to me on the back of a used envelope that had contained a bill that arrived in the daily mail. Luvie would pull out the bill and put it in the ‘to be paid’ pile. Then she would use the used envelope as note paper. If she had an extra $5, which wasn’t very often, she would enclose the WAM (Walking Around Money) in a clean new envelope from her stash and send it off to me at the dorm. I luv’d seeing her handwriting. I HAVE SAVED THEM ALL! EVERY SINGLE ONE! I miss her terribly, but the memory of her messages makes me smile.”

Barbara Flanigan Howard shared, “My mom passed a few months before her 100th birthday party, which would have been July 4, 2020. Unbeknownst to her five children, she had asked my sister to help her with writing a letter to each one of us, including her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  A letter in which she told us just how much she loved us. A letter in which she thanked us for all the wonderful care and concern we gave her throughout her life. She spoke of my dad’s passing years before and how we rallied around her to give her love & support. Most of all, she thanked God for giving her what she considered the most wonderful gift of all: her family. I still have that letter today and will cherish it forever. To let someone know how much you mean to them is priceless.”

In 2021, our dear 97-year-old Cardie Oma Hannlis asked me to type this birthday message she wished to send her youngest son, who was turning 55. “Matthew, you were the prettiest of my three babies,” she said. “I remember after bringing you home, our favorite thing was to lie in bed looking out at a beautiful cherry tree with its branches spread so wide. We would cuddle there for hours, gazing out that window, enjoying that beautiful tree. Every year on this day, I can feel myself back there with you in my arms. I cherish the memory as I do you, my darling.” 🥰

I was rummaging around for something recently and happened across a little note from my mother, who has been with us in spirit alone since 2005. It felt so good to see Mom’s distinctive handwriting in which she’d written this Louisa May Alcott quote: “Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.” Below that, in a quote all her own, Mom had written, “Please dwell in sunshine, too, see the beauty, and regard all with love, admiration, and a great deal of respect. Love, Mom”

Paige Baker sums up so beautifully, “My mother was the original note writer. It is our legacy to pass that gift along and see it live on in our children through their thought-filled words. Even now, when I receive a lovely handwritten note, I know for a fact that the writer was blessed with a good mother. Cardies are clearly born of amazing mothers!”

Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative