The Eating O’ the Green: St Patrick’s Day Foods
 | St. Patrick’s Day or St. Paddy’s Day—never Patty’s since the name’s a diminutive of Patricia—is both a religious and secular holiday falling on March 17th annually. The celebration is observed by devout Catholics as the holy day of Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, and by non-Catholics as a fun Irish-themed holiday filled with parades, Irish puns, good friends and good food. Certain foods are traditionally served during this time and we don’t just mean green dyed beer. Here are some of the offerings you’ll find in homes and pubs and gatherings on St. Patrick’s Day. Irish Soda Bread: In 1816, the Gentleman’s Magazine first published information and a recipe for Click to Read more… |
February Design Challenge Winners
 | Each month, Greeting Card Universe hosts a Design Challenge for our artist community. Cards may be in any category and are designed around a specific theme. Winners are selected by a panel of judges. Winning cards may also be found at our special Pinterest board or by liking us on Facebook. In February 2015, the winners of the challenge are: First Place Second Place Congratulations to our winners and thanks to all artists who participated in this month’s challenge! What Are Happy Shoppers Saying About Greeting Card Universe? “I wanted a special card for my grandson’s 17th birthday. Mindy created a custom card for me and I couldn’t be more pleased. It Click to Read more… |
Nowruz Traditions: The Haft Sin Table
 | Nowruz or Norooz, also known as Persian New Year, is an Islamic spring festival taking place during the vernal equinox on March 21 in 2015. This 3,000 year old celebration began with the Zoroastrians living in the area or Persia, now known as Iran. Today, Muslims in many Middle Eastern countries—such as Iraq, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan—and Canada and the U.S. celebrate Nowruz each year. One of the important traditions of Nowruz is the Haft Sin table or the Table of Seven S’s, a ceremonial table that signifies the family’s wishes for a happy and prosperous new year, and w which should contain the following elements: Sumac, a crushed dried berry Click to Read more… |
Personalized Passover
 | The Jewish holy festival of Passover, known as Pesach, takes place between April 3-April 11 in 2015. While a religious holiday, many non-Jews (Gentiles) and non-Jewish businesses share the traditional seder – ritual meal – celebration. Why is the story of Jewish freedom so attractive to those who do not share their faith? Reasons vary from person to person. Many Christians believe the last supper of Jesus Christ was a seder. The fact that the celebration takes place at a dining table instead of a synagogue is certainly a factor. And since Jews are a big part of mainstream America, curiosity about one’s neighbors, friends and co-workers lead some to Click to Read more… |
Year of the Sheep (or Ram or Goat)
 | Chinese New Year falls on February 19 in 2015. This important annual holiday in the Asian lunar calender is celebrated not only by the Chinese, but by the Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese people. In the Chinese zodiac, 2015 is the Year of the Sheep, but unlike other years with different animals, can also be celebrated as the Year of the Ram or the Year of the Goat. Why? Because the written characters in Chinese can mean goat, ram or sheep —or, improbably enough, gazelle. While some countries make the choice of preferred zodiac animal clear,among Chinese communities this firm definition isn’t necessarily so. Greeting Card Universe celebrates the Year of Click to Read more… |
January Design Challenge Winners!
 | Each month, Greeting Card Universe hosts a Design Challenge for our artist community. Cards may be in any category and are designed around a specific theme. Winners are selected by a panel of judges. Winning cards may also be found at our special Pinterest board or by liking us on Facebook. In January 2015, the winners of the challenge are: First Place (tie) Second Place Congratulations to all our winners and runners-up, and a big thanks to our participating artists! |
National Curmudgeon Day
 | If you’re a grouch or if you know one at work, in your family or among your friends – or if you’re craving the chance to growl, snark and be miserable for 24 hours -then the 29th of January is time to celebrate with National Curmudgeon Day! Curmudgeon Day also honors comedian and professional curmudgeon W.C. Fields, whose grumpy persona made him a Hollywood legend. January 29 is a great time to make your favorite curmudgeon laugh! Greeting Card Universe has humorous Thinking of You cards sure to bring a chuckle to the biggest sourpuss. Easy to order on-line and we’ll mail your message the next business day OR take Click to Read more… |
Woodchuck Weather: 4 Things You Didn’t Know
 | February 2nd is annually celebrated as Groundhog Day—an animal also known as a woodchuck. Just how much wood would a woodchuck chuck is irrelevant to this lighthearted holiday. Instead, the humble groundhog has become a national winter weather predictor. How and when did the association begin? Here are the answers to this question and others you may not know. In the Beginning: Originally, Christians deemed February 2 as Candlemas Day, a time when churches distributed candles to hold back the winter darkness. In Germany, a tradition began around the hedgehog to determine if winter would end early or continue longer. When German immigrants came to Pennsylvania in the U.S., they Click to Read more… |
Run For Your Life
 | Many athletes around the world enjoy the physical challenges of marathons and other track events. Apart from competition with other runners, the constant physical and mental joy of physical challenges and training draw many men and women into the sport. The marathon goes all the way back to Phidippides, an Athenian runner during the period of Greek war with the Persian Empire, who ran 140 miles to the city of Marathon to fetch help for his outnumbered people. Victory was won that day and Phipiddides went on to perform other great feats of running. Eventually, the marathon race became an Olympic sport. Today, marathons are held in many cities including Click to Read more… |
Gardens Galore!
 | Gardening is cheaper than therapy And you get tomatoes. —Anonymous January is National Mail Order Gardening Month, when gardeners from coast to coast enjoy sitting at home in a warm house while the snow rages outside, paging through seed catalogs and dreaming of warmer days and a colorful spring. Anyone can grow flowers, vegetables, herbs or plants without a “green thumb” – which was green fingers back in the 1930s when the phrase first began to be used. Beginners should brush up on the basics, of course, but once you’ve successfully grown some of nature’s beauty, you’ll be hooked. Greeting Card Universe can’t wait till spring arrives because we love Click to Read more… |
