April 2, 2024 — For all those friends and family members who will celebrate spring birthdays, we couldn’t resist showing you this tres élégant card design today. And also wish you good luck getting this song out of your head! 

April in Paris. Chestnuts in blossom.
Holiday tables under the trees.
April in Paris! This is a feeling
no one can ever reprise.

Shown touring the Eiffel Tower with three “intentional friends” is Contributing Cardie Susan Lyon, who sent us the proposed card message a year or so ago. As can happen in product development, it took us a good long while to find an image that lived up to the sentiment but, when we finally spotted the lush red geraniums photo last fall, we knew we’d found the one. 

Now while we were in the Miami Beach creative studio putting these card parts together, Susan was traveling abroad with three longtime friends. “We four met at Wheaton College in the late ‘70s,” Susan told us, “and have remained friends since.” 

When, just for fun, she sent us the group shot from Paris, we decided to let her message gracing a new card be a surprise for her return. And, on the card back, below the “Message by Susan Lyon” line, we added the dedication, “For my Wheaton College Girlz.” 

Susan was thrilled. “I love the Passages design you created to celebrate friendship and quickly personalized and sent one off to each of these longtime pals.” Left to right: Joanna Moffett, Karen Kenna, Mary Hawthorne, and Susan.

“Despite scattering to different parts of the country (Boston, Chicago, Cleveland) after college, we have been very committed to intentional friendship,” she said. “For us, ‘intentional friendship’ means a shared faith, intertwined history, and mutual commitment to family and friends, which I know also rings true to many within the Cardie Community. 

“For example, for the past five years, every third Thursday, we’re all on a WhatsApp call where we each tell what’s going on in our lives. We cover everything from a grandkid’s crash in a tree swing to a husband’s cardiac scare. We created a prayer chain on which we put all our kids’ names and are committed to keeping each other very specifically in our thoughts and prayers. 

“While we try to plan at least an annual get-together — back to Illinois for a Womens’ Chorale Concert or with husbands in tow for a hiking trip to Vermont — we all are especially committed and look forward to taking a big trip together every five years. When Mary was serving as a long-term medical missionary in Bolivia, we visited her there. Last year, we trekked a segment of El Camino through Spain and France … our side trip to Paris was a highlight!   

“God willing, we four will keep traveling together just as long as our minds and bodies support us! Because it’s just as the card says, ‘We feel very grateful for the blessings of our friendship.’”

Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative

April 2, 2024 — For all those friends and family members who will celebrate spring birthdays, we couldn’t resist showing you this tres élégant card design today. And also wish you good luck getting this song out of your head! 

April in Paris. Chestnuts in blossom.
Holiday tables under the trees.
April in Paris! This is a feeling
no one can ever reprise.

Shown touring the Eiffel Tower with three “intentional friends” is Contributing Cardie Susan Lyon, who sent us the proposed card message a year or so ago. As can happen in product development, it took us a good long while to find an image that lived up to the sentiment but, when we finally spotted the lush red geraniums photo last fall, we knew we’d found the one. 

Now while we were in the Miami Beach creative studio putting these card parts together, Susan was traveling abroad with three longtime friends. “We four met at Wheaton College in the late ‘70s,” Susan told us, “and have remained friends since.” 

When, just for fun, she sent us the group shot from Paris, we decided to let her message gracing a new card be a surprise for her return. And, on the card back, below the “Message by Susan Lyon” line, we added the dedication, “For my Wheaton College Girlz.” 

Susan was thrilled. “I love the Passages design you created to celebrate friendship and quickly personalized and sent one off to each of these longtime pals.” Left to right: Joanna Moffett, Karen Kenna, Mary Hawthorne, and Susan.

“Despite scattering to different parts of the country (Boston, Chicago, Cleveland) after college, we have been very committed to intentional friendship,” she said. “For us, ‘intentional friendship’ means a shared faith, intertwined history, and mutual commitment to family and friends, which I know also rings true to many within the Cardie Community. 

“For example, for the past five years, every third Thursday, we’re all on a WhatsApp call where we each tell what’s going on in our lives. We cover everything from a grandkid’s crash in a tree swing to a husband’s cardiac scare. We created a prayer chain on which we put all our kids’ names and are committed to keeping each other very specifically in our thoughts and prayers. 

“While we try to plan at least an annual get-together — back to Illinois for a Womens’ Chorale Concert or with husbands in tow for a hiking trip to Vermont — we all are especially committed and look forward to taking a big trip together every five years. When Mary was serving as a long-term medical missionary in Bolivia, we visited her there. Last year, we trekked a segment of El Camino through Spain and France … our side trip to Paris was a highlight!   

“God willing, we four will keep traveling together just as long as our minds and bodies support us! Because it’s just as the card says, ‘We feel very grateful for the blessings of our friendship.’”

Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative