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Designing hand-painted greeting cards during her leisure hours isn't exactly what Mrs. Harry Meyer of New York City expected to be doing when she took a job with a commercial art studio a few years ago. "I was assigned to work in the management end of the business," says Mrs. Meyer. "As time went on, though, I got to know many of the artists on the staff. I didn't know the first thing about commercial art, so had a lot of questions to ask and a lot of mistakes to make before I knew what it was all about. One thing led to another, and I became keenly interested in art work. Soon many of my leisure hours in the evening were spent with a paint brush in hand."

What this young woman lacked in art training (Mrs. Meyer had only the customary grade school art instruction) she made up in originality. She painted everything from tomato juice glasses to tin trays. "It was fun for me," recalls Mrs. Meyer, "and really profitable for members of my family. For I'd give my hand-painted things away as souvenirs at family dinner parties."

MRS. MEYER painted her first greeting card about five years ago. She was prompted to do this because she couldn't find the kind of Easter card she wanted for her husband. "One evening," relates Mrs. Meyer, "I happened to see an advertisement in a newspaper which featured a rabbit with some cookies. Harry likes rabbits and his favorite cake is chocolate layer; so that evening I traced the rabbit from the ad and changed the cookies to a chocolate cake. Presto! Here was the perfect Easter greeting for my husband. Harry, and everyone else who saw that card were enthusiastic about it!"

That did it! Helen Meyer made up her mind to try more and more cards. She made ingenious, warmly personal birthday cards for her sisters, anniversary cards for her friends. It was lots of fun! It was also wonderful experience. Even the artists at her place of business were enthusiastic about the unusual cards she began to turn out. About eighteen months ago Mrs. Meyer decided to put her card venture on a commercial basis and within a month was selling them to three of New York City's fine shops. She has since added four more stores to her list of accounts. Her line is made up of birthday, thank you, bon voyage, anniversary, and good-luck cards. Particularly interesting are her monthly birthday and anniversary cards. On these she uses a design pertaining to the month—hearts for February, shamrocks for March, firecrackers for July, etc. She also has a line of zodiac cards, made to special order for one New York store. These cards include a short analysis concerning the exact date of birth of the recipient-to-be.

"You don't have to be an astrologer to work out an analysis," says Mrs. Meyer. "Your dime store or stationery store has zodiac charts with detailed analysis—all you do is pick out what sounds interesting and complimentary, and write it up in your own words."

Another charming card made by Mrs. Meyer is one that features a large cutout daisy attached to a piece of sponge, the sponge pasted to a hand-painted stem on the card. In quite a number of her cards (like this daisy one and her popular sailboat bon voyage card) Mrs. Meyer achieves a three-dimensional quality by using cut-outs pasted to bits of sponge. "When making cards of this type it is essential that you use a good adhesive," says Mrs. Meyer. "I use rubber cement and apply it to both the sponge and the cut-out and then join the two surfaces."

Helen Meyer's cards are all made to one size—to fit a No. 10 envelope. "This is an economy measure," says Mrs. Meyer. "I buy envelopes in large quantities now so need to use the same size envelope for all cards. It's too expensive buying a variety of sizes!" Mrs. Meyer receives 37½ cents per card and the stores sell them for 75 cents each. The card costs her about one cent to make as far as materials are concerned. The average card takes five minutes to complete (none takes more than twenty minutes) so Mrs. Meyer feels her net profit is good.

"Sure, I'm fast now," she says. "But in the beginning it sometimes took me as long as two hours to make one card. At first it's difficult to perfect a design, but the process soon becomes routine."

WOULD YOU like to get into the card making business? It is not a speculative field—for everybody sends cards at one time or another during the year. Watching Helen Meyer paint a red apple or a rabbit or a sailboat on a card, the procedure looks like a simple one but when you try it, the job is not quite as easy as it looks. "It takes time to learn how to work with paints," warns Mrs. Meyer. "If you are like me and haven't had any special art training, get yourself some good books on design and color—and study them carefully. You can learn a lot in this way." There are many instruction books available which are designed to help the amateur artist become more adept in his work and to give him added interest and more fun while painting. Helen Meyer recommends any of Walter T. Foster's books. These sell for about $1 at almost any art supply store.

The biggest problem Mrs. Meyer ran across when she began to make greeting cards was that of not being able to translate all of her ideas onto paper—purely because of her lack of art school training. "There are still many things that I cannot draw," she says. "But this is proof that you don't have to be a skilled artist to paint greeting cards—and sell them."

Mrs. Meyer prefers to do freehand drawing when she is working out a card design, so she does not use stencils. "Stencils can be used, though, for this type of art work," she says. She also suggests that a beginner copy designs from magazines, wallpaper, from almost any picture. "Create designs from other designs," Mrs. Meyer advises, "and as you work you'll find that several ideas for original designs will come to you!"

As far as lettering on a card goes, if you are not accomplished in making letters you may use the tracing folios now available for this purpose. These kits contain alphabets and numerals in various sizes and greatly simplify lettering. You can buy these kits at hobby or art supply stores.

All the equipment you require to get started on a project like this, Mrs. Meyer points out, is a box of water colors or opaque colors which sell for as little as $1. "There is an excellent set available for $1.50 which gives you twelve colors," says Mrs. Meyer. "'You can manage with one sable haired brush. Your brush is very important and is the most expensive part of your equipment—but a good brush lasts for years. Mine is five years old. It's as good today as on the day I bought it! I have a No. 4 brush which costs $3.50. You'll also need one pen holder and pen point, a bottle of black India ink and one tube of white paint. If you plan to use any cut-outs you'll need a jar of rubber cement. Suitable papers for making cards can be purchased in any art material shop or department store, and sell as low as ten cents for a sheet that measures twenty by thirty inches. All told your equipment ought not to run over $6."

Mrs. Meyer stresses the importance of taking good care of your brush. She advises that you clean it in warm water after each using. Every couple of months wash it in soap and water, rinse, and thoroughly dry.

JUST FOR fun why not follow these directions and see what you can do in the greeting card line? Mrs. Meyer is happy to have you try to copy one of her most popular bon voyage cards. Here's all you do. Cut a piece of blue construction paper, to measure nine by eight inches, and fold lengthwise. Using yellow construction paper, cut out three sail boats (you can trace these from a child's picture book) the boats should be in graduating sizes, about 2¼, 2½, and 3 inches. Using rubber cement, paste each of the two smaller boats to a small square of sponge about ¹/8 inch thick (cut this off one of your household cleaning sponges) and then paste the sponge with the boat attached to the front side of card, placing the smaller boat above and a little to the left of the other boat. Inside the card-folder paste the large boat flat to the blue paper, in the center. Using black India ink, paint the words bon voyage across the sailboat. That's all there is to it!

When it comes to creating a design, Mrs. Meyer uses virtually anything that has interesting form and color, including such things as candles, peppermint candy sticks, horseshoes, etc. "Simplicity in design is my keynote," says Mrs. Meyer, "and this type of card is very much in favor today." There is no limit to the designs that can be worked up on a greeting card. Try it once, and card-making may become one of your favorite pastimes! "Imagination, not expensive materials, produces the most attractive cards," says Mrs. Meyer. When you see how she uses such things as fruit to spell out a greeting card message you're likely to exclaim, "Now why didn't I ever think of that!"

"You will think of it once you get into the swing of card-making," says Mrs. Meyer. "A little experimentation will teach you just what to do to get the effects you want."

Mrs. Meyer finds that the dining room table offers an ideal place on which to work. It allows for ample elbow room and plenty of space to keep materials. "But a card table, even a drawing board, is satisfactory for this type of work," says Mrs. Meyer. "Always do your painting before you fold your cards. It's much easier to work on paper when it is absolutely flat."

In creating her cards, Mrs. Meyer first of all sketches the design in pencil. Then she paints, and then writes in the greeting message. "I complete one card at a time because I find it easier and quicker that way," she says. Because her cards are not run off a factory-production line in quantity but are produced individually, small variations in the designs are almost always apparent and add to their charm.

WHAT ADVICE does Mrs. Meyer give to artists with an eye to selling cards? "If you want to sell what you create," she says, "you must watch the trends on the market carefully. Before you make up a group of cards ask yourself: Is this type design in vogue? Is it something the people in your community would be apt to admire?"

Your next important step, of course, is to get your creations into shops. You can't make much money or a name for yourself just by selling to friends and relatives. When you are ready for the plunge into commercial channels, the most receptive markets you can find will be small shops which specialize in custom-made merchandise. Stores that readily sell greeting cards are gift shops, book stores, department stores, stationery stores. "List these stores in your town and visit each one," says Mrs. Meyer. "Take samples to show the buyer, and be prepared to talk up the special appeal of your item—the quality that will make it sell to the type customer the shop attracts." Besides a unique design, the "special appeal" quality of Helen Meyer's cards lies in the unusual size of the cards!

While it helps to have an "in" with a shop, you can sell on your own. Lots of people throughout the country are doing it every day of the week. You'll be surprised how interested a small shopkeeper is in a "different" item. Everyone in business is looking for something new in merchandise. If what you have to sell is the right thing for a particular shop you are doing the manager a service by bringing it to his attention.

Helen Meyer's cards are unquestionably different. She didn't know how unusual herself when she first showed them to the buyer at Lord & Taylor's (one of New York's fine department stores). But when her first offerings were bought outright (seven dozen was the initial order) she thought she had something. And when two other exclusive gift shops in New York gave her large orders on sight of the cards, she knew she had something. It was then only a matter of weeks before she had acquired seven active accounts.

"I have a few other possible outlets in the near future, when I have the time," she says. "However, since painting cards is still only extra work for me—I'm still employed full time at the art studio—and can give only about ten hours a week to this work, I cannot have too many accounts yet. If there were only thirty-six hours in a day it would suit me fine!"

MANY PEOPLE would like to sell items they make at home, but don't know how to go about determining a price tag. They don't want to charge too much; and they also don't want to spend a lot of time and energy and then sell an item at a loss. Mrs. Meyer offers this suggestion to beginners: visit one of the Field Service offices of your state Department of Commerce or write to the Extension Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington 25, D.C. Tell them what you would like to do and they will help you in many ways, even to finding the proper price tag for your item. "If you live in New York state or nearby Connecticut and New Jersey, you certainly ought to avail yourself of the services of the New York Woman's Council," adds Helen Meyer. "This program is unique in the country. The Woman's Council is made up of a group of prominent women from the field of business, labor, industry, and education who have been appointed by Governor Dewey to work with the Department of Commerce and assist women who want to go into business either from their home or on Main Street. All services of the Council are available free of charge and the bulletins this group issues are well worth reading, for they give practical step-by-step advice on how to market a homemade item. The address of the Albany office is 112 State Street. The New York City address is 342 Madison Avenue.

In selecting an outlet for your cards, money is not the only consideration. In Mrs. Meyer's opinion, it is wise to look around for a shop that will bring your cards the prestige they deserve, and that will prove to be a stepping stone to broader contacts. "Remember, though," Mrs. Meyer warns, "that if you sell to more than one store in your town, you must standardize your price and charge each the same."

Some shopkeepers have asked Helen Meyer to cut her price on a few of her cards. They think these particular cards are priced a little too high at the seventy-five-cent retail tag. "I feel it makes for easier bookkeeping to stick to one price," explains Mrs. Meyer. "I will not change my price on any card. My reasoning on the point of maintaining one price is that some cards take more time than others; so what I lose on one, I gain on another."

ONCE YOU have a few good outlets it is time to look for ways and means of cutting down on your costs. The classified section of your telephone directory gives names and addresses of wholesalers and jobbers who sell the materials you need. Contact these dealers and tell them you are in business.

You may only get up to twenty per cent off retail prices in the beginning; but no matter what you get, it is a saving that will add to your profits each month.

Originality and persistence are the prime requisites for any privately run business. But you also need to be a bookkeeper. Be sure to keep records of all of your sales. You may be concerned with tax problems by the end of the year; if not, it's still nice to know just how much profit you have made. So get a small order book at your stationery store, date every order, specify whether it has been paid for or charged.