wonderful ecards

December 20, 2007 10:16 AM

It has now been several years since Jacquie Lawson, an English artist living in the picturesque village of Lurgashall in Southern England, created an animated Christmas card in 2000. The e-card, featuring her dog, Chudleigh, her cats, and her 15th-century cottage, was sent to a few friends for their amusement. Those friends sent the e-card to others, and within weeks Jacquie was inundated with requests from all over the world to design more e-cards.

My favorite Christmas ecard of hers. A lovely birthday card.

101 ecards with about 15 new ones released each year. The international prices/membership fees, in the USA $10 per year.

posted by nickyskye (29 comments total)

I received "The Snowdog" a few years ago from a blog-buddy, and it remains the best e-card that I have ever received. Just beautiful.
posted by davidmsc at 10:20 AM on December 20, 2007

Oh YAY devidmsc, was cringing here on this end wondering if my dear fellow MeFites would throw tomatoes and say Pepsi ecard. Relieved and grateful for your positive thought. Cause I really like her stuff. Phew. *ducks out the door to work.
posted by nickyskye at 10:25 AM on December 20, 2007

*davidmsc, cripes, sorry
posted by nickyskye at 10:27 AM on December 20, 2007

Ah yes! I remember getting one of these a long while back and loving it too.
posted by ceri richard at 10:31 AM on December 20, 2007

That's almost too sweet and has made me think of my mum a long way away in an English village. And I've not even been drinking.
posted by Abiezer at 10:36 AM on December 20, 2007

I get one of these from a relative of mine every holiday of the year. They're very pretty but a bit too saccharine for my tastes. And I'd much rather get a piece of real mail any day.
posted by backseatpilot at 10:40 AM on December 20, 2007

I got my first Lawson E-card earlier this morning. Assuming the artistic integrity was too good to be true, I waited patiently for something nasty to happen to Chudleigh. By card's end he was still wagging his tail but I was by then not disappointed in the least.
posted by CynicalKnight at 10:45 AM on December 20, 2007

Sorry, nickyskye, but I'm with backseatpilot on this one. I get one from a relative on every occasion, and each time they make me cringe. I open them all, though, because I have a sneaking suspicion that the service notifies the sender when they are "picked up" ... does it?

I'm not throwing tomatoes, mind, as it's unquestionably just a matter of taste. It's just that, well, FYI you may be having the opposite impact on your recipient than you hoped: cloying and grating rather than warm and soothing.
posted by mumkin at 10:52 AM on December 20, 2007

Chudleigh! ....and the cats!
Love it.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 10:55 AM on December 20, 2007

And I've not even been drinking.
posted by Abiezer at 1:36 PM on December 20 [+] [!]

I find that hard to believe!
posted by Pollomacho at 10:57 AM on December 20, 2007

Those friends sent the e-card to others, and within weeks Jacquie was inundated with requests from all over the world to design more e-cards.

Yeah, that's really unfortunate. Think what could've not been, and almost wasn't!
posted by prostyle at 11:01 AM on December 20, 2007

You're a cruel, cruel man, Pollomacho! It's true too - I finished the last of the rather pleasant import ales last night. I suppose Christmas obliges me to stock up again. Such are the trials we must endure.
posted by Abiezer at 11:10 AM on December 20, 2007

owie owie owie - part of brain say "aww sweet cute" fighting part of brain say "gag with spoon"
it hurts ...can't stop clicking
posted by not_on_display at 11:23 AM on December 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

I tried printing these out and the motherfucker was just an ordinary static picture. Fucking scam.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 11:23 AM on December 20, 2007

Hey thanks for sending me a job on Christmas buddy.
posted by null terminated at 11:37 AM on December 20, 2007

no worries nickskye - the Pepsi-blue filter usually only applies if someone has a very self-serving interest in the linked FPP. in this case, the beauty of the cards - and the probability that you will not profit from the site - far outweigh any Pepsi concerns!
posted by davidmsc at 11:50 AM on December 20, 2007

I've received these cards from time to time as well. I don't know what it is about them. I really should dislike them or at least be disinterested, but something about the style really charms me.

(Also not drinking, but sales meeting starts in an hour.)
posted by Kloryne at 12:15 PM on December 20, 2007

mumkin
Yes, Jacquie does notify the sender when the card has been viewed. My complaint is that I had to "re-send" to several friends, although the original edresses were correct. Dead tree cards are snail mailed to people like backseatpilot who crave the tactile experience of opening an envelope, or do not have a computer.
posted by Cranberry at 12:43 PM on December 20, 2007

Mom sends these to the whole family every holiday. And I try with every cinder of my bitter jaded heart to snark, but honestly they're kind of adorable. If only she made cat ones I would be doomed.
posted by ottereroticist at 12:46 PM on December 20, 2007

Oh dear god I spoke to soon. There are cat cards.
posted by ottereroticist at 12:48 PM on December 20, 2007

As a cat-loving witch, I find this one offensive.

Ms. Lawson will be hearing from the Pagan Anti-Defamation League.
posted by ottereroticist at 12:57 PM on December 20, 2007

Not e-cards, but for the more cynical senders, bookmark Cara Scissoria for next year.
posted by madamjujujive at 1:46 PM on December 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Crashes my Firefox. Ah well.
posted by davejay at 5:53 PM on December 20, 2007

So, I clicked on a card entitled, "The Christmas Story," and it took forever to load, so I was half-prepared to snark. But then Fluff the black kitten saved the day, and I was won over. And I love the music choices for the cards, too!
posted by misha at 7:12 PM on December 20, 2007

Not e-cards, but for the more cynical senders, bookmark Cara Scissoria for next year.

Much more to my taste, I have to admit. Pictures of dogs and McMansions don't really do much for me -- even if they're animated. So let me be the first to say it -- NickySkye, your favourite Xmas e-cards suck.

But the unreconstructed Ebenezer Scrooge is kind of a hero of mine. (And that ghost behind me rattling it's chains can just fuck right off.)
posted by PeterMcDermott at 10:13 PM on December 20, 2007

Just back from work, looong day. Not too many tomatoes. Oh YAY. No, personal vested interest in this at all. I was thinking that on holidays there are usually very sweet desserts that one doesn't eat all the year round and in terms of the sugar factor these cards are like one of those desserts.

It's hard to find any attractive, intelligent ecards, especially of the animated variety, when it comes to major holidays that one can send in a non-cynical way.

It's a wide open market, perhaps some other savvy illustrator could make a decent living designing intelligent ecards with a subscription fee, that are of the illustrative quality of Lawson's confections without as much sugar? In the meantime I think she stands alone on the web as an independent animated ecard designer.
posted by nickyskye at 10:14 PM on December 20, 2007

nickyskye To each his/her own. Thank goodness for variety, and thanks for posting about Jacquie Lawson. I did not like Jacquie's new cards and sent the old Twelve Days of Christmas which I admire. But I bookmarked Cara Scissoria for next year.
posted by Cranberry at 10:54 PM on December 20, 2007

I have used them for about five years for business contacts. It's quick to open, and if they don't pick them up a couple of years in a row, I just take them off the list. I have several people who like them well enough they forward them home for the family to watch. They let you keep 100 addresses on file, if I remember that right. It keeps track of whether the card was picked up and if the address bounced, which is how I know someone doesn't work there any more.
posted by unrepentanthippie at 10:50 AM on December 21, 2007

My parents use these for all sorts of occasions. They make me cringe a little, but they're also so damn cute. They also go down quite well with the silver surfers.
posted by djgh at 8:58 AM on December 22, 2007