We had so much fun making this new e card with Dionne.  First, Dionne and her son, Damon, recorded the whimsical and charming Caribbean style birthday song.  After hearing the song, Bennett hand drew some rough sketches (“very rough” he says). Here’s his first sketch of a bulldog in a sarong, and then a sketch for the beach background.

Next, we asked our animator, Gwyneth, to take these sketches and use them to design a gorgeous background, characters and props. As you can see, we ended up changing a lot: the outfits, the species of dogs, and we added a cabana stage.  Gwyneth really took the very basic original ideas and brought them to life.  Once the background, props and characters  were approved, we told Gwyneth to animate the card. Here are her designs for the doggies, the background, and the props.

Click here to see the final card.

Here are Otis and Charlie delivering Meals on Wheels

On Sunday, my son Otis,  my nephew Charlie and I delivered Meals on Wheels.  Living near Beverly Hills, we often get to see how the top 1 % of the country lives.  However, going east of Vermont Boulevard toward downtown LA is a different story.  Many of the recipients on our Sunday delivery route live in tiny rooms.  For several of them, the bed takes up most of the space in their home.  We delivered a meal to one woman who is blind and living alone with just a bed and a desk.  After helping the her up to her third floor apartment  I can’t even imagine  how she gets herself to the grocery store regularly.  She has no refrigerator or even a kitchen.    However, thanks to Sister Alice Marie (“Sister Sam”) at St. Vincent Meals on Wheels, hungry seniors are being fed.  These forgotten seniors need help.  Please consider helping Sister Sam in her mission to feed thousands of home bound seniors a day.  Click here to make a donation.  Every dollar goes to feed a home-bound senior in need of your help.

The family teenagers have taken over Doozycards.  Here is my nephew Charlie Cooke and my son Otis at a production meeting.  My  nephew Robbie Cooke and my son, Cooper are at the same meeting.  My brother and I have eight boys between us.  None of boys are apparently NBA basketball players.  So I am sad to report none of them will be forking over homes and bling for Mama at twenty-one.   Sigh…  Not one to give up, I had brilliant brainstorm.  We will give the boys  what every young man needs: ecard making skills!
And the boys are learning so much. Settling arguments on how to dress the animals is why we had to install a boxing ring in the backyard.  The boys seemed very excited to learn you must go to the mat for important company decisions like – the fairy  WILL be fatter.
I’m  happy to report the boys are naturals in the world of ecards and may surpass our wisdom soon.  Apparently their endless hours of watching important Youtube content and playing internet games has paid off in spades.  The boys are naturals at making ecard games!  Their brainstorm, Find the Birthday Cake Game is a top seller.  What a relief, I can start spending their college funds on shoes immediately.  Friday night we wrapped up an Easter game and a Father’s Day game.  Stay tuned for pics of my new shoes and for new games by the teenagers!

I would love to have an in-house doggie Mariachi Band.  Every time the little boys tackle each other or the teen complains, I could say hit it!  And they would appear and enchant us all.     Living in Southern California, we hear a lot of Mariachi music.  Last weekend I rode my bike through McArthur Park near downtown Los Angeles and there was live Mariachi music in the park.  In fact my parents had mariachi music at their second wedding to each other (that’s a whole nother story!).  I think the best place to hear Mariachi music is on Olvera Street.  T his is a great place to take kids and out of town guests.  They sell something my kids absolutely love: eggs blown out and filled with confetti.  Boys apparently delight in smashing these on each others’ heads.  In the spirit of Marichi bands all over the world, we are proud to present: Our Mariachi Valentine Ecard.

We are proud to introduce our collection of Dionne Warwick ecards.  Dionne is a long time Doozycards’ customer who approached us to make her own ecard collection.  We said “ABSOLUTELY!”  We are huge Dionne fans and have been singing her songs in the office all year long.  We are having so much fun working with Dionne.  Having her in our office to record was the highlight of our year in 2010.  Dionne has been funny, witty and a delight to work with . She  has also written some amazing songs for her Doozycards collection.  We  have nine cards from Dionne’s collection on the site so far.  in the birthday category,   Dione’s Birthday Song E-card has been very popular as well as the birthday photo card we made last week.  This latest birthday photo e-card  features a song she wrote just for her Doozycards collection.  Check out Dionne’s  brand new “Birthday Wishes by Dionne Warwick”. Stay tuned for more even ecards from Dionne!