It’s Valentine’s Day in a few weeks, the ultimate love-with-a-capital-L holiday. But every time February rolls around, we find ourselves feeling a little hesitant about it. Both of us have been lucky in love—and when we look at everything in the rearview mirror, sometimes not so lucky. Can you relate? We think most people can. 

We both feel deeply grateful for our partners. (They’re awesome.) But we also feel deep gratitude for our friends, our kids and grandkids, special neighbors that make our lives brighter, our pets. Love is anything but one-dimensional. 

Why not celebrate all of this? Why not throw all the love we give and receive into a giant bottle, shake it up, and let it flow? Why not fling big, messy ribbons of love to the sky? Tell everyone you love them that you love them. Period. No need to make it only a romantic thing. Connection and collective joy is something big and beautiful. Let’s celebrate that. 

If this resonates, we have cards for you. Lots of them. Cards that celebrate a romantic partnership. Cards that tell a friend they’re the best. Cards that are like paper snuggle for your kids, your mom, your co-worker. 

These cards don’t say “Happy Valentine’s Day.” Because they’re more about widening our sphere of love, no matter what’s happening on the calendar. We like to call them our just-because-love cards, good to send on any occasion or no occasion to the people who matter most. Here’s a list of the ones that come to mind for us first. You can also browse all our love cards. 

With that, a happy Valentine’s Day to you and all of yours!

Fondly,

Jacquie and Sarah

Check out some of our favorites!

Our new greeting cards are out. We’re so proud of this batch. There are cards for fans of cat snuggles, sweet moments between friends, flowers in anticipation of spring, and our second-ever celebration of retirement. 

Check out all of the new designs HERE!

We spent hours looking for just the right quotes to pair with these timeless images and found what we consider to be some of the best yet.

We hope you’ll find them just as enchanting and hopeful as we do. Always—despite everything—our world and lives are dotted with moments of felicity and enchantment, gifts from the earth, and people we adore. We hope these greeting cards help you embrace all of these good things and send encouraging words to the people in your life. 

Here’s our new lineup:

Summer Snow

As Jacquie was walking down to the river one day late last April, she came upon this incredible pink commotion. She’s lived in this pocket neighborhood for many years but has never seen such a thick blanket of blooms before. A cherry blossom cloak to herald the spring!

Chosen Family

Sarah’s girls and their best friend, the daughter of a lifelong friend of Sarah’s, had their very own pandemic camp last summer for two days each week. They swam, hiked, crafted, visited a farm, went on treasure hunts, and lots of other activities. They even had a special name—complete with T-shirts! This photo was taken a few years ago during one of many sweet moments with, as they call themselves, chosen family.

Midnight Reading

Over a year ago, Sarah’s then-kitten, Lily, popped up on her lap to, apparently, read the story along with her. She was into everything, all the time. Including her sister, Buttercup. The two are thick as thieves; Sarah often finds them nestled together, like they’re waiting for a bedtime story. In fact, another new card features one of their snuggles!

Canterbury Bells

Jacquie took many photos in Boston Commons during her trip with her daughter last summer. These particular flowers are special, though, because they grow across the walkway from a statue of Jacquie’s great-great-grandfather, which stands at an entrance to the gardens. The entire trip was an homage to this side of her family, one full of artists, writers, architects, and thinkers. She loves knowing that generations of people enjoyed the same beautiful things we do.

Autumn

Kate, a dear friend of Sarah’s, snapped this shot at her family’s cabin at Cream Hill Lake in Connecticut. We like imagining the many conversations that have happened beneath these million leaves. This card celebrates retirement in the most peaceful way possible. Wouldn’t you like to retire here, too? 

Snuggles

Lily and Buttercup: the picture of candid affection. Sarah and the girls adopted the two when they were just eight-week-old kittens and the bond between them was pretty much immediate. They often find them just like this, tangled and content. They remind their family—and all of us—that there’s no shame in loving and needing another. 

Perhaps we’ll be saying this every December for a while but...friends, what a YEAR.

It’s dizzying to think back to where we were a year ago: no vaccines, restaurants closed up, our customer base of bookstores and boutiques barely scraping by, distanced outdoor get-togethers in the cold. So much has happened. 

What happened with Stonehenge

Our PPP loan helped us emerge from the Covid bunker. And all of you—customers, reps, friends, and collaborators—helped Stonehenge survive and grow. Our gratitude will never feel wide and deep enough to hold every online order, compliment, and kind word we’ve received over the past year. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Our focus this year was figuring out how to get back to business when so many of our stockists were closed or limiting their orders. This led us to ramping up our online shop, which is a big success! We’ve found a new group of customers who either don’t have access to Stonehenge cards in their communities or who prefer to shop online for health or other reasons. We love making connections with them and being able to offer our full range of cards to anyone, anytime.

A big moment for us was in August, when Sarah and Jacquie finally got to work in the office together again. During lockdown, we took turns going in to fill orders and keep the place running. But we missed being together. It didn’t feel like Stonehenge without the two of us. And it was hard. Think of us bundled and masked up on Sarah’s front porch with a laptop, trying to finalize new designs. We did it, but are we ever glad we get to collaborate inside and in person!

Independent bookstores are back! 

After 21 months in a pandemic, many of our favorite indy bookstore partners have opened up again. Thank goodness. We’re thrilled for the many communities that have places, once again, where they can browse titles and racks of cards to put together the perfect gift. 

We’re also delighted that, despite everything, new bookstores are still opening! 

Quail Run Books in Green Valley, Arizona is one of them. The owners are following a dream and bringing Stonehenge along with them—they have a great selection of our cards in the shop. Stop by if you’re in the area. 

Are there any new or open-again bookstores you love in your community? Drop us a line and tell us where you love to buy your books and cards!

What happened with us

This year, Sarah and her family:

• Adopted Honey!
• Bought a Toyota Dolphin and took it on some trips.
• Broke up the sibling rivalry by upending their home to give the girls their own bedrooms. (Covid definitely made THAT need clear!)
• Returned to a normal school experience and schedule.
• Got vaccinated!
• (Re)discovered the magic of Shrinky Dinks! They never, ever get old.

This year, Jacquie:

• Played piano and continued singing. Her backyard studio was a refuge, especially during lockdown. 
• Started taking French with one of her closest friends in anticipation of being able to travel again. Of all the places she’s visited, France really has her heart. 
• Started rehearsing with her community choir again, with her sweetheart and dearest friends. (They’re all vaccinated and wear special choir masks to stay safe while they sing.) 
• Studied her family’s genealogy and, because of her sleuthing, found and visited her great-great-grandfather’s house in Boston during a special trip with her daughter.
• Traveled with her grandson (to Chicago), and her granddaughter (to Anchorage) for GretaTravel Camp!

Thank you again for supporting us. Despite—or perhaps because—of everything, we are grateful for our health, our loved ones, and for everyone who made the world more tolerable, funnier, and more compassionate this year. That includes you. Thank you for linking arms with us. 

It’s always been hard for us to shop for sympathy cards. They’re either too generic or too syrupy. Few reflect what we’re really feeling for the people in our lives who have lost loved ones. So we decided to design our own.

Why are Stonehenge Designs cards so beautiful? Spoiler: We have an incredible printer. For the past six years, we’ve worked with Don Youngman, printing and packaging specialist at Precision Graphics of Oregon. 

When my daughter and I visited Boston this summer on an ancestry-inspired trip to learn about the places where my great-great-grandparents (and those before them) lived, we also took in some of the city’s historical and artistic attractions.

Jacquie’s mother, Margie, was a watercolorist. So many of her portraits exist that the family can’t track them all. Growing up around paint and canvases, it makes sense that Jacquie would pick it up herself. And now, a few of her watercolors—from a painting trip in Europe several years back—are Stonehenge cards!