THIS little detail made all the difference

Our dad has a tree company based in San Francisco, and a few years ago, he very officially contacted our little business with a special request.

He needed a card that really reflected his company, something he could send to his customers to thank them for working with him.

And not only did he want a customized design, he also wanted us to take care of everything: write the thank-you note, add the name, put a stamp on it, and send it directly to his customers. Straight to their mailboxes.

That meant about 20–30 letters to send every week.

How exciting!
A first big order.

What you need to know is that at that time, we had never printed a card. All our cards were drawn by hand, one by one.

We started thinking about designs that wouldn’t take forever to make. First idea: one-line trees. But the result wasn’t very convincing. Then we tried one-line flowers. Better, but we still had to add color with pencils for them to really work. In the end, it was still a lot of work, and we couldn’t imagine making that many every single week.

So we decided to do something new for us: make one strong drawing and print it.

After hesitating over several designs, we thought of San Francisco houses with trees. It felt like a good start, but still a bit too general. Not really focused on a tree company.

So we added a dog.
Because… dogs are everywhere in San Francisco.
And with the dog came the little detail we loved most — the one that really made it fit the business.

painted ladies san francisco watercolor — Did you ever notice the dog’s tail?

We thought that was funny enough to make it a good design.

Now, three years later, this illustration is still one of our best sellers.

After printing this design, we were so excited to hold our very first printed card. We had purposely left a blank space at the bottom to handwrite “thank you” and the name of each customer. And the little street sign on the card was left blank too, so we could customize it with the street name of each client.

thank you letters — We also handwrote the thank-you text on the back of every card. That’s how, little by little, I ended up practicing calligraphy… a lot.

In the end, we were really proud of the result.

And our dad’s company got some lovely feedback from customers too. So yes, he was happy too 🙂

We’ve since received other custom requests, and honestly, they’re always super fun for us to work on. These projects often mean printing dozens, sometimes even hundreds, of cards.

custom design tree company — A custom design for a tree company in Switzerland, to thank their clients.

ballet greeting card — And for a ballet company in the Bay Area, to celebrate their dancers.

And for a ballet company in the Bay Area, to celebrate their dancers.

Did you know?

On our website, we offer a customization option. For almost any card, we can add a personalized note or name on the cover for free.

Little Prince card — Other languages available

And for just a few more dollars, we can also handwrite a full letter for you and send it directly to the person of your choice.

✍️ Watch this offer on Youtube.

✉️ Email us with your idea (just hit reply), and we’ll get back to you to make it happen.

Which brings us to a fun concept.

Have you heard about Café Pli in Paris (pli means fold), where you can sit down and write a letter to your future self? You receive it one year, five years, or even twenty years later. Love that!

So we thought… why not try something similar? Just for one year though 😅

How fun would it be to take a moment to write about your dreams for 2026, or just a few kind and supportive words to your future self?

Here’s how it would work: you choose one of our cards, send us an email with what you’d like written inside, and one year from now, you’ll be surprised to receive a letter from your past self.

If that sounds fun, try it.

P.S. This is happening in San Francisco too — check out Letter to Future You on Instagram.