The holidays are here, and Everett and Anna Schiemann have a lot of cards to write.

“Dear Grandma and Grandpa, I love you,” Anna said as she scrawled out a greeting to her grandparents.


What You Need To Know

  • Ashley Campbell started the Coral and Blue Paper Company to inspire her own children to feel good about writing “thank you” cards

  • The cards feature the same style lines that elementary school children often use to learn handwriting

  • The stationery is available online and at Capital Region stores like Northshire Books and Paper Dolls of Saratoga

Their mother, Meg, bought the siblings stationery cards made especially for kids from the Coral and Blue Paper Company.

“They really enjoy using these cards,” Meg Schliemann said. “We absolutely love them, and I know our family loves receiving them in them in the mail.”

The Schiemanns are one of many local families making good use of the cards from Coral and Blue, which Ashley Campbell started less than two years ago.

“It just makes me so happy, because now I know her great grandma is going to get a card in the mail,” Campbell said as she watched the Schliemann kids design their cards at the family’s home earlier this month.

Campbell started the business as a way to get her own kids more interested in writing “thank you” notes.

“It just really just makes the process joyful and that’s what I wanted 'thank you' notes to be,” Campbell said.

Coral and Blue utilizes the same style of lines elementary students use to learn handwriting and the cards are about twice the size of normal stationery. Campbell said that leaves plenty of room for tiny hands to write their typically big notes.

“Sometimes their fine motor skills are not the same as when they hit middle school, so they really need that space,” Campbell said.

Also offering holiday and sympathy cards, Campbell comes up with her different designs at her office in the Spa City.

“[Design] is definitely my favorite part,” Campbell said. “I love working with different colors and just trying to figure out which colors go best.

The bright, simple images are meant to appeal to children all across the world.

“There’s no features, there’s no skin color,” Campbell said of the silhouette drawings of children on the front of her cards. “I wanted to keep it classic on the outside, just to harken back to a time where note writing was commonplace.”

Campbell sells most of her cards online, but they’re also for sale at local stores like Northshire Books and Paper Dolls of Saratoga.

“I know that when a grandparent or a teacher gets this in the mail. It’s something they can keep up and hold onto as a keepsake, maybe put up on the refrigerator or keep in the house,” Campbell said.

Campbell’s neighbors, Charles and Eleanor Fisher, say it’s always a treat to get a message in the mail from their grandchildren in California.

“It’s just heartwarming that they’re being thoughtful, and it’s sincere,” Eleanor said as her and Charles read a recent “get well soon” card from the granddaughter, Laurel.

Campbell has inspired even more kids to write ‘thank you’ notes at several local workshops. The stationery is also a learning tool for a group of school children in Africa.

“It’s so much fun,” Campbell said. “My favorite thing about the workshops is talking to kids and getting them talking about what they’re thankful for.”

Watching children take joy using her cards is what Campbell says she’s most grateful for.

“It’s been amazing,” she said. “It’s amazing to be a business owner and watch your business grow, but it’s also just amazing realizing people care so much about ‘thank you’ notes, too.”

Her excitement is, perhaps, only surpassed by the youngsters spreading gratitude through the written word.

“It makes me feel good that they like it,” Anna Schiemann said.