Blue Mountain Cards Have Changed the Greeting Card Industry

Blue Mountain spreads joy not only through its e cards, but through its books, calendars and posters that feature poetry and prose written over colorful nature backgrounds. Over 1,000 Blue Mountain e card designs are available to send electronically to a loved one to mark a special holiday or occasion. These messages are not available just to the English speaking world; greetings are available in many different languages.

Boulder, Colorado couple Stephen Schutz and Susan Polis Schutz started the Blue Mountain cards company in the early 1970s as a vehicle for their illustration and poetry hobbies. They began by combining Stephens artwork and Susans free form poetry to create poster prints that embodied their shared feelings about life, love and nature, very much in keeping with the hippie culture of the time. The Blue Mountain cards company was initially conceived as a poster business when the couple persuaded a local Boulder bookstore to offer several of their posters on consignment. The popularity of the posters convinced Stephen and Susan to offer them to other stores in the area, and the business soon took off.

Blue Mountain Arts, parent company of Blue Mountain Cards, was officially formed in 1971. Stephen and Susan travelled the country selling their art, and business expanded so much that they soon branched out into gift books, calendars and stationery. Not long afterwards, they also transferred their art to Blue Mountain greeting cards. In fact, they were responsible for introducing the all occasion blank greeting card to the public. They also introduced a second greeting card innovation: the inclusion of expressive free form poetry to the interior of their cards, replacing the staid traditional rhyming messages used for so long.

In the 1990s, Blue Mountain Arts introduced another greeting cards innovation: the electronic greeting card, launching their free e card website in 1996. The electronic greeting card concept grew from the Schutz family practice of keeping in touch with their college age son through electronic messages and greetings. Once, again, through its line of e cards, Blue Mountain Cards was an innovator. Their cards were free, and they allowed the sender to insert personal greetings rather than use a stock message. The recipient received an email notification of the card and accessed it through an attached link to the company website. What could be easier.

Blue Mountain e cards are now available in any number of languages and can be sent all over the globe.