Life behind Black Greeting Cards

Recently added to the female relation sction is 4 new design for those special women in our life.

Happy Birthday Daughter	Happy Birthday Mom
Happy Birthday Sister	Happy Birthday Nan

The designs range from simple, sassy, elegant to casual. I’m working on more for the female relation section but I want to bring the children section up to the fore front first. Our kids need greeting cards also.

Happy Kwanzaa to you all, ok I know it’s the start of Kwanzaa today and ideally you won’t be reading this until in 7 days time (the end of Kwnazaa), nevertheless, some of you may, sneakingly use the internet, and come across my post. Or you have no clue about what Kwanzaa is and may be intriged about this commonly known event around cChristmas time. Well I hope to share with you the basics about Kwanzaa and hope you get involved even if its just for you and your close family. If nothing else be blessed that you have your family around you, you support one another and that you have faith in yourself and each another, if you dont have that then you need to look at Kwanzaa’s 7 principles and put them in motion.

Did you know that Kwanzaa is celebrated by over 20 million people, which is amazing. Many people believe that Kwanzaa is an alternative to Christmas, my opinion why do you have to choose between Christmas or Kwanazaa. They both are completely differnet events and they both represent different things. Christmas is for remembering the birth of Jesus Christ. Kwanzaa brings a cultural message which speaks to the best of what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense.

Still unsure what Kwanazaa is:

Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday which celebrates family, community and culture. Celebrated from 26 December thru 1 January, its origins are in the first harvest celebrations of Africa from which it takes its name. The name Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza” which means “first fruits” in Swahili, a Pan-African language which is the most widely spoken African language.

Kwanazaa is a cultural holiday not a religious one, thus available to and practiced by Africans of all religious faiths who come together based on the rich, ancient and varied common ground of their Africanness.

Read and learn more from official kwanzaa website.

Kwanazaa is based over 7 days, each day has an important principle which we focus on each day:

The 7 Prinicples of Kwanzaa
Umoja means unity
Kujichagulia means self-determination
Ujima means working together
Ujamaa means supporting each other
Nia means purpose
Kuumba means creativity
Imani means faith, especially faith in ourselves

Gifts, yes gifts are given mainly to children, but must always include a book and a heritage symbol. The book is to emphasize the African value and tradition of learning stressed since ancient Egypt, and the heritage symbol to reaffirm and reinforce the African commitment to tradition and history.

From the above you can see that Kwanzaa can be celebrated by anybody or any faith of any culture. If you look at all the BOLD texts you will see that they are relevant to every human being no matter your colour or gender. Like everything in life, you as an individual should take what you need to help you to be a better person.

Happy Kwanzaa to you all!

Born in New Canton, Buckingham County, Virginia on December 20th 1875, Carter G. Woodson was the son of a former slave. Today we have a wealth of information about Black History, it has become second nature to pop onto the internet to do a google search on something you want to know within the Black History area, whether it’s an event, a person, or an tradition it will not take us long to find an answer. Now compare that to the 20th century, where it was common that Black people had very little knowledge of history apart from the knowing of slavery.

Our awareness to know about black people in history is really down to this man Carter G. Woodson. He started the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Inc to educate us about black life and culture, which continues today. Being the son of a former slave he fully understood from a young age that to attain security and to strive for the rights of freedom education was the key. Not a educuted man until the age of 20, his passion and dedication for edcuation enabled him to attain a high school diploma in West Virginia and bachelor and master’s degrees from the University of Chicago in just a few years.

Did You Know:

In honor of all the work that Dr. Carter G. Woodson has done to promote the study of African American History, an ornament of Woodson hangs on the White House’s Christmas tree each year.

Click to read more about Carter G. Woodson and to view the Christmas ornament of Woodson

We all know the story of the princess and the frog storyline, princess kisses frog, frog turns into prince. Well this new Disney movie plays along those line except there’s a twist and new look to this one and that is the starring role is voiced by a black woman and the animated character is also a black character.

The debut of Disney’s first African American princess. Ever.  At last black children can gaze at the cinema and TV screen with delight as they witness a animated character that reflects their identity. All little girls dream of being a princess, yet only see European images to idealise, now the Disney team are embracing at last the black minority through children’s entertainment.

This story is set in Jazz Age New Orleans, with the princess working as a waitress. She is only royal in her mind, and dreams of opening a restaurant in the French Quarter.
As a designer myself being able to see black characters on the big screen is a nice boost for our children. Working with black characters everyday, it’s nice to see large comapanies starting to open the doors for black children to enjoy films which have then as the focus.

Check out the preview.

The voice of the princess belongs to Anika Noni Rose, The voice of the Queen belongs to Tiana, and last but no means least the woman the world loves Oprah Winfrey is the voice of the princesses mother. From watching the clips thanks to you tube, it’s not just an animated black character movie with ‘black charcaters’, It goes further than that – the scenes, the black voices, the storyline is what every black parent wishes they could show their children at some point in their lives.

As I am in the UK we are not as lucky as the US for the animated musical has already opened its doors to the public. Hopefully the UK won’t have to wait to long for it to enter our cinemas and then dvd stores. I believe it is going to be a hit with the children and knowing how Disney loves to back up their movies with merchandise of the characters, movies soundtracks etc, looks like they will be banking lots of profit.

However I do have a beef with this movie and that is the prince is ‘white’. Why Disney? – why have a white prince, what is wrong with the beautiful black man to be the prince. Is it so hard to except that a black woman and a black man can be in love and be on screen and be a cartoon movie, or is that to much all at once. It’s a movie based in new orleans, having black characters and the love of the princesses life is a white guy. I know interracial relationships are growing every day, however so are same nationality relationships. In Lilo and Stitch, Lilo’s sister’s boyfriend is of the same race as the main characters, so why not in this movie, why give with one hand and take away with the other.

This is a very deep subject which will be brought to the forefront sooner or later. I mean this movie will be viewed by many young, little black girls, who will dream they are that beautiful princess, then they will see her prince to be a white guy. As a parent, having to help our children understand what society does not want to explain, so instead of the black family sitting together enjoying the first animated movie with black characters and black princess, now we have to explain to our child that loving a black man is also ok, should’nt that be the other way round. Anyway like everything else in the public eye, you have to take what you need and discard, or explain the rest, and that goes for this movie.

Enjoy watching the movie, and if you feel to pop back and air your views on the movies, you are very welcome.

It’s all about the men!

A fresh line of black Happy Birthday greeting cards for the men. They include 2 design for general birthdays, 1 design for son, 1 design for brother, 1 design for dad and 1 design for grandad.

Black Birthday Card	Black Birthday Card	Black Birthday Card for Son
Black Birthday Card for Grandad	Black Birthday Card for Dad	Black Birthday Card for Brother