Pretty Good Cards is an independent, woman-owned line of unique greeting cards and other stationery items based in Valparaiso — the one in Indiana, not the one in Chile.
What's in a Name?
I named this brand Pretty Good Cards — PGC for short — as a nod to my Midwestern roots and a tribute to my late mother, Pam. Those were her initials.
A portion of the proceeds from all sales is donated to the Maggie Daley Center for Women’s Cancer Care in memory of my mom, the original PGC.
Pam and Beth celebrating their women's doubles victory at Wimbledon, 1981.
Sweet! Who the Hell Are You?
I'm Beth, and I'm an illustrator, poet, and former teacher. I'm also a full-time mom to a 7-year-old and a stepmom to a 21-year-old, which means I'm equally conversant in Minecraft and shitty SoundCloud rappers.
I started PGC in the summer of 2020 for two main reasons.
Reason No. 1
I couldn’t find the cards I wanted anywhere! I wanted bold and fun and fast, and I found a lot of peaches and taupes and the same two fonts over and over and over and — OK, you get it.
My likes and needs and sentiments didn't feel represented. I wanted cards for women like me who grew up with an encyclopedic knowledge of Masters of the Universe and dreams of NBA stardom, cards celebrating under-served pop culture communities that I adore, cards dudes would actually enjoy shopping for, cards for people who admire Rae Dunn’s business acumen but want to barf every time they see a kitchen sign reminding them to EAT.
(What was I going to do in here, Rae? Play rugby? Plot a heist? Get confused, think I was in the LAUNDRY, and try to GATHER or WASH something? The absolute horror.)
This is an incomplete list, and I have nothing against taupe. I just wanted more alternatives on the shelves — so I decided to start making them myself.
Me and my son at the Indiana Dunes. The hat's his father's fault.
Reason No. 2
Making stuff is how I keep myself (moderately) sane in a world gone mad. I’m a self-taught illustrator who has drawn and painted her entire life. By degrees-on-the-wall training, I’m a poet and former teacher who spent most of her career at the City Colleges of Chicago. My first poetry collection, Antarctica is for Sleepers, was published in 2010, and I'm finally making time to write a second book now.
Slowly. Very, very slowly.
Several of the best years of my life were spent producing sketch comedy shows in Chicago with four hilarious and talented guys I graduated from Second City with. And the first time my son drew a picture that took him several minutes to explain, in great detail, the sort of detail only a preschooler can muster? My heart almost exploded.
Me and my husband after our wedding and before he started buying hats.
In short, making stuff that helps people connect makes me happy, so thank you for letting me do that. As a wife, mom and stepmom, I'm called upon (some might say forced) to be on call and in the know for the men in my life 24/7. (Maybe you can relate?) Thanks for helping me have something that's allllll mine, suckers.
In return, I hope I can help you bring a smile to somebody's face, and I hope you'll drive to my house, package me up in a rocket, and shoot me off into space if I ever say "help you bring a smile to somebody's face" again.
Beth
Owner, Illustrator, recovering side ponytail wearer
P.S. Wanna hear
more from me every once in a while, including info about exclusive sales and free stuff and all that jazz? Sweet! Subscribe to my pretty good email list
right here. (You can Irish goodbye your way right back out whenever you want. No hard feelings.)
