Monday, December 1, 2008

Thank You

In response to my last post for referrals since business was slow, we have had several inquiries into our altar card materials. Thank you very much to all of you who have referred us to others. May you have a fantastic Christmas Season this year.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Your Assistance Requested

Hello everyone. I hope you are all having a wonderful Wednesday so far. Today's topic is a selfish one, I'm afraid. Our sales have been rather slow and we could use your help in promoting our work. We love designing and providing you priests around the world with the materials you need to say Mass with. We absolutely love it. If you feel that this work is worthy and needed, please mention us as a possible source of Latin and English Mass materials to your friends.

Thank you in advance for your assistance. If there is some way that we can repay you, please let us know.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Sale! All Latin and English Altar Cards only $29.00

Hello everyone. Now, that we are entering the Christmas Season, we have decided to offer you all of our standard 12 inch unframed Latin and English Altar Cards at only $29.00 per set! That's $20.00 off our standard, $49.00 price structure.

We believe that in this current economic downturn, all businesses need to give consumers price breaks in order for everyone to benefit. It is good for the public and it is good for business. Whether you need Latin or English, traditional or large print, we have several styles of unframed altar cards designed especially to be easy to read and practical.

Our regular business website is located at www.myriadcreativeconcepts.com. To view our catalog, click here.

If there is anything we can do for you, just let us know. Thank you for considering us for your altar cards. We hope to hear from you soon.




Thursday, October 16, 2008

"Roman Pillars" Tridentine High Mass Latin Altar Cards Now Available

Hello everyone. In response to a recent designing request for Roman Catholic Tridentine HIGH Mass Latin Altar Cards, we now offer two versions for your consideration: "Vintage Diamond" Solemn High Mass Altar Cards and "Roman Pillars" Solemn High Mass Altar Cards.

Just yesterday, we put the finishing touches on our new "Roman Pillars" Solemn High Mass Altar Cards. This version is modeled after historic Roman Catholic altar cards from the early 20th Century. Using modern computer-enhanced typesetting technology, we have typeset crisp, easy to read Latin prayers in a traditional layout conforming to the 1962 Roman Missal. The type is much smaller than most of our other work, only about 11 points, but small type was common on antique cards that had elaborate artwork. For anyone with great eyesight desiring altar cards reminiscent of beautiful vintage cards, "Roman Pillars" may be ideal for your needs.

"Roman Pillars" can be used for the Traditional High or Low Latin Mass. They include the Incensing Prayers and we've put them in the standard place of lower center column. Like our other versions, the standard dimensions are as follows: one 12 x 18 inch center card with two, 12 x 8 side cards. They arrive ready for you to take to a professional framing shop or lamination company. And, like our other standard sized cards, they are priced at only $49.00 per set plus shipping and handling.

Please note that all of our Mass Cards are available for downloading at half the cost of printed and shipped Mass Cards. And, smaller travel sizes are available. See our Catalog for details.

For more information or to place an order, just send us an email or visit our regular business website located at www.myriadcreativeconcepts.com. And, as always, if you have a special project or specific artwork in mind, please let us know so that we may be able to custom-design for you.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

2008 Financial Crisis Prayer

Hello everyone. This morning, as I prepare to face the world, get the news, and do a good day's work, I would just like to begin it with a prayer for you and all of us:

O God, Maker of all things past and present and future, may your continuing peace be evident in our hearts and minds today. We fear the future because we know too much. We fear our fellow man because we have seen too much. Hopelessness and despair are always at our doorstep vying for our attention. Things just don't seem to be getting any better, God.

We are scared, O God. We are scared.

So, we put our faith in You. We trust and rest only in you, Lord.

And, walk this world another day.


Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Vesting Prayers, Prayers At The Foot Of The Altar and Prayers After Low Mass

Hello everyone. Now that my customer's custom-designed High Mass Altar Cards are being printed, I thought that this would be a good time to point out the supplemental Latin Mass Cards that we offer for the Roman Catholic Tridentine Mass. Those of you who are unfamiliar with the Latin Mass may not be aware that there are several more Mass cards that priests use to celebrate Mass with.

A priest preparing to celebrate the 1,500 year-old Tridentine Mass is akin to a surgeon preparing for surgery on a very important patient is how I picture him.

The celebrating priest takes his responsibility very, very seriously. He prepares himself beforehand in the Sacristy by saying special Hand Washing Prayers. (We have made index card sized Hand Washing Prayers but they are also included on Vesting Prayer Cards.) Then, as he puts his robes on, he says special Vesting Prayers. Pictured here are our red Vesting Prayers which have Latin on one side and English on the other. We also have designed them in blue.

Leaving the Sacristy and approaching the altar with his server(s), the priest and server say the Prayers At The Foot Of The Altar. Remember, the Tridentine is very structured and steeped in tradition. It is truly beautiful. Pictured on the right is our Latin version. By request, we recently designed an English version too.

Please forgive me if I am not explaining this very well. I am a mere layman. Only a priest could really tell this story well.

Anyway, next, the altar cards kick in. The three altar cards have specific prayers on them and recited in a certain order. We have available High Mass Altar Cards (when a priest uses incense), Low Mass Altar Cards (most daily and Sunday use), and Requiem Altar Cards for funerals.

After Mass, and, I'm a little unsure here, but, at least sometimes, priests use the Benediction Prayers. I don't know if they use them all of the time. Although we have designed some, to date no one has requested them.

Next, the priest says the Prayers After Low Mass, also known as the Leonine Prayers after Pope Leo XIII. The Leonine Prayers are very lovely. As I've entered the texts and read them, they are very touching and special. I especially like the short version prayer to St Michael The Archangel. I liked it so much that I researched and found the long version and have made a print of it available.

That's the gist of it from this unknowledgeable layman. I am so unskilled that I can't even read Latin. But, at least you have a bit of an overview. For anyone who would like more information, I'm sure that there are priests near you who would love to share with you some of the intricacies of the Latin Mass.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Altar Cards For the Latin High Mass Coming Soon


Hello everyone. Latin Altar Cards for the Roman Catholic Tridentine Solemn High Mass will be available to you for purchase by mid-October, 2008. "Vintage Diamond High Mass Altar Cards" are being modeled after the traditional artwork of our "Vintage Diamond Low Mass Altar Cards" and merely need tweaking and proofread before public release.

Like our large print altar cards, these too are being fashioned after a priest called to request us to design them. He shall remain anonymous until we have permission to publish his name.

This set features all of the prayers of the Low Mass but also includes the High Mass Incensing Prayers in their traditional place at the lower half of the center column.

Advance orders are being taken now as we get ready to go to print. If interested, please see our catalog or business website for ordering instructions.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

"Wall" Of Pictures Of Our Latin And English Altar Cards

Hello everyone. Today's post features our Cooliris PicLens embedded wall of our Altar Cards Gallery directly piped from our mass cards business website at www.myriadcreativeconcepts.com and tips to anyone wishing to do the same thing with their website or blog pictures. Of course, our pictures can also be viewed in our Catalog.

It isn't that hard to do. If you would like to embed a PicLens wall on your site, I might not be of much help, but I will try to answer your questions. The one thing I almost forgot to do is to optimize the page for search engines by adding title, key words, description, and meta tags. The pictures themselves are named well and contain hyphens between words so that should help them be found by Google and the others.

Download PicLens Publisher to make most of it rather painless. Publisher creates a Media RSS feed of your pictures and that allows the pictures to "stream" in viewers' browsers. A secondary benefit of having one's pictures in Media RSS form is that you can set up a SiteMeter account for the stream and track your statistics. Another benefit, probably more important, is that the RSS stream that you created is now available to RSS Readers. By adding your own feed to Google Reader, My Yahoo. and My Aol, that ensures that those three major search engines are aware of your feed, that it transmits properly, and others can subscribe to it. That subscription feature is cool because as your Gallery changes with new pictures, your subscribers will be kept up to date of those changes.

So, if you are a graphic artist or a photographer, you may want to consider adding a Cooliris PicLens wall to at least one of your website pages to experiment with. That's it for today. I'll see you all next time. I hope you like my "wall." It looks pretty crude in this particular Blogger template but at least it works. :)

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Our Altar Cards Website Is Up And Running!


Hello everyone. Today is an exciting day for us because our brand new business website is now "Live" on the web for you at: www.myriadcreativeconcepts.com. Since March of 2008, we have used this Blogger blog, "Altar Card Artistry," to showcase our altar cards and Mass cards for your consideration. However, now that we have an easy to navigate business website up and running, you will find it much easier to navigate our new site there to find the Latin and English altar cards you need to say Mass with. This blog is still vitally important to us because it is our "voice" and we hope you will still frequent this blog from time to time.

For your convenience, this Catalog link links to our catalog on our business site. To view larger pictures of the altar cards merely click the names under the cards. If you have any problems or questions, we also have a comments section to address those issues.

There are so many that I would like to thank for this milestone: My girlfriend, my family, my priest, and so many others who have given me such wonderful support.

And, of course, the many priests and nuns who have been so kind as to buy our altar cards and been so very supportive. Thanks to you all.

No matter if you are looking for antique looking altar cards, Latin, English, travel sized altar cards, large print, or Mass cards like Vesting Prayers or Prayers At The Foot Of The Altar or Prayers After Low Mass (Leonine Prayers), we have them in stock and ready to go. and even offer downloadable altar cards. Plus, if we do not have what you are looking for, we will help you find those that you prefer.

Thanks everyone for your support these past several months. I have much more work to do so I'd better close for now. Take care and I'll see you next time here.





Saturday, October 4, 2008

Website Design: Ten Tips From A Newbie

Hello everyone. As a newbie at building a website, I'm going to dare offer 10 tips that you may not have heard yet.

First, trust your own intuition. Geez, everyone out there is a know-it-all about designing a site. As for me, I am trying to keep mine very simple and uncomplicated.

Second, know that your girlfriend probably has a better eye for what "looks" good than you do. My girlfriend's input has been invaluable. My title banner looked fine to me but horrible to her. My buttons (which are a royal pain to make) looked great to me, but horrible to her...

Gulp.

Alas, swallowing my pride, I yielded to her aesthetic wisdom, listened, and changed them. And, I'm glad I did because they do indeed look much better.

Third, Macromedia Flash and Fireworks are not what they are cracked up to be. Sure, they are all the rage in web design of glitsy sites. But, something told me to avoid them whenever possible. After all, if a site is worthy, why does one need a bunch of "glitter?" Somehow, I can't picture my visitors as being the types who would want a bunch of slideshows, flash animations, and all of that jazz. They just want to find some great altar cards is all.

Still discussing point three, I wanted fancy Flash or Fireworks buttons. They are hyped to make things better for the visitor. But, if someone doesn't have a Flash enabled browser, they couldn't use the buttons to navigate the site!! Doh. So, I found a workaround method: Use Adobe InDesign to create the buttons, then, using Fireworks, I added the words to them. Then, exported to Macromedia Dreamweaver, I used Dreamweaver's ability to make a Navigation Bar with the buttons. My visitors will still have to enable Active X, unfortunately, but that's not nearly so scary for many people as Flash is. The important thing is that the buttons can still be viewed and used even if my visitors don't enable Active X.

Point Four and maybe the most important tip that I have read: when naming files for use in a site, use hyphens instead of underscores. Search engines, especially Google can tell what a file contains if hyphens are used. An example: large-print-altar-cards-image.jpg.

Fifth, the name of the web page is vital in rating high in search results.

Sixth, without content, i.e. something worthy of reading or shopping for - forget about success.

Seventh, make links open in a new window so that your visitors don't lose track of where your site is. To open links in new windows, choose "Blank" in a Target's choices Dreamweaver.

Eighth, use PayPal for transactions. No mess, no fuss. I sure don't want my customer's credit card numbers stored on my site. God forbid that they should get stolen somehow. With PayPal storing that information instead of me, I can sleep much better at night.

Ninth, don't build a site full of pictures. Store them in the available online photo gallery sites like Picasa Web Albums and Flickr. Just link to them. That keeps your site size nice and small.

Tenth, always keep in mind that one's visitors are most important. If your site is worth visiting, easy to navigate, and improves the lives of your visitors, then, by all means, keep doing what is right and working. Otherwise, throw it out of the window and start all over again!

That's just some observations of this web site beginner designer. It has been overwhelming but well worth the effort. And, I have much to learn still ...



Thursday, October 2, 2008

Our Upcoming Official Business Website: http://www.myriadcreativeconcepts.com

Hello everyone. Soon, I will be launching the official business website of Myriad Creative Concepts to make it much easier for you to find the altar cards you may be looking for. This blog has been our online business and blogging presence but it is too confusing for many of you. I apologize to any who have found navigating "Altar Card Artistry!" to be too difficult.

Our online business will be located at http://www.myriadcreativeconcepts.com, I think. I'm not sure if the web hosting company will use the "www" or not.

Browsing our catalog selections, ordering, returns, and the rest will be a piece of cake for you. The catalog will have links to large pictures of our designs for your review. I expect the new website to be launched by November of 2008.

This blog has been a fantastic experience and will be maintained and continue to be our "voice." I have enjoyed writing posts about a variety of things and hope that you will still stop in once in a while to see what we've been up to, what serendipitous experiences we're having, and what we have found others out there are up to that may be of interest to you.

Until our easy to navigate business site is up and running, please email me if you are having difficulty examining our altar cards on Picasa Web Albums. A catalog can be easily emailed to you so that you can find what you are looking for: downloadable altar cards, Latin altar cards, English altar cards, free altar cards, Vesting Prayers, or Prayers At The Foot Of The Altar. Plus, lots more.

Now, I've got a website to finish building. Enjoy your day!




Thursday, September 25, 2008

A Series: Building Our Upcoming "Myriad Creative Concepts Graphic Design" Website


Hello everyone. Today's post is an introduction to a new series of blog posts about the things that I am learning about web site construction as I work to design our own. Hopefully, you will ultimately benefit in the end. Some of these things learned may interest those of you who are considering putting up a website or improving your current online presence.

Our Myriad Creative Concepts website is now being planned and built piece by piece. This is my first attempt at building a website, soon to be found at http://www.myriadcreativeconcepts.com. Myriad will be our primary online business presence and will hopefully be easier for you to navigate than this Bloger blog. "Altar Card Artistry" will still be used to post articles about items of interest that I would like to share with you however. But, with a standard business website, you will no longer have to muddle through my windy posts like you do now just to examine our altar cards!

The Myriad site is being aimed toward simplicity, understatement, and visitor-friendliness. It is unbelievably complicated to build a simple website. Tons of programs to learn, several internet browsers to design for, many monitor resolutions to consider, and syntax necessary for search engine optimization. Not to be omitted: customer, economic, social, internet, and business trends. That's a lot for one boy to try to learn in a short amount of time.

First, there are the human considerations. I like to shop fast and simply. No glitz, just the facts, ma'am. None of us have time to waste with our busy lives. Paradoxically, it is very complicated to build a very simple, user-friendly website, display the wares, and expose them to the public.

Second, there are several programs that I am using to capture and create excellent images; make animations, write text, and lay out the new website itself. Those programs include Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Printkey, Adobe Reader, Photoshop, ImageReady, and InDesign; Macromedia Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, and Freehand. It is imperative that they can work well together, seamlessly whenever possible.

Third, search engine optimization is critcial for widespread publicity on the internet. Good web exposure requires knowledge of how the major search engines scan and promote a website based on its perceived content. There are several websites dedicated to assisting folks like me trying to learn the ropes of optimization.

Fourth, there are the rules, methods, programs, and strategies to an e-commerce website. This is an area I know little about but will have to learn. It scares the daylights out of me because I want to have fantastic customer experiences with very few headaches.

Fifth, how do I put up a website and protect it from hackers and thieves? Maybe I should consider hiring a security guard, eh?

In conclusion, I have learned lots so far. And, like everyone else learning to put up a site, I have lots more to learn. In my next series article, I will share a few basic points of each category that I have experienced so far. With each article, I will delve more into things.

Stay tuned for more.



Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Counterfeiting, Customer Service, Business Ethics, and Lessons Learned - Part Two




"No slogan." Hmmm, strange, I just looked for the slogan for the United States Postal Service and on their home page none was found. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe that's a bad thing. Maybe a little bit of both, eh?

Well, after my counterfeiting ordeal yesterday, read about it here, much of my day was wasted playing a detective ala Miss Marple from those wonderful PBS mysteries. I say, Miss Marple, because our hair is the same color and we share the same grim overall facial expressions.

Miss Marple aside, I frantically prepared the rush job Altar Card order to take to the USPS for Express mailing for delivery within two days to satisfy my retailer's customer wishes. I carefully packaged the altar cards securely to ensure they would travel undamaged.

Then, off to the post office went I.

A long line of people waited for service there. It was 3 PM and I had better things to do than stand in that line. But, I spotted two postal clerks working whom I had dealt with before.

I felt in good hands.

So, the line moved lightning fast, the postal clerk was in a genuinely good mood as usual, shipped my parcel at a reasonable price, and recommended that I take a stack of their mailing boxes FOR FREE to use in the future. That was great news alone. Then, she told me that I wouldn't have to pay extra for Delivery Confirmation this time like I usually do because it comes included in all Express Mail shipping transactions.

It all was too good to be true: a pleasant professional experience with the US Post Office, reasonable rates, free boxes, and it appeared that my customer just may get their Altar Cards by the Wednesday deadline.

Today, I checked online at the USPS website's Delivery Confirmation page. The package was already in Corpus Christi as of 11 am. That meant that the customer would probably receive my mailed package in under 24 hours from way over here in Ohio.




Yep, Time Warner and Cashland step aside, and watch the big boys like the infamous US Postal Service show you what good customer service is all about. And, unlike the others, they don't even have a slogan that I could see!

"The Power of You" is absolutely correct. Customer service, business ethics, accountability, competition, and market forces will make the inept companies bust sooner or later. It's tradition. It's the way of nature, I believe. No matter how good the improved "mousetrap" is, if there isn't good customer service, good supervision, and good management, a company will fail before too long - most of the time anyway.

And, the popular, fallible counterfeit detector pens that are passing errant judgment on so many daily, will go the way of the lie detector. Out of the limelight, but still around.

When FedEx and UPS entered into competition with the USPS, they knew they had to mature. And, they obviously have.

As a graphic designer turned fledgling small businessman, I'm trying to learn the ropes of business and ethics, and good customer service.

I think I'll try to do it the post office way. And, I am open to suggestions to any good businesspeople out there reading this. I may just publish your comments for others' benefit too.

Well, thanks for hanging in there to read about this true tale of my woe. I hope you have a pleasant evening, and if you have to run an errand ...

please don't ask me to go with you.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Counterfeiting, Customer Service, Business Ethics, and Lessons Learned - Part One





"The Power Of You." I had no idea, until this minute, that was Time Warner's slogan. Yes, I have power. And, yes, you have power. And, yes, companies that are "successful" have power. All of those, in my opinion, can be blessings or curses, or, maybe a bit of both, eh?

But, somehow, I know that I'm gonna preach to the choir here ...

Today was a great day. A strange day, that's for sure. But, a good day.

Let me just tell you my tale if you don't mind.

It all began when I tried to pay my internet cable bill at Time Warner Cable with a (gasp!) counterfeit $100.00 bill!! Now, imagine me, the owner of a company that designs and sells Altar Cards for priests to say Mass with, passing counterfeit American money. The attractive clerk rubbed one of those magical forensic pens across the evidence and declared it to be counterfeit. Thank goodness she didn't go ballistic on me. The popular counterfeit detector pens are, after all, infallible. Everyone knows that. After all, there was a long line of unhappy people who would have gladly lynched me on the spot just to have something good to say about their day. She just handed it back rather matter-of-factly and said it was no good and to whip out a different one and try my luck again. Actually, she was very nice and we had a good laugh about it.

Immediately, my mind raced in an effort to trace back to where I had obtained the bogus bill.

"Cashland." "Why those thieves," I thought ... Yep, a few weeks ago, I visited a (gasping again!) check cashing place. It was the only time, honest. Anyway, I went into Sherlock Holmes mode, and, dropping everything on today's plate, it was off to Cashland for me.




Well, I calmly told the Cashland supervisor that we were apparently accomplices in an underworld scheme. Well, to make a long story long, she was nice too. A bit abrupt but nice nonetheless. Maybe I should be thankful for that anyway. She reluctantly examined the bill in question with her priceless counterfeit detection pen and pointedly declared,(get this) that it was showing to be counterfeit on the front and genuine on the back. I gasped aloud in questioning surprise. (Hey, some days I just gasp a lot. Give me a break.) She was totally undismayed with her revelation of contradiction. She flatly refused to take it back and give me another one so that the cable bill could be paid. She just said that it should have been returned that day (two weeks ago). So, Cashland policy is, apparently, to disavow all knowledge of the cash that they dispense at their famous interest rates. And, in the manner of the ancient Spartans, I reckon that their business ethics declare them to be unresponsible for any bad bills that they pass if a customer doesn't catch them before the Cashland branch office closes for the day. That's my opinionated conclusion, anyway ... So, somehow expecting uncooperation, I asked her (she is the branch supervisor, by the way) where the nearest Dayton police station was so that I could get to the bottom of this mystery ala Poirot on PBS Mystery Theater.

At the district branch, the tall sergeant didn't like that I was interrupting his lunch but quickly assisted me regardless. He was very nice like everyone so far was. Actually, I was quite impressed with his friendly, professional demeanor and don't want to appear smug. The officer was just hungry and a bit grouchy because of it. Anyway, the cop inspected the tainted, otherworldly $100 spot and declared after careful testing that it was NOT counterfeit after all!! He had carefully scratched it with a pen knife. That scratch revealed the red and blue fibers woven into genuine American paper currency. However, he said that I can't, and the police department can't, force Time Warner to accept the bill.

Another officer approached and said that had I been carrying my own magical counterfeit detection pen that this event could have been avoided. He said that for only about $2.00 I too would have the power of the universe to spot counterfeiting schemers like the clerks I was tangling with. Puzzled, the recent conclusion of one side being good and the other side bad came to mind. Biting my tongue, I kept the peace.

The officer who's lunch was now stone cold recommended that I take it to a nearby bank and pawn it off on, er, exchange it.

That was enough for me as I bolted to the nearest banking facility.

At the nearby unlucky National City branch , the unwitting clerk was exceptionally nice too. Unfazed, I was skeptical. Twice bitten, now shy, I still felt like a thief as I handed her the bill and asked for two fifty's instead. Unbelievably, she didn't even blink an eye. She took the scratched, counterfeit detection marks and all $100 bill and gave me two fifty's in it's place.

I hurried out of the bank before she changed her mind! By the way, National City's slogan is "Banking Made Simple." That, indeed, rang true for me today. Thanks, National City. That was a real relief to see it played out in my case.

Rushing back to Cashland to update Witch Hazel, er, the friendly supervisor, I detailed the officer's methods and findings and educated her on her lousy detection pen. She still stood by the strange company policy they have there.

Really now, what else could I have expected? She was just blindly following orders like Lt. Calley and Oliver North alleged. That was my humble opinion anyway.

So, next, it was back to Time Warner Cable. The supervisor waited on me by chance. She was very nice. I explained all of the grisly details to her: her employee's error, my newly acquired counterfeiting detection methods, and implored her to educate her customer service agents against relying solely on errable counterfeiting detection pens. For the sake of my fellow Time Warner customers, I showed her how to scratch and see the red and blue fibers. And, I showed her how to rub a bill on a sheet of copy paper and see the green smude residue that real bills produce. Some of their customers surely were having perfectly good bills declared to be fake and getting quite the run-around like me merely because everyone blindly assumes that the $2.00 drugstore pens are foolproof. (And, of course, the supervisor at Cashland didn't know what she was doing with counterfeit detection either.)

At long last, two hours and $7.00 in gasoline later, I paid my internet bill with the newly acquired fifty dollar bills. I sheepishly suggested that I be discounted $5.00 for my gasoline. The nice Time Warner supervisor smiled widely and flatly refused.

So, I remained pleasant as I had all through this experience and just left dismayed and disgusted.

The whole thing was caused by the assumption of infallibility of widely used counterfeit detector pens. That's what they used to think about lie detector machines until proved fallible. Now, their findings are routinely dismissed in many trials. Perhaps, these nasty pens will be banned from use eventually.

Exhaustedly driving home, I began thinking of an order that a retailer of my altar cards requested this morning. Their customer wants their cards in only two days! It never dawned on me not to try get their cards to them in such a short timespan. I was determined to satisfy my retailer and their customer so long as it was humanly possible for me to do.

Then, I compared my business ethics with those of Cashland and Time Warner and couldn't understand how those businesses can be doing so financially well with such poor customer service, at least in my case anyway. I thought, whatever happened to tradition. Whatever happened to customer service? Is it out of style? Is there a new business ethic? Am I missing something? Am I being high-minded and maybe just biased?

Well, I didn't have time to go philosophizing about business conduct. I had a rush job on an altar card order to get out today. Thank goodness that they didn't have to be printed. They were in stock.

Tomorrow, I'll wrap this story up with Part II.



I'll let you in on how the US Postal Service handled my rush job when I took it there to mail ASAP.

Until then, I hope you have a pleasant evening and don't have to run any errands ...

Friday, September 12, 2008

Altar Cards Sale


Hello everyone. This is a first! We are putting our entire line of 12 inch, $49.00 Latin altar cards and English altar cards on sale for $39.00 during the rest of September, 2008. That's a 20% savings to you. Plus, you can take 20% off smaller sized cards too. So, take a look at our wide variety in our catalog, and send us an email of your selections.

Please note that this sale is being held solely by us and does not include orders of our products purchased through our friends, Adoremus Books or Wheaton Religious Gifts (known online as Church Supply Warehouse).

Check out the wide range of variety we offer in Latin altar cards. Whether reminiscent of vintage antique altar cards like Vintage Diamond (pictured), or entirely new designs like Red and Gold Border, whether small print like our Letter Sized Altar Cards, or the five exceptionally large print altar cards available, whether Low Mass or Requiem Mass altar cards, hopefully we have just the ones to suit your needs.

All of our designs for the Tridentine Mass have been proofread for accuracy and conform to the 1962 Missal. We dilligently strive to remain true to the time honored Traditional Roman Catholic Rite. However, we are only human and can err. Should you find the slightest typo, please notify us at once so that it can be corrected.

For our Anglo-Catholic friends, we are honored to have designed two sets of Anglican altar cards (Red and Gold) for you last month. Of course, they are also on sale with the same pricing.

Thank you very much for your consideration as your premier source of English and Latin Mass cards. Enjoy your weekend!


Thursday, September 11, 2008

9/11 Courage In Action: Still Alive And Well

Hello everyone. In honor of our fallen fellow Americans of 9/11/2001, I'd like to recount to you two unbelievable acts of courage that I witnessed just yesterday. That's right, yesterday, 9/10/2008.

It was a day that I will never forget. Just as I, and you, will never forget waking up to TV coverage of the World Trade Center crumbling, the Pentagon being kamikasied, and Flight 93 where those people tried desperately to regain control of the plane. May they all rest in peace now.

Yesterday, I woke up to an email from a middle-aged friend of mine who was excited about driving her new, red two-seater sports car - 20 miles! Let's call her, "Gail." Well, I have never seen Gail so excited. She was absolutely thrilled. You see, Gail has a horrible driving phobia. It terrifies her so badly that her husband has to drive her to the store. She never used to be phobic. But, she sure is now. "Bill," even bought her the sports car to try to coax her back into driving. To no avail. Poor Gail. She has been through the pits of hell with constant feelings of worthlessness, shame, and guilt because of this irrational fear. But, yesterday, she did it, she drove that darn car. And, she even took it on the interstate!

Gail has promised to drive the two-seater every day for three weeks, terror or no terror. She is determined to live in freedom once again. Just as the victims of 9/11 were attempting to do.

A few hours afterwards, I arrived at my doctor's appointment. Before I even got out of my car, a handicapped old man with holes in his pants was slowly pulling his wheelchair up the steep parking lot hill backwards. He had a very long way to go.

I was stunned. "In today's age ...," I thought.

He looked to be the kindest, most humble soul you'd ever wish to encounter. Of course, I asked him if he'd like some help. But, he just said, "No, when I'm alone, I have to do this on my own, so I will do it alone now." He kept calling me, "sir," like I was somebody important. He said he'd been in that chair since 2002. Six long years would probably humble me too.

I gave him the name of a social service agency. Hopefully, they can fix him up with a motorized wheelchair.

Like the surviving families of 9/11, he is handling the heavy burdens of past events in his life with humilty, dignity, and poise.

Just unbelievable to me. As I obsess over my little problems, and my own selfish desires, there are so many around me daily who remind me of what true courage is, what true humility is, and true humaneness is, I can't help but wonder how mankind has endured so much for so long just to survive on this rock of a planet we call Earth.

Oh, but for the grace of God, what would we do. What would we ever do?


Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Romanitas Press: A New Liturgical Media Publishing Company

Hello everyone. Today, I'd like to congratulate Mr. Louis Tofari on the grand opening of his brand new website, Romanitas Press. Romanitas, an apostolate of liturgical media for the Roman Liturgy, is led by Mr. Tofari, a professional graphic layout designer with many years of publishing experience. Romanitas is a source you may want to consider visiting often for your materials.

Mr. Tofari sent me a sample of his newly designed Server's Response Card. It is first-class quality and a very good piece of work. So, if you should need them, be sure to visit Romanitas.

Congratulations, Louis. May your publishing company and apostolate prosper for a very, very long time as you minister so well to others.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Downloadable Altar Cards

Hello everyone. Today, I would like to explain how to purchase and download altar cards and other materials from us in lieu of our standard shipping method. All of our Latin and English Mass materials and Prayer Prints are now available for download anywhere in the world. Priced at half the of cost of shipped products, you may find this a viable alternative for your needs.

Each file is in Adobe Reader PDF format and stored on the file sharing website, Google Docs. Merely set up PayPal and Google Gmail accounts and you're all set. (A Gmail account is necessary to use Google Docs.) First, make your selections from the catalog, next, from your Gmail account, send us an email to place your order, then submit payment to us, Myriad Creative Concepts, via PayPal, and we will send you an "invitation" to view, download, and print your order.

Please note that all of our altar cards are too large for printing on a personal computer except Letter Size Latin Altar Cards which are available for no charge by download. Also note that each order's prints contain a unique serial number watermark for identification. This prevents unauthorized mass reproduction of our copyrighted work.

Transfer your prints to a CD or Flash Drive and you can easily take them to your area printing company for professional printing. Then, take them to a quality framing shop and you're ready to go.

That's all there is to it. For more information, email us any time.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

A Few Broken Links

For you visiting us today, please note that links in previous posts to some of our product images have been broken temporarily because of site updating. However, if you click the Our Products links to the left, you will find that viewing the catalog and images is easier for you.

We found it necessary to do some organizing since English Mass materials have recently been added. Now, the English materials are in one folder and the Latin materials in another.

If you have any questions or require assistance, send me a note and I will assist.

Thanks for your patience.

Friday, September 5, 2008

How To Navigate This Business Blog

Hello everyone. Today, I'd like to explain to you why our blog business presence here is so unconventional. Standard business sites, as you know, contain links from their homepages to internal links of products and order forms. We are a small, grass-roots graphic design company that simply cannot afford business webhosting yet. So, we put up this blog that links to images of our work stored online at four popular photo sharing websites. Lastly, for inquiries and orders, we offer a simple email us option. For transactions, we prefer PayPal because orders and refunds can be performed very easily and securely. By year's end, we hope to put up a standard business website at www.myriadcreativeconcepts.com.

Although this method is unconventional, we do take our business seriously and wish to abide by traditional, tried and true business ethics of providing first class products, service, and warranty. Our business model is simple, based on the philosophy of John Wesley: "Earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can." We try to provide priests the worldover great Latin and English altar cards and other materials they need to celebrate the Traditional Mass. So, please bear with us as we grow and learn.

This Blogger blog is the hub of our online "spokes" of online product image galleries that are constantly growing as we develop new projects. The photo sharing websites include Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket, and Zooomr. Even our catalog is stored online at these sites as pictures. Image galleries are great because newly released designs, like our line of Large Print Altar Cards, Standard Red and Standard Gray Requiem altar cards, and Anglican English altar cards can be found immediately via search engines. Then, when directed here, customers can visit our first-class retailers, Adoremus Books and Church Supply Warehouse, to review their listings. Many designs are so new that our retailers have not yet had a chance to list them for sale. But, if you see something you like, just ask about them at Adoremus or Wheaton Religious Gifts (Church Supply Warehouse). Or, you can purchase directly from us.

Recently, we have added spokes to our downloadable altar cards and materials in Google Docs. And, last but not least, we feature some great resource links and blogs you will surely find useful.

This set-up was the best way that we could think of to put up our business online at no-cost. If you have any trouble navigating, please write us and we will answer your questions.

Thanks again for your patience.

Monday, September 1, 2008

English Prayers At The Foot Of The Altar Cards Now Available

Hello everyone. By recent request, we have just completed designing an English Prayers At The Foot Of The Altar Card for the Anglican and Episcopal communities. To view a larger image of this card, click here. Like our Latin version for the Roman Catholic Tridentine Mass, this card features large, easy to read print.

Our recently designed English altar cards have been on the "boards" for months. We're pleased to have finally released them for you. Like many of our Latin cards, we will allow priests worldwide who cannot afford them to download them free of charge. Please click this link for details.

I'd like to personally thank Jonathan, the moderator of The Anglican Diaspora, for his warm welcome when I joined his forum requesting needed information. The forum is a wonderful source of community for Anglicans and Episcopalians. When you have some time, you may want to check it out.

Well, that's it for now. It's time for me to get some supper. Good evening, all.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Introducing Anglican English Altar Cards!

Hello everyone. Well, I thought we were done designing for awhile but we just had to get some English altar cards created for the Anglican Church. We have two simple sets to offer you: a Gold version and a Red version. Unfortunately, we do not have the English texts to design Requiem sets at this time but we will research them in time.

These are brand new as of mid-August 2008. They are not in our product catalog yet. But, the same dimensions and pricing information applies to these Anglican altar cards. We hope that you like them.

It was very humbling to design these. While entering the texts, and reading the prayers as I went, it was so touching to understand the prayers since they are in English. For me, there simply is nothing better than the Roman Catholic Latin Mass. It is so timeless, so beautiful on such a deep level. But, I must admit, that it is very nice to understand what the texts say as I typeset them. In the future, I hope to have a better understanding of just how precious these prayers are.

We hope these new cards are suitable for your needs. If you notice anything amiss about them, please let us know. We are here to serve you as you serve others.

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Updated Altar Cards Catalog

Hello everyone. After a whirlwind month of designing new Latin altar cards, we have updated our catalog to reflect the new additions. We've added four new large print, two standard print, and one letter sized set of altar cards. It feels very good to have finally finished the work and have such a good range of selections for you.

In addition, the newly updated catalog mentions our new program that we call "Download Delivery Fulfillment." Download Delivery Fulfillment is a fancy way of saying that for the first time, we will be offering the ability to order, submit payment, and receive your order via downloading within hours.

Let's say it's Monday. You can pick out your altar cards and other things by browsing our online pictures, note their part numbers on page four of our catalog, email us with your order, submit payment via PayPal (to Myriad Creative Concepts), and we would have your order to you via upload by Tuesday's end - no matter where you are in the world. Then, you can download your Latin Mass materials to a Flash drive, take them to your neighborhood printing company, then framing shop, and have them beautifully framed by the weekend. You could conceivably celebrate the Tridentine Mass with your brand new, great looking, custom framed altar cards by Sunday. Plus, it would be cheaper than ordering a printed set from us!

Anyway, we think it's a really cool idea. If you're interested, contact us for the details.

Where did we ever get such an idea? Well, I read a life changing book last year called "The World Is Flat," by Thomas L. Friedman. The book discusses how the modern world made a great leap around the year 2000 by getting so connected. The phenomenon has its advantages and disadvantages but it is real and here to stay. It seems to me to be a great venue to promote the venerable, time-honored Tridentine Mass throughout the world.

At any rate, that's enough for now. I'm beginning to ramble. Enjoy the rest of your week.


Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The Inn At The End Of The World

Hello everyone. I hope you are well and your week going smoothly. Today, I've added another fantastic blog to our Favorite Blogs lists. "The Inn At The End Of The World," named after the pub that C.S. Lewis hung out at, has its finger on the pulse of what is going on in the world in relationship to Catholicism and human rights. And, I must admit, I'm a sucker for anything C.S. Lewis.

This wonderful blog is hosted by a conservative traditional Catholic I know only as John. I'm sorry, I just don't know his last name yet. The first post I read, I completely disagreed with. But, I like this guy's fearlessness and willingness to call 'em as he sees 'em. The Georgian War, homosexual rights, you name it, and it is being scrutinized. I can't wait to dig a little deeper into his posts to see if he's written anything about this year's Olympics in China in relationship to China's relationship (!) with the Tibetans.

Take a look at "Inn At The End Of The World." Like "A Catholic Life," be prepared for some excellent reading.


Monday, August 18, 2008

"A Catholic Life" Blog Link Added

Hello everyone. I hope your week is starting off well. Just wanted to write a quick post to let you know of a new link we've added to our Favorite Blogs. A Catholic Life, by Seminarian Matthew who describes his site as follows: "Catholic Doctrine, News, and Opinion from a Traditionalist Roman Catholic."

Seminarian Matthew has won several Outstanding Blog awards with "A Catholic Life."

If you know of other really good links that we should consider for this blog, please let us know.

Have a great evening.

Last But Not Least, Introducing Our New Standard Gray Requiem Altar Cards

Hello everyone. As the headline states, this is our last new altar card project that we will be introducing for the foreseeable future. Now, priests can view a wide and complete range of easy to read Latin Mass materials in our product catalog. (which will be updated shortly). Recent additions include: our Travel Letter Size, Standard Red, Standard Gray Requiem Latin Altar Cards. and five Large Print Altar Cards that are really easy to read.

This has been exacting and precision layout design work and has been exhausting. However, knowing that we now have a complete range of materials for priests that are very easy to read is well worth the effort. Now, to get some supper ...

Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Travel Altar Cards For The Tridentine Mass

Hello everyone. Continuing on with the recent project of freely offering all of the cards necessary to celebrate the Latin Mass to any priest who couldn't afford to buy them from us, we noticed that there was one puzzle piece missing. We didn't have a set small enough to be printed on a personal computer printer. Everything else could but not the altar cards. So, I whipped up a plain set today based on the free Microsoft Word downloads available from Una Voce. For the graphic, we found a picture of the oldest known Chi Rho symbol artifact which is now on view at the Cluny Museum in Paris, France.

This set of letter sized Latin altar cards is being offered as a free download to any priest or seminarian to print on their personal computer if necessary. The type is very small on the center card but if you have good eyesight you should be alright. The center card is the size of a sheet of paper while the side cards only 1/2 sheet. After lamination, these would be perfect for use while traveling because they can easily fit in a briefcase.

Like our other work stored online at Google Docs, one must have a Google Gmail account to access it. So, if you would like to download these travel size altar cards, just send me an email from a Gmail account and I will send you an "invitation" to view and download them.

For anyone who would like me to professionally print them and send them to you, the cost per set would be $15.00 plus $8.50 shipping and handling.

That's about it for now. I apologize for talking so much about our own work so much lately. We've just been very busy with bringing new materials out. Just a few more design projects and I should have some time to see what everyone else has been up to.

12/15/2010 Update: Please note that this post is two years old. Since then, we no longer offer altar cards for download. However, we have designed some very good Travel Altar Cards for Low and Requiem Latin Masses. If you are interested, please visit us online here.

Friday, August 15, 2008

Introducing Our New Red Latin Altar Cards

Hello everyone. In an effort to provide the best Latin Mass materials possible, we have added a brand new set of Tridentine altar cards to our line of Latin Mass materials. We named this version "Standard Red" and a large image of it can be viewed here. It features larger than average easy to read type and conservative red graphics. The center card type is 14 points which is larger than any standard 12 x 18 cards that we are aware of (except our own). The side cards have even larger, 16 point type. For most situations, these altar cards should really fill the bill for celebrating daily and Sunday Masses.

Shortly, a new black Requiem design will be designed as its companion. Right now, only our very large print altar cards have a companion Requiem set. We've always got projects and revisions in the works as we strive to improve the quality and range of our work.

Regarding our new large print altar cards, I just picked up the first batch from the printer today. They look terrific. The colors are just as I'd hoped for and the blue set looks especially good with its light blue color. The type is huge and will be perfect for priests who need especially easy to read altar cards.

Yesterday, I got an idea to offer free altar cards to priests who cannot afford them. Although we can't afford to print and ship them at no charge, we thought we could put them online for free downloading. This morning, I got my first email request from a priest in the South Pacific. That just made my day knowing that someone so far away could have access to our work for their ministry. He said that he had two fellow priests learning the Latin Mass. The priest requested sets of cards for them. He has a set of his own already.

Lastly, I would like to dedicate my new Standard Red altar cards to my late cousin, Clyde Wonderly who passed away yesterday as I was putting the finishing touches on the design. Clyde was 83, was a great cousin and friend. He was a World War II vet who served in the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific. and enjoyed restoring cars. I will always cherish his war stories. Clyde, may you rest in peace.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Free Latin Mass Altar Cards and materials *

Hello everyone. We have decided to give select Latin Mass altar cards and other materials to qualifying Roman Catholic priests and seminarians at no charge. *For complete details, click here. It has bothered us for some time that Una Voce, SSPX, and probably others have been freely offering Tridentine Mass materials to priests and seminarians yet we charge for ours. Links to their offerings are listed in our Latin Mass Resources. We believe that the celebration of the Tridentine Mass is so important that we want to offer our services in some way to those who cannot afford to pay for them.

Therefore, to any priest or seminarian who is authorized by the Roman Catholic Church to celebrate Mass but cannot afford to buy our materials, we have placed several files online that can be downloaded, printed, and framed.

The large print altar cards include Stained Glass and Requiem Gray both of which are very easy to read. The Vesting Prayers are our Red Greco-Roman cards.

It would please us no end to hear that even priests in the remotest parts of the world have access to our free altar cards and Mass materials for their work with their parishoners.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

9/1/2008 Update: Please note that we have recently added English Altar Cards. They include Gold and Red versions. They too are available for download to priests who cannot afford to pay for them.

5/10/2012 Update: Note that this is a very old blog post and that we no longer offer any altar cards without charge because we cannot make up that expense in other areas to keep our business in the green.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Latin Altar Cards Upcoming Revisions

Today, I'd like to take a few minutes to announce some changes we're making to a few of our designs. Requiem Vintage Diamond, pictured, is the first revision completed. The center card remains the same while the two side card's crosses have been removed so that the text could be larger making them easier to read. Since this is a minor improvement, we will delay release of the new version until our inventory has been exhausted.

Other designs scheduled for minor revisions include Pieta and Requiem Black. Again, these are minor revisions to graphics. The Latin texts will remain the same or larger in type size. Our latest project design based on the Iquitos Cathedral in Peru, has been placed on hold until these revisions have been completed.

Lastly, I'd like to let you know that I stumbled upon a bit of information about a true Latin altar card artist! As mentioned in a July post, I have been curious about artists in the past who have designed the beautiful Tridentine altar cards of yesteryear. Well, it seems that a talented English woman named Nina Somerset designed a set of altar cards as well as other things for her church in London. Take a look at the pictures of her work. They're absolutely gorgeous. If I ever get a chance to go to London, I hope to see them in person.

That's about it for now. Until next time, enjoy your week!



Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Large Print Gray Requiem Altar Cards

Hello everyone. As yesterday's post stated, we will soon be offering more large print altar card designs. Pictured here are our simple large print Requiem Gray altar cards. Once framed in traditional black mouldings, they should have a nice finished look to them.

On another subject, I'd like to remind you about one of our links to an excellent resource for information about the Tridentine Latin Mass. Una Voce offers FREE downloads of Latin Altar Card texts. They are in the popular Microsoft Word format. For any priest that may be interested in downloading them and having them printed and framed, let me know and I will try to answer any typesetting and printing questions that you may have.

Thanks for visiting. We hope you will like these new Latin Mass altar cards. Enjoy your evening.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

New Large Print Altar Cards Soon Available


Hello everyone. In response to requests, I have been burning the midnight oil lately designing four more large print Latin Mass altar cards: Red, Gold, and Blue for the Low Mass, and a Requiem Gray for the funeral Mass. Very large versions can be viewed online along with our popular Stained Glass large print version over in our Picasa pictures.

Like our other altar cards, they measure 12 inches high with the center coming in at 18 inches wide and the sides 8 inches. The center card type is a large 15.6 points. The side card type is a huge 20 point. For the font, I chose Times because it is a Serif font that is known for easy readability. So, the next time you fire up your word processing software, select Times font and type some characters in these point sizes. It's the biggest type that I could fit on the cards.

Originally, the plan was to again use Father Felix Just's stained glass window photos in these designs. They just didn't look right though. So, I thought, why not just leave out a picture so that some of the center card's center section type could be bigger. The resulting designs are admittedly pretty plain, but I think they look pretty darned good.

Within two weeks, I expect the bugs to be worked out and have a printed supply on hand.

In conclusion, please take a look at them over in Picasa. We hope that you like them. Your honest feedback is really appreciated though even if it's negative. Our goal is to give priests cards that they can read and as attractive as possible with the little room available for graphics. So, if you are not seeing what you want, please let us know so that we can design for you.

As always, thanks for visiting our blog. If there's anything we can do for you, just let us know. Have a great week!

08/14/2008 Update: These large print altar cards are now ready and in stock! Click here to view our catalog.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Iquitos Cathedral Altar Cards Coming Soon!

Deep in the heart of the Peruvian rainforest, unreachable by roads, a populous city of 400,000 bustles with activity. Welcome to Iquitos, a city rich in history, character, and charm. And, a beautiful Cathedral, founded as a Jesuit mission in the 1750's. It is currently the seat of a Roman Catholic Apostolic Vicariate.

The city can be reached only by airplane or boat, with the exception of a road to Nauta, a small town roughly 100 km (62 mi) south. Most travel within the city itself is via bus, motorcycle, or auto rickshaw (mototaxi, motocarro or motokar). Transportation to nearby towns often requires a river trip via llevo-llevo, a small public motorised boat.

So sayeth Wikipedia ...

Right now, a set of altar cards are on the drawing boards that I'm modeling after the colorful Iquitos Cathdedral. Its many stained glass windows of saints are breathtaking. It will take some time to bring it all together but I hope to do this cathedral and the community justice with a good design.

Wish me luck. Take care.

Jerry

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Google & Yahoo Image Search For Altar Cards

Hello everyone. I was browsing around the web today mostly looking at pictures for inspiration. I noticed that I got completely different results depending on whether I put quotes around "altar cards" or not. Google and Yahoo both have great image search engines that complement one another. I spotted some absolutely gorgeous antique altar cards that appeared to be hand painted. It would be great to know the history of those cards and to know about the artists and the typesetters who created such beautiful works. There doesn't seem to be any information out on the web about the origins of antique Tridentine altar cards. If any of you know any stories of them and who designed them, where, and when, I would appreciate hearing from you.

As I've worked on designing mine, I feel somewhat like an orphan wondering about his ancestry. Anyway, just thought I'd throw this out there. If you know any history of altar cards, drop me a line, please.

That's it for now. I hope you all have a pleasant evening.

Note: Since the writing of this post, I have actually stumbled upon a bonafide Latin Altar Card artist! It seems that Lady Nina Somerset of London, England created a set for her church back in the 1930's. They are absolutely gorgeous. I can't believe that I found out about her.

Vesting and Prayers At The Foot Of The Altar Cards For The Latin Mass

Good morning everyone. Just a quick note to let you know that you can now view online very large images of our Tridentine Mass Vesting Prayers and Prayers At The Foot Of The Altar. I've uploaded them to our Photobucket, Picasa, and Zooomr galleries. Soon, I hope to have large versions up on Flickr too.

That's about it for now. Enjoy your day.

Note 10/08/2008 : Our four-page catalog of altar cards and supplemental cards can be viewed here.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Phenomenal Blog Pinging List


All I can say is - WOW.

I just ran across a great, recent article about blog pinging services written by Wulffy (pictured) in his blog about Search Engine Optimization (SEO.). Click the title of this post to read the article yourself if you are interested in improving your blog pinging success. The article lists lots of services to include. And, more importantly, which ones don't work any more or are so bad they aren't worth using.

I won't go on and on about this stuff because I'm a newbie to much of these things. Go read Wulffy's article. You'll be glad you did.

Graphic Designers, Web Designers, Google Analytics, Photobucket, Picasa, Flickr ...Whew!

Hello again everyone. Well, I thought I was a graphic designer who made some great altar cards for the Latin Mass. Little did I know that I had to spend so much time and energy learning about blogs, web design, and how the world is flat now and all connected. Getting this blog and my related photo sharing sites connected with each other and connected with everyone else properly has been the goal. Let me share with you some of the exciting things that I have discovered and how it benefits all of us.

Time Magazine says that the top three players in the internet world are Google, Facebook, and Apple. As for Apple, I never have liked them so I won't even go there. However, I have taken great strides in making my stuff tied in well with the first two. Photobucket is closely tied to Facebook. So, by putting my pictures there, it ties me into one of the big three web players. Google owns Blogger and Picasa Photos so I'm tied in there. Yahoo, although not one of the big three, has to be in the top 10 anyway. Well, Flickr Photos is owned by Yahoo so I'm tied in there. In theory, all of my blog stuff and photo stuff should now be connected fairly well with the outside internet world. For my little business here, it should help it. And, that helps priests around the world get quality materials for their Tridentine Mass needs because they can get some of them from us or I can point to other sources that they may be interested in instead of our work. Lastly, as I develop my friendships with priests and organizations sympathetic to the Latin Mass, their links will appear on my pages as a few do already.

I must say that this is a lot of work but it's worth it. This is exciting to be so engaged in such ventures that take me virtually around the world as it does you. Thanks for putting up with this long winded post. I hope your week is starting off really good like mine is.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Photobucket Photo Sharing Use With Blogger

Photobucket Album

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Google PicLens for Firefox viewing of photos and pictures


Hello everyone. I hope your weekend is going well so far. I've been reading up on how best to present pictures and photos for web viewing so that we can all see our pictures better. I use the Firefox browser. It's so much better than Internet Explorer and is very popular. Google has a great Add-on for Firefox users to view photos and pictures on the web. It's called PicLens. For optimum viewing of photos and pictures on the web, I think it's the best thing going.

PicLens allows the viewer to see 3-D and full screen versions of pictures for a awesome renditions. Flickr and Picasa are already PicLens "enabled." While playing with PicLens, I have found that it works better with Picasa than Flickr. However, text displayed is still fuzzier than it should be. Perhaps, that is a side effect of PicLens 3-D rendering.

Should you install the PicLens Firefox Add-on, check out our large examples of altar cards to see how awesome PicLens is. So far, I've only uploaded one example in a large version: Red & Gold border. But, more will be uploaded soon.

That's about it for now. Now, where's my girl? It's time for us to go for our bike ride ...

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Large Examples Of Our Latin Altar Cards

Hello everyone. I hope your week is going well. It's nearly the weekend and I can't wait for my girl and I to get out and ride our bicycles through the countryside. We have fantastic bike trails in this area. What are your plans for the weekend? I hope they include some rest and relaxation.
Well, around here, I've been working on some large images of our cards for web display. So far, I've only completed one version, Red Border, and it's link is on our homepage. Hopefully, it will give you a better idea of what our work looks like.

Before I sign off for the day, I want to take a minute to tell you some good news I heard this morning. It seems that UNICEF has developed a food that is so nutritious that they are having great success with rescue efforts of the malnourished children in Niger. It's strange name is Plumpy Nut! A link to the You Tube video about it is on our home page. Isn't that just great news?

Well, that's it for now. I hope you all have a pleasant evening.

Jerry

Note: Since the writing of this post, we have uploaded five large print altar card designs for your review. Please click here to see them.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Find a Latin Mass near you

Hello again, everyone. Just a quick note to point out that we now feature a link for you to locate a Latin Mass near you! Isn't it exciting to see it making such a comeback?

Enjoy your day.

Sancta Missa Latin Mass Workshop

Hello everyone. Just a quick post here. There's another workshop coming up later this summer being hosted by Sancta Missa. For anyone interested, please check our link to Sancta Missa.

Enjoy your day.

Monday, July 14, 2008

A warm welcome to Wheaton Church Supply!

Hello everyone. I hope your week has started off well for you. It was beautiful here today as my girl and I ran errands and buzzed around. Like you, we are always busy. But we always enjoy our time together even if it is only going to the grocery store.

While we were out, I got a call from Wheaton Church Supply (known online as Church Supply Warehouse) who wants to begin listing our altar cards on their website. We feel so honored to now be partnered with Wheaton and Adoremus Books. Wheaton carries a complete line of church supplies and priests' needs so please consider them in addition to Adoremus. I sent them files so that they can put our work on their site so look for them to appear soon.

Myriad is such a tiny business. We're just a couple of laid back graphic designers who love our work and only want to meet the needs of priests and seminarians and break even. We don't know much about business yet but will do everything we can to provide good customer service.

It's late and I really should be off to bed. I hope you all have a pleasant evening. May God bless us all. Thanks for stopping by.

Jerry

Saturday, July 12, 2008

A warm welcome to Adoremus Books!

Hello everyone. Welcome back. Just a quick update on what we've been up to lately. We're excited about the many positive changes happening since the Pope's announcement last year regarding the celebration of the Latin Mass. To see some of the latest headlines, check out the link at the bottom of this page. As for us, our Latin Mass materials and other offerings can now be viewed online at three popular photo sharing websites: Flickr, Picasa, and Zooomr. Those on Flickr feature our complete line as well as those on the drawing boards.

Also, we are proud to announce that our friends at Adoremus Books now stock our altar cards. Adoremus is one of the finest sources of all things Catholic on the internet. They also carry many additonal items for the Latin Mass that you may be interested in.

Our mission is to offer priests the finest altar cards available at modest prices. As we build our business, we would appreciate hearing any ideas and suggestions that you may have. If ours are not what you are looking for, we will help you find what you need even if it is from a competitor. If you still can't find it, contact us. Maybe we can design especially for your needs.

Thanks for visiting! May God bless you and yours.

Regards,

Jerry

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Welcome to Myriad Creative Concepts

Hello. My name is Jerry Wonderly. I'm the man in charge of Myriad Creative Concepts, a small business specializing in the design of practical, inexpensive, and easy to read altar cards for the Roman Catholic Tridentine Latin Mass. In addition to altar cards, we also design other prayers needed for the Latin Mass: Prayers At The Foot Of The Altar, Vesting Prayers, and more.

Actually, "design" is a bit much to state. The prayers of the 1,500 year old Tridentine Mass are not open to personalization. There is an historic precedent set by the order of the prayers and not to be altered. Rather, by saying design we really mean assemble. We try to design an attractive set of altar cards where the art is secondary to the readability and layout of the prayers.

The idea for an altar card designing business came about during a meeting with a priest who lamented that most altar cards that are currently available are antique reprints that are beautiful but could be improved upon. Some have prayers in an inconvenient layout. Some have misspelled Latin words. Others have excessive artwork forcing the prayers to be in very small type. So, to meet the needs of priests for accurate, easy to read altar cards, Myriad was born.

Priests around the world now have more choices: There are websites where simple altar card text files can be downloaded freely. There are the antique reprints mentioned above. Then, there are publishing houses that have very nice altar card styles. Lastly, we at Myriad have eight designs to choose from with more on the drawing boards. Whether simple, vintage, contemporary, themed, or custom, we design according to priests' and groups of priests needs.

We don't have a website up yet. To view our offerings and projects on the boards, visit the popular online photo sharing website, Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/myriadcreativeconcepts.

Thanks for stopping by. If we can be of service to you, just let us know.

Sincerely,

Jerry Wonderly

Note: This was our very first post.