Feelin' Nifty With Gifty Idea™
By Heather Gaghan


Residing in the live music capital of the world—Austin Texas, Kim Crisler, owner and creator of Gifty Idea™, is a live wire herself. Her new company offers a line of cards featuring some of the best dog photography around. Her unique and heartfelt words that accompany each card evoke the entire gamut of human (and animal) emotion from laughter to tears, whatever the feeling, Gifty Idea™ has the card for you!

As a self-proclaimed “drawer” since childhood spending days coloring, Kim continued her love of color and creativity working in the advertising industry as a graphic designer and art director. After time spent as a freelance creative artist, she felt the need to expand her horizons and it was at this time that Lucy came along—the face and inspiration of Gifty Idea™!








LuLu, as her mommy affectionately refers to her, is an absolutely adorable Jack Russell who’s various poses in the card line will be sure to capture anyone’s heart! “I began taking pictures of Lucy as any proud new parent would of their new baby…that little face became the inspiration for my company. How could I not share the cutest face in the world with the rest of the world?!” Well, we are glad she did! Kim says it was an easy transition becoming an entrepreneur in the greeting card world with her background in graphic design and her new found love of her little LuLu. Her frustration when trying to find just the right greeting card also fueled her desire to create cards with real meaning—that said just the right thing. She would wind up spending hours making her own cards, spending more time than she would have just going to the store, but the pay off was worth leading her to create the many cards for Gifty Idea™.






Nowadays Kim uses a professional photographer for the majority of the shots, however she immerses herself in all the chaotic elements of a process centered around a living, breathing, unpredictable animal as the photo subject. Kim conceptualizes the photo shoot and theme, figures out what shots she wants, sets up the props, picks the models, and then directs the final shoot. She has learned when working with her four legged, very unpredictable subjects, that timing is everything!! She shared part of the parent preparation process with me, “I tell the doggie parents not to get upset or nervous; that me running around covered in turkey treat juice is all part of the process!” And the results are worth it and she can proudly boast that very minimal computer manipulation is used in the making of her photos. The only computer enhancements are in some of the backgrounds of the pictures or the heart on Lucy’s rear end in what has become one of the most popular cards in the line.




Faces are what inspire this artist. Dog faces that is. Big ones, little ones, hairy ones, whiskery ones. They all have a draw to Kim when thinking up new card lines as she proclaims on her website, “Dogs have the ability to make you laugh ‘til you cry and smile ‘til your face hurts—cheer you up when you’re down and make you feel loved even when you’re lonely.” With 41 designs already in print and enjoying increasing attention by the public, Kim plans on 30 new cards in the new year. She says the best compliment of her work is seeing people get excited about her cards. She recalls doing a ghost visit to a store and watching a girl look through the cards and run back and forth to her boyfriend saying, "Look at this one! Look at this one!” And another time watching two ladies take a peek at one card and continue to pour through the rest of the cards reading and commenting on each and every one.









With requests for such items as Puppy Shower and Puppy Birthday invitations, Kim knows there are new and ‘gifty ideas’ just waiting to be created. With such original ideas as New Puppy Announcements that are as irresistible as LuLu herself, Kim and her company are sure to enjoy their share of success for some time to come! Even throughout the Gifty Idea™ website, www.giftyidea.com, you feel the warmth and genuine ease of the company’s founder as Kim invites customers to “Sniff around—take a peek at some of our inspiring and humorous cards, and see what works for you.”
So take a minute and peek around our Cards & Giftwrap Dept. for your Gifty Idea™ greeting cards. You’re sure to find more than one that you just have to have! And if you reside in sunny Los Angeles, Kim will be exhibiting at the LA Gift Show in January in space # 303 and is looking forward to meeting new customers!