Sending someone a pretty card with a snappy sonnet just isn't enough anymore.

        Folks who care to send the very best are sending greetings with a little extra — CDs, hand-crafted metal jewelry and bookmarks, munchkin flower arrangements with miniature cards, even seeds embedded in biodegradeable cards that can be planted and grown into everything from wildflowers to chili peppers and catnip.

Guitarist Tom Laskey sells cards with CDs of his recordings (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        The CD in a card was the inspiration of Tom Laskey of Monfort Heights, who shelved his music career after 12 years performing here and in New York to raise a family in 1982.

        “I was a house poppa for two years,” says the classical guitarist, 46, a 1979 graduate of the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.

        Then, in 1984, Mr. Laskey and his wife, Jean, used her business background to open a temporary staffing business, JMPeters Inc., in Springdale.

        But the music kept calling.

        “At the age of 40, I did a mid-life analysis. The regret I had was that I had not sat down and written or composed. So I vowed to my family to write a CD a year for 10 years. It was an audacious goal,” he says.

        That was seven years ago.

        “The first couple attempts were pretty weak by production standards,” Mr. Laskey says, “but by the fifth year, it was sounding pretty good, and we started to look at how we could use the music” in the business, which uses promotional items with the agency's phone number to keep it fresh in their clients' minds.

SOMETHING EXTRA

Other cards with a little something extra:     • Country Arts in Blue Ash carries a line of cards from Pilgrim Imports of Milwaukee, using hand-made papers from mulberry trees, natural dyes and hand-crafted metal jewelry and bookmarks made in the villages of Thailand. $6.50 and up.     • Wild Oats at Rookwood Commons in Norwood offers cards from Greenfield Paper Co. that feature herb and vegetable drawings. Imbedded in the hand-crafted recycled paper are seeds for catnip, thyme, basil, parsley, chile peppers or vegetables. Bury the card, water and grow. $3.99.     • From the Ridiculous to the Sublime in O'Bryonville has Bloomin' Flower Cards with wildflower seeds imbedded in the handmade paper that beg to be planted in a 1/4-inch of soil and nurtured to bloom for $3.50.     • At the Web site www.coolmini.com/send/flowers.htm, Kathy Bracken of Cave Junction, Ore., sends miniature 1-inch-scale flower arrangements with tiny greeting cards, an offshoot of her porcelain miniatures business. $10, plus $2 shipping

        “So we thought, "Why not a CD?' ” — one with the company name and phone number on it?

        That grew into a second business, Card+CD, and last week — 18 months later — the Laskeys shipped their 5,000th CD card.

        Customers choose one of the 20 predesigned cards for almost any occasion, from Thank You to Birthday, then choose one of Mr. Laskey's eight-track CDs, Harmony or Serenity to be enclosed.

        Or, customers can provide their own photo and message for a customized card and CD.

        “Sometimes, a bride and groom will use a photo of the wedding on the card as a thank-you and send it with a CD to members of the wedding party,” Mr. Laskey says.

        The card carries a customized greeting, and the CD can hold three or four lines of type. People also can order a favorite photo and use them as stationery with CDs attached.

        The 5-by-7-inch cards from the standard selection are $4.55 each, including postage, to U.S. addresses.

        Cards made with the customer's photo and a customized CD are $15 for the first one and $5 each for quantities of two to 50. Mr. Laskey has separate rates for businesses, which account for most of his sales.

        His two CDs, which he describes as “provocative, soulful guitar highlighting soothing melodies and soft rhythms,” can be split in an order. Information: (800) 700-9265; www.cardpluscd.

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