Blue Mountain spreads joy not only through its e cards, but through its books, calendars and posters that feature poetry and prose written over colorful nature backgrounds. Over 1,000 Blue Mountain e card designs are available to send electronically to a loved one to mark a special holiday or occasion. These messages are not available just to the English speaking world; greetings are available in many different languages.
The Blue Mountain cards company was started in the early 1970s by Boulder, Colorado couple Stephen Schutz and Susan Polis Schutz as a vehicle for their hobbies (illustration for Stephen, poetry for Susan). They began by combining Stephens artwork and Susans free form poetry to create poster prints that embodied their shared feelings about life, love and nature, very much in keeping with the hippie culture of the time. The Blue Mountain cards company was initially conceived as a poster business when the couple persuaded a local Boulder bookstore to offer several of their posters on consignment. The popularity of the posters convinced Stephen and Susan to offer them to other stores in the area, and the business soon took off. The parent company, Blue Mountain Arts, was officially formed in 1971. With the posters popularity, Stephen and Susan began travelling the country selling their art and soon branched out into gift books, calendars and stationery. Stephen and Susan transferred their art to Blue Mountain greeting cards soon thereafter. Blue Mountain cards, in fact, introduced the all occasion blank greeting card to the public. They also introduced a second greeting card innovation: the inclusion of expressive free form poetry to the interior of their cards, replacing the staid traditional rhyming messages used for so long.
In the 1990s, Blue Mountain Arts introduced another greeting cards innovation: the electronic greeting card, launching their free e card website in 1996. The electronic greeting card concept grew from the Schutz family practice of keeping in touch with their college age son through electronic messages and greetings. Once again, Blue Mountain cards, through its e cards line, was an innovator. They offered their e cards for free, and they allowed the sender to add personal greetings to the card rather than select from a collection of stock messages. Blue Mountain then sent the recipient an electronic notification of the card, which the recipient could access through an attached link to the company website. What could be easier.
Through the e cards website, Blue Mountain cards can now be sent in any number of languages all over the globe.