Honeybee card is digitally printed using archival pigment inks on silky, bright white, acid-free paper. Folded card is 5.25" by 5.25" and comes with a beautifully made, bright white envelope. The photograph I used to create the bee mandala is printed on the back of the card with the photo location. Interior of the card is blank and the paper is super smooth, not slick, and takes gel, ballpoint, and other inks well. Perfect as an everyday note, thinking of you, or spring/summer card for a beekeeper, gardener, nature lover, entomologist, or someone interested in native plants, sustainability, or pollinators. The card and envelope are packaged together in a plastic sleeve and mailed in a stiffened mailer.

Framing. This honeybee card is created using high-quality materials, such as might be used in a museum. The print is sharp, bright, and frameable. To protect the vibrancy of the artwork, I frame using UV glass or acrylic, and I recommend it. If you use plain glass or acrylic, make sure you hang this sweet, little piece and all your beautiful art away from direct sunlight.

Postage. Because irregularly shaped mail, like this square honeybee card, must be canceled by hand, the U.S. Postal Service requires extra postage to deliver them. Special "butterfly stamps" carry the exact right postage to mail your bee card within the U.S. If you would like me to stamp the envelope with a butterfly stamp so it's ready for you to mail, please choose that option from the menu.

About the Art. The honeybee art on this card, titled Star Gate, began as a photograph of a honeybee on catnip flowers in one of my gardens on Pleasant Hill, near Morgantown, West Virginia. Honeybees fly up from the bottom of the valley from their hives on a neighbor's property to find my garden every year. Sometimes I see quite a few, but I never see them in the numbers I remember from childhood, when the holly bushes growing along one way of our garage in the rural suburbs of Maryland came alive with movement and buzzing. Back in those days, it was a matter of course to include Dutch white clover in grass seed mixes to help fix nitrogen and naturally fertilize our lawns, and the honeybees also found the clover blooms. What a shame that this practice is fallen out of favor. You can, of course, add clover seed to your lawn mix and use it to replant bare patches. You'll find the clover stays green even through hot summer days, an added bonus.