About Us

Skillful word play, laugh-out-loud puns and charmingly wacky illustrations – we are Tuba Loons. Since 1994, we have been cooking up organic, grass fed, whimsical greeting cards. Tuba Loons’ success results from both our mainstream and Jewish-themed Kosher cards. Perhaps you have stumbled upon one of our cast of characters: Ida Bublick with her knishes, Penelope with her pile of baggage, Stella belting out a song, Janis Joplin-style … or dear, old Aunt Tique. We’ve got our zany animals as well: doe-eyed dogs, vultures, wild birds, sheep … even the teeny-tiny beet riding a Saint Bernard. Once you enter into our thought provoking, pun-filled HILARIUM, any whimsical thing is possible!

MEET THE ARTIST

Sometime around 1993, Carol Vanek realized that Patsy, her knobby kneed Whippet, was too whimsical looking not to draw. So she took up pen and paper, and her mainstream and Jewish-style illustrations took flight like two balloons … alas, Tuba Loons was born. Patsy was depicted donning rabbit ears, wrapped in Jewish garb; dining on a bowl of vegetarian fare, barking up the wrong tree … and on and on. Carol lovingly created her handcrafted cards as good nourishment for mind and spirit – low in calories, high in humor.

Carol expanded her “doodles” to include a full assortment of colorful characters, with names to match. Before long, Carol had enough illustrations to market her new line of cards. Early on, each card was hand-colored and, on several occasions, loving and patient friends gathered around the kitchen table with colored pencils in hand to help out with big orders.

With a fondness for everything tiny, Carol – the mistress of miniature – has come up with her latest endeavor, Matchbox Xpressions. These gift boxes consist of real matchboxes decorated with her colorful illustrations and enclosed with a tiny card to match, along with a row of hand-dyed matchsticks. Too cute! Her idea was to create a small gift item that makes for big smiles and endearing impressions (and to see how tiny a greeting card could get and still be a greeting card.)

NOTEWORTHY FACTS

• July 1998 – Full page interview in the Jewish Bulletin of San Francisco (now J Magazine), and subsequently picked up by a number of Jewish newspapers throughout the US
• Winter 1998 – Interview in The Reporter/Women’s American ORT for an article entitled, Jewish Greeting Cards Hit The Big Time
• April 2004 – JewishCard, a major Jewish-themed card company, bought two dozen Jewish card images from Tuba Loons and continues to distribute them to a variety of Jewish stores throughout the US and beyond
• January 2005 – The Jewish card image, The Cho Zen, was featured in Greetings Etc, in the article, 25 Trends for 2005 (#24 was Jewish Humor)
• May 2008 – Interview for a special Earth Day publication on environmental humor in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. Tuba Loons’ “global warming” cards were featured

GREETING CARD FACTS

• Size: 4-1/2 x 5-1/2 inches. Each comes with a bright blue (A2) envelope
• Printed on recycled cardstock
• Select cards contain hand-applied glitter paint
• Since they are printed on demand, any card can be requested “blank”