eCards Blog

Everyone loves to take photographs and edit them. From changing faces and bodies of your friends to retouching photographs, everyone has done photo editing at one time or the other. There are thousands of things you can do with your photographs in softwares like Photoshop. However, not everyone knows how to work with PhotoShop as it is too complex for most of the photo editing enthusiast. But worry no more fellow photo-editor, here are some of the most awesome online tools to help you do stuff with your photographs absolutely free and with a little effort.

1) PhotoFunia

Ever wanted your photo to be featured on a Magazine or on a hot chick’s T-Shirt, you can do so on this website. Choose from over 200 templates. You just have to choose an effect, upload your photograph and save the edited photographs. Most of the templates on PhotoFunia are face detection enabled which eases the editing job further.

2) Aviary Phoenix

Phoenix is the image editing baby of Aviary, one of the most popular sites that allows you to work with photographs. You can do pretty much everything on Phoenix that you can do on PhotoShop but a lot more easily and without using your system resources.

3) JpgFun

This website has a lot of templates and photo frames you can add to your photographs. Select an effect, upload photograph, adjust it and you have a fancy photograph that you can use to amaze your friends. (Jpgfun.com)

4) BeFunky

BeFunky is the best website to create artistic photographs out of ordinary photographs. Using BeFunky, you can “turn your photos into incredible artwork with one click”.

5) Picnik

Want to give your photographs that final re-touch it needs, or, would you like to fix red-eye or fine-tune your photographs. Picnik will let you do all this without much work. Picnik also has an option that lets you ‘auto-fix’ your photographs.

6) PhotoShop Express

PhotoShop Express is the online version of Adobe’s PhotoShop but playing with the online version is a lot more fun as you get to share your image mashups with your friends via FaceBook, Flickr or you get to send it to your mobile. Adobe also gives you 2 GBs of free storage for your edited photographs. Fix, tune, tint your photograph with this amazing app.

7) Dumpr

Want to have your face on a Rubik’s Cude, or would you like to make funny photographs of your pals? Checkout Dumpr, they have some good template you can choose from. While most of them are free, some of them can be used by only premium members.

Do you know of any other online image editors? And did you know that we also have a small app on our main website that lets you upload your photographs and insert them into eCards and send them to your friends and family.

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Hello everyone!

I hope you all looked after you Mums on Mothering Sunday this year? Now it is Dads turn! It is never too early to start thinking about ways to treat and surprise your Dad on Fathers Day. Why not try sending your Dad one of our great free Father’s Day ecard this year? We have plenty to choose from, so you are sure to find one that your Dad will love.

A fantastic Father’s Day ecard greeting to send is Father’s Day Car. After the recipient has clicked on the envelope to open the card we see a happy Dad driving along a country road when he comes across a sign post, “Dad’s get called by different names”. Various names pop up including, ‘Daddy’ ‘The Old Fella’ and finally ‘Super Dad’! This is a lovely ecard - with a sweet message to show your Dad how much you care and value him.

If you want to add a little extra personal touch to your Fathers Day e-Card then our fantastic ‘Face It’ family of greeting cards is the perfect choice. Choose from great cards such as Father’s Day Golf, Motoring Madness, and Football Fun for Fathers Day. All of these greetings allow you to upload a photograph of your Dad and make him the starring feature in his own card. A great way to show you care whilst incorporating some humor and that extra personal touch.

What ever you decide to do to treat your Dad on Father’s Day this year, have fun and keep in mind all the help and support he has given you over the years.  Watch this space for more updates on Father’s Day electronic greeting cards over the next few weeks!

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We have a new and exciting design update to tell you about!

Once you have selected an e card an envelope appears which when you have entered the recipients name appears on the front. This is a lovely idea as it adds that extra special personal touch to the card. Simply follow the “Click on the envelope to open your card” instructions, as soon as this has been done the envelope opens and your chosen ecard pops out!

Take a look at our Birthday Birdie eCard, or Birthday Advice greetings card and sample our new design! We are currently in the process of updating the cards on ecards.co.uk to contain the new interactive envelope design. This is a really exciting step forward for us as we are always thinking up new ideas to keep the site fresh and interesting.

We hope you enjoy using our new ecard design! Why not let all your friends know about the our changes, and send them a fantastic personalised greeting cards today.

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I hope everyone had an enjoyable Easter this year? The team here all had a very relaxing Good Friday and Bank Holiday Monday off too, and we were lucky to have a bit of sunshine for the weekend.

St George’s Day is just around the corner, so be proud to be British.  Falling on Thursday 23rd April, St George’s Day is the national day of England, but oddly it is not celebrated in England as much as other countries. However, there have  been changes in attitudes towards St George’s Day with many people pushing to have this as a public holiday. Traditions for the Patron Saint of England include wearing a red rose on your lapel. This doesn’t seem to be as popular as flying the St George’s cross, many pubs are seen decorating their premises with the red and white flag.

Whether or not you believe the legends of St George slaying the dragon take a moment to think and reflect on the traditions of England and our Patron Saint. We have an exciting new St George’s Day ecard ready for you to try. Being one of our ‘Face It’ cards, you can upload photographs of you and your friends and make yourselves the starring feature of the card design! You can all pose as some of the most famous British icons around, these include, the lovable British Bull Dog, and one of the Queen’s Guards! Imagine the surprise your friends will get when they see themselves in their own St George’s Day greeting. Other items which are included in the card design is the Union Jack Flag, a bright red telephone box, and Big Ben in the background standing tall and proud! Remember to turn the sound up on your computer, the accompanying music is the classic ‘Rule Britannia’ tune. Everybody knows it - so sing along!

Have a lovely St George’s Day whatever you decide to get up to, invite some friends round, have fun, and be proud to be English!

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Some exciting news to announce! Our Managing Director Sam popped the question to his girlfriend Hayley whilst on holiday! All the team here at eCards Media wants to congratulate them both and wishes them a very happy engagement.

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As technology becomes more advance, the hackers, and scam artists become wiser and more devious. This is why we need to be even more aware of our safety online.

Thomas Taylor, from America who is one half of eCard scam artist team, has finally been caught and sentenced for his crimes. Taylor, from Connecticut used fake e-Cards to spread ‘malware’ (a type of software that is used to infiltrate your computer system with nasty viruses, and ruin your computer) to thousands of AOL users.  Taylor was sentenced to four years probation for his role in the malware-powered ID theft scam, and ordered to pay $33,714 in restitution to those who fell victim to the plot.

Four years prior to September 2006, Taylor and his associates used malware to trick AOL customers into handing over sensitive  financial information.  Firstly, AOL members were sent spam e-Cards that claimed they were from legitimate electronic greetings card companies such as Hallmark.com and Bluemountian.com. By opening this e-Card, members  were unwittingly giving these fraudsters financial information and therefore vulnerable to having their accounts cleaned out. The brains behind the scam artists, Michael Dolan, was sentenced to 84 months imprisonment.

Luckily these two were caught, but there are plenty more fraudsters out there, the trick is being able to spot the difference between a real ecard and a fake.

The help section on our site is a good place to start on learning all about online greetings cards and the difference between real and fakes. It is important to know what a real ecard looks like, and how it should appear in your inbox. A good rule to always remember is that if you don’t know the person in the “from field” then best to not open, just hit ‘delete’ instead. Check out the helpful hints on our site and learn how to spot a real e-Card from a fake.

If in doubt and you need advice then contact us and we shall help out as best we can.

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What do you look forward to at Easter? Easter conjures up lots of lovely thoughts, family getting together for lunch, the first blooms of spring, and not forgetting delicious Easter Eggs! Easter Sunday is fairly early this year as it lands of the 12th April,  so better make sure all your plans are well underway!

To celebrate this holiday, we have some fantastic easter greeting cards ready and waiting for you to try out. Sending an Easter e-Card is a great way to show someone special that you are thinking of them. For those of you with a cheeky streak, our . Bunny Shagger ecard is a great card to send. Lets just say “Even the Easter Bunny has vices” This e card is ideal to send to a friend who has a good sense of humor.

Ever wondered where Easter eggs come from? Our Easter Bunny eCard provides a possible answer! This funny greetings card is one to send to those who love slightly dark jokes. We see the Easter Bunny strapped above a conveyor belt producing batches of Easter eggs. I suppose the Easter Bunny has a whole years rest to recover before the next Easter holiday!

Spring has sprung with our Happy Spring greetings card, a great choice to send to someone to celebrate new life, shaking off those Winter blues, and hopefully a lovely hot Summer. This e-Card shows a rabbit wrapped up in his Winter woolies, and then we see the full blooms of Spring complete with rolling countryside, bright sunshine, and fabulous flowers. Definitely the perfect choice of greeting to send indicating the end of Winter, and a fresh start.

Hope you all have an enjoyable Easter weekend, remember the great thing with an ecard is that you can send it in advance, or at the last minute if you are slightly forgetful, either way ecards.co.uk can sort out all your Easter holiday greetings.

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Hopefully by now everyone has their plans sorted for Mother’s Day as it is only a few short days away! I think it is important to go that extra mile and show your Mum how much you appreciate her. We have a wide range of Mother’s Day greetings cards to choose from and they are all bound to make your Mum smile. Sending a free greetings card to your Mum this Mother’s Day will really surprise her, why not send her one on your lunch break? They are so easy to set up and send, just choose a free greeting you like and follow the simple step by step instructions given.

All of our card designs are fun and funky, so you are going to find one that your Mum will love, there are cute greetings cards like Bear Hug, funny greetings like Laughing Hyena and just in-case you forget, there are ’sorry I forgot Mother’s Day’ e cards such as I.O.U Mum.

The good thing with a Mother’s Day ecard is that they are so quick and easy to send, ideal if you are not very good at remembering important dates!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mums out there!

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If I were to say Guinness, Shamrock, and  Lepricorn, what would spring to mind? Yes, all these things are associated with Ireland, and a particular Irish holiday is coming up soon - St Patrick’s Day. What do you do on St Patrick’s Day? Well down here in North Devon, we tend to drink a lot of Guinness, and wear silly hats. Luckily enough there is a lovely Irish pub in town, complete with posters of the famous Guinness Toucan, Guinness and Steak pies, some Irish quotes painted on the walls.

For St Patrick’s Day we have a great free greetings card ready to try out. This card is short and sweet, but includes the famous Guinness and Shamrock. We see the shamrock being drawn into the foam on top of the pint of Guinness and the text “Happy St Patrick’s Day” appears on the glass. The final piece of text simply says “See you down the pub!” This e card is great to send as an invitation to all your friends to join you in a good old drinking session!

We are fortunate enough to have lots of Take Aways within a short distance of the pubs in town, which is perfect seeing as we will need to soak up some of the alcohol! Whatever you get up to this St Patrick’s Day, have lots of fun and think of the good old Emerald Isle whilst dipping on your Guinness. Good Times!

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Valentine’s Day, and Shrove Tuesday (or pan cake day!) are over, now we must prepare for the next holiday, Mother’s Day Mother’s Day is the perfect chance to show your Mum how much you value her and appreciate everything she does for you. The shops are full of bouquets of flowers, so I think I will buy her a bunch of her favorites. What are you going to do to treat your Mum on Mother’s Day? Perhaps making her breakfast in bed, doing more to help round the house, or maybe cooking the tea?

In order to celebrate Mothering Sunday, (which falls on 22nd March this year) we have lots of new free e cards on the site. There is a new ‘Face It’ e-Card up and running on the Mother’s Day page. This particular card is great as you can upload a photo of your Mum and incorporate it into the card, imagine the surprise on her face when she sees that she is starring in her own greeting card! With this card we can see Mum in the ‘World Mum Olympics‘, she is completing the housework, ironing, and making a pancake breakfast - all in record time! This is a great card to send, and is bound to make your Mum laugh.

Even though the ‘Face It’ e-Cards are a popular favorite as they inject humor into the occasion, we have some cute alternatives if you don’t fancy uploading photos.  ‘Mum’s Jumper‘ is a really sweet e-Card to send, it shows a little lamb shivering as he has knitted his wool into a jumper for his Mum as a gift. This a lovely ecard to send as it shows how much you care. Likewise with our ‘Mother Hen’ e-Card, this is a great card because it shows how protective Mum’s can get over their ‘baby chick’s’. All of the e-Cards I have mentioned are a perfect choice for Mother’s Day, but there are many more on the site including ‘If Moms were flowers‘, ‘Your Biggest Fan‘, and ‘Super Mum‘.

Whatever you decide to do for your Mum on Mother’s Day make sure she knows how much you love her.

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