Greetings from El Salvadore

Local Inspiration

Love a great greeting card? So do we. At Me Too Please we have a beautiful selection of eye-catching, quirky cards. There’s something particularly special about these ones though; they’re our fair trade handcrafted cards from El Salvador, featuring lovely pressed wildflowers. Meet Rosa and Esperanza- aren’t they exquisite?

Now check out just a few of the wonderful pieces crafted by a local Year 2 class, who were inspired by the cards to make their own beautiful ‘flower ladies’…

This project was all thanks to their teacher the incredible Sally, who picked up a few of the cards on a Me Too Please coffee stop, and then went on to share them, as well as their background story with her class.

“These greeting cards of striking beauty represent a woman’s hope for the future” explains a representative of Hope for Women, the Fair Trade organisation who ensure that these cards and their message are shared around the world.

So how did the flower ladies come to be ?

In 2001,  a devastating earthquake and subsequent mudslides left families in the highlands of El Salvador homeless and without employment.  Many were farmers and with their livelihoods left in tatters they began traveling long hours and away from their children to low-paying factory jobs in the capital,  San Salvador.

It was from this extremely challenging set of circumstances that Arte Comasagua was born.  Created by a group of enterprising women,  this artisan organisation provides local,  safe fairly paid employment to an ever growing band of mothers who pick the flowers,  dry and press them,  then handcraft these spectacular cards.