Say What You Can’t Say With “That’s All” Cards

 “I thought you should know I have cancer, that’s all” – That’s All greeting card slogan.

An idea that was borne out of the challenges of cancer has turned into a successful new career for Karen Rosenzweig, founder of That’s All, LLC, in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

“There are times in life when you need to spin tall tales with fancy language and fluffy phrases. Our cards are not for those times,” states the newest catalog.

When Rosenzweig’s sister, Debbie Kogan Lyda, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, her family did not want her to be alone in the hospital, so they took turns staying with her there. During one of those long stays, Rosenzweig started telling fortunes for the nurses from a card deck she found at the mall. Some of these fortunes were a little drastic but her sister Debbie would always find a way to turn it into something positive and then the sisters would say, “That’s all.”

Soon, that became their catch phrase – “You have cancer. That’s all,” and the idea for the cards began. Laughing in the face of a serious situation is the way the sisters coped with the challenges of fighting cancer.

The snark and sarcasm of the That’s All greeting card line makes for hilarious reading that shoppers can’t get enough of.  A recent post on their Facebook discussion page quotes a store owner who says she hears shoppers laughing and having fun reading the cards. The design of the cards is so simple too – white cards with black type – nothing fancy, no sugar coating.  

The products range from birthday, get well, anniversary and love greetings to “Observations” such as “Please Wear Deodorant,” “No, I’m Not Pregnant, I’m Fat” and “When You Know What’s a Really Good Wine, You Can Come Over” – all with the phrase “That’s All” on the inside of every card.

The line began with 59 designs and now features 242 different cards, mostly written by Rosenzweig. A few are written by others including her husband, Debbie, her mother, her mother-in-law and even her two sons. Rosenzweig says she has even more ready for future printing.  The cards are currently available in 42 states and on-line.

A 2.5% portion of the proceeds from the cards goes to the Debbie Kogan Lyda Ovarian Cancer “Road To Recovery” Research Fund. Rosenzweig says the scariest part of ovarian cancer is that you rarely know you have it.

It starts out as an upset stomach or feeling bloated or gassy, and women go to a gastroenterologist instead of their gynecologist.  Many doctors are focused on their system of specialty and don’t take it further to discover the cause.

Rosenzweig also notes that just because you no longer have ovaries doesn’t mean you are safe. Even women who have had hysterectomies can still get ovarian cancer from the resident tissue that remains in their bodies. Her sister had an ovary removed prior to getting ovarian cancer in her remaining ovary.

“Listen to your body if you don’t feel well,” she says. “It whispers, so listen” is the slogan of ovarian cancer.

Her family is notorious for not discussing serious situations. Rosenzweig says her family has always been overly-protective about serious news. Once when she was first married, she called her mother to say she and her husband, Marc, were going to drive down from Michigan to Florida to visit. Her mother told her not to come because she had “errands.” After a bit of coaxing, Rosenzweig found out her mother was actually having what she called a “procedure” which was actually a mastectomy due to having breast cancer!

As a true testament to how her family deals with challenges, she said as her mother was getting wheeled into the operating room, she told Karen, “Today was the day I was supposed to have my hair colored.”

Rosenzweig has a similar story about her dad, who underwent quintuple bypass surgery on his heart. The first thing he said after emerging from the anesthesia was, “Did Marc fix the car?”

Rosenzweig says she finds card ideas all the time in her everyday life. One idea for a popular card came from a confrontation at her son’s hockey game. An obnoxious kid was mouthing off to an older gentleman, so Karen said to the boy, “Do you often get the feeling people want to kick your ass?” In another story, her son felt like she was asking too many questions about his day and said to her, “And the award goes to you, for being the biggest bitch,” to which she told him he wouldn’t be getting in trouble for that because that is great card idea. Violà – two new cards!

Making light of serious situations helps people deal with challenges and That’s All greeting cards really helps people express what they are thinking but may not want to say outloud, according to Rosenzweig. Please check out the cards at www.thatsallgreetings.com and check out That’s All on The Next Big Zing’s video review too.