The problem with many greeting cards in today's marketplace is that they leave the recipient wondering, while scanning over two or three glossy paragraphs, why the sender couldn't express these thoughts intended for mass production in writing of their own, relying instead on the card to do all of the talking.

That's the opinion of Michael Stewart, a Springfield resident who began “StewartCards” last summer.

The differences in convention are clear from the first time a casual observer sees one of his cards.

The envelopes are lunch-paper-bag brown, almost a ruse to what lies inside, which is anything but boring. Neon fuchsia, orange, yellow, or lime jumps away from the brown paper with emboldened black lettering in contrast shouting to the reader, “You know what?”

The cards capture the reader's attention because, “if you see a card like this in a rack or across the room, you have to see what it says inside,” Stewart said.

Opening the card creates another contrast. Stewart has taken particular care with each of his 400 cards by meticulously finding fonts that correspond the feelings one should associate with what they see inside once the card is opened.

The inside of the “You Know What?” card says, in loosely scribbled letters, almost scratched on the white interior, “I got your back.”

Stewart's story began years ago, when he learned of his ability to cheer up far-away relatives on the telephone.

With his mother he would begin the conversation by proclaiming her first name, “Wilhemina, Wilhemina, Wilhemina!” and then ask, “Ain’t God Good,” or “Mother, are you still Fine?”

Wilhemina Stewart would exhale peacefully, and with such an introduction having pushed away any lurking depression, would say, “All the time.”

Stewart, 28, has lived in Springfield two years, having left most of his family in North Carolina and currently works as a local distributor of the energy drink Red Bull.

“I sound different on the phone,” Stewart said. “I feel like a different personality when my family talks to me. Even when they're in the dumps, it's all smiles on the phone. They come to me for encouragement and, not too long ago, I started wondering how I can put those encouragements on paper,” Stewart said.

With a portfolio of more than 400 cards for 20 occasions (and some for no occasion in particular), Stewart said, “If you give someone something as simple as a card, it will inspire them and take them farther than almost anything in the world.”

Stewart wants readers of this story to picture themselves coming home to an empty house, finding one of his cards left on the kitchen counter, a surprise an absent loved one left to reassure and console.

The card is in a brown, lunch bag envelope and, once opened, says in bold type against a fuchsia backdrop, “Guess What?” and saying simply on the inside, “I'll be home soon.”