A gift card designed by Lauren Barrett Lauren Barrett has always been the kind of woman who enjoys life, children and laughter. When her three kids were younger, hers was the house full of neighborhood children.

Now that they're young adults, the nurse who's worked in obstetrics and gynecology for more than 20 years has found another way to celebrate life and humor.

Barrett developed a line of unique and whimsical birth announcements. One of her cards was recently named a finalist in an international greeting card competition.

"To be nominated as a finalist is considered winning," said the Newbury Park resident.

About 160 U.S. and international publishing companies submitted nearly 1,100 entries in the 18th Annual International Greeting Card Awards competition, known as the LOUIEs.

LOUIE nominations are equivalent to the Emmys or Oscars, said Mila Albertson, a spokeswoman for the Greeting Card Association.

"This is for creative excellence," she said. "It's a top honor."

Three finalists were selected in January for all 55 categories based on the card's imagination, impact, artistry, harmony, sendability and value.

Winners in each group, the Card of the Year, and the Judges' Choice award, selected from all entries, will be announced at a ceremony in New York on May 22.

Barrett's "Push," a card fashioned as a stroller carting twins, is up for a LOUIE in the "Handmade (above $3)" category.

Companies vying for a LOUIE range from one-person operations to well-known publishers; as a result, smaller businesses are on an equal footing with industry giants.

"I'm like a rinky-dink one-perthing they like," Barrett said. "I think it's genuinely my love of babies that shows up in my art."

This is the fourth time since 1994, the year she began the business, that one of Barrett's cards has been nominated for a LOUIE.

Cards have universal appeal

Barrett's interactive cards are versatile. Since they're usually blank inside, they can be used as birth announcements, baby shower invitations, thank-you cards and whatever else the purchaser can think of.

And their unspoken message has universal appeal, a fact borne out at a recent La Leche League conference in San Francisco that attracted more than 1,400 women from around the world. Many of them took Barrett's cards home with them.

Her cards reflect her spirited nature and celebration of pregnancy and newborns. For example, when one opens the Umbilical Card-the first Barrett ever made and the one she used to announce the birth of her youngest child, Katie-a paper baby dangling from a plastic umbilical cord drops out.

Barrett won't get rich making these cards, but that's okay with her. Although she uses a copying service to print some materials, for the most part she makes each card by hand, cutting and gluing them and knitting and preparing fabrics while watching TV.

She charges $6.50 per card and sells them in any quantity-from one card to dozens. She doesn't track how much time it takes to make each card, but if she did, she'd likely find she earns pennies per hour.

Obviously, it isn't about the money.

"To me, these are like pieces of art, and I want to get them out there," she said.

Barrett's cards can be viewed or purchased online at her website at www.unbilicalcard.com.

Testing the waters

To get feedback from around the country, Barrett rented a booth at an industry show in New York last year. A retail company with hundreds of stores nationwide showed interest, but Barrett is reluctant to have her cards mass-produced, afraid the quality could suffer. So for now, selling them in huge quantities is on hold.

The regard she has for the mother-child connection goes beyond the greeting cards she's created. Barrett is working on a graduate degree in psychology, concentrating on that special bond.

"I feel there's a little bit of heaven on earth," she said, summing up her outlook on life. "You're only here for a short time."