Crafting her own greeting card business

Vera Athans doesn't make much money hand-crafting the greeting cards she makes and sells from a rented trailer off busy Merrick Road in Massapequa that sports a sign saying "Gift Shop." In fact, Athans makes so little money, she says, she can't pay the heat bill for the trailer in the winter, and so must shut down her business.

But what drives her, she said, is her passion for making the cards, which celebrate birthdays, weddings, anniversaries and other occasions.

All are custom-made. Athans buys blank cards and collects tiny photos from newspapers and magazines, letters from the same places, tiny pieces of silk, small drawings of stars or flowers, parts of cloth and other materials, to make what she calls "stories" on each card.

They sell for $5 to $12, depending on the work involved. Sometimes her sister, Eldis Lynn, helps Athans, who lives in Old Bethpage. But often she works alone.

Athans, who studied art in high school, calls her collection "Leah's One-of-a-Kind Greeting Cards," after her mother. And she has no intention of stopping, profitable or not.

"This is art to me," she said. "If Picasso couldn't sell, he would still paint."