Four Points residents Jessica Stanley (left) and Amy Arnold founded Card My Yard in October 2014. The Web-based business places customized yard signs in front of local homes.[/caption]

When Amy Arnold, Card My Yard creator and co-owner, wanted a special way to celebrate her son’s birthday, she said she found a company that made large display balloons for the yard. However, when Arnold saw the $250 price tag, she said she decided there must be a better way to decorate.

Arnold, together with friend and co-owner Jessica Stanley, opened Card My Yard in October 2014. The business offers fully customizable yard signs for a fraction of the balloon price tag Arnold saw a few years ago.

Card My Yard, with its large inventory of letter styles and graphics, places a custom message in a yard for 24 hours. The business is Web-based, and Arnold and Stanley work from home.

“We do everything e-commerce,” Arnold said. “We try to make it as easy as possible for our customers.”

The messages cost $70, which includes any greeting, name, a variety of star and balloon graphics, and two personalized graphics, such as cowboy boots or champagne glasses. New graphics or extended periods of time can be added for an additional cost.

“We do it all,” Stanley said. “We are the Web designers, we set up the greetings and we take them down. We wear many hats.”

Arnold said she and Stanley are “true partners.”

“We don’t have defined roles because we do whatever is needed,” she said. “If one of us can’t do something, the other can fill in the gaps.”

Arnold said in their first year of business, Card My Yard filled approximately one order every day. She hopes that number will double during their second year.

“When we started in Steiner Ranch, we worked closely with [its] neighborhood association,” Arnold said. “We want to keep the yards looking nice and developed a great relationship with [the association]. That’s why we leave the signs for 24 hours—that’s what they asked of us, and it’s worked elsewhere.”

Stanley said the exception to the 24-hour rule is baby announcements, which are allowed to remain in yards for 72 hours.

The duo has placed messages for celebrations for beating cancer, graduations and anniversaries.

Card My Yard has also created signs celebrating school sports and other events. Arnold and Stanley say the most popular occasion for their service is birthday celebrations.

“It didn’t take long to catch on,” Stanley said. “We didn’t do a ton of advertising—the signs themselves worked for us.”

The co-owners said they were surprised by the connection they developed with their community through the business.

“When we first started we thought we would hire someone else to place the letters, but now that’s what we love most about it,” Arnold said. “When we’re out there we get to talk to the homeowner and find out why they’re celebrating. Now I can drive by a house and remember, ‘Oh they made the soccer team,’ or ‘They had their 16th birthday.’”