Valentines from Bloomington; greeting cards by Sunrise Publications.

• Author: Gilbert, Jo
• Position: Made in Indiana

What's red and white with hearts all over?

Valentines from Bloomington, that's what.

According to one legend, St. Valentine, a third-century martyr jailed for helping some Christians, fell in love with the jailer's daughter and wrote her letters, signed, "From your Valentine."

If penning your own prose makes your hands sweat, perhaps Bloomington's Sunrise Publications Inc. can help.

Want something dripping with romance or "mushy"? This greeting-card company has it. How about something a little more lighthearted? Sunrise can do that too. Simplicity? Elegance? Same thing.

Sunrise knows that tastes vary when it comes to purchasing the perfect combination of image and verse, but certain elements are necessary.

"There are traditional colors that people associate with Valentine's Day," says Lorraine Farrell, vice president for creative services and marketing, "primarily red, pink and white. And there is traditional subject matter that people also associate with Valentine's Day. And those would include hearts, red roses and candy.

"And then I think you can add onto that the romantic versing," she adds.

Valentine's Day makes love a significant business for Sunrise. Not only does the holiday generate 12 to 13 percent of the company's business--second only to Christmas as a single holiday--but it also bucks some card-buying trends.

"What we've found is that women buy about 80 percent of the greeting cards that are mailed in the course of a year," says...