SANDPOINT — You’re standing in the greeting card aisle, scanning the options for just the right sentiment. The problem is, the romantic cards are too sappy, the condolence cards are too much of a bummer and the supposedly funny cards are, well — not all that funny.

If you’re lucky enough to find one that fits the occasion, or is even a rough approximation of what you want to convey, it feels like a cause for celebration.

Weary of such encounters, one area man took matters into his own hands. Luckily, his background as a professional illustrator, combined with a natural gift for seeing the innate humor in things, made him a perfect candidate for the job.

Colin Hayes has created illustrations professionally since 1993 for a wide variety of clients, including the New York Times, American Airlines, Pfizer, Hewlett Packard, Rolling Stone, Microsoft, Sports Illustrated, Volkswagen, the Wall Street Journal, Target, Golf Digest, and dozens more. After 25 years of professional illustration, he decided to combine his passions for humor, illustration and realistic animal drawings into two unique lines of greeting cards, which will be available in stores nationally starting this year.

His experience as an illustrator notwithstanding, Hayes often finds inspiration in other forms.

“Usually, an idea or concept comes first,” he said. “Often, that’s a certain phrase, or clever dialog, but sometimes I get an image in my head, thanks to being a career illustrator, and I’ll pair that image with some humorous text.”

And if you think finding a humorous card is difficult, try being the person who has to create one from scratch.

“It is sometimes a challenge to be funny,” Hayes said. “I recently designed two cards about fighting cancer. Cancer is one of the least humorous topics there is, but I wanted to come up with a clever and whimsical way to show support to the recipient who is fighting it.

“One card shows a rolled-up newspaper, labeled ‘You’ and a cockroach, labeled ‘Cancer,’” he added. ‘The inside of the card shows a squished cockroach, with the caption, ‘You win.’ There are a lot of pretty sobering, unfunny, things going on in the world today. I think it’s even more important now to laugh whenever we can. Hopefully my cards will help with that.”

Hayes’ company — the Spokane-based Cobenali Creations — already has rolled out two lines of cards. What his ‘Laugh It Up’ line lacks in sap is made up for with plenty of snark, wit and sometimes random humor, highlighted by cleverly humorous illustrations. Directed primarily at men and women between the ages of 25-55, they are aimed at people who are bored by cutesy cards with the same old sugary sentiment.

Current categories include birthday, get well, congratulations, new baby, thinking of you, love, anniversary, and thank you, with holiday cards coming soon.

The second line, ‘Colin Hayes Art,’ showcases beautifully detailed renderings of birds, pets and wildlife. The cards in this line are blank inside, making them right for any occasion.

“I have 150 cards designed, with about 78 of them currently available,” Hayes said. “The rest will be released gradually over the next year or two and more will continuously be designed. Some of the designs not yet released may be tweaked a bit. Editing the text is always a challenge — less is usually more.”

Most of us would be hard-pressed to come up with a few good card ideas, much less 150 of them, but the creator seems to have his antennae constantly up and in the “on” mode when it comes to finding unexpected gems of humor in life.

“More often than not, ideas find me, as long as I’m in the mindset of observing things around me, with cards in mind,” he said. “I’ll read something online or hear someone say something and it leads me to an idea. The notes app in my iPhone is my best friend in that regard.”

Hayes has begun a nationwide marketing campaign, contacting more than 1,000 stores around the U.S. and sending out samples and product catalogs. Aside from Spokane, his early footholds have been with retailers in Houston, Texas, Madison, Wisc., and Brookline, Mass., with new regions and accounts filling in around those cities.

With Cobenali Creations enjoying a solid launch, the illustrator has designs on other product lines in the future after the cards gain traction in the marketplace.

“I wanted to start with a pretty limited product line of greeting cards, postcards and prints, with plans to expand to other products like towels, coffee mugs, t-shirts, magnets, etc.,” he said. “I have a great idea for a barbecue apron, too. I don’t want to grow too fast, too soon, though.

“And my wife does her best to control my impulsive spending on new products.”

Interesting, that even in the wild and wacky world of greeting card creation, the voice of reason still rings out loud and clear.

To see all 48 ‘Laugh It Up’ designs and the 24 examples of ‘Colin Hayes Art’ designs, go online to cobenali.com.