Joanne Renfro, a Lawrence resident, has designed a unique line of greeting cards from her home.

For all those who cringe at the thought of buying greeting cards knowing that they could end up in the trash or a closet, local artist Joanne Renfro has the solution for you.

The Lawrence native created Magnotables, the greeting card line that bridges the gap between disposable card and precious keepsake.

“The biggest thing about them is that they’re actually something to keep, something to make you smile when you walk by your fridge,” she says. “Everybody likes a good joke.”

Magnotables, which are greeting cards with magnets attached to the front, are about the same size and are sold for the same price of any other greeting card.

“You read a card and then you throw it away, or you feel like you have to keep it around for a while out of guilt,” Renfro says. “But refrigerator magnets are fun — we’re always sticking stuff up on the fridge anyway.”

Renfro, who derives inspiration for her work from her kids and anything funny that is happening in her life, decided to become a full-time freelance artist in 1989 after her second child was born.

“With the economy the way it is, being consistently busy is probably the biggest challenge to being a freelance artist,” she says. “But I’m proud that I have these wacky ideas and I’m pursuing them.”

The artist’s new greeting card line was the main focus of her booth at this year’s National Stationery Show in New York City.

“It was exhausting and fun and overwhelming,” Renfro says. “I had never been to anything like that before.”

Renfro says that although going to the event representing herself as a salesperson was stressful and out of her comfort zone, she would probably go again next year.

“I was wiped. It was like Art in the Park times 1,000,” she says. “But it was a real learning experience.”

Greg McDonald, owner of Sunrise Garden Center at 15th and New York streets, had already been carrying some of Renfro’s other greeting cards in his store when he started carrying the Magnotables line in April.

“This was something new, and we decided to go with it because her other cards had sold quite well for us,” he says.

While most of Renfro’s clients are local, she has been able to get Magnotables in stores in Virginia and Missouri as well as generate interest with a catalog company in Illinois since she returned from the three-and-a-half-day stationery show in May.

“You just have to network, keep an open mind and be open to doing lots of jobs that will broaden your horizons,” she says.

Renfro says that she hopes to expand her new line by customizing cards for clients and adding boxed sets, invitations and save-the-dates.

“It sounds cheesy, but I like it when I see someone looking through my stuff and they see something they like and they laugh or smile,” she says.