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LAKEWOOD, Ohio — After a lawyer helped her with some legal work for her team-building business, Lynne Nagy sent along a thank-you note. Always creative, Nagy wrote the message on a ball and mailed it — without a box. It was delivered, the lawyer was thrilled and a new company, zendot3d, was born.

On a mission to make greeting cards obsolete, Nagy, who lives in Lakewood, lets customers send their personal messages on a whole mess of cool stuff, including beach balls, inflatable snakes and giant blowfish. Prices start around $5 and all are sent without boxes. Between trips to the post office, Nagy answered some questions from PDQ's John Campanelli.

Q: What do people say when they find out that you send things like giant plastic ears in the mail?

A: They say, "Oh, you can't do that. You need to put that in a box.'' No, that's the beauty of it. Your giant ear travels as is.

Q: Why would someone want to send a giant plastic ear?

A: My thought was, "I love you van Gogh style.'' And that if somebody were to get the ear, the relationship may or may not last, but that ear is going to be remembered. You don't often get a 24-inch plastic ear in the mail.

Q: What do the folks in the post office say when you walk in with all this stuff?

A: It's fun for everybody who encounters them. The postal people get all pumped. It just makes everyone's day. ... I know them and they know me so we have a really good relationship.

Q: Won't a beach ball roll away from a mailbox or an inflatable whale get carried off by the wind?

A: I have a special attachment that I put on the items, just in case. It helps the postal people out. In case somebody isn't home, they can wrap it around the door and protect it.

Q: Biggest ball that you'll ship?

A: There isn't a limit.

Q: Who's your typical customer?

A: It's pretty much across the board. I've had older people, younger people, people trying to get dates. Basically anybody who wants to communicate in a creative way. Our whole tag is that "you've evolved from greeting cards.''

Q: What's your favorite item?

A: The Casanova action figure is quite fun. I just sent that out to a woman. It was her 60th birthday. Her friends bought it for her. They believed that was the perfect man.

Q: You also send a giant inflatable microphone stand, right?

A: It's 42 inches. It's amazing. Because when I take that into the post office, everybody has to play with it — it's like, "Testing, testing.'' I had a client send that to one of her girlfriends who turned 21 who's a hairstylist and also a singer. ... It appeared at the salon and apparently the postal person came in serenading her.

Q: Do people use your items to break up?

A: That's a minority. It's more about hookups, I think — the cell phones, the Chinese takeout container. It's an easy and clever way to ask somebody out.

Q: What's the message when you mail a 36-inch, inflatable cell phone to someone?

A: That giant one is hysterical because it truly does look like a flotation device. ... I had a mother send it to her daughter in college. You know, "Give me a call.''

Q: What about a pair of underwear with a 100-inch waist?

A: You can fit four people in those pants. I had a software company that purchased them and the message was, "You should see our back end.''

Q: How often are things lost in the mail?

A: I have had to put a trace on only two things, and both were recovered.

Q: Do you give the postal people a nice tip around the holidays?

A: Oh, yeah. I know what they like.

Q: All fun aside, do these items serve a greater purpose?

A: We're all about play and fun and bringing that notion back. Because it seems like we get so tied up in the stresses of life that this is just a way to kind of unleash and do things in a different way. ... It's all about communication and love and helping people make connections and help them say what they want to say.

Q: When's the last time you sent a greeting card?

A: You know what? It's a distant memory.

(John Campanelli is a reporter for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. He can be contacted at jcampanelli(at)plaind.com.)