HOT TIPS : WHEN YOU CARE ENOUGH TO LASE ...

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

There was a time when greeting cards were but a piece of heavy paper folded in half, with a few syrupy lines of poetry printed inside.

But this is 1999. And Hallmark has a new idea with holes all over it - literally. Using laser light, a team of 14 artists and writers have created an entire line of 84 Laser Gallery cards.

The intricate designs come in the form of a traditional greeting card, but there are also several intended to be used by the recipient for display, including large sculptures, mini-sculptures and framed art.

The best part of the collection: their prices. Until now, the technology behind laser-cut cards made the process expensive. But Hallmark has secured the use of a proprietary laser-cutting machine that opens doors to new detail and card formats and sizes. The result: these cards range from just $1.95 to $4.95, rivaling even dime-store prices. Happy new year.

Computer countdown: Need a regular reminder of how many days remain until the year 2000? The Millennium 2000 Screen Saver will do it in style, with full-color, millennium-inspired images and a daily millennium-related factoid. The screen saver retails for $19.95 and is available at Borders Books and J.C. Penney stores. You also can mail-order it by calling [phone] or through http://www.countdownclock.com/ on the Web.

DK Baby: Donna Karan, a baby boomer in good standing (she turned 50 in October), has a new baby. The designer said she gave birth, so to speak, to a new infants and toddlers line because ``everyone around me is having babies.'' The clothes, showing up in stores beginning this month, will reflect what the designer calls ``the aesthetics of the parents - nothing fussy, nothing cutesy.''

Although the line is not meant to be a downsized version of DKNY clothes, the look is definitely urban, featuring sweat-shirt dresses, jumpsuits emblazoned with the Statue of Liberty, hooded nylon athletic jackets, drawstring pants and shorts, jeans and jean jackets, oxford-cloth diaper covers and T-shirt dresses. The most expensive item is a washable silk dress at $60.

The line, which will carry a ``dkny'' logo, all lowercase, is a division of Karan's DKNY Kids collection. A spokeswoman said the most popular items with the stores where the clothes will be sold - Bloomingdale's, Lord & Taylor, Macy's West, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue - are two $40 designs, one a heart-print jumper and the other a dotted peasant dress.

Karan says her muses are her four stepgrandchildren.

Low riders: ``Sensible'' teen-agers. That may sound like an oxymoron, but, in fact, a new American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons survey of 10- to 18-year-old females found that ``sensible shoes'' are now trendy and that high heels are low on their list. Fifty-three percent of girls surveyed wear sneakers or athletic shoes most often, and only 4 percent mostly wear heels.

High-tech table: Designer Marcia Stuermer has created the ultimate computer table - not one of those boring tables to sit your Mac on but a table made of recycled computer components. These hand-poured 18-by-18-by-15-inch tables come in amber or green apple resin tops on brushed aluminum bases. The tables are meant to be used singly as end tables, or grouped to make a coffee-table arrangement.

Stuermer embeds tech fragments in the resin to create her Bits line of tables. She also will work with clients who want custom tables using their own components. Prices start at $400, and tables are available through interior designers, or by contacting Fossil Faux Furniture in San Francisco at [phone] or http://www.fossilfaux.com.

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PHOTO Using laser light, Hallmark artists have created an entire line of 84 Laser Gallery cards. Here, a pearlescent mermaid with flowing hair appears to glide through a soft green seascape of fish and coral.