June 22, 2015
As much as I love color, I can't resist classic black and white. Throughout the Happy Cactus Designs stationery collection, you can find black and white in geometric designs and brush floral patterns. Here's a few favorites. You can shop all black and white favorites in the shop here.
Hand-Lettered Thanks Flat Note Card Set
May 28, 2015
Father's Day will be here before you know it (Sunday, June 21 to be exact), so it's time to pick out a card for your dad or a father figure in your life. Here's a round-up of Happy Cactus Designs' Father's Day cards. You can find them all in the shop here.
May 26, 2015
When I first began my company, some of my favorite cards to design were new baby cards. As Happy Cactus has grown, I've also become more attune to market needs. While new baby cards are wonderful to give once a baby has arrived, they aren't quite appropriate for a baby shower celebrating the mother-to-be. With that in mind, I've been so pleased with the reception to my new mom/pregnancy card. They are great to slip in with a shower gift or send to a long-distance friend who has just shared the big news. You can find all of these cards in the online shop!
May 21, 2015
Oftentimes when a friend or family member is going through a tough time I want to send them a card to let them know they are on my mind. Sometimes "thinking of you" can feel a bit formal (although my "thinking of you" lavender card remains a bestseller), so I wanted to design a card in a fresh color palette that was a little more cheery and upbeat. Let me introduce you to the new good vibes card:
Pretty cheerful, right? My other goal with this card was for it to be a bit more general and not just a sympathy or condolence card. Sometimes it's hard to know just what to say when someone is going through a tough time, but jotting a quick note does not go unappreciated. Even a quick "I'm here for you" or "Sorry you are having to go through this" goes a long way. Find the card in the shop here.
October 02, 2014
I can't believe it's already October! I'm in prep mode for the holiday rush that will be here before we know it. But first, Halloween! Here are two Halloween cards that you can find in the shop - one featuring a hand-drawn pattern of bats, the other celebrating the candy goodness that is candy corn.
August 08, 2014
1. A sweet Tory Burch's wristlet featuring an all over botanical pattern.
2. I love the burnished look of this J. Crew wildflower necklace.
3. Fun and funky dahlia earrings from Bauble Bar.
4. Dolce & Gabbana's stunning floral brocade dress.
5. Happy Cactus' Thanks card features layers of hand-drawn floral blooms.
May 19, 2014
Today I wanted to highlight two new designs that share a similar theme: lots and lots of hand-drawn flowers. Believe it or not, the inspiration for these designs was an ornament I created as a fifth grader. I remember creating a design of colorful overlapping flowers using paint pens on a circular metal ornament.
For the birthday card, I developed an unstructured border of irises, hydrangeas, roses, daisies, and other flowers from my imagination. "Happy Birthday" is hand-lettered in a deep blue-purple.
I really liked the finished look of the birthday card and decided to try for a second card with a similar look, this time for a thank you card. The flowers in this design have a more tropical feel and I used a pastel color palette. "Thanks" was hand-lettered with my trusty brush pen.
You can shop both designs here.
March 12, 2014
One of my favorite new cards in the Early Spring collection is the Yippee!!!! card. While many of my designs feature intricate patterns and motifs, sometimes I realize when working out ideas that just one word can make the card. "Yippee!!!!" is hand-lettered in rainbow colors. I think it's a great card for any celebratory occasion! Personally, I've sent it to a friend celebrating a pregnancy and a couple who were recently engaged. Shop it here.
February 25, 2014
February 10, 2014
Every so often, a design idea gets stuck in my head. I sketch the design, lay it out as a card, and then sit on it. That's the case with the Congratulations Banners card. I think I first drew out this design idea over a year ago, and could never pull it together...until now!
It features colorful hand-drawn banners and flags with hand-lettered words. I think it makes a great graduation card, but would be perfect for anyone celebrating a special achievement. Shop it here.
February 04, 2014
When brainstorming card ideas for the early 2014 greeting card release, I was hoping to create cards for categories where I was missing cards. I knew I wanted to design a sympathy card. While the Thinking of You Lavender card is a popular seller, I realized I really need a sympathy card that could be used for a variety of occasions. The So Sorry card fills that gap.
Sending a card to a friend or family member when he or she has suffered a loss or experienced a hard time can be so meaningful to the recipient. I hand-lettered "So Sorry" in a dark navy script and surrounded the lettering with light blue hand-drawn flowers. I think it's always a good idea to have one of these cards on hand so you can send it off to someone in need at a moment's notice. You can find the card in the shop here.
January 15, 2014
I've had this Seth Godin quote scribbled on a sheet of paper and tacked to my bulletin board for awhile now. It's a quote from his Creative Mornings talk in 2013.
In any industry, it's easy to get caught in a trap of envy and anxiety. I feel like I encounter these emotions a lot in the design industry - from myself personally and from speaking with others - wondering how your works stands up against the rest, trying to figure out how some designers seem to have "effortlessly" become successful overnight, thinking about how to stay true to yourself.
It's hard to not compare yourself to others. I attribute a lot of the anxiety designers seem to experience to the constant stream of updates we receive from social media, where we are bombarded by images of others' work and, usually, their "best" selves or top moments.
I particularly like Godin's quote because it serves as an important reminder that nothing happens overnight. That you define your own sense of success. And that, from the outside, you never know the actual story of someone else's "success" (or failure).