With the start of March, I'm kicking off a new weekly series here on the blog called Top Five where I'll share my top five picks in a particular category. First up: letter/mail trays. Where do you stash letters, cards, and other correspondence? I've been on the hunt for a new letter tray for my office and wanted to share my five favorites!
Wimberley Long Tray from Biscuit
Snail Mail Tray for Kate Spade
Pool Blue Letter Tray from Poppin
Large Linen Gingham Tray from Brookfarm General Store
Yesterday on Instagram I shared a little stop motion video of my favorite personalized stationery designs. Remember, all personalized flat and folded cards are 25% off through March 7! Get more details here.
I love connecting with fans of Happy Cactus Designs across different social media platforms. You'll often find me tweeting small business articles, sharing sneak peeks of new products on Instagram, pinning inspirational images from the world of fashion and design on Pinterest, and offering exclusive promotions just for my Facebook fans.
Hop on over to your favorite channel and follow Happy Cactus Designs on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.
The 25% off sale on personalized social stationery is going strong! You can get all of the details here. I'm often asked which personalized design is most popular. Hands down, the pastel flowers folded cards has been the best seller. It is based off the Thank You Pastel Flowers card (one of our top selling thank you cards).
I love that the name is not directly in the center of the card - it makes it much more subtle. It's also a nice mix of pastel hues, which makes it a great gift if you aren't sure of the recipient's favorite color.
Check out all of our personalized designs in the lookbook and take advantage of the 25% off sale through March 7th!
I loved perusing the new collections for Fall 2014 from New York Fashion Week. One of the biggest trends I saw was bold florals over dark colors. The combination of a deep rosey red or blue on top of black is quite striking. Here are a few favorites.
Monique Lhuillier
Lela Rose
Oscar de la Renta
Naeem Khan
Erin Fetherston
Peter Som
Oscar de la Renta
All images via Style.com
I'm offering a huge discount on personalized social stationery for the first time ever! Get 25% off your order of flat or folded personalized notecards when you place an order by March 7th.
Happy Cactus offers a number of fabulous hand-drawn designs that can be personalized for women, men, and children. We think they make great gifts for brides-to-be, new moms and babies, your own mom (Mother's Day is May 11!), the birthday girl, or your cute niece or nephew!
You can view the entire digital lookbook, get pricing details, and see photos from our gallery of personalized designs here.
Happy Valentine's Day from Happy Cactus Designs! Hope you have sent sweet greetings to the loves of your lives. I certainly love knowing that many people are receiving handwritten cards from their sweethearts.
Over the weekend, I stopped into Juan Pelota, a cafe inside Lance Armstrong's downtown Austin bike shop, for an espresso. As I was waiting for my drink, I noticed this wet floor sign.
This hilarious banana peel wet floor sign provides a serious design upgrade to your standard clapboard sign. I did a little Googling and found the source here. Kudos to Banana Products for their brilliant design!
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.
Design Sponge, one of my favorite daily reads for design inspiration, has a great new series called Veterans and Startups that interviews newbie and veteran makers in the same creative area. Last week, the blog profiled Jonathan Adler as a veteran in the world of ceramics.
In the post, Grace mentions Inspiration Point, Jonathan's new web series on AOL. I checked it out and loved the short videos of Jonathan sharing a behind-the-scenes look at where he finds inspiration for his company and life. He also meets and interviews a number of other creatives in their studios and homes, too, to talk about their creative visions and motivations. See it here.
Where do you turn to for small business news, advice on running a creative enterprise, or the latest trends in social media marketing?
Here's my list of essential reads on all of the above. I highly recommend subscribing to these newsletters and adding these blog feeds to your reader. I take time each day to read posts and watch videos from the sources below. It gives me a moment to pause on whatever I'm working on and think about my business - its past, present, and future.
Small Business Gurus
Especially for Creative Business Owners
News and Insights for Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs
WSJ Journal Report: Small Business
Stay Up to Speed on the World of Social Media