I'm leaving for the National Stationery Show in a few short days, and I can't wait to share my new products with retailers attending the show! Here's a behind-the-scenes look at my pre-show mailer that I recently sent out to stores. It's customary to send invitations to retailers inviting them to visit your booth at the National Stationery Show. This year, I did a 5"x7" flat card using a design based off my new Emerald Flowers patterned card (debuting at the show).
The front of the card had pertinent information about my booth and new product releases, while the back was covered in the hand-drawn floral vines. The white against the emerald green color really pops!
I decided to use a kraft envelope and wanted to use white ink for the address. One of my favorite parts of the mailer is the floral oval stamp on the front of the envelope that I wrote each retailer's address inside. I had a stamp made based on an original drawing that matched the card's floral vines, then I stamped each envelope using white ink. I used a white gel ink pen (my new obsession) to hand-address each card.
Finally, I choose the USPS's brand new vintage seed packet stamps. I absolutely adore these stamps and loved the bold flowers against the brown kraft!
I hope retailers enjoyed receiving these invitations as much as I enjoyed putting them together. See you at Booth 2240 in New York!
Easter comes early this year (March 31) and I'm excited to share two new Easter cards I've designed.
The design for the Happy Easter card first popped into my head back in November. The idea came from memories of a large Easter egg hunt my family threw every year at my grandmother's house when I was little. Colorful hand drawn decorative eggs and little bunnies peek behind grass.
The second card is a cross made up of tiny hand drawn flowers and vines set against a pale minty green background. While appropriate for Easter, it can also be used for baptisms, confirmations, and other religious occasions.
I'm getting back to my roots with this week's doodle - big, bold blooms. I was reminded of Mexican tissue paper flowers when I started creating this design - oversized flowers in bright colors. To me, it's nothing but cheerful! Happy Wednesday!
After a brief hiatus (things have been busy around here!), the card of the week series is back! The Budding Pinks patterned note card was one of the first cards from my earliest collection. It started as a single motif based on an Indian flower design I came across.
I love the lines and sense of motion that the pattern creates. It's the perfect card for a thank you note or any occasion.
I recently blogged about how any pattern on the site can be used to create personalized stationery. Since that post, I've created more designs and wanted to share the finalized products with you!
First up, a fun folded card featuring hand drawn flower doodles in rainbow hues. This design can be customized with different colors. Want the doodles in shades of pink? Totally doable!
I'm really excited about this next card. It's a flat card with the name on the front and then hand drawn dots in shades of pink filling the back. Again, it's possible to do the dots in any color you desire!
The popular Magenta Spin flower pattern was used for the back of this next card.
Personalized stationery makes a perfect birthday, baby, or holiday gift. Check out more of the designs in our custom portfolio. Contact us at hello{at}happycactusdesigns.com about how we can help to create beautiful stationery for you!
This week's card of the week is one of the cards from our very first collection - Happy Birthday Blue Blooms.
This birthday card features a hand drawn floral motif in a repeat pattern. The original motif drawing is below:
I chose various shades of blue for the flowers and a playful font perfect for sending birthday wishes. You can pick it up in the shop here.
I was going through archives of scanned drawings and came across these different flower drawings that I did many months ago. I never ended up doing anything with them! So this week I took these drawings and used them to play around with different color combos. I'm always searching for unique combinations, some more out of the ordinary than others. I keep a Pinterest board of different color combos that I can refer to in times like these.
Turquoisey Blue and Chartreuse
Deep Turquoise and Shades of Red
Pastel Pink and Indigo
Shades of Green
Do you have your hands on a new iPhone 5? I'm crossing my fingers mine arrives soon...my poor iPhone 3 is on its last legs, but keeps on trucking. Earlier this year, I shared that an iPhone case I designed was available for sale. I'm happy to share that the same company is now offering the Happy Cactus designed case for an iPhone 5!
It comes in many different color combos and you can choose everything about the personalization - from font and orientation to background colors and flower colors. Shop it here!
This week's card, Thank You Zinnias, features a detailed hand drawn design of tiny buds reminiscent of zinnias with "Thank You" in turquoise green. All of the tiny "petals" were meticulously hand-drawn by yours truly. The inspiration for this design came from memories of the zinnias that my grandmother planted outside her house annually. The huge blooms would line the fence along the edge of her property and people passing by would always stop to admire the gorgeous flowers. It took a lot of patience to work on this piece, but I was so happy with the outcome.
A client recently asked to use this design for personalized note cards. Did you know any pattern you see on this site can be customized? I love how they turned out!
