Happy Cactus is celebrating its one year anniversary this month and I thought the perfect card of the week this week would be one of the first designs I ever did - the Garden Blues floral patterned note card. Before I ever thought of actually launching a paper goods company, I spent a lot of time doodling and drawing, making cards for friends and family members. A lot of my doodling gravitated to florals. I was thrilled with how this particular design turned out - from the whimsical flowers to the array of blues. It will always be one of my favorites.
Update: This doodle was used on one of our most popular greeting cards, Thinking of You Lavender. Find it in the shop here.
Happy Wednesday! This week, I worked on drawing of a bunch of lavender. I love the crisp and clean smell of lavender.
It reminds me of a trip I took to the south of France a number of years ago and the lavender growing all over Provence. I came across a few pics that helped jog my memory of this beautiful place!
This week's card of the week is our "Thanks a Bunch!" thank you note card. We released this design at the National Stationery Show in May and it instantly became one of our bestsellers.
It's probably one of my favorite designs, too, with its cheerful bouquet of flowers. While many of the thank you notes in the collection are very floral-driven, this card is perhaps the simplest.
You can purchase "Thanks a Bunch!" in our shop as a single card or boxed set of 10 cards!
We're excited to share that iPhone 4 and 4S cases designed by Happy Cactus Designs are now available for purchase on MyCustomCase.com.
Floral Print iPhone 4 or 4S Case
Two awesome things about the case (aside from the cheerful and fun floral print): it comes in different color combos and you can personalize it with a name. There's a number of features for personalizing your case, including changing the font, the background color, and the style.
I had a fun time creating this doodle of little flowers and playing around with some bold color combinations (lemon yellow + purple, brick red + sky blue, magenta + kelly green). When drawing, sometimes I have very particular color combinations in mind and sometimes I have no clue and just see what pops!
For some reason, I've had turquoise on my mind a lot lately. I love the different shades and used this week's doodle to see how they play off one another. What do you think?
I thought I'd pull back the curtain a bit and give you a peek inside my creative process. Each of the cards you see in the shop is originally drawn by hand - by me! So just how does a design go from an idea in my mind to a sketch to a finished card? Here's a glance at the different steps in my creative process.
Doodling
I find myself doodling a lot. My sketchbooks are filled with random drawings and words. Some go nowhere, some turn into the cards you see for sale on this site, and some I revisit months later with renewed interest. Here's some recent sketches I've done.
Pen to Paper
Usually I'll take a preliminary sketch I've drawn and create something in ink. Sometimes I sketch out the design first in pencil; sometimes I just go for it with ink and hope I don't make a big mistake. Armed with some very fine black ink pens, I'll spend time drawing the motifs or patterns on drawing paper. I'm lucky to have a very steady hand.
Here's the original ink drawings for Thanks Vines, Busy Flowers, and Zinnias. With both of the designs for Busy Flowers and Zinnias, I didn't have a set design in my mind - each piece just grew as I went along.
Clean Up and Color
I scan my artwork and use software on my trusty computer to smooth lines, clean up mistakes, and color the artwork. I love playing around with different color combinations and seeing the different possibilities.
The End Result
The final products printed, scored, and ready to be sold!
