The Happy Cactus Blog

Believe it or not, Mother's Day is about a month away. Time sure is flying by this spring! I'm excited to share a few new Mother's Day card designs for 2013. All three cards feature hand-drawn flowers and hand-lettering. 

I discovered La Blogotheque's Take Away Shows and, boy, have they been getting me through a lot of work sessions this week! It's an awesome music video series based in France where musicians perform in unusual places around town. Here's a few favorites.

Fleet Foxes - Blue Ridge Mountains

In six very short weeks I will be headed out the door to fly up to New York for the National Stationery Show. This week I have been working on designing my pre-show mailer (an invitation that goes out to retailers), updating my business cards, and planning out the details of my booth. For the most part, all of my new designs are done which could not make me happier! Below, a sneak peek of some new hand-drawn patterns. And yes, that is gold foil in the bottom right corner! 

Happy April! I can't believe April is already here, which means just a few short weeks until the National Stationery Show. Today, I'm guest blogging over at the National Stationery Show's official show site. Check it out here! 

A bunny Peep drawing I did earlier this year! Have a great Easter weekend!

I hope you enjoyed last week's first installment of my Creative Soundtrack series. I've been deep into prep for the National Stationery Show and the songs below have helped me get through this week. Have a great weekend!

Before you know it, graduation season will be here - middle and high school, college, advanced degrees - come May there will be a sea of new graduates! I'm excited to share a new graduation card that I added to my collection. While I have a handful of congratulations cards, I wanted one that was specific to graduation. 

It's crunch time here at Happy Cactus Designs with the National Stationery Show coming up in less than two months. I have a number of new products in the works that I can't share here just yet, but I'm very excited about them and hope to be able to show you what they are soon!

Above is a snippet of what life is like these days: tackling an enormous to-do list, figuring out what color my booth walls will be, and sorting through a sea of cards. This year I am moving to a corner booth (#2240) and have been spending hours figuring out its design. This week my focus has been on finalizing my pre-show mailer that will be sent to retail shops, designing the packaging for new products, and figuring out how my products will be displayed in my booth. I can't wait to see how it all comes together!

I'm excited to share that Happy Cactus Designs has two new cards featured in the latest issue of Gift, Gourmet & Decor Magazine. This is a digital magazine offered by the editors of Giftware News, a magazine primarily geared towards gift and stationery shop owners. 

Anyone who knows me knows that I love music. I'm always on the lookout for new musicians to follow and have been putting together an annual "Best Of" mix for friends for over 10 years. As a new feature on the blog, I hope to share some of my new discoveries and old favorites - the tunes I listen to during the day while I'm working in my studio. Without further adieu, my first creative soundtrack!

As my business grows, I'm always considering new ways to tell my brand's story and evolution. One of the best brand stories I have recently come across is this stop-motion animated video from the wonderful design/fabric company Skinny laMinx. It is so great! It also goes to show you don't need a huge marketing budget, voiceovers, or crazy movie making skills to make a fun video that honestly represents what your brand is about. 

I filed the paperwork to trademark Happy Cactus Designs nearly a year ago. The official documents finally arrived last week! Happy Cactus Designs is officially trademarked!