I don't know about you, but my Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter feeds have been exploding with photos of friends decorating their homes for Christmas. Central to these photos: Christmas lights! Beautifully lit trees and houses were the inspiration for this week's card - Merry Christmas Lights - which has quickly become one of our best-selling holiday cards.
My goal for this card was to create a fun, festive, and colorful design that captures the holiday spirit.
You can pick up boxed sets of Merry Christmas Lights here. With Christmas only 3 weeks away it's time to get busy sending out holiday cards!
Happy Cactus is excited to take part in the Dallas Flea tomorrow, December 1, from 9:00am to 1:00pm at the South Side on Lamar in downtown Dallas.
After I did the Flea for the first time in September, I had such a great time I was eager to participate in their holiday Flea! We'll have plenty of Christmas and Hanukkah cards on hand, as well as tons of sticker gift tags and other fun stocking stuffers. There are tons of other wonderful local vendors there and it's a great place to get a lot of holiday shopping done. Hope to see you there!
I've written in the past about the steps I took to get a website domain and build an e-commerce site for Happy Cactus Designs. An equally important step I took was to sign up for a email address using my own domain. In my opinion, having an address such as you@yourcompany.com looks a lot more professional and established that yourcompany@gmail.com or using a personal email address. If you want your business to be taken seriously, look like a serious business.
While there are many solutions out there, I chose to use Google Apps for Business, a "cloud-based productivity suite." I already had Gmail for my personal email and previously used Google Apps for Business in two other work environments and knew it would best suit my needs for Happy Cactus. While the suite isn't free, it's worth shelling out a few bucks each month for the convenience it provides me.
One of the biggest perks about Google Apps is that everything is based in the cloud so I can access my email, documents, calendar, etc. from any device and any location. This also gives me a little more piece of mind - If my computer crashes or gets stolen, what would happen to all of my correspondence and files? I like knowing that all of my emails and important documents will still be there. I also like being able to tag and categorize emails by topics like clients, vendors, shows, and bills and easily search for a specific email (I probably do this at least three times a day).
What tips do you have for finding the right email solution for your small business?
Apologies for the silence on the blog...Happy Cactus has been very busy fulfilling holiday orders and getting ready for the Dallas Flea, held this Saturday (December 1) at the South Side on Lamar in downtown Dallas! I'm planning holiday doodles for the month of December. Here's the first in the series!
Over the past month I have been fortunate to have many of my holiday cards featured in some amazing publications and blogs. I am so thankful to have my work reach wider audiences through these outlets and am grateful to the respective editors for including me! Here are some highlights...
My Rainbow Dots Tree card was featured in Discover Paper's holiday gift guide (page 45). This digital guide is so well curated and full of fun paper-related DIYs. You must check it out!
Stationery Trends Magazine included my Hanukkah card in the "Fresh Picks" section of their monthly e-newsletter, Trend E-News.
The always amazing Oh So Beautiful Paper included many Happy Cactus holiday cards in their holiday card gallery, Hanukkah card gallery, and holiday card round up. It's an honor to be included amongst so many talented designers that I admire!
The week of Thanksgiving is upon us! Time to prepare for feasting and family! This week's card is a Thanksgiving card I designed featuring hand lettering and an illustration of autumnal vines.
I used a color palette of warm fall colors including mustard yellow, deep blue, firey orange, turquoise, and bold pink.
One of my favorite parts about the holiday season is sending out holiday cards and receiving cards from friends and family. It is one of those times you are delighted by the mail that comes each day - fun cards to open amidst bills and catalogs! The Happy Cactus 2012 holiday collection was released earlier this month and I've been thrilled to see the warm response to the collection so far!
Pictured above, two of this season's best-sellers: Merry Christmas Rainbow Dots and Merry Christmas Lights. Like all other Happy Cactus cards, these designs are original hand-drawn illustrations. Below, Doodle Christmas Tree and Noel cards.
This year, I launched gift tag stickers. I had many people request sticker tags because they make the hustle and bustle of wrapping tons of holiday gifts so much easier! Any design can be personalized with a custom message. Check out the tag page to read more details and to see the variety of styles I'm offering!
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'm very excited about this year's collection of gift tag stickers. Last year, I offered flat gift enclosure cards that were a huge hit. Based on customer feedback, this year I'm offering gift tag stickers. Each sticker tag measures 2" x 3.5" (the size of a standard business card). The tags are printed on uncoated paper, making it easy to write on with any type of pen or marker. They are sold in quantities of 24 and arrive on sheets so you don't have to worry about a messy stack of tags while you are busy wrapping.
To order, please visit the holiday tag page for more details and pricing. The tags can be customized with any message you want! Order for yourself or they also make the perfect gift for friends, family, neighbors, and teachers.
Check out the fun and festive tag styles below!
