Blog — "cards"

With a large amount of time available to really sit down and think through my designs, I have been able to be much more productive. I feel as though the quality of each design is getting better, leaving me wondering whether or not to do a complete overhaul of my shop. There are many designs that I am phasing out and replacing with some fresher items. This change is good, I think.
While I love these new items, I still feel as though a cohesive nature of my shop doesn't really exist. I tend to jump around from one thing to the next. I am inspired by so much that I have a hard time sticking to just one concept as a base in my design. Sometimes I wonder if this is a bad thing, but at other times I think it's good because I'm able to offer a variety of products to you all.

If you own a small design business, do you struggle with creating a cohesive feeling within your product line? And to those who are just customers, do you like having a variety of design styles to choose from?

If you're following me on Instagram or Facebook, then you'll already know just how obsessed I am with a new line of cards that I've been working on and slowly releasing in the shop. Inspired by a few conversations about geometric patterns with my friend Kristen, I decided to play with triangles in bold colors. This isn't the first time I've used this concept and you can see my first take on triangles and stationery here. But I wanted to try something that had even more of a pop. The result is a line of thank you and hello note cards in three different color schemes that will all soon be available in both single greeting cards and sets of four with accented solid colored cards. Each card has been paired with 100% recycled Speckletone Kraft envelopes from French Paper Co.-- my favorite! The quality of these cards as a whole does not get any better.

These cards are currently already in the shop with the rest to soon follow. I love how each color schemed turned out, and I continue to indecisively move from one to the other as my favorite. It is an amazing feeling to have something turn out just as you had envisioned in your head, and this is truly one of those types of projects.

What do you think of the new line? Are you obsessed with the current fad of bold colored and modern triangles like me?

Last week I finally had some time to sit down and just draw. I felt as though I hadn't been able to do that for years. I know that's an exaggeration, but I really hadn't had much time to do anything related to design. I sort of felt as though I was finally getting back to my roots. It was like I was that four year old girl again with a brand new set of markers she got for Christmas, getting busted by her mom at 4am after she was so excited to use them she decided to climb out of bed, turn the bedroom light on, and start drawing.

Never underestimate the exhilaration a stack of blank paper and a drawing pen can generate.

On the other hand, drawing is also relaxing. That pen and paper gave me a chance to forget about my school day and do something that had no rules. After being in an institutional environment for a long week, something about playing outside those bounds is freeing.

I took all of my doodles and used them for several new card designs. Here are the end results.


I love how the baby bump cards turned out-- super simple and fun! Which is your favorite?

In other news, I'm going to try blogging more regularly again. Jenni came up with these fantastic blog post ideas for the month of May that are quite inspiring. I may not be able to follow along for the whole month, but I'm going to try!

If blogger was my first job description, I would suck at life. I took some advice Gina gave me to heart recently when I realized how tired I was. I cut out blogging. The reality of the situation is that I haven't stopped in the past several weeks. Last weekend was chaotic with little sleep as I took part in my first large craft show. This past weekend my best friend from college was in town not to mention about five million other things that were going on all in one weekend. Needless to say, something had to go. Blogging was the easiest thing to take out of the equation. I still will probably not be back here on my blog as regularly as I had been until the school year comes to a close.

This weekend I got to really see how all of my hard work paid off! Urban Outfitters finally listed my card on their website.

In addition, after taking in an Orioles game with friends on Sunday afternoon, we stopped in at the Urban Outfitters in the Inner Harbor and got to see the card in their store in person!
Definitely exciting! Also exciting? The taco print is now in the shop. Booya!
Also, for those of you that love this Mother's Day card,
but wished that it was a Father's Day card, your wish has come true.
You're welcome. Now, how have you all been? I feel as though I am out of the loop!

I've been a little out of the loop these days. If you may have had any interaction with me in the last few days, I was probably pulling my hair out or being a major stress case. There is a reason for that, my friends. I didn't want to spill the beans until I knew without a doubt that this was for real-- until someone pinched me and told me I wasn't dreaming. I'm rather superstitious and I worry about jinxing things.

Over these past few days, I've been putting the finishing touches on a ginormous wholesale order for Urban Outfitters! Probably about a month ago, Urban Outfitters got in touch with me and wanted some samples of my cards. They decided on my most popular Father's Day card, and over the next couple weeks I got my supplies in order and started cutting, printing, scoring, folding, and packaging cards. To be honest, I'm not really sure how I got it all done considering the amount of time I couldn't work because I was teaching during the day. And to be honest, hand-scoring over a thousand cards rips your hand to shreds! (Time to reconsider how I do things if there is a next time around).


Either way, the cards will soon be making an appearance in Urban Outfitters stores across the country. Send me a little Instagram (@heidishenk) if you happen to spot one in your local store! It would totally make my day! I know I'll be stalking the two stores in the Baltimore area. One of the Baltimore stores is near Andrew's architecture firm. I think I'll be making him check in on his lunches and be my personal card stalker..... he doesn't know this yet so don't tell. ;)

I'm feeling really lucky these days. I'm incredibly thankful for all of the support that you all have given me. Many evenings, late nights, and weekends of hard work have gone into my business after I come home from an already intense teaching job. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have made it as far as I have without all of the support. So, thank you, thank you, and thank you!