Tangible goodness

In today's techie world, we see beautiful imagery in the swipe of a finger multiple times a day. Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, Google images flood us with visual stimulation though not all good, but that's left to your opinion. I love that our world has opened up like this. In my lifetime (only 35 years), I've gone from learning by story from books or photos from family and friends to seeing photos from people across the world in a matter of seconds. So many different perspectives, so much beauty.  In our house it comes to us on a shiny screen, usually an iPad. We are holding in our hands this mini computer and looking into someone else's world. It's so easy to forget these are tangible things. The time it takes to hand make something, the textiles in our small world, the soft sponge, our toes on the hardwood floor, the physical act of stirring, rolling out, and cutting cookies. I am going to try to be more mindful of this in the New Year. I got into making cards and invitations because I love receiving them. I love the smell of paper and ink and holding it in my hand. I keep almost every card I've been given. I'm trying to downsize, but I just can't part with some of them... especially those with handwritten notes from loved ones no longer with us. I don't care if I move a box around filled with these type of things for the rest of my life. I can get them out, hold them, read them, and put them back. I find great joy in it.

I try to think up sensory play for Aria which usually causes a huge mess but that's Ok. She needs to gets her hands dirty instead of always swiping her tiny little fingers across a shiny screen. My dad took the time to make a beautiful kitchen for Aria for Christmas. Every time we play with it together, I see how much joy it brings us both. The hours of work my Dad put into it are not lost on me. There was always a project going on in the house and we learned by helping. I hope Aria learns this way too. She likes to help me print by pulling down the lever of the press. I usually give her a print and she'll crumble the paper or just run it through her fingers.

As a consumer, I try to look for things that are hand crafted and made by a person instead of a machine. Not everything obviously, there are a few things that are made better by machine. We should appreciate the time and energy put into items that were created by a person. This is one of the many reasons I LOVE Etsy. It's really easy to find unique hand crafted beauties. 

 Thank you for all the wonderful support for my handmade business. hyc Creative had a great 2013 and I'm looking forward to a more creative 2014! So, Create On friends. I want appreciate your work too!

Create, Create, Create

For most of the Spring and Summer I've been working on a freelance job. It's been a godsend financially, but hasn't allowed much time to spend on hyc Creative creations. The work has slowed tremendously in the last few weeks and I have been itching to Create.  Working on a book design for my talented sister, a logo for my husband's new venture, and a new logo design for Celine's dolls.  So excited to reveal them all soon! We have a lot of creativity coming out of our home. Aria has also started to make crayon drawings that are filling up our fridge.

My little helper while we testing metallic ink on the press.  She likes to pull the handle down herself now. Working those biceps at an early age.

Summer Creations

Summery Orange on the Press

Etsy

Etsy

Etsy

Dads Rock too!

Thanks to my baby's daddy, I was able to make 4 new cards today and a few bookmarks!

This happened as well. Little gamer in training.

Dads don't always get enough credit. I think my dad is pretty much the best dad ever. He cooks, cleans, loves and treats my mother extremely well, loves his children and would drive and has driven miles and miles for them. He always encouraged us to make our own decisions in life and would support them even when they were bad ones. My dad likes to fish and loves his tools. Father's Day cards were usually of that variety. A few years ago (probably 10 now) I bought my dad a card that read "You are Right" in an award format. It's now framed in my parents kitchen. I realized my idea of Father's Day cards was falling a bit short for the masses.  What kind of card am I going to give my husband this year? My husband is very different from my father. He's a gamer, a little bit of a techy geek, music nut, I might even go as far as hipster like.  I've been ordering lots of plates this Spring due to Wedding invitation orders and was able to put together a few new designs. So, In dedication to the two awesome daddy's I know, I made several new cards this year with them in mind.

View on Etsy

View on Etsy

View on Etsy

View on Etsy

These bookmarks were made as gifts for my dear friends that have suffered an incomprehensible loss.
I don't know another way to express how often I think of them and how much I love them, so I print.

I have a few extra that will be for sale maybe at some point.
I do love Mr. Rogers and he speaks so much wisdom. 

Mom's Rock

My little lady helped me print Monday. I'm thankful she was occupied by the press cart, her jumperoo, the Ipad for a while, her music table, a bin of socks... all to print 3 cards.
The pink footprint is back in stock and two new designs are printed. yay! whew. 

3 more colors and a wedding invitation order to print in the next week. 

Check it on Etsy

Check it on Etsy

Spring has Sprung!

One of the first cards I made is still my favorite and I still have a few in stock! Everyone seems to love it, but no one seems to buy it : ) This was a valuable lesson for me. I assume no one knows who to send this card to. I see so many things like this when shopping, especially on Etsy. I think, "I love this! buying it", then I think "for who and when?" Anyway, this card looks festive in the window at The Treehouse right now and it makes people smile and that makes me happy.

With Spring, a few wonderful orders have rolled in too!  I just finished a Telegram wedding invitation for a couple in Mississippi. I like that they chose to use Blue ink instead of the Red I've used before. The wording is cool too for a Dr. Who themed wedding. Aria spent a few really lovely days at my feet busying herself with Altoid tins and pulling up on the cart I keep the press on while I printed.

Then, a fellow in Australia ordered One year birthday invitations. This was a challenge since he needs them by May and Aria and I are heading to Ohio on Tuesday for over a week. I was nervous to say I could do it. In fact, I first said I couldn't, but he agreed to pay the additional shipping charges and I ordered the plate the next day to be overnighted. With the help of my husband watching Aria today, I cranked these lovelies out. They are drying now to ship on Monday.

I love seeing this silhouette in print! I drew it from a profile photo of Aria a few months ago. Most of the the one year designs I recently did were inspired by her as you could assume. We aren't using any for her birthday though. I originally thought we would use butterflies, but her new obsession and her first real word is Duck so back to the drawing board for her birthday :)

Hope the warm weather has found you all and your windows are open!
Create on, my friends!

Pumping out some Hearts

Aria and I spent our Monday printing Valentine's. Aria mostly supervised this time. She now likes to ride in the backpack and touch everything within reach. She definitely contributed to their creation. I left the cutting and gluing work to after she was in bed. 

I've been moving this purple paper and the 5x7 Deckle cards around our apartment for probably 4 years. I needed to find a way to use it or lose it. I also hate throwing away the scraps to this lovely handmade paper. Found a use for both in this years Valentine's. Yay! I also found a few old encyclopedias recently that I wanted to print on. I was hoping to fold and print on the pages, but they are too brittle and break when folded and handled too much. Perfect for these dainty shapes though.  

Spread the Love around this Valentine's Day!! xoxo
See all our Valentine's on Etsy

More photos on Etsy

More photos on Etsy

More photos on Etsy

More photos on Etsy

Packing and Playing

It's cold outside and a lovely evening to stay in to pack stationery orders.
Aria kept me entertained while getting used to her new Johnny jump up.

Goudy Stationery

Ringing in 2013 with lots of Thankfulness

Today the littlest crew member at hyc Creative and I collaborated on Thank You cards for our family. We were showered with lots of amazing gifts for Christmas and thought we'd get our hands dirty to show our gratitude. I thought Aria would really like it since she loves paper and wants to touch everything these days. She did really well, but I don't think she liked getting her hand messy. It took a while to get the black ink off both of us and her nails still look like she's been under the hood of a car all day. We'll do better next time : )

2012 Holiday Cards

I still have so many Santa cards from years past. I thought I'd shake things up a bit with these 2 blue and black cards. I'm pretty happy I was able to use my new jingle bell block. If I have time, I'd love to print a 2012 Santa card as well.  Let the holiday shopping begin!!

on Etsy

on Etsy