Yesterday morning was totally, completely surreal for me. I got goosebumps when I walked into The Cottage House, an amazing Minneapolis store-within-a-house that holds crazy-popular occasional sales once or twice a month, and I saw this: my own display of greeting cards amid a winter wonderland of home decor. Whoa.
Truth is, I have long fantasized about how fun it would be to make greeting cards. In my 20s, I idolized Mary Engelbriet because she was the only real person I knew of who got to create cards with her art and reflections. And my hubby learned pretty darn quick in our relationship that you do NOT give me a gift without a meaningful card. 🙂 I think a good card can move mountains. It can lift spirits, solidify a bond, show someone they matter.
In September, during an art show I was part of at The Cottage House, I was floored when one of the owners, Ted, asked if I’d be interested in selling a line of cards there…the only cards there. I had two cards available at the time, and wasn’t sure how or when I’d create a line of all-new cards in time for the holidays – but I immediately said YES! I knew it was the kick in the butt I needed to stop dreaming and start doing.
So, fast forward to yesterday. It took time and research and new art, but I did it! I added the new cards to my Etsy shop, but that’s not the same as seeing my cards in full display, all together, in a brick and mortar shop. It was such a thrill to walk through that door yesterday, to see my card display right there in the midst of all that beauty, with customers bustling around. Their current occasional sale had only been open for a day, but two of the card holders were already empty! The staffers said they’d sold a bunch in just one day; one woman bought NINE! My heart almost burst at the news.
And then I turned around to see these two women fawning over the cards. I’m not kidding: they were oohing and ahhing, handing them to each other saying, “Oh, you have to read this one!” Music to my ears; I have done that so many times in card shops with my mom or girlfriends. I couldn’t help myself: I told them I’d made the cards and that it was so amazing to witness them loving thems. One told me she just had to get the Believe card for a relative who had stopped believing in anything…and one for herself because she believes in everything! I swear to you I almost started crying right there in the shop.
I left feeling like the universe had just handed me a snapshot of what’s possible. When I left, my mind was already swirling with new card ideas and a reignited dream of creating cards that move mountains…and sell all over the place.
To celebrate, I’m giving away one of EACH of the cards in my shop, including enclosure cards, plus an eight pack of my postcards. That’s 17 cards!
To enter, just leave a comment: got an idea for another card? got an idea for how I get my cards out into the world? got something nice to say? Great! Just be sure to include your email address – or a link to your site where your contact info can be found. You can earn extra entries for tweets and Facebook “likes” or mentions {but you need to leave a comment letting me know you did so, okay?}.
Contest ends on Monday at midnight CST. Thanks, all, for being part of this little dream come true.
Oh, how fun! My sweet friend Kolleen of HeartWing Sisters won the set of 17 cards. Yay! Thank you all, for entering and for all your kind comments. Great bit love to you all!
