Pattie Jansen

I made my first official greeting card for my mom on her 40th birthday, when I was eight years old. I had received a few birthday cards myself by then and some excitedly proclaimed my age with titles like "Happy Birthday, 8-Year-Old!" I thought this format must be the gold standard for birthday cards and so my mom received a card on which I carefully hand-lettered "Happy Birthday, 40-Year-Old!" I do hope that my cards have become a little more tactful since.

Now I am a grown-up greeting card designer (how could I not be after demonstrating such talent at the age of eight?) and live on the coast of northern California on Monterey Bay. I work from my home studio where I create with pens, markers, colored pencils, and a steady infusion of dark roast coffee. I am an ardent and longstanding fan of quotes, and illustrating and artfully arranging them is one of my favorite springboards for card design. All my work is hand-lettered and hand-drawn the “old-school” way, and I will forever and always find great joy in the feel of pen on paper. I have been printing and selling my cards in my online shop since 2011 and am lucky enough to now also license my art for publication with Blue Mountain Arts.