Hello!!!

I'm Joy, the artist behind Sugar Beet Press! I live at the Jersey shore with my family and I make handmade greeting cards.

When I was a child, I made original art birthday cards as gifts for friends and family. As an adult working in animation and illustration I continued this fun gift-giving practice. After a while, my body of greeting card artwork was growing and people started suggesting I start a greeting card company. So in 2004, with the help of my husband, Jonathan, that's what I did. 

All my cards are made with specific people in mind, and as it turns out, my specific people are actually lots of people's specific people. It makes me so happy to hear that a valentine I made for my gator loving son is perfect for a woman who's husband's nickname is "Gator'. Or that a jaguar cub pouncing on a cupcake made for my cat loving daughter would be so popular with other lovers of cat antics. 

This business is a pleasure to me for the connections I make with my customers and the connections I'm hearing they make sending my cards. Snail mail forever!!!

You can find my cards here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SugarBeetPress

Thanks for reading! 

Tiny Mail Adventures #1, Bored Bunny

Bored Bunny starts an epic journey of reconnection! Handmade letters are surprising and thoughtful in a world of quick and vanishing digital messages. Join the Snail Mail Revolution!

 

What To Write in a Greeting Card?

Anything you want!

Words, quotes, songs, doodles, jokes, stickers...the choice is yours! Whatever makes you think of that person, or you think they might like is perfect. 

If you feel uncertain or even a little worried about what to write try to remember that receiving an actual paper letter in the mail is always interesting in and of itself! You can write as little or as much as you want inside and the recipient will still know they matter to you because they have something you actually wrote on with your own hand. It's very special. If you aren't confident expressing yourself in words try to keep it simple. Even a brief "This card made me think of you" is perfect and enough.

Happy correspondences!

Joy

Dove Day, 2014

My Dove Day card

A few years ago my I read my son a book that involved a planet of doves, an asteroid actually, and as he often does he became obsessed with doves for a time. He decided we needed a new holiday, Dove Day, that would have parades, presents and lots of doves. I talked about it with him a lot and we decided we'd try it but didn't pick a day...I figured he'd forget eventually. But this Dove Day plan kept resurfacing every few months and now that he is 7 he pinned me down on a day and remembered it. So on the first Monday in January we celebrated the first annual Dove Day. We kept the festivities kind of simple (no parades) by making cookies:

A Dove Day cookie

And of course, cards!

I made my card for my son on a piece of corrugated cardboard.

I used sharpies and highlighter pens. He liked it :)

My son's card for me. Doves in the sun and in the rain. 

So, a Happy Belated Dove Day to you! I hope you will consider adopting this holiday yourselves as it was quite nice; a day to think of peace and especially... doves.

Here's the book that started this all:  Commander Toad and the Dis-asteroid, by Jane Yolen

                                          

Custom Artwork

Last summer I had the opportunity to create a few commissioned pieces that I wanted to share.


For a friend in California I painted these two dancing animal pictures.

Charleston Koalas

Jitterbug Dachshunds

I also made a snail photographer for a photographer who love love loves snails.

Traveling Snail

And the last one was this image of a flying squirrel for an auntie who's nephew is really into squirrels and planes.

Flying Squirrel

Timeline Card

 I recently had an opportunity to create a unique custom card. This card was given as a retirement gift to a man who had lived a long and varied life. I made a timeline that highlighted some of the pivotal roles and events in his life and folded it accordion style.

The timeline starts in 1948 with his babydom; 1966, high school graduation; 1970's, Navy; 1977, marriage; 1980's, working man; 1990's, growing family; and 2013, retirement surrounded by his wife, kids, and grandkids.

This was a really fun project and it got me thinking about different formats for cards. Folded, this card is 4.25" x 5.5" and extended it is 35" x 5.5".

New Valentines!

Valentines are one of my favorite cards to make. They are fun and sweet and have a rich history of traditional styles to play with when making new designs. I usually like to imagine different kinds of creatures in love. Making these amorous characters come to life is a great pleasure to me. As is giving them to the special people in my life!

Here are a few of my recent Valentine's that I made for my husband, son, and parents. Hope you enjoy them!

Mouse in Love

Alien in Love

Mermaid Valentine

Dinosaurs!

As my son turns 5 this week, I turn to the subject of dinosaurs. This summer I have had a real education in the beasts and it turns out there are quite a few new ones compared to when I was a kid– Einiosaurus, Elasmosaurus, and Giganotosaurus to name a few. After many books, cartoons and conversations about dinosaurs I've spent a little time drawing them as well. Here are a few of my new dino-designs:

Daddy T-Rex biking with his young

Tricerabot, a Cretaceous Flying Machine

Birthday T-Rex

Sugar Beet Press has moved!

After years 7 years in Brooklyn we are now located in my childhood summer home of Ocean City, NJ!

Looking forward to making lots of new art and being inspired by the sea and sand.

Sketches...

When I do sketches for an art director, I have to draw them neatly so someone else will understand what my final intentions are. For my cards however, I am the art director and the drawings themselves tend to be pretty scribbly. I find this very freeing and it is always my starting point for new artwork. They are purely the idea and only to help me start thinking in pictures. As you can see from my examples, my thinking is pretty fuzzy at first, and then gets clarified as the artwork progresses.

Here are a couple of pages from my sketchbook that show my ideas for this years Valentines cards.

After I've made some little drawings I like to make a few written notes about color ideas or drawn details. There are always a few ideas I don't use, but sometimes I do later.

Here are the finished pieces:

Festa Gialla

I have a large collection of handmade postcards, birthday cards and holiday cards that friends have given me over the years. I love getting any sort of card really, but these are extra special to me as they are original artwork. Today I'm going to share the only handmade party invitation I've received: a charming yellow blob creature invites you to the "Festa Gialla", the Yellow Party which happened years ago in my neighbor's apartment in Italy. I love this-- and it was a fun party too!

"Festa Gialla" invite by Eriko Kito

A lovely letter...

While looking through some old correspondences I came across a wonderful letter from a Japanese friend who spoke very little English at the time. I love the little drawings she made to go with her words. It's such a sweet note and I was so happy to receive it. 

National Stationary Show 2011

Yesterday I walked through the National Stationary Show at the Javits Center in NYC. It was really inspiring to see all the great shops and some old friends. As I spoke to exhibitors the feeling seemed to be that it was a little slow traffic-wise, but overall they were making sales and very satisfied. The show is a shadow of it's former self, now sharing the main floor with Surtex when 6 years ago it took up 2 floors entirely on it's own. However exhibitors felt that they were doing better this year than in the past two, so perhaps the smaller show size is working for them.
Here is a photo from the "Paper Runway" exhibit in which artists made various gowns entirely out of paper. Pretty cool!

Mother's Day!

Mother's Day is here and cards are a classic way to tell mom how you feel. Here are a few cards by some craftsmen I admire:

First, a really cute letterpress card by Pup and Pony Press of Long Beach, CA. I just love letterpress and this illustration is a perfect combination of sweetness and sincerity done in a charming retro style.

Next is this Mother's Day gift tag from Hello Clementine of London. This is a digital file you can print out yourself onto cardstock. Love the utilitarian sentimentality.

This pop up Pink Rose card, by Cookie Bits is really great! Paper engineering is so cool!

I also really love this Mommy and Baby Love Birds card by Simply Cute by Karen of Marlborough, Massachusetts. Simply charming!

Happy Mother's Day!

Making cards

Welcome to my blog!


I have always been someone who loves to draw. I started making cards for my loved ones at a young age and have continued to do so over the years. This is still one of my favorite things in life as it involves both drawing and the people I care for most. Recently I started wondering why this is so fascinating to me and why sending cards in the mail seems to persist in the digital age. A blog seems like a perfect place to explore the craft of creating snail mail in all its varied forms. From simple postcards to elaborate wedding invitations, handwritten correspondence remains a source of connection, creativity, and inspiration. 


To start off the blog I have here one of my first cards-- an Easter card from 1981! (I loved horses and tried to draw them whenever possible.)


Did you make cards as a child? Why do you send them today? I'd love to hear your stories.

"Have a happy Easter like these horses!"