The Love, Dani Story
Love, Dani is truly a combination of two of my favorite things on the planet: expressing my creativity through my art and spreading joy, kindness, and positivity through simple acts.
Since 2015, I have been designing products to help others spread kindness, too! My first shop, Big Hugs Little Envelopes, opened in April of that year with a focus on hand-stamped, paper-crafted greeting cards. As you can probably guess from the name, it was centered around the idea that a person can send a "hug" through the mail and brighten someone's day, creating a ripple effect of positivity. Because of the support and encouragement from friends, family, and amazing customers, the product line quickly grew from just greeting cards to shirts, signs, totes, mugs, tumblers, stickers, and more, all individually made in my own home, one at a time, by me!
As a matter of fact, Big Hugs Little Envelopes did so well and had so many products that I found myself spending the majority of my time in the production phase of the process: printing and folding cards, taping images to mugs and heat pressing them... you get the idea. And while I truly love doing that piece, it got to the point where I really couldn't keep up! (I know, good problem to have, right?)
Fast forward to summer 2018. I had been thinking long and hard for a while about how I wanted to focus my business and where I wanted to take it next. I realized quickly that I needed to release some of the tasks to others so that I could spend my time and energy on the pieces that mattered most to me - my art and design. I'd also been developing my craft and honing my style, and so it just seemed natural to make the transition within my business. By partnering with local printers and manufacturers, I am now able to dedicate my time to designing new and improved products, kicking the whole thing up several notches! (It is important to note that, with the addition of manufacturing partners, I am no longer offering one off custom items. I will, however, take on custom design work on a select basis! Click here for more info!)
With a whole new look to my products and a whole new product line, it seemed fitting to change the shop name as well. Because I now design more than just greeting cards (Stay tuned for lots of other fun goodies in the future!), Big Hugs Little Envelopes has evolved into Love, Dani.
The name Love, Dani is quite simple, really. I am a huge fan of happy mail (both sending and receiving), and I always sign my cards and letters with, "Love, Dani" because my messages come straight from my heart. The same is true of all products I design for the shop. They, too, come straight from my heart, right to YOU, with a whole bunch of love and kindness folded right in!
A friend asked me recently where I find my inspiration. In all honesty, I find it in the everyday aspects of life. Nature, books, dreams, family, friends, role models, other artists, television shows... I can find inspiration anywhere! But what keeps me going and inspires me most is all of YOU! When you write to me and tell me how a greeting card you sent made someone cry tears of joy, when you tell me that my art inspired you to make someone else's day, it melts my heart and just reassures me that this is EXACTLY what I am meant to do in my life.
Thank you for joining me on this journey! I'm so very grateful you're here!
Love, Dani