Article: 2025 Card Designer Series Roundup
2025 Card Designer Series Roundup
The Card Designer Spotlight is a series featuring independent makers whose greeting cards you can find in Paper Source stores. Meet and be inspired by our 2025 card designers!
Stationery has a special way of connecting us — from a simple note of gratitude to a heartfelt celebration. Our Card Designer Spotlight honors the incredible creators who turn those moments into art. Each designer brings a unique perspective, find all these designers cards in our store!
Sofia rediscovered her love for doodling and transformed her passion project into a thriving business—despite having no prior experience. Her favorite medium is pen and paper!
What is your creative process? "My process is pretty much sketching an idea in pen and paper, erasing it, scanning it into the computer, and adding color in Photoshop. I learned Photoshop through YouTube and it's all I know. It's all I want to know, frankly. I am too intimidated to face Illustrator."
Meghan Hopkins started in her tiny, Brooklyn NY Apartment renting press time at a nearby letterpress studio to a 4,000 square foot warehouse in Worthington, Ohio.
How does you come up with designs? "I basically have about 30 lists on my phone full of random thoughts and ideas that I am constantly adding to, and a couple of times a year I will scroll through these lists and see which ideas float to the top." Check out a letterpress card in the making below!
Meet Vanessa Harnik a generational card maker and business owner of Notes & Queries.
How did Vanessa start her card journey? "The fact is that I grew up making cards from the moment I knew how to draw. It is something that every member of my family has always done from my grandmother to my mother, to my own daughter and my husband. I have always loved paper and art. I still have examples of the greeting cards that I made for my grandmother when I was four years old. In fact, in college, I studied papermaking and book binding. But all of which is to say, I definitely saw this as a personal pursuit only. It wasn’t until my father offered me a job to work at Notes & Queries when I was 24 years old that I thought that I could make a living selecting gorgeous cards designed by really talented creative people to be sold in the U.S."
Introducing Amy Zhang, discover her journey as a Louie Award winner and celebrate her achievements as the founder of a women-owned, family-run, American-made company!
How many Louie Awards have you won? "While it's amazing to win an award, I love that the Greeting Card Association makes the Louie's a celebration of the industry as a whole. The entire process, from submitting designs to the awards ceremony, is easy, accessible, and peer-driven. It's such a cool experience, and truly an honor to be recognized by our industry! Not just that - being part of the Louie Awards has presented really amazing new opportunities for growth, including now having our cards carried in Barnes & Noble and Paper Source"
Meet wife-and-wife duo of Allison and Jamie Nadeau, the talented owners behind INK MEETS PAPER. Discover how they spread love and connection through their beautiful cards - and learn about the thoughtful details that make INK MEETS PAPER the perfect place to find the just-right card for any occasion!
What is your signature envelope? "Our Signature Envelope is one of those special details that really sets us apart. It made its debut at the National Stationery Show in 2013 and is exclusive to INK MEETS PAPER/ Each envelope features printed seams highlighting the classic envelope icon and an interior printed message that reads: Text less. Write more. We want the whole experience, from choosing the card to sealing the envelope, to feel like sending a tiny, thoughtful gift through the mail. (P.S. We're actually giving our Signature Envelope a little refresh this year, and you can see a little peek of what's to come in the photo we shared"
Learn how owner Nicky Burton license, publishes and distributes greeting cards from artists all over the world - bringing unique voices and styles to life and helping everyone find the perfect way to connect!
What does your day to day look like? "Honestly our favorite part is making the decks of new cards ready to send them out to our reps! That is when we see the result of all our work curating the collection. That, and seeing reorders come in from loyal customers year after year, and hearing consumers comment on the cards when we happen to be in a store and overhear them shopping"
Meet mother-daughter duo, Tory & Poppy from Halfpenny Postage. Take a behind the scenes look at how three generations of card makers and designers has made Halfpenny Postage what it is today!
Where do you draw inspiration from? "We always start with our artists. At Halfpenny, we're lucky to collaborate with over forty artists from around the world, licensing and developing designs together. Personally, I draw inspiration from food packaging and mid-century modern typography. My mum often finds hers through travel and literature, and we both share a love for children's book illustrations and vintage postcards. Whenever something catches our eye, like the artwork on a box of chocolates or a particularly clever piece of mail from a brand, we save it and leave it on each other's desk to chat about late."
Learn how Stephanie's love for letterpress sparked in college typography class and flourished into her own business!
What is a fun fact about Dahlia Press? "Not everyone knows this, but Dahlia Press is very much a family business. After I opened our brick-and-mortar location, my older brother George decided he wanted a career change and joined the team. I taught him how to run our vintage presses, and now he's become our master printer, operating our machines in the front studio where customers can watch while they shop."
Meet Emma James, Co-Founder of Antiquaria. What began as a passion project while creating her own wedding invitations has since blossomed into a thriving business of stationery, crafting & more.
How did you start your business? "Antiquaria began in 2010 after Bailey and I collaborated on my own wedding invitations—she did the calligraphy, I designed the suite, and we clicked so seamlessly that we decided to turn our creative chemistry into a business. What started as a shared passion for calligraphy, illustration, and stationery has grown into a full-fledged studio and product line. Bailey brings her incredible talent for calligraphy, lettering and business, while I focus on illustration, pattern design, and art direction. Together, we’ve built a brand rooted in craftsmanship, creativity, and heart"
Meet Lesley Ord & Tracey Wikennheiser. Powerhouse sister duo, 3x Louie Award & Consumer's Choice Award winners from Cardideology. Learn how a non-compete turned a card hobby into a successful stationery business!
Any fun facts? "We actually chose our company logo before we even had a name. We loved the vintage look of the anatomical heart, and the name came later as a play on Cardiology - because really, Cards ARE our ideology. Funny enough, it turned out to be a little prophetic...four years later, we both ended up being diagnosed with heart arrhythmias. Clearly we were destined to be in the heart business one way or another."
Discover card designers on our blog every month and find their cards in store or online at Papersource.com
