Happy Feature Friday!
This week we are featuring Ava Puckett of Aviate Press, a shop of handmade greeting cards and other goods! You’ll be able to find a card for your sassy, funny or sentimental friend from Aviate Press’ amazing greeting card line. We love how Ava has developed her business and how open she is to trying new designs and different strategies to take Avaite Press to the next level. She’s always pushing the limits of where she can go and others have recognized this as her work has been featured on sites like Buzzfeed! Read on to learn more about Ava’s story.
: Tell us a little about yourself.
: Well, I am an illustrator, small business owner, full time job haver and dog lover. I’m originally from Oklahoma City, but came to Nashville to pursue music at Belmont University. I fell back in love with art and illustration after I graduated. During the day I work at MerchCave managing day to day operations.
: We absolutely love your designs and the products you create for Aviate Press! How did you come up with the brand’s name and decide to create such awesome greeting cards?
: Thank you! I was originally going to name it after myself because I had already established brand awareness as Ava Marie Doodles via Instagram and a blog I used to have, but then I read something by one of my greeting card idols, Emily McDowell – she talked about how she wouldn’t recommend naming your business after yourself for several reasons. After that, it took a few weeks of brainstorming and figuring out what voice I wanted to have in the greeting card world. I landed on Aviate Press because ‘aviate’ has my name ‘ava’ in it (cool) and because I liked the idea of incorporating paper airplanes into the logo, to go with the fact that it is all handmade. Once I came up with the tag line, I knew it was a winner: ‘handmade goods to lift your spirits.’
Today we have the fun, bright work of Margot Tissot who designs just about everything for her brand 
: I’m Margot, I’m a 28 year old graphic/web designer based in Lausanne (Switzerland). Over the years while I practiced graphic design, I developed a passion for illustration and I’m trying to develop my little brand “des sottises” since nearly a year now. Beside this passion for illustration I am fascinated by the whole magical universe (I’m a Harry Potter fan) and I would like to think I’m a sorceress 😀
This week we are featuring artist, Emily Keating Snyder! We love her playful approach to her artwork and how she lets her pieces reflect the imperfections of the human hand. Katie was kind enough to tell us a little more about herself, her artistic journey and her pieces. She also made an awesome video to teach you some of the techniques she uses in her watercolor paintings! You have to check it out, especially if you’ve been wanting to get into watercolors, but haven’t been sure how to approach them. Emily will give you the confidence to give it a try and experiment – what artists do best!
This week we are featuring artist, Sunny Mullarkey! We love her nature inspired work! Each piece has so much life and whimsical detail to it while simultaneously having a symmetry, precision and balance that really captures the very essence of nature and the creatures that inhabit it. Sunny has some awesome advice for all you artists out there, as well as some insight into her own journey as a lifelong creative. To check out more of her work visit the links below and read on to learn more about Sunny Mullarkey Studios!
: I’m an artist and mother of three, living with my amazingly supportive husband, in Greenville, South Carolina. I have always been creative, from loving every colorful crayon, paint and paper I could get my hands on as a kid, to making art as my chosen profession today! I love hiking and strolling through the woods, exploring from the ground to the treetops – in the mountains or along the marshes of the coastline. Having family on these wilderness adventures means so much to me! My dad was in the Navy, so I moved around a lot as a child, until our family settled in Beaufort, South Carolina when I was 12. The lowcountry is magnificent, and I was very lucky to grow up in such a beautiful part of our world. I attended the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts for Visual Art, and went to Anderson University and the University of South Carolina for college, getting to explore so many mediums and art forms. I love listening to audiobooks, podcasts and lots and lots of music while in the studio!
Happy Feature Friday!
: Hi! My name is Sahar. I work full-time at an advertising & marketing agency based in the Washington, DC area, but I’ve been an artist my entire life. I started taking art classes at the age of 6, and studied Studio Art (with Painting & Photography concentrations) at the University of Maryland, College Park. #GoTerps!
Today’s feature is probably unlike anything you’ve ever seen before! We were truly astounded when we saw the incredible portraits by 
: I am a British Artist who has lived in Australia for the last 6 years with my Aussie husband. I currently live in Melbourne where I have a little studio for some very large artworks. I work part time in an Art Gallery alongside my own creative practice. I’m obsessed with painting faces, hanging eclectic figurative artworks around my house in gaudy gold frames, playful folky illustrations and music, candles that smell like cookies, floral dresses, and my dog Fox.
We are so excited about today’s feature because we are all about makers that use their artwork to brighten other’s days! That’s exactly what Kristina, the creator behind 
: Hello! My name is Kristina and I’m a 31 year old artist who was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. I grew up alongside my younger brother (the coolest guy I know) in a cute yellow house in East Hollywood where we were raised by my mother and aunt. For years, I thought I would be a studio musician, a piano accompanist, or a songwriter but life had other plans and I eventually found my way to design. After a year in a masters art program for Web Design and New Media, I was hired as a full-time designer at a studio in the San Francisco Bay Area and I never looked back. Now, I’m based out of Los Angeles where by day, I am a freelance UX / UI designer, which is just a mega fancy way of saying I do front-end design for applications on mobile devices and the web. On early mornings, nights & weekends, I work on Cheery Human Studios. When I’m not working, I love visiting the Wizarding World and Disneyland with my boyfriend, chilling with my cat Mochi, and spending time with my best friends and family.
Today we’re talking to the creator behind 
: Hi! I’m a 27 year old artist living in New Hampshire with my boyfriend. I’ve spent most of my life in New Hampshire, but I moved to Portsmouth in 2013, about a year after graduating from college. Portsmouth is a beautiful little city on the coast, and I absolutely love it. When I’m not inside making art, I like to explore the coast and be by the ocean. I like pretty much all things seafood, so I spend a fair amount of time eating as well!
It’s officially wedding season, so there’s no better time for today’s feature with Doris Wai of 
: Hi! My name is Doris Wai and I am a happily married hand letterer and a mom to a wonderful little girl named Melody. I graduated in illustration design from the OCAD University in Toronto but what I realized was that I loved drawing most was letters and type. This passion of mine led me to starting my own business catering to clients in the wedding and event industry, catalogues and print, logo design and currently writing a book about what and how I create my pieces.
This week we are featuring Hollie Graze of Mollycat Mosaics! Her mosaic pieces range from small accent decor to large artwork that’s bound to be the focal point of the room! Although many of us have seen a mosaic in our life or remember pasting little pieces of tile on a popsicle stick frame, there are so many factors that can make working with this medium a challenge. Hollie has definitely risen to meet that challenge and we love how her 
: What makes me, me? hmmm. I like new projects, the ideas and planning and problem solving are invigorating. I love my balcony and watching birds. I trained my cat to sit and do paw. I have not figured out how to make him not meow for food at 
Castle Foundations 