The Mom Crowd

Sponsor Saturdays is a new feature on The Mom Crowd. Each Saturday we will be highlighting one of our six sponsors.

*** Keep reading all the way to the end to find out how you can win a personalized nursery art canvas signed by the artist! ***

Cathy Heck Nursery Art is one of our newest sponsors on The Mom Crowd.  This online store is like an art gallery for the nursery.  Cathy Heck is a mom to three lovely girls, wife to a school administrator and full-time illustrator.  Cathy has been creating products for the juvenile industry for twenty years–in fact, over two million babies own a Cathy Heck baby book!  Cathy has just introduced her new interactive online shop, where you can personalize nursery art using Cathy’s cuddly characters, as well as purchase limited edition prints from her most requested collections. I had a wonderful chance to interview Cathy this week about what inspires her art and her new online store!

Amanda: You have been an illustrator for many years. What inspired you to open your own store online?
Cathy: Until now, my artwork has always been licensed to other companies which manufacture all kinds of products from baby books to bedding. But, I have never actually sold any of those products myself.

Well, a couple of summers ago, my daughter, Ellen, was working for me while she was in college, and we were adapting our Zoophabet® collection, which is a group of cuddly critters and their matching alphabet letters, for scrapbooking kits.  Just for fun, we printed them on square pieces of canvas spelling out names of babies we knew.  We were able to mix and match the letters with many different characters and borders, because I had created lots of artwork to fill the pages of the baby books.  We thought, “Wouldn’t it be fun for parents to create their own customized canvases by combining all of our art pieces to coordinate with their nurseries?”  And, since technology was catching up to our idea, we gave it a try. It has taken a couple of years to create the kind of interactive site that allows the parents to see the art as they create it, but that just gave us more time to add more collections.

The best part is that we can make the canvases right here in our own studio, and ship directly to the new baby.  It’s like sending out little presents all the time!

A:  Where do you find your inspiration for your nursery art?
C: Everywhere!  My nursery art is usually a blend of fun characters and an exciting color theme.  Sometimes I start with a character, and sometimes I start with a group of colors. For example, this summer, I had a fun vacation to San Francisco and went to the Farmer’s Market at the Ferry Building.  There were some buckets of super-sized hydrangeas there in every shade of pink and lavender that you can imagine.  I will definitely store that set of colors away for a new all-girl collection!  For my characters, I usually work from photographs of real animals, and I draw them and redraw them until they are ready for a baby to hug!  Sometimes, I am inspired by a personality, like that of our new puppy, for example.  He is a rescue pup, and, frankly, he is a little goofy-looking (but we adore him all the same) … and I am certain he will end up starring somewhere in my work!

A:  What has been your favorite project? Why?
C: This sounds like a non-answer … but every new project is a favorite project. There is just something exhilirating about starting something new … when I pull out a fresh piece of blank paper, the possibilities are endless and I just can’t wait to get started!

A:  The personalized art on your site is very unique. Can you tell me more about the personalization feature?
C: It’s just plain ol’ fun!  You can personalize in many different ways, but my favorite is to spell out the name of the child with different canvases.  We designed the site so that you can see how it will look instantly.  Another great aspect of some of the collections is that you can choose from lots of characters and several borders so that you can make each canvas exactly as you want. It’s also entertaining to let the big sister or big brother help create the new baby’s first artwork.  And it’s easy enough to let a child create his or her own. In fact, recently, we received an order for a name created by a precious 4-year old for her new big-girl princess room!

A:  I noticed that your daughter, Ellen, works closely with you in your company. How do you like working with your daughter?
C: I LOVE working with Ellen.  In a way, I have been working with Ellen ever since she could hold a pencil!  In fact, all of our girls have always had a place to create in the studio.  And, they have all three helped with the many tasks that go along with having a studio, some of which, are not quite as exciting as a new drawing!  But, happily, Ellen decided that the world of art was still a great one, and after she graduated from the Chicago Art Institute, she continued working in the studio, just like she did when she was three, only her drawing skills are a bit improved!!

A:   Finally, since you are a mom, what advice would you give to new mothers?
C: Read together and hug often!

*** Win one 12″ x 12″ Inscription Nursery Art Canvas signed by the artist! (Pictured below) We have a winner!

Here is how to enter:

• Go to the Cathy Heck Nursery Art website, pick your favorite collection, and come back here and write in the comments of this post which is your favorite collection!

A winner will be chosen at random and announced next Saturday on August 22. Good luck!

A special promotion code for the The Mom Crowd readers! Enjoy 25% off your entire purchase before shipping and handling when you shop at cathyhecknurseryart.com. Code: momcrowd89

WINNER: Rachel!