Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Caitlin Baumberger. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Caitlin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m Caitlin, founder and artist behind Happy Tines, a design shop studio where my mission is to create joyful designs and products that help you love on your people. My style is defined by my whimsical hand-drawn illustrations, hand-lettering details, and use of bright and happy colors.

I first discovered my love of lettering and illustration while designing wedding invitations and illustrating custom wedding maps for my friends. Since then, my artistic style has evolved and can be found on stationery and gift products sold in my online shop and retail shops nationwide. I live in Apex, North Carolina with my husband, Ben, and our two young sons, Wesley and Wyatt.

The word “tines” is a calligraphy term that references the two points that come together at the tip of a calligraphy nib! I use a mixture of modern calligraphy, gouache paintings and digital illustration in my artwork.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I started my business back in 2016 creating mostly custom wedding stationery and illustrated wedding maps. It was such a joy to create such personalized artwork for others, but it was also very time-consuming work which led to burnout. I had my first baby in 2017 and that’s when I realized that I needed to make a change in my business because I didn’t have as much time to devote to the custom projects. I decided to focus more on the product-side of my business so I designed a line of greeting cards, art prints and notepads and started to sell them wholesale. With this new avenue in my business, I was able to limit the amount of custom projects I took on which helped create a better balance for me and my growing family.

We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.

Before I started my small business, I was working as a full-time corporate graphic designer. I had years of experience working directly with print companies communicating with print vendors, obtaining estimates, designing for print production and creating print-ready files. That knowledge helped me tremendously as I started designing my own wedding invitations and eventually creating my own line of greeting cards.

My advice to anyone starting out with a new print manufacturer is to order samples first. Oftentimes print companies will offer a paper sample pack so you can see the different papers in real life before buying. I have a drawer in my studio dedicated to paper samples from different companies that I can compare. I’ve learned that the cheapest manufacturer is not always the best fit. The things that I take into consideration when working with a print vendor are pricing, ease of use when ordering on their website, turnaround time, shipping cost, customer service and print quality. All of these factors play a role in determining whether that print company is the right fit. It may take some trial and error, so be patient and try to give yourself some extra time to work with in the production process.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.happytines.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/happytines

Image Credits
Madalyn Yates Photography, Anna Teem Photography