Good morning and welcome to create with Heidi. I'm Heidi Kaisand, owner of Hen and chicks studio in Conrad, Iowa, and lover of all things creative. Each week here on create with Heidi, we like to cover topics that educate and inspire you about how people are being creative, whether it's quilting, scrapbooking food wall, or just hanging out with others who seem to have their creative Mojo groovin in all the right directions. We are excited to share these things with you. We're equally excited to be a partner with Newstalk 12 30k of JB in a chance to win Kyle's cache. So if you want to get $1,000 or have a chance at winning $1,000 Be sure to visit www dot 1230. Kf JB comm and learn more about how you can when Kyle's cash. Well, today I have picked a quote, about celebrating life should not only be lived, it should be celebrated. And that's Osho because my guest today is Carrie Lux, and she is the owner of a couple of different businesses. But one that she just launched is the favor loft, which is all about wedding and celebration favors. So good morning, Carrie, how are you today?
Life is About Celebrating!
Heidi Kaisand
Carrie Lux
Good morning, Heidi. I'm great. I just got to close. I had kind of listened to a few of your other podcasts just recently. And I thought that's such a great opener. And I just love it that you pick something so appropriate today.
Heidi Kaisand
Oh, well, thank you, because life is about celebrating I and I know that that you live that every day, don't you?
Carrie Lux
Absolutely yes. And we're kind of coming off a crazy time with all of that to like, you know, to kind of timestamp our podcast today, we're maybe a year and a month or so into, you know, this crazy pandemic. And looking back a year ago, the world had very much shut down in terms of celebrations, and no one was gathering. And so we kind of had a big pause there. But we're getting back to normal again, and people are really looking forward to getting together and celebrating in new ways. So
Heidi Kaisand
yes, you know, you and I met in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business School that we both attended. And and it all was happening right during the pandemic, and, and every business was affected So, so differently. And as you say that, you know, my business got busier, because people were staying home. And so they were looking for crafts, you know, and quilting and projects to do. And your business had a different effect because people weren't going out and having those big celebrations.
Carrie Lux
Yes, absolutely. We really had to make a pivot there and think about things. You know, we operate in the print world, although, you know, we're normally all about weddings and special events. And, you know, we just really had to look at how else can we use our equipment and our skills and talents and what else can we do for people that suits the time? Absolutely. We ended up you know, everything from mask making to some little, you know, some homecraft kids to all kinds of things. We did a lot of things for maybe drive thru parties, people were hosting baby showers and bridal showers and graduations by drive thru. So it was different time for sure.
Heidi Kaisand
Yes, no, you are located in the Cherokee Iowa area. Correct?
Carrie Lux
Correct. Yep, we have one location in Cherokee and one location in Marcus.
Heidi Kaisand
And do you? Are you a physical store that people can come in and see your items carry? Or? Or is it all online? Tell us a little bit about what your business looks like?
Carrie Lux
Yeah, we're actually pretty multifaceted. When it comes to that we have our our brick and mortar stores, like I said, in Cherokee, and Marcus and you can walk in off the street and neither of those locations and shop our retail, you know what we carry up front for merchandise, you know, gift merchandise, some pretty home decor stuff, things like that. But then in the back, we do we do a lot of our you know, we house our equipment. And we like to say we keep our ugly in the back because it's always the creative process isn't always neat and tidy. Absolutely. It's kind of a division like that for both of our locations. And then we do recently, you know, when we were finishing up our Goldman Sachs program, the plan was for us to be launching this website and it you know, the timing. It's hard to look back and say that the timing wasn't just perfect, because I think one other thing that came out of this global pandemic was that everyone was able to kind of step back and take a look at things and say, This is what it feels like to live it a little slower pace. You know, we're not polluting the environment. on the same level that we are, there wasn't the travel happening, there wasn't, you know, you couldn't go on Instagram without seeing pictures of the crystal clear canals in Venice and how the ocean looks different. And those were kind of refreshing images and a really rough time. And so then we came to the end of the pandemic, and we were thinking about, now we're, you know, I guess I shouldn't use the word end of pandemic, but we're this far end to where we're feeling more comfortable gathering again and celebrating Yes. And for us, it's a good time to launch into a website, which is specifically focused towards eco friendly products.
Heidi Kaisand
And so, so for that, and that's called the favor loft.com. So th, E, F, A vorloft.com. And of course, we'll have a link to that on our website and in our information with this show. But that is an place where people can go and see the kinds of products that you're talking about that are eco friendly,correct?
Carrie Lux
Yes, we kind of hand picked our favorites, both our best sellers in terms of customers and our, our favorite ones, you know, for us to produce too. And so it really boils down to three different types of products with some really fun designs and catchy sayings and things that can be applied towards a wedding or a bridal shower. And, you know, as the site evolves, we'll move more into graduations. And we even do quite a bit of work for Memorial celebrations as well.
Heidi Kaisand
Wonderful. Well, we're off to a wonderful start, we're going to take a quick commercial break, and we'll be back right after this. Welcome back to create with Heidi, this is Heidi Kaisand from Hen and chicks studio. And we're talking with Carrie Lux, who is the owner of the Faber loft calm. And it's a the other name you use is detail prints, right?
Carrie Lux
My scene Yeah, details custom print studio is our physical location and iOS.
Heidi Kaisand
Very good and carry before we were you, you obviously are helping people celebrate all sorts of things. I thought it was interesting. You even said memorial services. And I think one thing that I'm going to say not that we didn't appreciate it before, but it has been heightened over the last year is that any type of a gathering is you cannot take it for granted. And you want it right. You want it to be special.
Carrie Lux
Right? Yes, I think a lot of the, you know, the core, the meaning behind what we do. It's not just fluff, it's really to add purpose, you know, to those events. And, you know, specifically with the favor last line, we really think in terms of more purpose and less plastic. We, you know, just to speak a little bit about the eco friendly nature and what drove us to this further ways. When we take a look at this statistics, a normal wedding produces right around 400 pounds of trash, which, you know, I guess when I I envisioned that I see, you know, some industrial sized trash bags, and that's quite a bit. Now we multiply that out times the number of weddings in the United States in a year. And we're looking at about a billion pounds of trash. So it really adds up. And if there are little things that we can do, you know, we talk in terms of each of us as one little person. But if we all start taking small little steps and small little changes, you know, that factor multiplied how many times over can really make some big changes. So we really focused on not only our favors are created with recycled and recyclable papers and goods, but we really encourage our customers and our brides to partner with either local makers, local vendors, their bakeries, their coffee shops, and come up with something that the consumable favor, we say then in the end, there should be not a scrap left for the landfill, that everything is either easily and easily recyclable product or something that can be consumed.
Heidi Kaisand
That is very, very interesting. And I know my kids are certainly aware of me even more aware than I you know, am kind of thing of different ways of recycling. So like we don't use baggies anymore, you know, I mean it's it's interesting, right? use something that can be reused a container that can be reused to take our snacks, so that we're not continually adding those those products and stuff to get to the landfill. So that's so interesting. So as a I'm gonna say, my next big event in our house is going to be a graduation, but of course, you know, somebody who's planning a wedding, what is the what if somebody comes to you and says, I'm planning this event? Do you? You do all aspects. I mean, how do we know what is what is what are the range of services that you offer, to to either like me as a mother of a graduate Or you know, a bride? What kinds of services do you offer to them to help them help us create the kinds of favors we want?
Carrie Lux
Yeah, you bet I, you know, physically when if you're here in Iowa and working with us, we'll help you start with your save the date. And you know when to kind of we'll talk about your theme with you and take your input as far as what you want your your special day to look like. And then we move into the invitation suite. And we can do day of products, we can help you with your signage. A lot of times people have menus for their reception. Again, going back to some of our favorite laughs specific products, we have the goodie bags which are used for everything from cookies to Carmel corn to you know, the dessert buffets are really popular. Everyone loves an assortment so it's really fun to see just the different things that people do with those. And then we can wrap it all up with a beautiful Thank you when the end to Oh, really start to finish. If it's about weddings, we can we can probably help you.
Heidi Kaisand
That is awesome. That is awesome. And did you sit like did you do do like table decorations and that kind of stuff, too.
Carrie Lux
Yeah, we do do some table decorations. We a lot of times we'll do you know some special little accents for maybe the centerpieces. One of our bestsellers at graduation has been we just have some inspirational quotes that we have created little tags out of. And they're just just a fun little add on to add a little something special to your your centerpiece at graduation. But we same concept for weddings, or, you know, a lot of times we do like a place card or a beautiful little linen wrap that maybe has a personal thank you message. So lots of different ways that we can incorporate a personal message from the bride and groom to their guests in the print work.
Heidi Kaisand
So that's wonderful. When you know when you think about weddings, so let's let's pick on weddings since the month of June is is, you know, the next coming up month and and of course think people think about that as wedding month. What are the trends these days? You know, I mean, in general, like is it? You know, is are there certain colors or textures? Or, you know, what kinds of trends are you seeing when it comes to wedding planning?
Carrie Lux
Yes, I think it's so interesting right now. And it I don't know if it's a direct correlation, but I think right right now we're really leaning into the whole natural aspect. And we're seeing so much of the beautiful like the fluffy pompous grass, and you know, the really neutral natural elements. And when we're adding colors, it's like a clay and the terracotta. Some dusty he was blue and mauve. Just very earthy and elemental right now.
Heidi Kaisand
Well, that's, that's wonderful. And and how do you like when you hear a bride, you know, talk about some of those trends? I mean, how do you work with them to incorporate that into the designs of the favors?
Carrie Lux
Right? You know, a lot of that design is based upon maybe graphics, we'll work with them to look at a lot of maybe some digital concepts or things that are really eye catching to them, and how we might incorporate that into the design. Sometimes it's a very specific font that a bride has seen somewhere, and she just fell in love with and she wants to incorporate that. And, you know, we talk in terms of when you send out your wedding invitation, it's really a sneak peek, or it's, it's kind of the first preview that you're giving your guests of what your what your day will look like. So, you know, we do feel like it's important to kind of give them a little hint of what your theme is going to look like and your colors and just kind of sets the tone for for your big day.
Heidi Kaisand
Yes. And, and you know, weddings have have changed. So in the last few years, that so many of them are held in event centers rather than a church, which can totally change how, how that event might look. In we know that preview I love you know when you use that word preview of what it might look like.
Carrie Lux
Yes, yeah. And so many options. I think back to you know how many years ago when I was married things were pretty straightforward. And you went to the I don't know, I guess the stationery store, the bridal shop, maybe I don't even remember but we looked through the books or maybe we had magazines that we looked through and just kind of chose this and this and sent it off. And you know that that was good and it was all fine. You know? And I think today The world is just there are so many options and everything is completely customizable. all the features, all the colors, all the additions, the foils, the letterpress, the different textures and stock choices and there's really the sky's the limit. You know if you're talking about options for your wedding,
Heidi Kaisand
yes, there are lots of options and I would agree with you. It'll be 30 years ago for me and my husband for looking at invitations and i i remember almost being told That, you know not to focus on the event invitation that it was simply a piece of paper that would give somebody a date and a time of where they needed to be. And not to forget, and like that has talked about 30 years and 360 degrees, that has completely changed.
Carrie Lux
Right? Yeah, times have changed. And now, you know, one of the nice things we like to do with our brides is, when they pick up their invitations, we also package a separate suite, separately. And a lot of times either talk with them about some additional props, or maybe even include, like some extra ribbons, or the feathery Pontus grass or something, because one of the elements that a photographer often will shoot for them as a flatlay, that incorporates their wedding invitation. So it's nice to have a few extra little props, and to make that all beautiful. And because you don't always you won't always save that. I mean, I certainly didn't save my actual invitation. But when they lay it all out and create something really artistic with it, you'll have that in your photography set later.
Heidi Kaisand
Yes. Well, we're having a fun conversation. And we're going to take a quick commercial break and be back right after this. Welcome back to create with Heidi, this is Heidi Kaisand, from hen and chick studio, and we're talking with Carrie Lux, all about wedding and celebration favors. You know, Carrie, I've, you know, the the creativity that goes in to creating all of these different things that you're talking about? You know, are it's so interesting to me, how did you how did you get into this area? You know, what, what was your goal? You know, or do you have a graphic design degree? What What was your, what's your background in that?
Carrie Lux
Yeah, it's really kind of interesting. I actually have a degree in nursing, and I had worked, you know, my young career days were spent in nursing. And then as my family started to grow, and situations, you know, changed with what I was able to commit to hours outside of the home. I just really kind of design and crafting had always paper crafting specifically had always been a hobby. And so a lot of the things that I had learned, especially early on, were just self taught skills. And eventually it kind of morphed into a, you know, I'll create this for a cousin's birthday, or, you know, there's a fundraiser coming up, let me put together this really cute little package, or initially, then people started to ask, Well, maybe you could do something like that for me, or I have a birthday, maybe you could help me out with these invitations. And, and little by little, I just kind of fell into it. And at some point, so I'm from a farming family and my husband farms, I am not by nature, much of a farmer self admittedly. And I, we kind of came to the point in our family that I said, Give me a year, and let me see if I can make something. And if it doesn't work out in a year, I will help you on the farm I commit. So it was kind of do or die for me. And I launched an Etsy shop back in 2012. And just kind of found a little niche for the specific type of products that I like. And after, you know, a lot of trial and error, like many small businesses, I kind of landed with the wedding favors and really found that I really enjoyed those. And there were a lot of fun options. And and that's kind of where we've, we've kind of stuck our focus since then, although we've really, you know, diversified into a lot of other avenues there as well, we are really still heavy on the wedding favors.
Heidi Kaisand
Oh, sure. And, you know, it's so interesting how, you know, you've you described your change from, you know, nursing to, you know, this create creative job a couple of weeks ago that my guest on the radio show, was talking about that very thing is that, you know, as we're growing up, you know, the things that we find creative and find and we love to do, you know, kind thing aren't necessarily where we're pushed to go to as a career, where it's like, you went down a nursing path, because I'm sure somebody at some point said, Oh, you know, the, it's a great career, you know, we have always can have a job, you know, those kinds of things. But there's, sometimes it's, it's other things in life that push you back to that create creative creativity that you have. And, and same thing for me, you know, growing up, I was