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An artist and a poet, Jennifer Mally has taken the two endeavors
she loves most, painting and writing, and created a line of handmade
greeting and note cards that are both heartwarming and inspirational.
Her card line, "Have A Heart Creations," is sold through
her website, newsletter and a growing number of retail stores
around the country. She also offers personalized announcements
and invitations available through special order and sells originals
of her colorful, whimsical art as well as licenses some art to
greeting card and gift wrap manufacturers.
Jennifer has her BA from Iowa State University where she studied
art, journalism and English. She worked for about 15 years in
marketing communications and started Have A Heart Creations as
an evening and weekend project. As with most pursuits of creative
callings, Jennifer's little part-time business soon became her
driving force and ultimately became a full-time, full-fledged
adventure. Have A Heart Creations has been in operation for six
years now.
For her paintings, Jennifer works with acrylics on heavyweight,
rough-textured watercolor paper. She uses reproductions of her
paintings to create her cards and embellishes them with joy-filled
sentiments, hand embossing, glitter accents, decorative trims,
art papers and more. Her studio is in her home in Des Moines,
Iowa. She divides her time among painting, writing, card making,
graphic design, chasing after a nearly 3-year-old daughter (who
she had when she was 40 -- a story for another time!) and two
teen-aged stepchildren on the weekends, with a spare moment or
two to spend with her husband or to walk the little dog.
"Mine is not a serious approach to art. It's about my need
for creative expression, making myself feel whole and in doing
so, maybe touching someone else's life in a positive way,"
Jennifer says. "On my good days I think, 'I've made myself
smile,' " she says. "On my best days I realize, I've
made someone else smile," and adds "I'll spare you from
what I think on my mediocre, simply bad or worst days."
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