Featured Artist | Marcy Penner of Hello Forever

We are so happy to bring you items designed by the lovely Marcy Penner of Hello Forever in our October kits. Marcy's penchant for pairing natural tones with bright contrasting colors and balancing her work with just the right embellishments for looks that are versatile and timeless made her perfect for working with The Underground kits. Find Marcy online at marcypenner.com (@helloforeverpaperco).

Can you tell us about your creative process? What mediums do you work with, what inspires you?

Most of the time I design primarily on the computer. If I have more time I'll draw and doodle, but most of the time it's primarily done in Illustrator. Just like on my pages, I like designing things with white space and things that are kinda classic. I lean towards simple design elements and fonts as a rule. It's my hope that my designs stand the test of time and are versatile.

Would you mind giving us a peek into your creative space?

Well…. it's not great… but it's getting there. We're in the middle of building a house so my new space IS usable… but it's not finished.

My table's still being made, my floor's plywood, there's no trim and no handles and I need to purge through my supplies in the worst way.

But the view kinda makes up for it.

I'm sharing a space with our schoolroom above our garage (which I lovingly call "the barn"). I'm utilizing a bunch of Expedits along the back wall and then some wall shelving in the center. The worktable spans about 13,' and I'm super excited to get that finished. I can't wait to hang up some art and an inspiration board.

Baby steps.

We’d love to see more of your art! Could you share a couple of your favorite projects?
Right now I'm addicted to making planners. I think because my life is so chaotic right now I feel the need to try to balance it as much as I can, so there are a lot of grids and numbers on my table at the moment.

Designing product has taken over a lot of my time, and that means that I have most of my products available where I've done some collaborating. This means monthly digital products like printables, labels and cut files as well as what you'll find in the kits.

Where can we find more of your work?
You find lots of my products in future Studio Calico kits and other SC collaborations as well. That seems to be where most of my time goes right now. Other than that you'll find digital items in my Hello Forever shop. I usually share what I'm up to on Instagram and my blog as well.

One of my biggest highlights has been being able to create products that you find in your kits. The ideas are there, but designing for Studio Calico has let them actually develop into a physical product that I wouldn't have been able to see otherwise. I always strive to create items that can complement pretty much any line or style. I need them to be useable.

I still get a kick out of seeing my ideas in the kits every month, and to see what you all do with them. Generally, after getting my kits, I make sure that my husband can see what I've designed in person, and then I tear into them! It still is surreal knowing that I was a part of that.