Check Out Stacey Lamb’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stacey Lamb.

Hi Stacey, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I have been an artist since I was 10 years old. The PEANUTS comic strip played a huge part in this. As a very overweight child, I related to Charlie Brown and his lack of friends. I began to copy Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy and realized that I was pretty good at drawing and it made me feel really happy. After a fellow student saw one of my Snoopy drawings on my notebook, the next thing I knew I was drawing PEANUTS characters on all of my classmates notebooks. I became “Stacey, the Artist and no longer, Stacey, the fat kid”. I owe so so much to Charles Schulz!! As I grew up and honed in on my skills, I went to University of Kansas and had my eyes set on getting a job at Hallmark Cards and in 1983 my dream came true. It was the absolute most amazing job. I learned sooooo much about not only being an artist, but I learned how to be a better friend and a good community citizen, too. In 2013, after 30 years of fun and friends, I was part of a big layoff. I was devastated. I was lost. I had absolutely zero idea what I was going to do next. I grieved and grieved. In 2014, my dear friend, Cheryl, got cancer and had to have a bone marrow transplant. She would be in a germ free environment for 100 days, as she got used to her brand new blood. I decided to create 100 drawings for her…one for every day she was going through her transplant. (It felt really good to draw again…it had been awhile.) I put the drawings in a big envelope and told her to take one card out each day and hang them on the clothesline with clothes clips that I gave her, too. When she pulled the last card out of the envelope, that meant she got to go home. Her bone marrow doctor saw these cards multiply on her clothesline when he went into her room…..AND the next thing I knew, he was calling me to buy several sets so he could give them to his patients. I explained that I had just made these for Cheryl and then he asked me, “Why aren’t you marketing these?” And as they say~ the rest is history! My own grieving gave way to a flood of ideas of where this could take me. Next thing I knew…in 2015, my little company called HAPPYtown was born. I create games and activities for kids in hospitals, for play therapists, for grief counselors, social workers, educators….anyplace where kids need a smile. I collaborate with these professionals…they give me the content and their ideas…then I do all of the illustrating and product creation. I have met the most wonderful people and they have taught me so much along the way. I think every day how very grateful I am for my glorious time at Hallmark. In those 30 years, they paved the way for me to be able to do what I do now! My most recent collaborations were a book and a workbook for kids and families who are dealing with the loss of someone to suicide. I am so so so glad that I am able to help others in my own way….and to think it all started with Charlie Brown. My hero.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been a bit of a bumpy road. It has been quite the journey….I am an artist……and by starting my own business that meant I had to learn A LOT of other things…like social media, taxes, time management, the icky business side of things. All things that I absolutely do not like to do. I am verrrrrry grateful for my husband (who is also my business partner ) who has taken all of this on since he retired, so that I can focus on the creative side of things. COViD was pretty bad too. Most of our sales happen when we attend certain conferences. The face to face interaction with people, is key to our selling of our products. During COViD, that was all lost. So, we went to a KC TV station and they did a good story on us…this helped us for a little bit. We really considered throwing in the towel and dissolving HAPPYtown, but we were starting to become really invested in it. Sooooo…we just kept trudging through and eventually, we were able to get back to conferences again. WHEW!!!

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I LOVE to do stuff for kids. When I was at Hallmark, I did mostly product that was for kids or babies. My style is bold and graphic and a bit “cartooney” too. I also specialize in brainstorming and collaborating. I enjoy working with others a lot. I am proud of a few things, really. 1.) I am proud of myself for continuing to do what I absolutely love to do. (that’s create art) 2.) I am proud of my 30+ year Hallmark career. 3.) I am proud of simply listening to my heart and the universe and allowing it to guide me to what I do today. 4.) I am proud of creating product that truly makes a difference on this planet.
AND~I feel so lucky that what I love to do, is also what I also get to do every day. I am grateful beyond words.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
I grew up in a very small German community on the east side of St. Louis in Illinois called Millstadt. It is hard to say what my one favorite memory is, because I have so many. But the one that comes to mind …involves my Nana and Grandpa. I would pretend that I was sick, and my Mom would drop me off at my Nana and Grandpa’s house while she went to work. After Mom pulled out of the driveway, my Nana would pull out the Yahtzee game for us to play and then she would turn on Ed Waring’s Sounds of Christmas album…no matter what time of year it was! Nana loved it when I played hooky…besides Yahtzee, we would play Gin Rummy, eat Eskimo Pies and laugh. At lunch, my Grandpa would tell funny stories and then I would go down in the basement and watch him do his woodworking. At 1:00 we would watch The Newlywed Game, then all take naps. Such a simple memory..but so full of laughter and so much love. It was really fun recalling it as I wrote this. By the way…my Mom didn’t know my Nana and Grandpa and I did this until decades later. teehee

Pricing:

• We have many products, so we will direct them to our website for prices.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thisishappytown.com
• Instagram: liveinhappytown
• Facebook: liveinhappytown
• LinkedIn: happytown-llc