Spreading joy with Happy Grams
Anyone who knows Macy wouldn’t be surprised to hear her say that “happy” is her favorite word. I don’t think they’d be surprised to hear that her latest project involves spreading happiness and joy across the country either. She’s always smiling and willing to share a friendly hello to anyone who passes by, and now, she’s sharing that positive energy through her new cards, which she calls Happy Grams.
“My favorite word in the world is happy,” Macy said. “I have it on the back of my car. I was praying that God would give me an idea of how to spread some joy while I’m at home and He kind of just laid this on my heart.”
And so, about a month ago, Macy started designing handcrafted Happy Grams from her home in Port Huron, Michigan. She said she loves making cards and was excited that she could use this passion to help spread joy and happiness during a time when people are feeling sad and discouraged.
Each card has either a pun, a Bible verse, or an inspirational quote with a cute little drawing, and is mailed with confetti for an added surprise. Some are meant to say thank you while others are designed for humor and encouragement. Most recently, Macy made a batch of Mother’s Day-themed Happy Grams. With her growing demand, she’s mailed out more than 150 cards to people around the country.
“I think the farthest I’ve sent them is probably Texas, and I just sent them to Washington,” she said. “They’ve been all over which is kind of fun.”
She started out with several of her own designs for people to choose from, but she’s expanded her collection to more than 60 designs now from custom orders people have requested. She said she thinks some are inside jokes, which she says is fun to be a part of.
Some people have ordered sets of Happy Grams to send to say thank you to first responders and teachers, others have ordered to encourage sick relatives who are far away. Macy said one of her favorite Happy Gram project she’s been a part of was with a young woman whose wedding was recently cancelled.
“There was one girl that was supposed to get married in May, I think, and she can’t see her fiancé,” Macy said. “So she had me send her fiancé five Happy Grams periodically to surprise him. That one was really fun to be a part of.”
Local teacher from Landmark Academy Vicky Brown recently ordered a set of Happy Grams for her students as well.
“I love her witty sayings that catch your attention and say exactly what you want to say. Macy puts her whole heart into saying, doing, and making things that make other people smile,” Brown said. “She is a future teacher who loves children. She is creative and a ‘go getter’ who doesn’t wait for life to just happen. She builds a path and finds a way to use God’s talents that only He has given her.”
Now Macy still using that creative, go-getter energy to come up with even more designs and features to her Happy Grams. She recently added a plantable gift tag option to all card orders.
“It’s like homemade paper with seeds,” she said. “I take our old papers around the house and blend them up and add in seeds.”
Then she molds them into various shapes to be used as gift tags. So far she has basil and wildflower seeds to choose from, and she said her next project will hopefully be biodegradable confetti.
You can purchase Macy’s Happy Grams through her Facebook page. The cards are $2.50 each or $10 for a set of 5. Plantable gift tags are $1 each as well. She will design, create, and mail them out for you.
“I think I’ll keep doing them throughout the summer too. It’s been cool to be able to encourage people through other people,” Macy said.
