In YOUR WORDS with Hope Wallace Karney of Paper Relics

I find that creativity, like my imagination, has no boundaries. Sometimes when I am working on a card design, I will show it to my husband to get his opinion. He is always kind, saying he likes it, but then I can sense hesitation in him. “No, it’s nothing,” he’ll say when I question him. Eventually, if I keep at it he will give in, saying, “It’s just, well... WHY is she stuck in that jar? That makes no sense.”

“Oh,” I say as I look at the design, “You mean because she has wings and could just fly out?”

“No.” Hesitation again.

“What?”

“Well, how would a little girl get stuck in a jar? and for that matter, why would she have wings anyway - no one has wings.”

Sigh.

Creativity and imagination go hand in hand for me.

I grew up thinking that my imagination was just a silliness I needed to hide, something to push into the back of my mind. Only in the last 5 or 6 years have I learned not to shun it, but to embrace it.

I always have looked at the world differently than a lot of people. When I see brown leaves blowing in the wind across the pavement, I do not see mere leaves, I see autumn fairies dancing and playing about. Walking the beach I will find a shell slanted just so that it reminds me of the folds of my favourite skirt. At the coffee shop, I see a stranger sitting alone, and I, without thinking, create an entire life for him in my head. By the time I am heading out of the door with my drink I have named his family-run bakery, decorated his house, and shared his secrets.

I take all these thoughts and imagined dreams of others home and apply them to my card designs and my journal spreads.

That is what creativity is to me - taking the magic of my everyday imaginings and making them real and solid, for others to behold.

*Hope Wallace Karney is a self taught artist and designer living outside Baltimore. Hope is known for mixing old elements with modern aesthetics to create unique and whimsical designs for her greeting card line, Paper Relics. Her work has been featured in several national magazines, including Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion and Country Living.

Hope also works as a freelance designer, assisting small, creative companies develop identities and grow their businesses with print and web services.