Tucson mom makes greeting cards inspired by preschool love notes to her son

When Erin Hughes first started writing love notes for her son, Davis Franklin, to open in preschool, she was simply following instructions from his teacher to put mail in her son's box every day. 

Soon, she found herself not only writing notes, but drawing pictures to go with them. 

Next thing she knew her drawings were more elaborate and she was getting up at 4 a.m. to create them and to write poems.

What started as a simple daily exercise turned into a rekindling of her love of art. 

It also opened the door for a side business. 

"I really got back into doing some art every day to the point that his teachers were like 'we pass around your love notes every day,'" Hughes recalled. "I started thinking about the messages I was putting on there about love, kindness and different things and thought these would be good messages for anybody...I started creating greeting cards and realized I wanted to create a little business around it...It's definitely grown, but I want to grow it more."

Davis, now 7, said it was fun getting those love notes at school every day.

"She is a really good artist," Davis said.

Hughes has since learned how to collage her illustrations and creates greeting cards inspired by the notes originally written for her son, under the name "Everyday Beautiful Human."

"The name Everyday Beautiful Human comes from my initials, EBH. At first I thought I would call my business, EBH Creations or EBH Designs but wanted something more creative and thoughtful," Hughes said. "So I brainstormed words that started with 'E', 'B', and 'H' and then looked at different combinations. Everyday Beautiful Human resonated with me as what I want my art and words to represent and celebrate."

Originally, she thought she'd improve her drawing skills and even took some classes at the Drawing Studio, with the idea that she would draw pictures for her cards.

But, it proved a daunting task.

"I thought it's gonna take forever to get to the skill level I'm picturing," Hughes said. "Then I thought 'oh, collage!' And I created one and thought 'wow this is great, the different textures of the papers and the colors.' Collage felt more accessible and not as restricting."

Each collage takes between two and four hours to complete. She uses a variety of papers and Nori paste  — a Japanese rice glue —  to build the layers of each illustration.

"I buy a lot of paper," Hughes said. "I have a bit of a paper obsession. I have stacks and stacks of large sheets. I keep scraps, too. To a certain point." 

Some, like her humming bird and owl illustrations are inspired by nature and others are inspired by emotion or daily events.

Every once in a while, Hughes and Davis will collage together. 

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Recently, Davis collaged a house while his mother worked on her project.

"It isn't that good, in my opinion," Davis said. "But, she likes it."

Hughes said that's a common conversation when the two create together. She uses those moments to encourage and teach her son.

"I would say every artist interprets something differently. Everyone has their own style and a lot about art is practicing a skill. It's not necessarily about talent," Hughes said. "I love to create art and he sees me almost every single day, so I'm building that skill."

Davis isn't as naturally drawn to art as his mother, Hughes said. But, there's always an abundance of art supplies in the house, from crayons and markers to paints and colored pencils. 

"I encourage him because I feel a lot of times people stop drawing at some point," Hughes said. "Every child draws and then at a certain point people start censoring themselves and being told they're not good enough or being told they don't have any talent and all of that."

Hughes is currently working on getting her first children's book published. The idea sprouted when she was reading some of the original love notes and realized they could work together in a book. 

"One day I was looking at them and quickly wrote the rest of the poem and thought this would make a great picture book," Hughes said. 

Hughes did collages to go with the words.

"It's all about the wisdom that exists in nature if we take the time to listen and it includes some of my first collages, which is fun," Hughes said. "It's kind of a subject that's really timely as far as really listening to nature, but it's also kind of timeless in that it's something we've always needed to do and still need to do as long as humans have been interacting with nature. This book has a special place for me."

The book will include educational pages in the back with a paragraph related to each primary illustration so it could be used as a science teaching text for kindergarteners or first graders, Hughes said.

About six pages of the book are made from her original love notes. One of them reads "even the tiny shell has a story to tell. Just listen."

Hughes is in the process of submitting query letters to book publishers. In the meantime, she has three other books that she has written that need to be illustrated. 

Hughes saved all of the original love notes — between 250 and 300 of them — and will give them to Davis when he's older.

 "Hopefully he will appreciate them," Hughes said. "They'll be his to do with what he wants...Some turned into greeting cards and some didn't."

Hughes may be building a business with her art, but its main purpose is to spread good vibes. 

"I want my art to be positive. I want it to be about spreading love, about spreading joy, about kindness and fostering connection between people," Hughes said. "That's what matters to me about my art."

Every Day Beautiful Human cards are available locally at Antigone Books, Summit Hut, MOCAshop, Petroglyphs, The Galleria at the YW and Rooted Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork.

You can also purchase them online here.