Little illustrated things, made by one very real person
I’m Catherine, the illustrator behind Doohickle Designs. I draw quirky, whimsical, slightly fantastical worlds and put them on stationery you can actually use. Stickers. Washi. Notepads. Stamps. The kind of paper that turns a desk, a journal, or a passed note into a talking point.
Our Story:
How it started...
I started Doohickle Designs in Northern California in 2020, when I needed somewhere for all the color in my head to go. Illustration became the way I built small stories I could hold. Ghosties and gardens. Dragons and lemonade. Cauldrons and stars. Characters that feel like they wandered off a page and onto something useful. If you like your stationery a little magical, a little odd, and made to be used, you’re in the right place.
From doodles to a collection...
Then I sketch until something clicks. Sometimes an object, sometimes splotches of color. A ghostie with opinions. A dragon who would absolutely sit and read on your desk *cough BERNARD couch* A bird that looks like it knows one too many secrets.
To stationery...
From there, the drawing has to earn its place on paper you can use. I ask the same questions every time: Can this be a pattern? What does it celebrate? What vibe is it? Will it still feel like itself as a tiny sticker? Does the pattern want to repeat on washi tape, or is it a scene that needs room to breathe? Details get honed in so they stay charming at two inches wide. The magic has to survive being written on, torn off, and stuck to a planner.
Most days that work looks ordinary. Coffee. An iPad. Two small children nearby. A sketch that gets abandoned, then pulled back, then abandoned against I design in collections because I think in stories: a mood, a season, a cast and I don’t consider a piece finished until it can make me giggle or smile. Then I know it’s ready to make its journey to becoming the products you know and love. xo, Catherine