Campus Connection

Alumna creates made-to-order cards and more, turning childhood craft hobby into a full-time job  

As Valentine’s Day nears, one UW-La Crosse alumna is using her skills with paper, scissors and glue to build stronger connections between people.   

Renee Smith,’08 & ’10, has about 500 different cards and crafts to share with someone you care about in her online store, including greeting cards, Valentine’s Day decor and a set of 52 date night cards featuring a different date idea for every week of the year.   

But Smith's shop, PartyHappier, isn’t all about celebrating holidays. Instead, it’s about the simple joy she finds in creating connections through art.   

“I try to send a card when someone is not expecting it. Something to say ‘Hey, I’m just thinking about you,” she says. “And I think that is what most of my customers look for as well. I hope that what I create will brighten someone’s day.”  

About three years in, Smith’s Etsy shop began to take off with orders piling up, particularly around Christmas and graduation time. Even though she’d spent a full day at work and was often tired as she walked in the door to her apartment, she always looked forward to digging into her crafts at night. Despite her love for working in higher education, she realized this hobby should be a full-time business when it became difficult to balance the two and orders began to produce more money than she was making in her day job. In March 2022, she quit her career in advising and became a full-time entrepreneur.  

Smith says her educational experience at UWL — with an undergraduate degree in Communication Studies and a graduate degree in Student Affairs Administration— factored into her entrepreneurial abilities. She had a well-rounded education with classes that spoke to diverse interests in writing, psychology, advising, and more. She has a great mentor in Communications Studies Professor Linda Dickmeyer, who has always supported and encouraged her along the way, even after she graduated.  Most of all, her educational path helped her find and fully explore her love of communication, which is at its root, is all about connection.  

“I interact with people all the time through my business — communicating effectively and understanding people's needs has played a huge role in PartyHappier’s success,” she says.   

Smith’s shop grew out of a childhood passion for paper crafts. The youngest of three, she would sit at her desk in the bedroom of her Colby, Wisconsin, home building scrapbooks, coloring and journaling. That childhood hobby emerged again after college when she started working full time. She would stay up late after work mixing and matching paper colors and patterns to create cards for friends and family.  

“You can do a lot with a single sheet of paper. Manipulating it, it becomes something original ... something exciting,” she says.   

In August 2014, Smith opened a shop on Etsy as a hobby filling orders for her various products such as stationery, cards, envelopes, banners, bookmarks, calendars, confetti, magnets and more. Over the years, the orders continued to grow, and it eventually became another full-time job outside of work.  

At the time, Smith was working as a college career advisor, including a stint in UWL Career Services.   

“I was often meeting with students and asking them, ‘what your goals and passions and where do you see yourself?,’” she recalls. “As I was having these conversations, I realized maybe I needed to be having them with myself too. It helped me uncover the things I was most passionate about.”  

Looking for a Valentine?   

Check out date night cards and conversation hearts banner on the PartyHappier website. Her goods are also available at physical locations.  

Store Locations:

• The Vintage Flip: 400 N Main St, Lake Mills, WI
• Lake Milled Crafts: 107 N Main Street, Lake Mills, WI
• Booth 121: 6203 Monona Dr, Monona, WI
• The Coffee Coop: 608 N Division St, Colby, WI
• 35:35 Makers Collective: 265 W Peace Rd, Sycamore, IL