How the Venvylets Were Born

The Venvylets were never supposed to exist.

Originally, I was working on a cycle sync guide for the very first version of Venvy Lab. The concepts were solid, but as I started putting everything together, the guide felt…a little dry.

I kept thinking there had to be a more enjoyable way to experience it. So I landed on flashcards.

Simple enough.

Except they didn’t stay simple for very long.

At the time, every little thing became an adventure. I was learning as I went, which meant an almost embarrassing number of iterations. 

I started with one little moon illustration.

Then I made it prettier.

Then prettier again.

Then I spent what I swear was two straight weeks obsessing over serif fonts. Gold colors. Backgrounds. 

Oh, the gold colors…there are probably only twelve people on earth who would ever notice the difference between the various shades of gold I tested. Unfortunately, I am one of them. 😅

The moon kept evolving.

Every new idea seemed to lead to three more. The more I designed, the more I wanted to keep going. 

Then one afternoon I had another idea.

What if I tucked the Virgo constellation into the artwork?

Not because anyone would necessarily notice it. Just because I’m a Virgo, and it felt like a tiny hidden signature from me.

Then I gave each moon card its own constellation.

Somewhere around that point, I realized something.

These weren’t really flashcards anymore. They’d become too beautiful to be something so practical. 

Flashcards want to teach you something.

These were starting to feel like little objects you’d want to keep.

That realization sent me down another rabbit hole.

I have a couple of old tarot decks that I absolutely love. And then years ago, one of my best friends gave me an unbelievably beautiful oracle deck she found on Etsy. It lives on my bookshelf, and every now and then I’ll pull it down, shuffle through the cards, admire the artwork, and put it right back.

I don’t even need to use them for anything. I just enjoy holding them.

That’s when it hit me.

Maybe these weren’t supposed to be flashcards at all.

Maybe they were supposed to be something collectible.

Something beautiful.

Something that would make you smile when you found it tucked into a drawer six months later. 

Something you’d want to hold onto.

The more I leaned into that idea, the happier I became. I finally stopped trying to design something useful enough to justify existing, and started designing something beautiful enough to deserve existing. 

Ironically, the further I drifted from trying to create the most practical educational tool, the closer I got to creating something that actually felt like Venvy Lab.

Of course, then I had another problem. I became completely attached to the name Vibelets.

I thought it was adorable. Little chiclets of good vibes.

Perfect.

Unfortunately…It was too perfect. Someone had already beaten me to it. 😒 

I spent an absurd amount of time trying to invent another name before eventually landing on one that now seems so obvious I’m not sure how I missed it in the first place.

Venvylets.

Honestly, they’re better for it.

When the first finished deck finally arrived, I was obsessed.

Not because I thought I’d made something perfect. Because I couldn’t quite believe I’d made something that beautiful.

Of course, even getting to that finished deck became its own little obsession. I wanted the cards to feel as beautiful in your hands as they looked on the screen. I spent an absurd amount of time comparing paper stocks before settling on a linen finish that felt soft and substantial. Then came the black gilt edges, because by that point, apparently I had completely accepted that I was incapable of doing anything halfway.

I’m not a trained designer. When I opened Canva for the first time, I was staring at a completely blank page. Every single detail on those cards started there. 

I just kept following my curiosity…and my intuition.

One tiny decision led to another. One beautiful detail inspired the next.

Somewhere along the way, those little flashcards disappeared altogether. 

The Venvylets took their place.

And looking back now, I don’t think I was ever really trying to design flashcards.

I just hadn’t realized it yet.

Wondering what Venvylets are? They’re my collectible, oracle-inspired card decks, designed to be beautiful little objects you’ll actually want to keep.

If you’re curious, here’s the original Cycle Sync Edition.