From True Crime to T-Shirts: Behind the Scenes of Cady Creations

From Chaos to Creativity: How My Zoo-Like Home Inspires Cady Creations

Ever wonder where all these sassy graphic tees come from? Spoiler alert: they're born in a house with two teenage boys, eight pets, and true crime podcasts playing in the background. Welcome to the chaotic creative hub that is my life.

My Not-So-Quiet "Quiet" Workspace

When COVID sent us all home five years ago, the transition from bustling office to home office hit hard. The silence was deafening – until I discovered true crime podcasts. Now, as I balance my day job as an Accounts Receivable Specialist at an IT staffing agency, my evenings and weekends are filled with designing new graphics while solving murders alongside podcast hosts.

My "design team" includes a 4-year-old beagle who barks at delivery drivers (potential suspects, obviously), a 17-year-old Jack Russell we adopted last year who's seen too much to be impressed by anything, two cats who walk across my keyboard (adding their own creative input), two budgies who provide background commentary, three axolotls who silently judge my font choices, and a hermit crab who... well, he minds his business better than anyone else around here.

When True Crime Meets T-Shirt Design

My obsession with true crime podcasts doesn't just fill the silence – it fills my design queue. That "I will put you in a trunk and help people look for you. Don't test me..." shirt? Born during episode three of a particularly gruesome series, when I realized the most ordinary people often make the most convincing threats.

There's something darkly therapeutic about channeling that fascination into wearable art. Each design in the True Crime collection is essentially a conversation starter for fellow crime junkies who understand that our interest doesn't make us weird – it makes us prepared.

Teenage Boys: My Reluctant Focus Group

My sons Mathew (14) and Cameron (almost 13) are simultaneously my greatest inspiration and most honest critics. The entire Internet Core collection exists because I needed a translator for whatever language Gen Z is speaking these days.

"Mom, nobody says that anymore," is practically our family motto at this point. Cameron's dramatic eye rolls have become my market research. If he sighs dramatically at a design, I know I've hit the sweet spot of "embarrassing mom humor" that will resonate with parents everywhere.

Mathew, on the other hand, is my biggest supporter. He recently walked by my computer, glanced at a design in progress, and said, "That's actually kind of fire." I immediately saved the file and rushed it into production before he could change his mind. Teenage approval is both rare and fleeting.

From Spreadsheets to Graphic Tees

By day, I'm deep in accounts receivable spreadsheets. By night and weekends, I'm creating designs that help people express themselves without saying a word.

There's a strange symmetry between balancing books and balancing design elements. Both require attention to detail and both satisfy different parts of my brain.

Finding Inspiration in Chaos

Some evenings, inspiration comes from a podcast revelation about a 1970s cold case. Other times, it's overhearing my sons explain why something is "sus" or watching the beagle have an existential crisis over a squirrel in the yard while the Jack Russell is too unbothered to even look up.

The "Antisocial Butterfly" design? Created after hosting family for a weekend and desperately needing everyone to leave. The "Peace Out Seasonal Depression" tee? Born during that first glorious week of spring when the vitamin D finally kicked in.

The Bottom Line

Cady Creations isn't just a business – it's the creative outlet that keeps me sane amid the beautiful chaos of raising teenagers, managing a pet menagerie, and solving imaginary crimes alongside podcast hosts.

Every design has a story, usually involving some combination of true crime, teenage slang, pet antics, or the unique perspective that comes from toggling between my day job and creative work in my off-hours.

So next time you wear one of our shirts and someone asks where you got it, you can tell them it was designed by a crime-obsessed mom with too many pets and not enough coffee. And that's exactly why it speaks to you.