Love Letters

Card making

Do you ever have those days where nothing really seems appealling to work on in your studio, other than the kinds of things that are relatively simple but somehow comforting?  That's how I've been feeling lately. Due to a recent back injury, and resulting right leg pain; I cannot sit for long, nor can I stand or walk for long. So l steal moments away in my studio when I am able.

The simple thing I like to go back to when nothing else appeals to me, is card making.  It's relatively quick and really is somehow satisfying to me.  

Below are a couple of simple little cards made from recycled tyvek, stencils, sewing pattern pieces, and stitching.  

 

The envelope is painted tyvek, which I really think is my favorite part... it's so much fun to apply acrylic paint and see how it turns out... not sure why I like that part so much, but I do!  Guess it's a good thing I'm so easily entertained, right?!  

But don't get me wrong, I am anxious to get back to 100% so I can return to work!  Doesn't it figure, I finally find a patient care position I really like, with a wonderful group of coworkers, and then I get hurt and have to go out on leave? Keep your fingers crossed for me, will you? :D

 

Now, GO MAKE SOMETHING!!! 

Retreat from the world...

For five days, this past week, I had the privilege to spend that time with a group of fabulous women.  We were all on our own journeys, led by our facilitator and instructor, Sharon Zeguin.  Sharon possesses a huge spirit which is housed in a tiny body, sprite-like and full of encourgement and joy.

Below is one of the pieces I worked on at the retreat... 

Somwhere, buried in there are the words to a Shakespeare quote that starts like this:

"Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased, 

Pluck from the memory a sorrow rooted..."

One of the things we did was to start with Arches Text Wove 25 x 40" paper and wrote on it however we chose... in pen, in pencil, in crayon if we wanted... and then we made random marks over the words, either in sumi or walnut ink, watercolor, &/or acrylics and paste in order to be able to work with the colors for a longer period of time. Once we were satisfied with that sheet we let it dry, and made our own books from the painted paper.  

I'd always wanted to learn how to make my own journals, and now I know how!!!  I'll show you the finished product, or parts of it at least, soon...

in the mean time, GO MAKE SOMETHING, and HAVE FUN!!! 

 

Birthday card for a lovely gal

This is a card I made last night for a darling young lady, who just happens to be my son's significant other... I really hope she becomes my daughter-in-law someday (shhhh... no pressure there, Tim, just thinking out loud!).  Caitlyn's first name is done in gold and black ink... I kind of let them run together and trusted that when the ink dried, it would turn out well.  The scan doesn't show the metallic well at all, but you get the idea.  I'm pleased with how the colors in the card play off the Jazz stamp.

 

Happy Birthday, Cait!  We love you!!!

 

Check out these new Shakespeare Stamps!

London's graphic arts design house, hat trick design, has come up with a couple really beautiful stamp designs and the theme is Shakespeare.  I especially like the hand-lettered typography by Marion Deuchars.

I found the mention about these terrific stamps at Fast Co.'s website, which is loaded with interesting finds and articles.  In fact, Fast Company is one of the few magazines I read faithfully, cover to cover.   

 

Professional designers learn early to work within constraints: time, budget, materials, price. But the team at the London graphic arts firm hat-trick design has a special knack for a particularly daunting creative challenge: delivering big design on a tiny canvas.  I'm pretty sure they hit a home run on this one!

 

Wedding calligraphy, addendum...

This post is a natural follow up to my previous post about the world's smallest place cards, and I hope you enjoy it... you know how you stumble upon someone's blog or website through another and you're SO glad you did?!?  Well, I want to introduce you to a couple people, who, if you have not met them already, will blow your socks off... 

These are the kind of calligraphers who's talent inspires me to be a better calligrapher, and their kindness and generosity inspires me to just plain be better... know what I mean?!?  

First off, I like to visit Jane Farr's blog, A Place to Flourish quite frequently.  Jane's Copperplate and especially her flourishes, leave me wanting more, more, more! And even if Jane hasn't posted something new, I can scroll down the side of her blog and find new postings from others (I'd love to figure out how to do that on my blog!).  Most often, these are blog posts from other calligraphers, and it never fails, I end up on a terrifically interesting journey.

Jane's banner... heavenly!

Last night, I took a stroll over at Jane's place and found a new friend, someone who's work blew me away the further I went into her posts.  I want you to meet the incredibly talented and kind Dana Cochran, the owner and proprietress of The Ginger Parasol blog and A Fine Line Studio website and actual brick and mortar fine stationery shop in Asheville, N.C.

Dana's blog header... look at that Copperplate!  I'm swooning!

I hope you'll take a few minutes to visit both lady's blogs and leave a nice comment... this is the sort of work that is rare and special and precious. And I hope you enjoy the trip as much as I did!

 

Now...

 

 
 

Wedding calligraphy

I was recently asked by a bride to do the lettering on her place cards, and I readily agreed... I mean, how hard can that be, right?!?  Even if she had 200 of them for me to do, and a really tight schedule, I could pull it off... anyone could.  Then I saw the place cards.  I've never seen a smaller card to write on in my life.  Thankfully the bride took the time to type the names out for me, so there was no question about spellings of names, but I never guessed I'd have to wear one of those magnifying headpieces in order to do the work!  (And no old person jokes, please!  I'm not that old!!!)

 

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Originally I'd planned to write out the names in Copperplate, the sort of "standard" wedding fare, but there was no way I could do any lettering on these cards with typical tools... besides being less than two inches long and only about three quarters of an inch tall, the finish on them was really slippery, which didn't help at all.  But they are done, they are correct, and given the tools I had to work with, I am trying to be satisfied with the results.

 Let's hope the bride is happy with them!  

Flickr Photomontage

If you haven't seen this fun site, you've got to check it out!  It's called Big Huge Labs and that's where I made this:

How fun is that?!?  I've made a similar grid of images in Photoshop, but this was really quick and easy, and not everyone works in Photoshop... so be sure to visit the site, it's free, but they welcome donations, too.  And thanks to Hanna for information on how she made her grid, which you can view at her wonderful site, iHanna. Have a happy weekend, NOW GO MAKE SOMETHING! 

Mail Art Envelope

Thought I'd share the envelope I sent to France to participate in the "Mail Art Across the World" project... I was fairly pleased with the lettering until I accidently dropped a big blob of ink above the lettering.  Hence, the strip of torn paper from an old book.  

 

My husband was kind enough to mail the envelope for me, so unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to see the stamp that went on the envelope.  I wish I'd had the time to buy the stamp first, and make the envelope around the theme of the stamp, but I guess this will have to do.  

Mail Art Across the World

I stumbled upon a terrific calligraphy exchange while visiting my friend Jane's blog, and thankfully it's not too late to participate!!! Just go to this website: Mail Art Across the World for the details, and get your envelope in the mail quickly, the deadline is April 1st! (No fooling!)  There's also a gallery of the incredible entries from past seasons, definitely eye candy to inspire even the most timid among us! 

This is a chance to participate in a free calligraphy event, one without judges or fees to enter, and entries will be posted on the web.  The evelopes will travel around France, Hungary, Germany, Russia, and the Ukraine.  This is a terrific opportunity to participate in the celebration of both mail art and calligraphy!

from Celeste

Card for Miss Yvonne

 

 

From the very talented Heather Victoria Held

 

Card for Joan

Hey, wait a minute!  How did that picture of Bubba and his Pig get in there?!?

 

From Rena

 
It is so much fun to receive something like this in the mail, especially when most of the other pieces of mail are bills or advertisements... so while you're at it, why don't you make more than one beautiful envelope and send it to someone you've been thinking about?!?  

Don't you just love the color orange?!?

 I posted this earlier, in March, and just stumbled upon a terrific blog, called How About Orange?, so I had to add a link to this post... and here I thought I was one of only a few who like the color orange!  What's not to like, it's almost red, and since red is my favorite color, it's not too much of a stretch to like orange.  Be sure to check out Jessica's blog, it's loaded with cool projects, time-wasters (her words, not mine!), and overall great design!