Love Letters

Happy Funday Friday Fabulous Happy Day!!!

Good Friday morning!

Long time, no see, I know...

I'm semi-retired now, and I'm teaching Copperplate calligraphy at the Birmingham Community House in Birmingham, MI, and I'm writing everyday, sometimes for hours a day!!! 

I've been SO busy growing and learning and getting ready for this new phase of my life, and I don't know if I've EVER been happier or more grateful!

 

 

 Life is really, really good!!! 

 

How have you been? Are you following your dreams? Are you working towards the next phase of your life? If not,

why not?!?!

 

 

 

These apps are terrific eye candy!!!

Hey there!  Long time, no see... and I apologize!!!  I've been working waaaaaaaay too hard lately, but that's another story for another day.  I came here today to show you my newest favorite iPhone apps... my newest way to waste a ton of time and garner new ideas at the same time!

These are the icons for a set of four apps from gawkerverse, and I am in love with these sites!  I personally enjoy the craftgawker and the dwellinggawker sites the most, but there's plenty of great stuff to look at on all four sites.  An android app is in the works, so hang on my android friends, help is on its way!!! 

I'm thinking there is a great need for graphicdesigngawker (kinda long, gonna have to work on that one), and perhaps calligraphygawker... hmmm... the possibilities are endless!!!  

Have fun and...          GO MAKE SOMETHING!!! :D

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!!!)

 

≈



 

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!