Creating in Class

I miss being in a classroom. I miss learning, teaching, and all the fun stuff that goes with it.

Today, I had the privilege of joining my calligraphy teacher's advanced class as I walked them through... box making! Holly, my teacher, had requested that I come in and show her class how to make some favor boxes that they could embellish with calligraphy.

We had loads of fun assembling these boxes, talking about crafts, and these wonderful women showed off the lovely Valentine cards that they had made for class. One of them was even so kind as to bring us all Valentine's themed cupcakes complete with pretty red liners!

These are some of the boxes we made, adapted from templates I had found online (like from this website.) I copied them onto cardstock for everyone to cut up and assemble on their own.

And they gave me a pretty little gift (which I haven't even opened up yet because I wanted to photograph it first.) Isn't Holly's calligraphy lovely? I only hope to be able to write that beautifully someday!

If you live in the Bay Area and want to take up calligraphy, I strongly suggest taking it through the Orinda Recreational Center. Holly is a wonderful teacher and she's taught some of the best!

I'm so glad I got to meet up with these extremely talented women and I hope to be able to do it again!

D-I-Y Doilies

I've got a new favorite thing to craft with.

Doilies!!!

Who would have thought you could do so much with them?

My favorites so far are pretty doily place cards used in two ways:

Photos from Martha Stewart Weddings and intimateweddings.com

Aren't they so sweet, especially when paired up with some gorgeous calligraphy?

And my most favorite new way to use doilies...

Doily Envelopes!

They're super easy to make too. All you've pretty much got to do is fold a square/round doily into an envelope. I've also seen other doily envelopes with tracing paper or vellum used as a protective sheet (made into another envelope and placed inside the doily envelope.)

I had some special cards to send out and it was the perfect opportunity to try making my own doily envelopes. I used round ones and an envelope template to cut them out.

I love how dainty and sweet the envelopes look.  Definitely something I'm going to keep in my craft arsenal!

Happy Birthday, Annika Marie!

Happy Birthday to the prettiest, smartest, 12 year-old I know!

Birthday Card in "Annika" Calligraphy

My version of an e-card! This is my "Annika" font, dedicated to my favorite birthday girl.

The card and envelope are both fuchsia pink and I designed the envelope liner to match. Next time, I'll have to add some illustrations. I promise my next birthday cards will actually physically make it out on time! And I know exactly whose birthday that will be!

Now to start celebrating the holidays...

seaside inspiration

While shopping for paper (which I spend waaay too much money on) I came across this pretty pack of cardstock that immediately brought the beach to mind. (I've lived in a tropical country most of my life, I think about the beach a lot!)

Immediately, I started thinking about what I could do with it and what symbols/icons remind me of the beach.

So I've come up with two seaside themed place cards/tent cards/escort cards. 

A Seashell Design...

And a Starfish Design!

Wouldn't they be so whimsical on a table with some sand, more pretty pebbles, and white flowers? Perhaps I'll try making a seahorse next.

Do you have any suggestions for sea themed place card/escort card?

celebrating miku

One of my dear friends gave birth last month and I wanted to send her a little card  in the mail. 

Can you guess what this adorable little boy's name is?

I was playing around with paper and came up with confetti pieces spelling out his name. I thought about gluing one on the card but I just left it on top when I inserted the envelope, in case she wants to stick the pieces elsewhere, like on a wall or frame. The rest were placed inside the envelope.

And of course, a calligraphed envelope.

I'm so excited to meet this darling little boy, who has brought so much joy to my friends! What a wonderful gift it is, this new life.

addressing envelopes

I've been working with different sizes of nibs and fonts to adjust to different sizes of envelopes. It's been a lot of fun but with all the experimenting I've been doing, I can't help but feel a wee bit guilty over the amount of paper I've used! I do however set them aside for recycling at the very least.

The first sample was done a fine nib, it's a smaller font better suited to A2 envelopes (4 3/8 in x 5 3/4 in). This is the same size as the Christmas cards in the previous post

The second sample is for bigger envelopes such as the A7 (5 1/4 in x 7 1/4 in), the kind you'd use for formal invitations and the like.

I've also been trying out different inks and I'm in love with this particular sepia shade from Windsor & Newton that I've been playing around with. It would have been perfect for our chocolate brown wedding invitations. Perhaps I shall still make a sample to see how it looks and feature colored inks soon.

holiday calligraphy

With the holidays around the corner, I decided to jumpstart out holiday correspondences while I still had free time. I was lucky to find a set of 40 assorted blank holiday cards on sale which would give me a nice canvas for calligraphy practice.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the cards were printed at the back as well which meant that they were too dark to see through and would all have to be hand-lined in pencil! Lining will be the death of me!

I'll post the matching envelopes next time.

cookies, christmas, and calligraphy

So I know I've been kind of slow to start this blog. I've been working on a lot of little projects here and there but nothing yet of note. I've been taking calligraphy classes, working with watercolors, and baking, just to name a few.

Lately, I've been trying to perfect my almond graham bark and tomorrow, my calligraphy class is taking a field trip to visit Michele Papineau, a well-renowned calligrapher in the Bay area. As a thank you to her, and my classmate who's giving me a ride, this is what I came up with:

I'm really excited that I'm finally taking a calligraphy class after all these years of being self-taught. My instructor is wonderful and very encouraging and I've learned so much from her. I love that she encourages us to develop our own styles.

I'm thinking of participating in a calligraphy Christmas exchange (where you send handmade cards out and you receive some in exchange) and I've been jotting down ideas as to how I can use calligraphy this upcoming holiday season. Do I have it in me to hand write a gazillion Christmas cards? We shall see.