Are you a stationery addict? How do you feel about history? The Perfection of the Paper Clip by James Ward describes the history of a variety of office supply categories: paper clips, pens, pencils, paper and more. Each chapter goes into detail about the invention, improvement, and current uses for each category of product.

If this sounds interesting to you, it might be worth a read for you!

A photo posted by Olivia (@randomolive) on Jun 9, 2015 at 4:02pm PDT

With all the lettering that I share on Instagram, people have asked me how to get started in brush lettering.

A photo posted by Olivia (@randomolive) on Jun 14, 2015 at 8:02am PDT

So I’ve developed a practice guide to help you structure your process for improving your brush lettering technique.

A photo posted by Olivia (@randomolive) on May 27, 2015 at 3:35pm PDT

A photo posted by Olivia (@randomolive) on Jun 12, 2015 at 3:02pm PDT

Get the whole scoop on my information page here.

If you’re looking for a course to help you improve your lettering, I highly recommend taking the Better Lettering Course from Caroline Winegeart. Her class goes over all the essentials like terminology and tools. The best part is the video demonstrations of the a variety of fun lettering styles from A to Z.

Caroline emphasizes the importance of practice and has a list of 30 prompts to get your pens and pencils moving. In addition to that, Caroline hosts a monthly giveaway for her students. Every month, Caroline posts a new list of lettering prompts and a chance for you to win a lettering prize pack if you post a picture of your practice on Instagram.

If you’ve been wanting to try out letting for awhile and don’t know where to get started, this course is a great one for beginners. (and really, the monthly prompts and personal encouragement from Caroline is totally worth the price of admission).

I paid for this course with my own money. Not sponsored. Not affiliated.

Art journaling has always been intimidating for me. Even though I’m artistic, I didn’t feel like I was good at drawing or doodling. But! There are tons of resources out there that help make art journaling so much more approachable and less intimidating.

• Get Messy Art Journal – Tutorials, Prompts, and Community Membership
• Get Messy on Big Picture Classes
• Alisa Burke – How to Make an Art Journal for $5
• Alisa Burke – Handmade Art Journals
• Create Share Love – Art journal page in progress

Any other awesome art journaling resources? Share them in the comments!

If you’ve followed me on Instagram, you might have seen my daily abstract art project. I post a colorful abstract paint splattery art piece on Instagram (nearly) every day.

There’s tons of uses for these digital art pieces. I’ve converted them into products for my Society6 shop, used them in backgrounds for my word and name art prints, and used them as digital papers in art journaling.

But what could you use them for? How can you use a brightly colored and abstract pattern digital paper in your own products or scrapbooks? I’d love to see how you get creative with my designs. So I’m releasing these patterns out into the wild to see what awesome stuff you come up with.

Are you a digital scrapbooker? Do you create digital scrapbooking products? Are you an art journaler? Are you a stationery designer?

The designs I have available at my CreativeMarket shop are below (and you can click to get to that specific product page).

Do you guys follow me on Instagram? (you totally should) Have you noticed my love of library books? I also have this thing with leaving a random post-it inside the library books wishing the next reader well. Want to start this fun activity for yourself?

In June, Sarah (from Love Letter to Adventure) and I are teaming up to level-up this project and get all of you involved!

It’s the #RandomLoveLetter challenge and your mission is to leave a small positive note in any random location every day all month (you could even leave multiples per day!). Then take a picture of your note and share it on Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #RandomLoveLetter.

Let’s get detailed (SMART-style):

• Specifics: Write a short note and leave it in a random place (library books, restaurant menus, store aisles, etc) each day.
• Measurements: We’re aiming for a total of one millions random love letters out in the wild this month! Tell all your friends to get involved!
• Attainability: This activity should only take you 60 seconds. Jot down a quick note and leave it someplace you’re already passing by. Heck, if you had time, you could write a bunch of notes ahead of time and carry them with you throughout the month.
• Relevance: Your note will most certainly brighten someone’s day! Who wouldn’t appreciate a lovely well wish?
• Timeline: June 1 to June 30, 2015

In July, we’ll highlight a few of our fave #RandomLoveLetter photos on our blogs. Don’t be afraid to get creative!

What’s next?

• Grab this graphic and share it on social media to let your friends know you’re participating.
  
• Download this cheatsheet for ideas on supplies, phrases, and random drop locations (But remember you can totally deviate and get creative).
• Gather your supplies and get posting on June 1!

And don’t forget to check out Sarah’s blog, Instagram, and her new Venture Planner.

I am a huge fan of being yourself. I think that all of us have unique traits that make is completely awesome. And you probably have words that you use to describe yourselves and think are totally awesome. Sometimes, a visual reminder in our daily spaces help remind is that we should fully embrace those traits and be our authentic selves.

I’ve got a bunch of bright and colorful prints in my Etsy shop that you can buy as an instantly downloadable file. Print off as many copies as you’d like for yourselves or as gifts. And you can incorporate these sentiments in your art journals, scrapbooks, and more.

I’ve put a few examples below (and you can click on the images to get to that specific product page) but there are many more sayings in my shop. If you have a suggestion for a saying you’d like to see, leave it in the comments below and I’ll design a version and add it to the shop!

I’m a font collector. Always have been. There’s probably even more fonts around these days than ever before. And typeface designers are really knocking it out of the park. While there are many free fonts available all over the internet, fonts that you purchase are usually much higher quality and come with commercial licenses that allow you to sell your final designs that utilize those fonts. If you’re a scrapbook product designer or if you are selling any stamps or designs on Etsy, it’s important to make sure it’s legal for you to be incorporating fonts that allow for that usage.

Fonts are also useful for those of you who are looking to improve your handlettering skills. I like to look at fonts for letter styles and designs and practice my moves.

I’ve curated a bunch of fonts on my Pinterest page. Check out my board below and follow to see what I pin in the future.

Follow Olivia (Random Olive)’s board design: lovely fonts on Pinterest.

Words and letters are important to us. They can help to define our identities. I love putting my initials on the spaces around me to mark my space.

Choose from a palette of vibrant colors to add some brightness and fun to your everyday.

Digital JPEGs let you print out as many copies as you’d like, up to 8×10 sizing. You can print them yourself or use in digital scrapbooks or art journals. You get the entire alphabet with the digital set that you choose! Prints are great to hang in offices or your workspace to mark your territory and add a pop of color.

All the letters of the alphabet included, so you can do fun things like:
– Spell out words on the walls.
– Give a print to your friend.
– Hang one up in each of your kids’ rooms.
– Hang one up on each of the front of doors of your officemates.
– Make alphabet dividers for your files.
– Print on iron-on transfer paper to make T-shirts, pillows, or tote bags.
– Designate areas of a classroom.
– Personalize folders for students.
– Create personalized notecards and stationery for yourself or your friends.
– Print as a baby shower gift.
– Print to use as personalized wrapping paper on gifts.
– Use in Project Life scrapbooks or art journals.

Printable files save you money on shipping and the white backgrounds save your printer ink. I’d recommend printing on cardstock for the best effect.

(Click the images to get to the Etsy listing)