One Little Word: Sparkle
This year, I decided to participate in Ali Edwards’ One Little Word workshop. I had seen this around the blogosphere for several years and this time, I decided to take the plunge and really commit to my word.
I’m going to be journaling my responses to the prompts in this little journal that I found in my stack of blank notebooks.
One of the main goals of having a word is to incorporate it into your life and to keep it visible throughout the year.
To support the effort of keeping my (and your) word visible, I created a brush lettered art piece to hang up. To see the words I have made available, check out my shop page here
Skillshare Course Review: Digitizing Calligraphy
I recently signed up for a free trial of Skillshare membership. If you’re not familiar, Skillshare is a website that hosts a plethora of online courses, mostly in the creative skills. The first course that I took was Digitizing Calligraphy: From Sketch to Vector with Molly Suber Thorpe.
I already have her book, Modern Calligraphy
Why was I interested in this class?
As I’ve been working on both my pointed pen calligraphy and brush lettering, I’ve also been working on techniques to digitize the projects.
What I got out of the class?
About half of the lessons are about layout design (pencil sketches and inking) leading up to the second half working in Adobe Photoshop first and then Adobe Illustrator. The layout and sketching part was interesting to see because it really showed that even an expert goes through half a dozen iterations before settling on a final design.
The Photoshop component was the part I was most interested in, with Molly showing how to create true black, transparent words, and then remove blemishes for the scan, and then adjust the writing itself by cleaning up edges. After Photoshop cleanup, she moves the drawing into Illustrator to vectorize it. I don’t have Illustrator, so I didn’t end up using this information.
Overall Impressions
Pretty useful stuff. I took notes to go back to while I’m working on my own projects. I might also have it replaying while I have Photoshop open, so I can follow along while I’m working.
The links provided for this Skillshare course are referral links. If you sign up for a Skillshare membership using these links, I will receive a free month of membership. This will allow me to view and review even more courses on the blog.
Amazon links are affiliate.
Pen Collection: Light Green
I have an obsession with office supplies and I’m a bit of a pen hoarder. One thing that I enjoy doing is swatching out my writing utensils to see how the colors compare between brands.
The Test: Each pen is used on white notebook paper and a yellow legal pad. You can click on the image below for a larger view.
The Pens: (links are affiliate) Paper Mate InkJoy 300 RT
The Conclusion: Light green is probably one of the toughest colors to find a good quality pen. The Papermate Inkjoy and the Bic Round Stic performed horribly on white paper (and predictably so on the yellow paper). The Bic Cristal Bold fared better on white paper, with a nice bright line. And the Papermate Flair was the clear winner.
Brush Scripted Monogram Products
Words and letters are important to us. They can help to define our identities.
These brush script monograms have been hand-painted and digitized to give you a handmade feel.
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 in all the colors with the digital set!
(Click the image to purchase the digital set)
Physical products are available at my Society6 Shop.
Prints are great to hang in offices or your workspace to mark your territory and add a pop of color.
Mugs remind everyone not to touch your coffee or tea! Also great for holding your pens and pencils.
And personalize those cell phones with a colorful case.
Alphabet initials are a way for us to identify ourselves. How many of you sign off your emails with just your initial? Now you can add your initial everywhere else.
Embrace Your Love of Disney
I have a little obsession with Disney-themed art on my walls. When we first started putting frames together for the gallery wall in my entryway, we didn’t have enough pictures to fill all the frames. I had found some cool vintage Disney posters on the internet and printed them on a color printer just to fill the frames. [by the way, I don’t recommend doing this… it’s pretty much stealing from artists!]
Over the years though, we’ve slowly amassed legitimate sources of Disney art. Like the vintage-style posters from the grand opening of Cars Land at Disney’s California Adventure. Some actual photographs taken at Disney parks. And some cute postcards purchased at the Wonderland Gallery.
I’m also the proud owner of the book, Poster Art of the Disney Parks
We had even incorporated the famous Carl&Ellie mailbox from Up into our wedding as a place for our guests to put their cards. Now, it sits in our entryway, signaling to all who enter that “here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy.” (Comment below if you can identify the quote!).
photo by The Goodness
Travel Collections: Coffee Mugs
If I’m traveling to a city where there’s a Starbucks (which is pretty much everywhere in the United States), you can be sure that I’m going to stop in and purchase one of their “You Are Here” collection mugs.
I think they’re fun and colorful. I usually snag them and give them to my mother-in-law (whose cabinets are completely overrun with them now).
Sometimes, I’m able to catch some other mugs of different locations, which make me smile whenever I use them. I think the collection says a bit about my style and preferences.
This collection might get out of hand if you try it. Adjust for your storage space accordingly.
Any mugs hiding in your cabinets that are from a trip you’ve taken?
Show your Script: Handwriting Blog Tag
I pretty much always write everything out by hand before typing it. Depending on my mood, I’ll use a different handwriting style. My rushed and hurried regular writing can get pretty messy, depending on how quickly I’m writing. When I have a bit more time, I’ll print more neatly. I hardly ever use cursive, though it’s fun to see how it looks compared to the print.
I was totally inspired by April at Blackburg Belle because she recently started a blog tag experiment to help bloggers connect to each other. April’s original #20thingsblogtag can be found here.
How to play along:
- Handwrite the same sentence using all three techniques: 1. quickly scrawled, 2. neatly printed, and 3. flowing cursive.
- Upload your photo(s) onto your blog or Instagram and talk about what you like about your handwriting.
- Leave a comment on this post with a link to your blog or Instagram post.
- Use the hashtag #showyourscript
- Tag five of your friends.
(In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m pretty much tagging all of you!)
I can’t wait to see everyone’s handwriting styles!
Target Dollar Spot Notepad Review
Lately I’ve been obsessed with checking out people’s planners and agendas on Instagram (just check out #plannerlove or #planneraddict). I’ve noticed quite a few people showing off notepads that they found in the dollar section of Target.
They’re pretty cute-looking notepads, but I was curious about the quality.
- Would the paper be too flimsy?
- Would ink bleed through?
- Would it even be tough to lay ink down on the paper?
I figured some of you might have similar questions, so I did a little test with different types of pens.
The Arsenal
Paper Mate Write Bros
Pilot Precise V7
Paper Mate Flair
Pilot G2
Paper Mate InkJoy 300 RT
Sharpie Pen
The Test
- With each pen, I wrote on the first page of each list pad to see how the pen looked on the paper.
- Then, I turned the page over to check two things:
- Can you see the ink on the other side of the paper?
- Did ink bleed through to the second page of the list pad?
Here’s What I Found
On laying ink down:
- The light colored pads performed the best: the paper was smooth but took the ink well.
- The blue notepad had a bit more trouble getting ink to stick to it, especially with the pink pens.
- The kraft paper was tough on the ballpoint pens, not smooth at all; the gel pen worked the best here.
On see-through:
- Ballpoints and felt tips were the least offensive. You could probably get away with using this type of pen on both sides of the page.
- The paper was too thin in most cases for rollerball or gel ink and you could still see the writing from the back.
On bleed-through to the second page:
- No issues here.
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of these “cheap” notepads. I’ll have to keep an eye out for future designs to add to the collection.
Hope that was helpful to you guys! Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see more posts like this!
Amazon links are affiliate.
Photos edited by RadLab. (Affiliate Link)
Calligraphy Goodness on Instagram: 50 Calligraphers to Follow!
I spend a lot of time on Instagram. It’s my favorite consumption media. Oh, the eye candy. The inspiration. The time-suck. But so pretty! I’ve talked about some resources that I used for learning calligraphy, and one of the things that got me off my butt and going was the beautiful calligraphy I kept seeing on Instagram. It’s important to keep in mind that if you’re just starting out, don’t compare yourself too much! It’s hard, but seriously, these people have put in loads of practice.
Live instructors:
@antiquariadesign
@jennamrainey
@laurenessl
@leenmachinecalligraphy
@lhcalligraphy
@maybelleimasa
@meanttobedc
@mollyjacques
Video talent:
@calligraphybyjennifer
@seblester
@the_md_writes
Awesomely inspiring:
@afabulousfete
@afineflourish
@annerobincallig
@ascorbiceline
@bettylingcalligraphy
@bienfaitcalligraphy
@brownfoxcalligraphy
@calliebrannendesign
@curlicuedesigns
@designhouseofmoira
@doubledippedcalligraphy
@elsabduncan
@emdashpaperco
@emilyecavanagh
@emvfitzpatrick
@flourishforum
@hardinkcallig
@hawaiicalligraphy
@honeyhoneycalligraphy
@imaginejoy
@lindayoshida
@lisaridgelycalligraphy
@juliedoan
@juliesongink
@kinsleycora
@kristendroz
@lionheartprints
@marcardincalligraphy
@melissapher
@mellenseidman
@paperglazecalligraphy
@piescribbles
@plurabellemolly
@postcalligraphy
@thefozzybook
@thisrestlessness
@tomehope
@tuccicursive
@writtenwordcalligraphy
Do you post your calligraphy on Instagram? Share your username! Do you have other suggestions for people I should follow?
Resources for Improving Your Handwriting
I’m generally a big fan of technology and I’m usually an early adopter of most new gadgets. Except I have this one old school quirk: I love writing things out by hand. I generally think more clearly when writing things out on paper as opposed to on screen. But as there are less and less opportunities for writing, our adult handwriting seems to deteriorate. Well, at least mine did anyway.
I think handwriting is experiencing a resurgence these days, with more of us getting into scrapbooking, art journaling, etc. About a year ago, I started to make a concerted effort to improve my handwriting, primarily to relearn cursive. I hadn’t used cursive writing for years, relying on a hybrid-print for my daily writing.
I started by referencing handwriting guidesheets aimed for elementary aged children. You can find some at Donna Young’s website and ABC Teach.
Then I started to just practice anytime I had the chance on the margins of various papers that I had lying around. Instead of doodling during meetings, I was cursive-writing.
The toughest part for me was getting comfortable with letter transitions. Whenever I hit a letter combo that was tough, I’d just repeat it a few times until it flowed better.
After awhile, I found myself needing a variety of words to write out, so I tried out some different things I thought would be engaging and give me some change in letter combinations. Here are some of the words I tried:
– Fifth grade spelling words
– US cities, counties, and states
– SAT vocabulary words and their definitions
– Notes and lines from books I read
Some additional resources to get you started on your path to better handwriting:
Melissa Esplin, Rukristin, Joelle Charming, K. Werner: The common theme for all of these is you need a lot of practice and to slow down the pace.
There are also a ton of tips and resources on these threads of AskMetafilter, where the askers have requested help on improving their chicken scratch:
– I want to write right
– I never learned to write
– Handwriting without tears
Let me know in the comments if you’ve tried any of these strategies or if you have any other awesome resources to share!
