My Very First Oblique Pen!

1. My shiny new supplies! // 2.  Ready to go!  // 3. Oh my glob - I'm totally writing all fancy and stuff! // 4. This "Hello Lauren" was one of the first few things I wrote once I got all settled in with my ink and stuff // 5. This "Hello Mom" was in the second set of writing I did // 6. I've been saving quotes around various social media so I can write them out with my new toys.  I saw this one on Instagram yesterday morning and decided to make a little pick-me-up card for my old man

I just had to share!  My supplies came in from Paper and Ink Arts and I think I'm officially even more in love with calligraphy!  I loved the feel of dipping the pen tip into the ink and how just a little bit of pressure changed everything.  Granted, I definitely need more practice before I get really serious but I'm  enjoying the process so far.  These posts have become my new best friend.

Starting with TPK's Faux Calligraphy really helped me understand script, downstrokes and slants.  It even helped me realize my "personality" through the way my hand moved while creating letters.  I mean, check these out!  These are two of my most favorite envelopes I've ever done with faux calligraphy and watercolors.



These are both going out very soon and I can't wait for the recipients to get them!!  I'm hoping the response will be good! :)  BTW - I used a mechanical pencil to sketch out the words first and then I went over them with my most favorite pen: the Sharpie Fine Point Pen.

Since my hard drives at work are almost at capacity, I can't really work on anything too strenuous today so I'm watching a lot of progress bars and wishing I could be letting the ink flow!  I printed out more Flourish Formal Worksheets for more practicing over the weekend.  I can't wait!

Happy Friday!

Sweet Incoming Mail + Calligraphy WIPs!

It has been a long time since I did one of these but things have settled down enough for me to finally write an Incoming Mail post!  Marisa sent me a lovely card with cute things for my SMASH*book, Fab sent me a cute little package in response to the one I sent her and Erica sent me her adorable version of Creepy Hearts Club hearts!

I was so happy to see these on Monday because Monday was a crappy day.  My computer kept crashing, I was troubleshooting all day and my producer kept checking in on me every 5 minutes.  Very nerve-wrecking.  My Avid station is still down, unfortunately, but while I'm monitoring an archival file transfer (that is taking forever, btw), I'm staying busy by practicing my calligraphy.

I was inspired by this post at The Postman's Knock.  I have always loved Typography Art in some form (like my chalkboard art) but I didn't really have the desire to pick it up again (on a smaller scale).

Taking inspiration from the "Greetings from..." post cards I collected in Florida, I drew this on my wall at work (before the crash)



Then I saw the Typography Art post at TPK and freaked out!  I didn't need clunky chalk in the way, I needed the needlepoint preciseness of my mechanical pencil (or just a really sharp one)!  I quickly came up with the sentiment of "Wish you were here" because my best friend in the entire Universe landed in Atlanta yesterday morning and I was thinking it was appropriate :)


UPDATE - the "Wish you were here" quote is all inked up and ready to be scanned in and prettified by the ol' Photoshop!

But because I'm a spazz and I only brought the arrow section home with me to work on with my favorite tools, I altered it just a little...



I was so proud of my efforts that I experimented in free-hand! Let me tell you - this worksheet is a great tool to follow!  Download it!  You'll be so glad you did!  I always use it as a base for my capital letters.



For the "Thank you" above, I used TPK's style of "faux calligraphy" - which I picked up in this post.  You might remember this from when I did some envelope calligraphy for my Christmas cards last year!  I wasn't the best at it then but I'm feeling a little more comfortable now!

I hope you're having a great week!

Happy Wednesday!