Hard to believe it's been a whole year since I have posted anything new! Last year was a great year for calligraphy and I was busy the whole year through. Fall and Winter led to some down time and now things are picking up again and I am ready to write for you!
This week look for new photos coming of many fun and creative things I have done through last year. I am gathering photos and look forward to sharing with you soon!

The LOPES

Over the last month my life has been generally consumed by what my husband and I fondly refer to as "the lopes."  ENVELOPES.  Obscene amounts of envelopes.  1,286 envelopes to be exact.  Yes.  You did read that correctly.  Seven different styles in five different colors, sometimes starting at 5am and ending at midnight.  I wish I could say that I enjoyed every minute it of it, but I won't lie, there were definitely WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?! moments.  But, as I sent the last shipment out, I felt good, accomplished, and better educated about what I can and can't handle (physically and mentally!) in terms of my work load.  A few tears and thumb cramps and countless hand rubs later, I am happy to say I have seven happy brides, and one happy (but tired) calligrapher!  

I promise to do more specialized posts on everything, but for now, here's a sneak peak at THE LOPES!

WOOD VENEAR SAVE THE DATES

I am so excited to show you these beautiful and unique Save The Dates that I have been working on with Hillary of Brocade Designs.  My calligraphy was set in the hand-drawn image of a leaf and then printed on the gorgeous wood veneer material and sent in a wooden envelope featuring a custom mailing label.  Absolute eye candy!  I am itching to show you the rest of the pieces we worked on for this May wedding in Ringgold, Louisiana, but you'll have to wait just a little bit longer.  For now, you can just salivate over these beautiful images from Donald Yeager Photography borrowed from Brocade.  Enjoy!

{SPOTLIGHT}

This morning I was so incredibly thrilled to see this lovely little article from the ladies at Ashley's Bride Guide.  It's always nice to be surprised with the kind words of those who appreciate the art of typography.  Thanks so much for the shout out!

BEACHY BACHELORETTE PARTY INVITATION

I think it's pretty clear that the majority of the projects that I get most excited about are ones that I've never done before.  There's something especially fun about creating something for someone that is outside of the realm of things that I've done before.  That's why when I was asked to create some bright and beachy invitations for a bachelorette party I was thrilled.  She wanted bright corals and teals with a relaxing beach vibe.  I felt like doing the entire invitation in calligraphy would detract from the gorgeous simplicity, so I decided to highlight some of the details in calligraphy and leave the rest in a thin and casual block.  I did some bold shells to pop off the white invitations and then closed them up in a vibrant blue pocket card and tied everything nicely together with some sandy yellow baker's twine.  I think they turned out pretty wonderful myself, what do you think?

CUSTOM STAMPS

Lately I've been spending a lot of time making stamps.  I started offering this service late last year and I've been so busy making them that I haven't really had the time to even advertise that they're an option!  So here they are...they come in all different sizes - from 1.5x1.5 all the way up to 6x6 and everything in between.  Most of the stamps I do are custom return address stamps, but I've also had fun doing business logo stamps, book stamps, stamps of initials, and stamps of quotes.  I offer them in a variety of fonts, with or without borders, etc. etc.  I'm confident that we can turn pretty much anything you can come up with into a stamp.  Here are some of the highlights...

WILL YOU BE MY BRIDESMAID?

Recently I was asked to help two wonderful brides put a fun new twist on the classic question of "Will you be my Bridesmaid?"  Both of these girls wanted me to create something both beautiful and fun to send to the girls who would (hopefully!) stand with them on their wedding day.  I was obviously so excited to be a part of such a special tradition.  I was also really excited to be able to take a stab at something I hadn't done before.  Here is what we came up with!