Archives for July 2018

8 Creativity-Infused Ways to Celebrate Happiness Happens Month

July 31, 2018 by Lindsey Bugbee 12 Comments

Why + How to Share Your Calligraphy on Social Media | The Postman's Knock — Part of my strategy for celebrating this month? Working on the TPK website! Creating content for this blog never fails to make me happy.

Did you know that August is “Happiness Happens Month”? I have to admit that I had no idea it existed until I checked out the Days of the Year (a website that keeps track of obscure holidays) for August, but it’s a thing! This year’s theme is “Be the Reason Someone Smiles”, and the Secret Society of Happy People has a calendar to guide you through the month with daily suggestions to achieve that. The whole reason that I gravitate toward art and calligraphy is the fact that it makes me happy, so I’m on board with celebrating Happiness Happens Month, even if I don’t quite stick to the theme! Here are eight ways you can celebrate the eighth month of the year, too:
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Hot Air Balloon Birthday Card + Matching Envelope Tutorial

July 27, 2018 by Lindsey Bugbee 29 Comments

It seems that commercial birthday cards tend to fall into one of three categories: too feminine, too goofy, or too somber. Sure, buying pre-made birthday cards saves time. However, if you make one yourself, you can control the “feel” of the card and work on your art and lettering skills! In today’s tutorial, I’ll show you how to make a festive hot air balloon-themed birthday card and a corresponding envelope.
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Why, When, and How to Dilute Ink

July 24, 2018 by Lindsey Bugbee 68 Comments

If you’re new to calligraphy, it’s easy to feel terrified at the prospect of modifying your supplies. Ideally, they should arrive ready to use — no need to change anything! In practice, that sometimes isn’t the case. In today’s blog post, you’ll learn why, when, and how to dilute ink to make it more user-friendly!
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Simple Calligraphy Flourishing Tutorial

July 20, 2018 by Lindsey Bugbee 43 Comments

Calligraphy flourishing is something that mystifies most people. It’s tough to figure out how not to overdo it (or underdo it!), and even harder to make flourishes that are tasteful and natural-looking. In today’s short tutorial, I’ll show you my technique for making flourishes that look polished every time.
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6 Tricks I Used to Learn Calligraphy Quickly

July 17, 2018 by Lindsey Bugbee 111 Comments

The other day, I received an email asking me about what I — personally — did to learn calligraphy. Did I practice with workbooks? Set myself rigid hours devoted to writing? Actually, no. My practice was always pleasant and fairly non-structured, and I learned pretty quickly! In this post, I’ll go over six tricks that I used to keep my learning on the right track. Hopefully you can apply them to your own calligraphy journey!
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How to Make Your Own Printable Mail Art Envelopes

July 13, 2018 by Lindsey Bugbee 129 Comments

My family first got a scanner around the year 1998, and I remember being fascinated with the concept. You could draw something, and all of a sudden, there it was on your computer screen! And then, you could take it a step further and make copies of what you’d drawn. Amazing.
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Circus Lettering Exemplar + Video Tutorial

July 10, 2018 by Lindsey Bugbee 28 Comments

On Friday, I wrote a tutorial about how to make “Circus Lettering”, a fun lettering style inspired by vintage circus and carnival posters. In that tutorial, I focused on the letter “M”, and I tried to provide some general rules for writing all letters using the style. As I was writing, though, it occurred to me that you may have questions about how to make certain other letters of the alphabet — an “O”, for example, doesn’t follow the same rules as an “M”! With that in mind, I decided to make a printable exemplar.
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“Circus Lettering” Tutorial

July 6, 2018 by Lindsey Bugbee 40 Comments

I love experimenting with lettering for two reasons: first, lettering is functional and practical. You combine letters in order to make words, which you can then use to catch someone’s eye on a sign, mail art, or whatever else you want to make. Second, lettering comes with rules. No matter what, an “A” has to look like an “A”, a “B” has to look like a “B”, and so on and so forth. It’s much easier to be innovative when you’ve got some parameters!
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How to Stand Out From the Crowd When Selling Calligraphy

July 3, 2018 by Lindsey Bugbee 30 Comments

If you enjoy working with a dip pen, then you may be interested in selling calligraphy. In addition to providing you with a bit of income, selling your calligraphy can give you extra practice and exercise your creativity in a new way as an entrepreneur! In this article, you’ll find six ways to get noticed when selling calligraphy.
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