The inspiration for this “just because” card comes from Carolyn Gavin‘s botanical sketches in Issue 11 of Flow Magazine. It’s hard not to love the juxtaposition of clean black and white components with watercolor! If you like the look of this project, give it a try! Even if you don’t consider yourself to be an artist, you can make it — I promise. Here’s how:
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In late 2014, I released the Janet Style Calligraphy Worksheet Set. While I love the set and the style, these past three years have taught me a lot about how people learn most effectively. Furthermore, as I have used Janet Style calligraphy over the years, I’ve tweaked letters here and there. I wanted to develop a worksheet update that reflected those tweaks!
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After years of apartment living, Hernán and I bought a house here in Boulder three months ago. We were lucky enough to find a home that has a separate apartment in the basement. For us, that’s perfect because both of our families live out of state, and they enjoy coming for long visits! When family members aren’t visiting, we plan on renting the basement apartment out on Airbnb. Since the day we moved in, we’ve been working on remodeling the basement. As you can see from Hernán’s paint-stained shirt, it has been quite an undertaking!
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Calligraphy is everywhere nowadays: social media, food labels, and events all indulge in beautiful dip pen lettering. It’s hard not to look at gorgeously-penned script and wonder: “Could I do that? Would I be good at it? Would I like it?” The free “Am I Into Calligraphy?” printable worksheet will help you to determine just that!
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Today’s printable birthday card encompasses two fantastic things: adult coloring and intricate hand-lettering. If you’ve got 15-20 minutes this weekend, it’s a very worthy project to spend time making! After you create it, you can tuck the card away somewhere until someone’s birthday comes up.
No matter what your level of dip pen expertise is, calligraphy spacing can be a major challenge. It’s tough to maintain a consistent amount of space between letters! While block lettering allows you to mathematically space out letters evenly, you have to “eyeball it” with calligraphy. If that intimidates you, don’t despair! Today’s printable — a calligraphy spacing cross drills worksheet — will really help you to hone your spacing skills.
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If you have read this blog for any period of time, then you know that I’m all about dip pen calligraphy. That said, I think it’s important to give yourself a creative challenge by switching up mediums and styles! For that reason, I’ve recently been experimenting with new hand-lettering styles. One serendipitous day, I was doodling in my planner, and I came up with a dot-studded lettering style that “stitches” together.
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We’ve been moving house here in Boulder, which translates into a bit of chaos. Most of my time lately has been devoted to packing, unpacking, and searching for things that have mysteriously disappeared. To temper the stress of the move, I decided to give myself a creative time-out, and this watercolor hexagons mail art was born. I really enjoyed making it because it’s neat and orderly, yet also colorful and artistic! If you have some time this weekend, I encourage you to give it a try. Here’s how to make it:
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I generally create blog posts that focus on artistic projects, so today’s post offers a bit of a variation! Instead of flexing your creative muscle, you’ll be using your memory and research skills to fill out this calligraphy crossword. Be the first to solve it, and you’ll win a $50 gift certificate to Paper & Ink Arts (update: the puzzle has been solved)! Fill it out anyway, and you’ll be entered into a raffle to win a set of Dr. Ph. Martin’s Iridescent inks. Read on to learn more!
You can download the calligraphy crossword puzzle for free by clicking here. The crossword will challenge you with 22 writing- and calligraphy-related vocabulary terms. Like most crossword puzzles, the answers range between simple and difficult!
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If you enjoy brush pen calligraphy, then you probably have practiced with the original TPK free brush pen calligraphy worksheet. With over 75,000 downloads, that worksheet is one of the most popular freebies on this website! Still — it’s been two years since its release, so it’s high time to provide you with an alternative. Today, you’ll find a new free brush pen worksheet in a “Neat Slant” style.
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