As I mentioned in last week’s tutorial over how to make a wifi password sign, Hernán and I recently remodeled the apartment in our basement. We purchased our house in April, and at that time, the basement felt a bit sparse and too modern for a house built in the 1950’s.
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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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I love adding arrows to just about anything … decorated envelopes, planners, and notebooks all benefit from them. They’re simple to draw, yet they enhance a page so much! Effectively, I am very excited to offer you this “Eight Hand-Drawn Arrow Designs” printable, which you can find for free by clicking here. The printable includes eight mini-tutorials for different arrow concepts that you can include on any project!
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In this abstract art tutorial, you’ll learn how to make a gallery-worthy piece of watercolor art! It may not look like the piece above, and it shouldn’t: abstract art is all about randomness and feeling. In the end, you’re left with a piece that conveys artistic energy rather than depicts a subject!
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Faux calligraphy — calligraphy created with any standard writing instrument like a ballpoint pen, chalk, or marker — offers a fantastic introduction to dip pen calligraphy! Additionally, faux calligraphy is a beautiful lettering art form in its own right. In the first half of this blog post, I’ll teach you how to create this fun, accessible form of calligraphy. In the second half, you’ll find inspiration for using it to add beauty to everything from chalkboards to mail art!
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Artistic corner designs can elevate a paper project from ordinary to eye-catching. If you’re ever working on a project that lacks “oomph”, try putting a design in all four corners and see what happens! More often than not, corner designs direct the eye to the spotlight center element while adding artistic value to the piece.
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If you have never experimented with inventing a hand lettering style, I hope you’ll give it a try after reading this blog post! Hand lettering is a lot of fun because you get creative freedom, but you also have some guidelines to follow. Namely, all letters in your alphabet must be easily identifiable — you can’t get too “out there” with your concept. It’s a clear-cut project that gives you plenty of room to flex your artistic muscle! The steps outlined in this blog post will give you the information and inspiration you need to get started developing your own hand lettered alphabet today.
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There’s so much to love about fabric invitations: they’re novel, interactive, and incredibly cost-effective if you DIY them! In today’s blog post, I want to walk you through a batch of fabric invitations that I recently designed as a gift for a friend’s wedding. It is my hope that seeing the process will inspire you to design and compile your own fabric/paper pieces for your next event!
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I first started toying with the idea of starting a creative business in 2012, but one huge obstacle stood in my way: I didn’t have the first clue about digitizing artwork and calligraphy. I knew there was no way I could sell my designs if I didn’t know how to use the computer, so I crossed my fingers, bought Photoshop, and agreed to design a BabyQ invitation pro-bono for a friend.
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All pointed pen creations are beautiful, but add calligraphy swirls to the mix, and your work becomes extraordinary! Paired with casual modern calligraphy, swirls are fun and ironic; and when they appear with more formal calligraphy, they immediately add a regal/important vibe. Part of the reason people love them so much is they look intricate and complicated. After reading the two parts of this series, though, you’ll know the truth: while swirls look amazing, they’re far from impossible to make if you break it down! Today, you’ll learn two techniques for creating swirls, and next week, you’ll learn two more.
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