Calligraphellie

At the beginning of March I had the amazing opportunity to fly east to visit my friend Wendy.  Wendy is a good friend and the magic behind Wendy Harrop Events.  She was also my own wedding planner way back when, and recently uprooted from California to the Boston area.  Wendy and her husband Keith are now the proprietors of the Phineas Wright House and are currently in the process of renovating their gorgeous red barn where Wendy holds seasonal barn dinners.  For a while now Wendy has been joking with me to paint calligraphy on all of their extra barn wood, so I can hardly believe that it actually became reality when Wendy generously hosted me for a long weekend.  If there was ever any question, Wendy is truly the hostest with the mostest.  I could not have asked for more delightful company nor a more beautiful setting to make some event signage!  

This was my "studio".  A major upgrade from my kitchen table!  My first task was to write a heavily flourished "Menu" for this vintage frame Wendy bought in France to adorn a wall of framed menus Wendy found at the Paris Flea Market.  Oh la la! 

Here some more chalkboards!

We also went rummaging through Wendy's barn in 20 degree temperatures to pick out wood to paint on.  Some of this wood is more than 150 years old!  

Here are some of the finished painted signs.  It was hard for me to take a picture of the larger ones because it wouldn't fit my camera.  Wendy has promised that once the weather warms up and she uses the signs for an event she will send me some pictures.

Throughout this trip I needed to keep pinching myself that I was actually there.  Here are just a few last shots of the Phineas Wright House at dusk.  If you are in the Boston area and looking for an event planner or venue, I hope you will think of Wendy - you will not be disappointed!  And if you're lucky, you might get to use some of my signs. ;)

This Christmas I was hoping to design our own Christmas card and have it printed, but time simply did not agree with me.  Instead I ordered Christmas cards from Tiny Prints and turned my attention to addressing our envelopes in luscious gold ink.  I wish the photos picked up the sparkle in the ink better.  Fun and festive!

Ever wish you had my writing on a tote bag?  You can get these "Let Hope Rise" tote bags at EPAmade.com right now!

I was honored to help my friend Michelle create this card to support her brother-in-law Nick, who is battling cancer.  Michelle is the owner of Poplar Photography and asked if I could write the words "Have Courage" to be placed over one of her beautiful photographs.  The end result is even more gorgeous than I imagined!

If you'd like to find out more about Nick's ongoing fight against cancer, click here.  Anyone who makes a donation receives one of these beautiful cards!

On Sunday, September 21st New Creation Home held it's annual banquet and silent auction at the University Club in Palo Alto.  This was my second time attending and has become one of my favorite events to look forward to each year.  I love hearing about the inspiring and important work they are doing to help and bring hope to young moms in East Palo Alto.  

This year's theme was "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" so I collaborated with my friend Ayaka to create this look for the invitation and programs.  Ayaka did the gorgeous watercolor painting and I did the lettering.

In addition to table numbers, I also did some spot calligraphy for these cute informational table tents about New Creation Home -I love the little pictures Ayaka painted to go on each one!  The event committee did such a superb job throwing a classy, fun, and lively event.  Can't wait until next year!

On September 12th I had the extreme pleasure of taking a pointed pen sketchbook class with the one and only Pat Blair!  Pat Blair is a Master Penman and also the current chief calligrapher at the White House.  When I found out that the Friends of Calligraphy were hosting her to teach a few classes, I jumped at the opportunity.  I originally signed up to be in a 2-day Copperplate class, but was waitlisted pretty low, so when they opened up this sketchbook class I was more than thrilled to sign up.

Even though I've been practicing calligraphy for almost 4 years now, this workshop was actually my first real class.  So far I have been self taught by reading books and watching videos online.  This was also my first time meeting other calligraphers in real life, not just online. I have to say, the experience more than surpassed my expectations.  Pat proved to be an excellent and approachable teacher, and I just loved being around other calligraphers, some of them practicing for more than 30 years!  I really felt like I was around "my people".  Calligraphers are really some of the most generous and kind people I have met.  

Since this was a sketchbook class, it was really more about doodling and creating pictures and designs with the pointed pen rather than practicing letters.  It was really fun and I feel like I learned a lot.  Here is some of my work from that day:

Also, Friends of Calligraphy often holds classes at Fort Mason in San Francisco.  Just being there near the water was so rejuvenating to me; it was nice to get away for a day and learn about something I love in such a beautiful location.

Pat also wrote our names on the front of all our folders.  Look!  Pat Blair wrote my name!

It's been kind of quiet around this blog.  That's because for the past few months I've been spending most of my dwindling calligraphy time to helping my friends Dzung and Nate with their wedding!  Dzung and Nate are friends from church, but also the masterminds behind their respective businesses, Honeysuckle Catering and Fotomokio.  Together, they also produce cooking demonstration videos on Honeysuckle Catering's YouTube channel.  (How adorable is Dzung in those videos!)  Since this was the only wedding I committed to in 2014, I really wanted to be open to whatever they wanted to do.  

First, I created a "logo" and did some spot calligraphy for them to use on their Save the Date cards, invitations, and website.  Oh la la!  

For day-of wedding things, I started by painting these wooden arrow signs:

Here is a sign I did as the ceremony program:

This is the seating chart I did.  This is definitely the biggest chalkboard I've done up to this point.

Also, they needed a lot of menus and food signage.  With Dzung's passion for food, you can imagine that the menu for this wedding was going to be extensive and delicious!  To begin, I wrote on these little tags for the crostini bar:

Here are the two bar menus I made, including one for signature cocktails.  I'll take one of each!  (Just kidding, I'm a total lightweight.)

For dinner, I created this buffet menu.  Out of all the signs, this one is my personal favorite.

And then I wrote these cute little chalkboard signs for the dessert bar.  Instead of just one wedding cake, they had a whole dessert bar of eight different cakes and pies!  I'll take one slice of each!  (Not kidding.)  Out of everything I did to help with this wedding, I think my favorite was that our other artist friend, Aislin, took the wedding logo I designed and laser cut it into a spectacular wooden cake topper! (Sorry about the blurry pics.)

Also, here is the sign for a fun photo booth.

And of course, what young, modern wedding isn't complete without its own Instagram hashtag?  I wrote it in sidewalk chalk near the entry way.

It was also fun to see how Dzung and Nate incorporated the logo I made into different aspects of the wedding day, from a bag for throwing flower petals to the little recipe books that they made as wedding favors to adorn the table settings.

So as you can see, I've been busy for the past couple of months.  I had such a wonderful experience working with Dzung and Nate.  Their wedding day was so joyous and fun.  I loved seeing them use their creativity and style to create a truly beautiful and memorable wedding.  Cheers!

Painted up this little ditty while practicing one night.  Thought I would offer it as a free printable.  Just right click and save!

I did calligraphy for these candles that are now for sale on epamade.com!

After many, many months I finally got around to finishing this wedding gift for my friends Emily & David.  After being pronounced husband and wife, they walked up the aisle to "From This Valley" by the Civil Wars.  Since it's also just an awesome song in general, I wanted to write the chorus for them to hang in their new home.  Since Emily is, how do I describe her...not a very fancy or frilly person (their wedding theme was "Books and Rust") I wanted to use a writing style that was a little more down to earth.  I hope they like it!