Valentine Calligraphy

Being one who works with calligraphy and design, pretty much day in and day out, one would think that I would produce the most gorgeous valentine for my love. However, I shamefully must admit that over the last few years I have been so busy that my wonderful husband has received a purchased card.

However, this year I broke out of the rut and made him a valentine! It is simple and sweet, so it was a surprise to realize that taking a photograph of three paper hearts suspended on golden thread is not as easy as I had imagined ... and I certainly didn't expect the drama involved of keeping still all those moving parts. ; )

So, whether you celebrate with your family, a loved one, or just do something loving for yourself, my wish is that you have a wonderful day!

Crystal Harris and Hugh Hefner Wedding Calligraphy

So, now you know ... my latest invitation project was this! It only took one or two samples to get the calligraphy style right and then it was on to the border to create the flourishing, something I had been wanting to try for a while so this was a perfect opportunity to see what would happen. My first glimpse of the invite came by way of a tweet by @hughhefner. Congratulations to the happy couple!

Cartes

This past October I had the extreme pleasure of working with a bride on accessories for her wedding. As a matter of fact, Jen Lauren Grant is, herself, in the wedding industry, and is a photographer. Here are a couple of photos of the cards I did for her. Anyway, Jen's photographic work is just beautiful and she has a lovely blog on which she wrote a very nice testimonial about me. Thanks, Jen!

Bacio

A little something from the archives today ... From last year's A Lovely Workshop in Napa and photographed by Elizabeth Messina.

Have a great week!

Signs for the Bride and Groom

This sign duo is something I created for a recent wedding. What a challenge it was to write large, yet still to keep a "pointed pen" look.

Weathergrams

Although I have always loved Weathergrams, this was the first time I created any myself. They were developed in the mid-1920s by Lloyd Reynolds, who taught writing and calligraphy at Reed College near Portland, and were meant to be written on brown paper (mine came via Trader Joe's shopping bags) and hung in a tree, to be exposed to the rain and elements, and to gently weather. These eventually went to France, and so I don't exactly know what has happened to them, but I had a chance to snap some shots of them before they made their journey.





    

Wedding Invitation Calligraphy

Here are a few examples of my calligraphy that was used on an invitation, menu and monogram. Please click on each image if you would like a closer view.





                                                  Design by Grapevine
                                               Photographer unknown
                                 {but would happily give credit if I knew}

             

Calligraphy on CeCi New York

A quick snippet of calligraphy I did recently on a CeCi New York design.

Barcelona

Out of the blue, back at the beginning of February, I received a delightful email message asking me to participate in a project involving cities and type at Neue. How could I have said anything but "Yes!" to the person who offered such lovely words about my work.

Using a pointed pen, I crafted the name Barcelona to be somewhat rough, and based the lettering on Visigothic Versals, a style I had the pleasure of getting to know in a fabulous class taught by my friend, the ever talented Risa Gettler. Of course, I had to throw a few flourishes into the mix and here you can see the results. If you have a few minutes, do take a click on over to Neue and check out the Barcelona gallery, you'll be glad you did!

Personalized Invitation Calligraphy

Sadly, I had a couple of hard drives with my work, images, and other stuff die on me last year. However, on the bright side, I found one thing that I thought was lost forever. {yay!} This is a favourite because of the way the names connect with intertwining strokes, something that I really like to do when writing names for a wedding.

Finding this gave me the idea to remind all the brides out there that having your names personalized in calligraphy is something that can make an invitation from a book instantly become a custom invitation, but without the custom price tag!

Art Heart for Haiti

Laure Ferlita has put together a wonderful project to raise funds to help with the Haitian relief effort. Because I first heard about the project only hours before the deadline, I am so happy that it was extended so that I could participate. Thank you Laure for your big heart!

Love and Kisses

When I was asked to make some signs for Elizabeth Messina's A Lovely Workshop this past year I was quite delighted to say the least. Ever gracious, she sent me some of the photographs she took of my work. I will share a few images today, and will post some more as time goes on.

The Bride & Bloom

Last year, I was asked by the lovely Lisa Vorce of Oh, How Charming! to help make special a destination wedding, and since she wanted lots of flourishes I couldn't say no! Photographer extraordinaire Aaron Delesie beautifully captured my work and a couple of shots appeared in the latest issue of The Bride & Bloom. All of these photos did not appear in the magazine, but I was fortunate to have received a few that didn't make the pages, so I can to share them with you here.

Chocolate Love

You must admit, chocolate is popular, and here is a stamp to prove it! They are available for purchase on Zazzle today. Feel free to contact me if you want a colour to coordinate or complement your event (a variety will be offered in the near future).

Always & Forever

This was one of my favourite weddings for may reasons but here are just three ... it was a complete joy working with the bride and her mother, Rosalie; the event planner, Linda Howard, is the consummate professional, and I love flourishing! Inside Weddings magazine also liked the wedding of Randie Rubaum and Alan Kleinman as it was featured in their Summer 2008 issue and an image, showing the monogram I created, is still used as an image in the flash frame on their website. Here are some images of my contribution to the festivities, courtesy of and with many thanks to John Solano Photography.

                                           Photos : © John Solano

Happy May Day!

One of my fondest memories of when I was a child is May Day. My mum and I gathered flowers from our garden, wrapped them in a paper cone and tied them with a pretty ribbon. When we were done we took them round to our friends. Since I was little and quick it was my task to hang the posies on their front door, ring the bell and run!

Although that time is now gone, here is my May Day bouquet for you with wishes for a lovely day!

A Different Angle

After seeing an invitation layout similar to this in a bridal magazine, Julie had me create calligraphy for her invitation. Isn't this fun?!