New Work With Gifts By Allyson

Ally and I have been working on some new pieces since the holiday rush is over and this is one of them!  Ally took my calligraphy in "I love you to the moon and back" and carved it in to plank wood. It was originally designed in mind for a nursery but could be perfect in any room. We have some more pieces debuting soon that I will share when they are ready.

Other pieces with Gifts by Allyson.
Order yours here from my shop.
Photo from my instagram.

Calligraphy

I have been working hard on my calligraphy lately and have really really been enjoying it. I feel extremely intimidated and nervous about the whole thing, but I continue to try and push those negative thoughts out of my mind and remind myself that if I like what I am doing then I am blessed and that even though there are a lot of other people out there who do amazing calligraphy, I still have something to share- little pep talks I give myself multiple times a day.

I signed up to take a Skillshare class that really forced to me dive into calligraphy and get the supplies needed to start- I am so happy I did this.  I am still not done with the class but it has helped me not be as intimated by the whole thing and now everything I touch has to have some sort of calligraphy involved. 

These two images were things that were on my mind for awhile to write out. The Abraham Lincoln quote has been a favorite of mine for years and I have been looking for some new bathroom art so it was a win-win. I saw the 'Enjoy It' quote and it felt like it was something I needed to see at that moment... so I wrote it out, messed up the lower half of the quote with my calligraphy, cut the bad part off and just wrote the rest of the messed up part in under the good calligraphy. I then hung it by my desk near a bunch of photos clothes-pinned to twine. What I love about both of these pieces are that they are my very first two written things with nibs and ink and they are imperfect but I am so happy with them. 

Quote.5

Part of a song I remember my dad always singing to us as kids... now he has a new favorite song which I will have to write some of the lyrics of soon but these words always makes me smile. It was even the song my dad and I danced to at my wedding. 

I always have a favorite part of my projects- do you ever get like that? A certain curve that turns out perfect or a combination of letters that look awesome. Not to say that I am not proud or so happy with the final result, its just there is one part that I am 1/16th happier with then the rest. My favorite part of this is the 'sun' part of sunshine and how I wrote the 'o' of 'you' differently. 

Hope you have a little sunshine in your life- mine is our little family here since we haven't had a sunny day in almost a week. 

Quote.4

Have you read Meg Fee's blog Or So I Feel aka The Wild And Wily Ways Of A Brunette Bombshell? Well her writing is absolutely beautiful and touching. Like many others would say, it is like she takes the words right out of how you are feeling. She puts those feelings into words that you have never been able to find words to your whole life. I know, kind of dramatic, but her writing is beautiful and to boot her pictures are so much fun to look through.

I came across this specific line of one of her posts and had to keep reading it over and over to myself trying to figure out what it meant, why it struck me. I am still thinking about... I thought I would share it. So here you have it, a beautiful touching line of Meg Fee's work.

Quote.3

This saying hits home, it is one of many clever things my father always says. I have a sticky note on my fridge that I always look at and thought it would be a fun thing to write up.

Hope you have a happy weekend. We are enjoying some signs of spring (we still have a 5 foot pile of snow in our front yard but it is melting! ya hoo!)

photo by me

Quote.2

Thought I would pop in and say Hi and try to bring a little excitemnt for spring to your day. We have a lot of excitment and it can't come soon enough, especially since it is snowing outside. 

The funny thing I have noticed doing hand lettering designs is that there are certain letters are that are much harder for me to write and flow together then others. So I have taken it as challenge to write that letter more often and in more ways. One of the first projects I did was for a friend Hillary and 'H' is one of those letters that I am not confident with. So I came up with this and it made me happy.

Hope you had a happy weekend! Ours has involved a lot of basketball and family!

Quote.1

I saw this quote and thought it hit home, reminded me that I am lucky and blessed no matter my circumstances. Do you have fun plans for St. Patrick Day weekend? We have family coming in next weekend so this weekend means finishing up last minute things around here. One of my last projects I plan on doing is making a spring wreath for my door like this one (maybe it will bring warmth and sunshine and take away these snow storms). Last year at this time it was 70 degrees here! It is supposed to be 13 degrees tomorrow at the parade downtown. Oh well, it is kind of a nice excuse to wear sweatshirts and eat pizza.

This is a quote I hand lettered, I have to tell you I am having a ball doing all these lettering projects.

Hope you feel lucky and loved this weekend! Happy St. Patrick's Day

Quote