Lettering

I have always been in love with handwriting. I can remember the last day of fifth grade when everyone got their science notebooks back and the teacher said we could keep them or throw them away. There was a girl whose handwriting i loved that said "does anyone want this"? So, I totally snatched up the opportunity (probably looking like a total weirdo) to better analyze her writing. That night  my parents took us to the drive in movies and i sat in the backseat with the girls notebook and a blank notebook and mimicked her handwriting font until i mastered it.

 In seventh grade i met a boy who wrote in the most perfect copperplate font. I loved the look of it so much i stuck with it, made a few changes, and it became my handwriting as an adult. I am glad i've had 18 years to perfect it because i do quite love my handwriting. 

My Mother and Aunt both learned the palmer method in school and i always (and still do) love the graceful and classic look of their writing. 

Social media site like instragram and pinterest have reawaken my love for handwriting and i have been playing around with modern calligraphy and hand-lettering for the last few years. My Christmas cards are a task and take me about a week to finish but i love being able to put my creative twist on it. I feel like when the recipient opens their mailbox, and not only receives snail mail, but has it be personalized just for them it makes it even more special, and that is what i love. Each person i send a card to  gets ten solid minutes of my time to focus solely on them, think about them and how they may be doing, wishing them well wishes on the future year and hoping my card will find them in a good place in life. 

When good friends of ours got engaged i hoped that i would be able to do some kind of writing project for them. As luck would have it i was able to take on the job of both creating the shower invitations and addressing them.  I took a few pictures of the process of creating a hand written envelope and would love to share it today. 

The first thing i do is sketch out the template. This invitation in for the bachelorette party and includes a fun little banner at the top, followed by a thick margin for the name, and then three skinnier lines for the address. 

Sorry but i get sick of writing my own name and address when designing a template so my whovian flag tends to fly a little. Although "fun and fab" is not quite how i would describe Clara. 

 Here is one of the envelopes all done. The banner is done in a fun silver and the lettering is done in navy blue to match the Penn State theme. The name is also overlaid in a clear silver glitter on the thick downstrokes.

 For the shower invites, i created an oval template that had the name written across the top, address in the middle, a banner including the zipcode on the bottom, and small hearts that helped hold the oval shape. These babies were a labor of love and took over 13 hours to complete all 90 of them.

The actual color of the purple is a shimmery lavender, very pretty! 

There is always a lot of music, coffee, and snack breaks when working on a project this big! 

For fun here are the last two years of christmas cards that i have done. So so fun! I love seeing them all laid out.

So there you have it, one of the many hobbies i really enjoy doing! I think this post also gives you insight into the new blog name of "flourish" grace :-) I am a sucker for a good flourished font! 

Since writing the draft of this post my best friend since kindergarten has asked me to do her wedding invitations! I am so excited and honored to be entrusted with the task!! Yay for lettering!!! 

Thirty

Thirty. I've thought for weeks about what i wanted to say about turning thirty. For me, it was a big change. Every year you get the question "so do you feel older" and this is the first time in my life i said "yes, i do". My absolute favorite quote about parenting is "the days are long but the years are short" it is the most true thing you can say about day to day parenting but i think it is the same with life. The days are long but the next thing you know you are thirty and the only thing you can think is "how the heck did that happen?".

Thirty, to me, is a little overwhelming. A few days ago i was still "in my twenties" and during the time you spend in your twenties you're still a kid, for at least part of it. Entering my twenties I was still living off my parents and didn't carry much responsibility except getting to class on time. Of course by my mid-twenties I was one of the few who had already jumped into marriage, home ownership, and parenthood all within two years. But I still started that decade as a kid which makes me associate my twenties with that last hurrah of childhood.

In my late twenties I was able to get to know myself and really grow into who i was. I spent so much of my life worrying about fitting in and making choices based on what others would think.  In my late twenties (very late actually) i became comfortable with who i am, what i like, what makes me feel alive and what things in this crazy world i am passionate about. Nothing was dictated by pop culture or "the cool kids". It was the most freeing and energizing revelation i have had thus far in life.

Now I am thirty, an age that will not hold any ounce of my own childhood going forth. I am now in full on adult mode for the rest of my life. With that said, i feel like thirty is an age where you can really evaluate your life, think about what is working and what is not. Because you are young enough to still make bold changes.


Changes are the aspect of being thirty that overwhelms me a little. I feel like there is pressure (which is 100% there solely from me) to hone in on what it is i want to do with the rest of my life. I often call myself a Jill of all Trades because i have my hands in so many pots, but since i feel as though i am "good at a lot of things but master at none" i get lost in my many passions.  I guess, in my head, i feel pressured to pick one of the many things i do, focus on it, and learn to do it to the best of my ability.

This is a topic that i will be writing about frequently in an effort to help me figure it out. More than anything i just want to spend my life doing what makes me happy and what my skills can be best used for.

So here's to thirty and all the adventures it may bring! 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The kids have been begging to put up our trees for about two weeks. I made a deal with them that after my craft show we would put one up (hahahaha as if I would really stop after one, who was I kidding)! 

Yesterday morning after straightening up their rooms we brought thier boxes up and got to work. This sounds utterly ridiculous but this year I let go of my tree OCD and let liam do his tree completely on his own. And you know what? After all those years of watching me the kid rocked it and did an awesome job! 

After Liam's tree we moved into Lucy's room to try and fit all of her beautiful  ornaments on her way to small tree! She is totally getting upgraded after Christmas this year! 

After the trees were done Lucy and I went downtown to grocery shop. We stopped at michaels first because I wanted to pick up some stuff for the tree in our living room that it is getting a new theme this year. Since we moved in the living room tree has always been gold, which I love and finally got juuuuust right last year but after buying a beautiful faux fur blanket I wanted to switch the tree up to a more rustic cabin themed tree. I found the most perfect plaid flannel ribbon and it all came together after that. 

This tree is so different for me because it is not filled with items. I do like it but need to get use to the different feel it has. 

The new tree I got at target last year after Christmas at 90% off, it is a gorgeous tree!! 

 The gold tree will soon find its place in our new screened porch! 

Liam's Thanksgiving Program

On Friday Liam had his first Thanksgiving program at preschool. Nana Vicki, Grammy, Grandma, Lucy and I all went to see him. They sang two cute songs, made muffins and pumpkin bread, little Indian costumes and placements with everything they were thankful for. Liam listed: hot wheels, Lucy, pizza, apples and pumpkins on his list. Liam did so well singing his songs, we were so proud of our little man!! 

And simple so I don't forget names we have: Brynley, Emily, Brook-Lynn, Liam, Logan, Rebecca, Jack and Garrett. 

Once the show and snacks were done Lucy took it upon herself to start playtime. She is so social we seriously question where she came from haha! She loved playing with the baby, she "loves girl babies", she is so sweet and gentle with little ones. 

Thanksgiving 2013