My Card

They arrived yesterday, and I can't stop touching them! So ultra thick and smooth. Black, white, and simplistic, I wanted to keep the design clean and minimal and I love how they turned out. Every time I'm working on something, be it my blog, wardrobe, or interiors, I find myself saying strip away, then keep stripping (a design mantra I adopted from clothing designer John Patrick) throughout the process. It's something I live by, and has been a steady friend in keeping my surroundings an inspiring, blank slate to work upon.

Jetset

I leave for Europe in a month. Everyone immediately asks how Chris and I will do without each other for so long. We're not sure ourselves honestly, but I'm looking forward to this new opportunity for personal growth. I'll be studying photography in London and Paris, while working on an independent photographic project of my own. There's also a week planned in the south of France where I'm hoping to steal away and soak sun for days.

Very surreal. I'll keep you posted on the planning process; if you haven't been overseas it will be a learning experience for us both! And if you have traveled abroad, I'm all about tips and advice from the well-traveled. Tip away.

blog turns 1

This little place has been mine for an entire year already. To celebrate this milestone, I've made you guys a wallpaper for your iPhones. It's currently on mine, and I love reading this every time I look down at my phone. I believe in positive affirmations, and this is something I need to tell myself from time to time to keep these stressed times in perspective. 

The download is available for free below (without the attribution) for both the iPhone 4 & 5. And never fear, I'll be adjusting it for iOS7 (the version below will be a bit large on iOS7, although still very lovely). Enjoy, and thank you for joining me! I love our time together.

iPhone 4 & 4s  |  iPhone 5

Update for iOS7
iPhone 4 & 4s | iPhone 5

from my sketchbook

A few letters and curls I've been playing with...

Chris & I celebrated my birthday this past weekend; we've discovered the most beautiful bar & lounge in the capital.

Penny, our adopted cocker-retriever, is finally playing with her toys! She wouldn't bark for the first few months we had her home, and had no interest in playing with either of us. Slowly but surely she found her bark, and just within the past week, I was delighted to find her roughhousing with her toys! It's been rewarding to watch her envelop her permanent home.

Have a productive & gorgeous week!

learning something new: hand lettering

My monogram, and my marriage monogram

I'm so excited to finally share this with you!
I became interested in calligraphy somewhere around two years ago. At the time, calligraphers weren't keen on sharing their technique or secrets, so I sent off to figure it out alone. Sadly, I think I bought the worst penholder and nib a newbie could start with. First, it was an incredibly tricky straight penholder and nib, and it would barely hold ink and only scratched my paper. Frustrated and disappointed, I put that dream aside.

Two years went by, and I came across a workshop being held by the gorgeous and talented Molly Jacques. Lucky enough to have gotten a spot in one of these coveted workshops, my love and confidence was rekindled. My hand is still shaky, and a little all over the place, but it's fun to practice and exciting to see (somewhat) pretty results! I'm getting a tad bit better at individual letters... the trickiest part is connecting them with consistent spacing. We'll see how I come along.

What about you? Have you learned a new skill lately? Life can be so demanding - it's difficult to set aside time for new interests, but gosh is it worth it.


:: Molly Jacques Illustration & Hand Lettering