Monday Morning Pinch Me - New Minivan!

I've needed a new minivan for awhile now. My old one was 8 years old and had 120,000 miles on it. With three kids that translates to about 300,000 miles! Practical as we are, we wanted to wait until we found just the right one. Well, this weekend we did! Not only did we find a great minivan (Kia Sedona) but we found an amazing dealership.

We went to Fuccillo Kia in Cape Coral Florida. We were amazed at their fabulous customer service. Our salesman was a 7 year police officer turned salesman and he was fantastic. He even gave us some great parenting tips! The owner even sat with us and helped us get a better interest rate. To top it off, he gave us a gift certificate to a local restaurant (seafood!) because we had been there all day and hadn't eaten anything.

Buying a car has never been a fun experience -- until now. So, I thought it appropriate to send a nice thank you note. I had mentioned I designed greeting cards and the owner said he had never heard that before so I decided to design a fun card especially for them.

In doing so, I thought it would be interesting to show you all how the design process works for me. This is the pencil sketch I worked out beforehand.

From there, I create the design with a pointed pen. This takes a lot of time as I go over and over the design until I get each part just right.

From there, I created the final design for the card.





On the final card, I filled in the heart with a glitter pen and the card was printed on pearl paper.

Love my new minivan and we heart Fuccillo Kia!
Truly,
Erica

Monday Morning Recap - Whatcha been up to?

WARNING: Very photo heavy post!

I just finished next year's birthday card for the Coastal Calligraphers Guild. LOVE it! I can't share until next year because I want it to be a surprise for members. Tease right?! Anyway, I've been doing lots of crafty stuff and baking but not much calligraphy these days. I thought I would take a moment to recap what I've been doing to make up for the lack of calligraphy. Sorry lettering friends - hope you enjoy some other stuff, too!

I made this little ipod hoodie for my oldest. It took much longer than I expected but I love how it came out. Found the pattern on Ravelry but originally it came from Colorado Moms. Thanks for sharing such a cute pattern! Wonderful gift for the teen in your life.

My cousin recently had another baby girl. I made this sweater dress for her. I'm not usually a clothing knitter but more of an accessory knitter. This took some work but I was really pleased with the result.

Let's see ... what else. . . last Christmas I did a few house portraits for friends of my parents.

What else? ... A totebag for my aunt and purses for my mom, my other aunt, and two other friends. This bag (except the tote) is my favorite pattern (as you can tell) and they were made from the Zest Tote Bag pattern at Joann.com. Note, I skipped the flower and made the straps longer than the pattern.

Goodness... can you stand another?!

Made these Kids Art Organizer totes for my nieces when they were moving back to Maine. Great for long car trips! This was a great Etsy find - Ginia18 has some wonderful patterns.

I loved these so much, I made one for myself for my calligraphy supplies in zentangle like fabrics!

Made this cute little dog harness for my mom and dad's dog. Found this wonderful free tutorial here at the Moda Bakeshop.

Made 10 of these cute little reversible bags for my oldest's birthday party. We did a treasure hunt at the mall with 10 of her friends. It was REALLY fun! The purse size was originally much larger and the strap was originally smaller but I made it a little longer and the purse a little smaller. This was a free pattern called Grab Bags from allpeoplequilt.com.

I made one for each of the adult chaperones, too!

This one is one of my favorites! I made these for all the cousins and my kids last Christmas. Their Nana passed away and we all live in different states now so I thought this was really cute. This was another awesome free project from joann.com. I made the drawstring bag and added the poem (feel free to borrow).

Made this laptop bag for my mom. I doubt I'll make another one. I loathe working with foam. This was a store bought pattern.

Every year I try to make one gift that I can give to all the folks on my list. You may recall my maple syrup bottles a few years ago. This past year it was conversation starters. I made these from scratch ... it took a lot of work and organization. I wouldn't recommend it! I see now they sell these things in various places. I also made the snowflake ornaments but I will blog about those separately soon.

This was a gift for my parents friends who are also now our friends. Their last name is Parrot. I've tried silk painting a few times. I still need some practice. But this was fun.

Made these for friends of ours that have a little girl and also a set for my uncle's son who recently had his first. I made a little cloth drawstring bag to put them in and crocheted a drawstring bag for the second set. SO CUTE! This was another great etsy find! Barnyard Balls by patternplay on Etsy.

Made quite a few cheer bows for the cheer squad at Imagine School where all my kids attend. These took some work as I had to actually make the sequin ribbon because it doesn't exist anywhere else! I cut fabric strips and used fuse-a-seam to adhere the strips to ribbon. Each bow had to be assembled and stitched. I used instructions from this great ebook, Cheer Bow Instructions from No Bow No Go.

Speaking of cheer... I made over 50 fairy tutus, crowns, and 100 wands for a fundraiser at the school carnival. We were in a bad location so we only sold a handful. If you know anyone that needs fairy gear, I'm your girl!

Speaking of fundraisers... I made hundreds of cake pops and muffins for a bake sale of sorts during a motorcycle run fundraiser. We had a lot of fun but didn't make a lot of money as unfortunately, the turnout was really low. :-( I ate way more of these than any human should. I did make the labels (sort of lettering). The muffins were DELICIOUS and came from Good Housekeeping: The Great Bakesale Cookbook, a book with great ideas for bakesales. I should have left off the Ricotta label because you don't taste it and they are wonderful, moist, lemony muffins. I should know. .. I sold 2 and ate 4. The cheerleaders had no problem finishing the left over cakepops.

This was a birthday gift for my little cousin who is more like a niece. She's a doll! I think she enjoyed playing with these. This was another store bought pattern.

I also made her a princess crown hat for those inbetween cold days when a full hat isn't required. This is a pattern I purchased called Loved by Talitha Kuomi.

I baked quite a bit throughout the year. I won't post all of them. But my favorites were the pumpkin and chocolate whoopie pies. YUM! Oh look ... a tiny bit more calligraphy! :-)

WOW! I'm going to have to stop here even though there are a few more fun things I made this year that I would like to share. Maybe next time. Geez ... looking at all this in one place it's no wonder I don't have any time for extra calligraphy fun! Well, there is always next year. :-)

Truly,
Erica

A Rainy Monday - Halloween!

Had a very busy weekend - making Halloween costumes! It's been a tradition since my first born to make costumes every Halloween. Some years the kids forgo it for a store bought one, others they ask for something really elaborate. Either way, whatever makes them happy. I enjoy doing it. If you remember two years ago, I pulled my first all-nighter in many years whipping up two costumes - one for my oldest and one for her bestie.

Well this year, she turned 14 and I figured it's time for her to stop trick or treating and she insisted she will trick or treat until she dies of old age. I told her if she planned on going she needed a full costume and it's a fact the older you get, and the less costume you wear, the less people want to give you candy. She insisted she had it under control.

So that's why yesterday I ended up making two "costumes" one for her and one for her best friend. They wanted something cute, but not trampy (which it seems is the only thing the local Halloween store carries for teens). They wanted something that was a costume but not really a costume. See, I said - another sign you are getting too old!

In any event, they decided on Tom and Jerry so I searched through my stash (I practically have a craft store in my front closet so it wasn't hard). I found some felt, found two headbands, made a pattern, and came up with these.

They were delighted. And I had fun making them.

My son, now 10, has left behind Spiderman in lieu of more "serious" Halloween wear. Last year he went as a *really* creepy guy from a video game he isn't even allowed to play. This year he asked to go as "Ghost" from Modern Warfare 2. Given it was too late to find a balaclava anywhere locally, I whipped up this little number with a dollar's worth of black stretch fabric and some white acrylic paint.

He was utterly amazed and I was really happy with how it came out.

Finally, my youngest, wanted the full blown deal - Mermaid. I purchased a pattern on sale for $1 and $12 worth of fabric and two days later had this.

Worth every last minute for that smile!

Hope you all have a safe and

Truly,

Erica



Monday morning after Death by Chocolate

Had a great weekend. It was my mom's birthday and I decided to make her a photo clock. There is a great tutorial over at Rosy Red Buttons. This was an easy, inexpensive project that is sure to please! I bought the clock workings at Michael's for $6.99 plus a 40% off coupon. The board was $1.99. I already had the Mod Podge.

I put the whole thing together in a couple of hours. I like it so much I'm going to make myself one with a different photo. I did the title in calligraphy (or at least part of it). This isn't a great photo as the glare was bad but you get the gist. This is a really fun way to display a favorite photo. My mom already has lots of framed photographs so I wanted something different. This is a really special photo to her as it is her grandchildren and her altogether for the first time ever.

I also made Death by Chocolate Mum Cupcakes from one my all time favorite blogs, Bakingdom. Mine didn't come out nearly as nice looking as hers but I gave it a shot. They tasted great though! I made the cupcake wrappers from a template by gabbycakes. I had to size mine down by about an inch on the side and cut them about half height wise.

Busy weekend but lots of fun trying new things. Hope yours was good, too!



Truly,

Erica

Monday after Mike (Kecseg) - Beyond Copperplate

Just returned from another fabulous workshop with the Scribes of Central Florida. What a nice group they are! And wow - such amazing pointed pen talent in that guild!

After many, many years of admiring his work, I finally met and took a class with Mike Kecseg. The class, Copperplate: Beyond the Basics, was a great fundamentals class. More of an opportunity to practice and advance copperplate skills rather than produce a finished piece, we spent two days learning Mike's tips for taking copperplate to the next level.

Mike is a very generous and down to earth teacher. Gracious with both his lettering and his sharing of knowledge, his class is a "must do" for any calligraphy enthusiast. His instruction is well thought out, well paced, easy to follow, and the handouts are DeLiCiOuS! Although I've been doing pointed pen for over 18 years now (what?!), I still learned some great skills which I'm sure will further develop my style.

Below are two of my practice sheets from the workshop. After reviewing the basics of copperplate, we learned how to vary a number of elements, such as X-height, slant, spacing, pen pressure, ascenders, and descenders.

If you ever have the opportunity, I highly recommend taking a class with Mike.

Truly,
Erica

Monogram Monday ... er Tuesday - wait make it Thursday!

I was digging through old photographs (well, OK, I was whizzing through old photograph files but that sounds way less nostalgic) and found some old monograms I did. This was during the time my son had autism and life was a complete blur. No offense to any of the brides, but I don't remember doing most of these!

We were sleeping about 2 hours per night, I was trying to run my social stationery business, take care of two kids, and cure my son of autism. Sleep was low on the totem pole of priority. There were literally some nights I was falling asleep at my drafting table with a dip pen in my hand! (Don't try this at home - it does nothing for the nibs!)

Anyway, I was surpised at what I had accomplished in my sleep deprived state. I miss doing monograms. Maybe I should start doing them again... :-)

Think I went a little flourish crazy here:

Like this one. I'm sorry to say I have no idea who it was for or when I did it.

A calligrapher's dream when the initials are M and W! :-) I did another version I liked even better that was just the M & W ... can't find it!

Poor Linda ... run for the hills - take cover from all that flourish!

For my own personal monogram ... still haven't decided which one.

E, how do I love thee...let me count the ways!

Last one ... I so hope she went with the less flourished one.

Hope you enjoyed seeing them for the first time. I feel like I did as well! It's all a blur! Kiss your babies before tomorrow is yesterday and you can't remember what happened!

Truly,

Erica