Creative DIY Wedding Ceremony Backdrop

This ceremony backdrop has to be the coolest wedding DIY I have seen yet.   The creative couple hand wrote poems on a long roll of butcher paper that was rolled out in place of an aisle runner. During the ceremony, the couples’ mothers read the poems.  How touching!

I love the simplicity of this idea and what a big impact it had on the ceremony.  Couples could choose to write anything that has meaning to their relationship on the roll of paper.  This easy DIY would add a lovely personal touch to any wedding.

And as always my calligraphy font, Belluccia, one of myfonts Most Popular Fonts for 2011, is available at : myfonts.com and fontbros.com.

Hand lettering on wooden tray with DIY instructions

Hand lettering on wooden tray

Wooden serving tray

I recently hand lettered on the bottom of a wooden serving tray to serve as a gift to an outgoing president of a study group.  I worked with the colors on the front of the tray, lettering in a solid color then “antiqued” the letters by going over them with a  tinted “wash” of paint.  This is done using acrylic paint and a lettering brush then sealed with Clear Acrylic Matte Coating.

I think it would also be a great DIY project using paint pens.

Step 1: Find a simple block font and cursive font you like ( Belluccia comes to mind:).  Create the layout on the computer, then print it at the size needed.

Step 2: Use transfer paper, (white would be needed on a dark background) to trace the lettering onto the tray.  Make sure to line it up straight so it is parellell with the edges of the tray.

Step3: Next grab a sharpie paint pen in the chosen color and letter over the traced lines.

You’ve just created a pretty, personal and  practical gift!

And as always my calligraphy font, Belluccia, one of myfonts Most Popular Fonts for 2011, is available at : myfonts.com and fontbros.com.

Beautiful “Alpha Bird” Prints

My friend and fabulous calligrapher, illustrator  and graphic designer, Janell Wimberly, has created these gorgeous  Alpha Bird prints.

Blue Jay "Alpha Bird" by Janell Wimberly

They are available for purchase as 8.5″ x 11″ prints.  There’s a bird for every letter of the alphabet!  For DIY brides, I can also see these being used on wedding programs, menus, place cards and table numbers and any other nature or bird themed wedding signage.  I’m sure Janell would be open to that option.

Puffin "Alpha Bird" by Janell Wimberly

Check out the rest of the alphabet here :  Alpha Birds by Janell Wimberly

Janell also creates graphics and logos for every need for large companies or small private enterprises.
Check out some of her logos and commercial lettering styles .  She’s a great talent and a wonderful person!

Thanks for sharing these with me Janell!

And as always my calligraphy font, Belluccia, one of myfonts Most Popular Fonts for 2011, is available at : myfonts.com and fontbros.com.

DIY Wedding Invitation with Cursive Font

I had the pleasure of creating these invitations for the wedding of a much adored family friend.  I love the beautiful spring color combination of amethyst and mint. They were created using readily available products — making it the perfect DIY Wedding Invitation for any DIY bride to tackle!   The chosen items: pouches, papers, and envelopes in a shimmer finish are all from Marsupial papers. They are available online or you can check their website for a dealer near you.

The pouch (in Marsupial’s amethyst color) holds the wedding invitation, reception card, accommodations, and RSVP postcard.  All of the wedding suite pieces were designed using my cursive font, Belluccia, along with the font Big Caslon. The envelope (in mint) was  addressed in the Belluccia hand lettering style, and the return address was printed in the font. If hand lettering by a calligrapher is not in your budget, a similar effect could be achieved by using the font and your computer to print the addresses on the envelopes.   I also utilized the flourishes, ornaments, and borders from the Belluccia font family.

The wedding invitation was printed on Marsupial’s Tobacco Magnolia paper.  I love the muted contrast this leaf pattern creates against the mint green and amethyst paper.  A matching ribbon adds detail to the card. The “love” stamp on the “Reply” postcard with purple flowers provided a great pop of color.

The individual reception card and postcard were printed on magnolia colored paper.

The finished product was lovingly assembled by the bride, Mother of the Bride and one of the bridesmaids.

The combination of a beautiful wedding font, quality paper products, and time ( and friends!)  to construct and assemble allows any DIY bride the opportunity to create a unique, custom wedding invitation.

Another way to save on cost is to take advantage of the convenience provided by a service like Kinkos. Their self-serve color copiers will easily print on thick shimmer paper like the ones used for this invitation.

And as always my calligraphy font, Belluccia, one of myfonts Most Popular Fonts for 2011, is available at : myfonts.com and fontbros.com.

Thank You Gift Presentation

I had so much fun putting together this thank you gift for Target in appreciation of our work together on the St. Jude’s ad.  This colorful package contains cookies and text that follow along with the poem and pictures featured in the ad.

I love creating personalized gifts of appreciation that will make the receivers’ day. My goal is to wow them at every step.

wrapped gift

First, I painted and hand lettered words from the poem around this circular container.  I also painted the lid of the box to look like the Target logo. After tying a matching polka dot ribbon around the package I attached a round thank you card with hand lettered spiraling text.

foam snow flakes

Seeing as this box contains delicious (and breakable) cookies, I needed to find a decorative way of protecting the contents.  I used these foam snow flakes and white shredding to cushion the cookies and keep them snug in the box. They also happen to go with the theme.

cookies with lettering

These adorable cookies were baked and decorated by the talented Mary of It’s A Mary Cake.  Mary decorated the little girl cookies to look like the children from the advertisement and made the colorful dinosaur cookies to go along with the poem.

St. Jude's cookie

Mary also duplicated both St. Jude’s and Target’s logo in fondant and then I hand lettered the words.

I’m happy to say, my contacts at Target were delighted to “taste and see” their gift.

I had so much fun creating this one. This idea could be used for so many different occasions.  And who doesn’t love receiving a cookie?

And as always my calligraphy font, Belluccia, one of myfonts Most Popular Fonts for 2011, is available at : myfonts.com and fontbros.com.

“Oh, Hello Friend” Lovely Package Exchange

In any gift giving occasion, the presentation is just about as important as the gift itself.  Because I believe this, I was happy to sign up for the lovely package exchange hosted by Oh, Hello Friend.  I love this event because it celebrates beautiful, creative packaging and I had a lot of fun putting mine together. My swap partner was Bonita Rose and this is the final product I sent her:

wrapped package

As you can see, I decided on a silver and gold color theme.  I found a glittery, silver box and wrapped it in a big, gold ribbon with a matching garland accent and a silver ‘B’ initial.

Opened package

The first thing seen after opening the package is my hand lettered note with the same shiny, gold ribbon.

contents of package

For the contents, there are several cute, crafty things (some are from Paper Source)  I found to match Bonita’s vibrant and colorful style.   I included different kinds of lace and paper tape, colorful flower cut outs, muslin bags, and a stamp set.

What I enjoyed most was creating these personalized and hand-lettered tags.

hand lettered tags

My inspiration came from quotes found on Bonita’s blog.  These can be used as bookmarks, gift tags, decoration, etc.

Calligraphy and glitter note

I also created this custom greeting card using my calligraphy and Stickles glitter glue in platinum.

hand-lettered note

I hope this bright package helped spread some holiday cheer!  There is nothing better than a beautifully wrapped gift and I had a blast putting this together.

Many thanks to Danni at Oh, Hello Friend  for taking the time to coordinate this exchange! I could easily see using this for an out-of-town guest welcome gift or hostess gift. What other ideas do you have for its use? If you would care to leave a comment there’s a special gift for you!

Special Limited time Give Away:  5 Gift tags with your choice of sayings ( Limit of 8 words for each saying).  How to get them?

First leave a comment on this post about ways you might use the tags.  Secondly, if you’re not already subscribed to my blog, “subscribe”, “like” Lettering Art Studio on Facebook or “follow” me on Twitter.

If you’re already a subscriber, do one of the other two ( “like” or “follow”). And if you already do all three ( thanks!) please refer a friend to subscribe, like or follow!  Ask them to mention you in their comment.

Then fill out the form below with your name and  e-mail address so I can contact you to find out the 5 sayings you would like on the tags and where to send them.   January 23 will be the deadline for this give away.

Name(required)

Email(required)

Website

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And as always my calligraphy font, Belluccia is available at : myfonts.com and fontbros.com

“Spooky” DIY Halloween envelope and Invite

Halloween will be here soon.  If you’re ready to send out invitations to your spooky party, here’s a simple and easy way to address them in theme!

Halloween invite with "spidery" envelopes

I recently did these for a client who also ordered a special Halloween themed stamp from Zazzle.com.  The client supplied the invitations as well as the matching return address label.  They came from Noteworthyonline.com.

I used gouache paint and a brush for lettering and creating the web and spider, but you can create the look yourself with just markers!  Here’s the how to steps:

Halloween envelope: Step one

Step 1. Draw a simple scalloped line using a black marker.  I used a Faber-Castell  Pitt artist pen ( the Brush marker).

Halloween envelope: Step two

Step 2. Draw lines straight on an angle down from the points to the edge of the envelope.

Halloween envelope: Step three

Step 3.  Draw more scalloped lines to mimic the top line.  Make sure to create at least  3 spaces to accommodate the name and address.  If the address will have an apartment line, make sure to create another space for that.

Halloween envelope: Step four

Step 4. With an orange marker ( I used a TOMBO Brush marker) letter the name and address in the spaces created between the lines.  This is the fun part because it’s not supposed to be perfect.  In fact, it actually helps if you shake a little when lettering.

Halloween invite: Step five

Step 5.  Draw the spider using the black marker. A simple hour glass shape filled in works for the body, then add legs and dot white eyes with a white paint marker.  I used a Sharpie Poster-Paint marker.

A  themed stamp and return address sticker, will add to the final look, but they’re not necessary.

Final DIY themed envelope with invitation

Your friends and family are sure to be spooked when they get this in the mail:)

 

Wedding Font for Wedding Festivities

At Lettering Art Studio, we love to hear and see your success stories when you take the creative wheel behind your big event! We are pleased to offer you yet another DIY Wedding opportunity using our newest script font, Belluccia  font, ornaments, fourishes and borders.

Today’s DIY project is a Welcome sign for your wedding or event.  If you subscribe to my blog and post a comment about the project, I’ll send you a copy of the Welcome sign artwork to use for your own project!

Here’s the How to :

Step 1.)  I started with this wooden shape.  I happened to have this one left over from another project.  But you can create one yourself out of something as simple as cardboard or foam core.  Just make sure it has a smooth surface. You can also buy pre-cut wooden shapes at a craft store, or look for wooden signs at places like Goodwill.

Step 2.) Next I attached the  Adhesive backed Chalkboard paper ( Michael’s) to the board and cut the shape out.

Step 3.) I created the artwork on the computer using my new Belluccia font, banner ( in the flourishes package) and birds from the ornament package. ( The birds aren’t shown in this pic.  The font inside the banner is actually a new one I’m creating!)  I actually changed the wording inside the banner to say “Our Wedding”.

I sized it to fit the board by enlarging it on my copier.  I also made a small border by drawing around the outline of the shape using a Chalk Marker.  ( Michael’s)

Step 4.) Once I had the artwork in place, I traced it onto the chalkboard paper by placing white transfer paper ( any craft store) under it and tracing with a sharp pencil.  I did the same thing with the birds.

Step 5.) The last thing is to fill in the artwork using the Chalk marker.  It’s a chiseled edge so you have to put it up on it’s thinnest edge to make the finer lines.  I need to check and see if this marker comes in different tips.  That would be helpful.  But the look overall is not supposed to be refined.

Being a calligrapher, I just hand lettered the date and names and “Our Wedding”, but you could trace a simple block font if you don’t feel comfortable with your hand skills.

You can attach a hanger at the top and hang it on a door or post  or attach it to a wooden stake and put it in a planter.

I’d love to see what ideas you come up with!  If you end up making something with the artwork, please send me the how to pics for posting.  Or just a pic of the final piece.

Hope you enjoyed the first of many how to projects using Belluccia !

Both fanciful and classy, Belluccia was created with the DIY bride in mind as well as invitation designers.  It has all the components just ready for you to create invitations and wedding signage with the beautiful look of calligraphy at a fraction of the cost.

To get a better look at the Belluccia font as well as the whole family of flourishes, ornaments and borders go to : http://new.myfonts.com/search/Belluccia/fonts/.