Scrap Paper

Paper Scraps.

Bible Verses

Birth Announcements

Birth Announcement

Hand lettered No. 10 envelopes.  I love this size!  We so rarely use them now.  Not even for bills.  Actually, who even mails their bills anymore?

These are birth announcements I created for a friend who recently had an adorable little boy.  They sent out photo birth announcements from tinyprints, but also decided to do special custom made ones for their closest friends.  What a great idea!

When it came to merging my lettering with indesign, exporting files to pdf and sending them off to the printers, let's just say it took me longer than most.  Many thanks to Alysia at Perfect Press who made sure it was perfectly aligned and print-ready!

Overall, the whole combining-hand-lettering-with-graphic-design was a great learning experience.  CS4 is not my best friend, but we are definitely getting along better than before.

Another envelope

This is a sample envelope I had created for a client awhile back.  In case you're wondering why there is a blue glass pebble in the photo, I put it there to keep the flap from hanging open.  My greatest secret out.

Tangled! Better than I thought

I'm way too old for princess movies and I think the last one I watched was Beauty and the Beast.  (Ok, I watched the Princess and the Frog.  But in my defense, I was on a very long flight.)  But I have to give a thumbs up to Tangled.  Not really worth the $21 to watch at the movie theater, but on blu-ray?  Totally cute and kinda clever.  I'm also a sucker for odd and cute sidekicks like Pascal here.

Table Number Signs

New item in my shop.  Table numbers!

My Messy Desk

Here are random shots of my desk when I haven't put anything away.  Hmmm, I think I need to clean up.  Of course I think messy desks are much more fascinating to look at.

Navy blue & cream envelopes

 

 Here is a stack of wedding envelopes I recently finished for a client.  Navy blue ink on cream.

This is what happens when the tip of the pen catches on the paper and ink splatters everywhere.  I was glad it happened early and not on the last word.  (That's happened too. :)

Barcelona

Our very first stop in Spain was Barcelona.  This is an old area called the Barri Gotic.  Lots of narrow lanes and cobblestone.  It feels like a different world in here.

Pig legs at the outdoor Boqueria Market.  This store specializes in Iberian ham.  The black hoofed pigs are fed only acorns.

 The Boqueria (outdoor market)

 The Sagrada Familia.  Antoni Gaudi's famous church.  That's not renovations.  It's still being built today.

Front entrance

Inside the church.  It was very bright inside.  A nice change from all the dark, gothic cathedrals that pepper Spain. 

Another entrance to the Sagrada Familia.  When I first saw this on tv, I hated it.  But looking at it close up and personal, I appreciated the artistry.  And it's pretty awesome to look at it live and in the flesh.

Parc Guell.  Colorful park created by Gaudi that was packed with tourists.  You couldn't snap a photo without someone's head in it.  Here is the famous salamander/dragon thing that everyone wants a photo of. 

Parc Guell from the bookstore window.

Dinner at a ham shop.  The food in Spain was absolutely amazing.  Everything was marinated in delicious olive oil.  Strangely, the bread was surprisingly mediocre.  This was the case at almost every restaurant we went to.  They automatically brought it to your table as some sort of cover charge.  Sometimes they just brought crackers.  Since we couldn't mop up all the leftover olive oil with crackers, we just picked up our dishes and drank it. 

Sevilla

Seville bullring.  There is only one fight in the months of July and August.  Probably because of the blistering heat.  But they do give tours of the bullring.  We weren't planning to see a fight anyway, but it was cool to see a bullring.

 View of the Seville Cathedral through an outer door.

 Seville at night.

 The inner courtyard of the Alcazar palace.  Similar to Granada, but a Christian palace built in the Moorish style.  Still used today for state functions.

Seville is an old, old city with a complicated history.  It has Roman, Muslim and Christian influence.  Fascinating but sad history.  You can feel the different layers of influence in the city itself.   

Stunning tile work in the Plaza de Espana.  Fairly recent.  I think it was built in the 1930s for some World Fair.  We only saw this place at night.  Can't imagine what it looks like during the day.

Late night snack.  In Spain everyone eats late.  Locals start dinner at 9pm and restaurants don't close until midnight.  Mmmm!  More iberian ham!

Can't go to Europe without climbing some sort of tower.  View from the top of the Seville bell tower.

Everything in Seville is designed to avoid the scorching heat.  Homes are painted white.  Streets are narrow to maximize shade.  And everywhere you look there are orange trees to give additional shade.  In July and August the temps can get up to 115 degrees!  Fortunately because of this year's weird weather pattern, it was a balmy 95.