I took a class the other day. It was a calligraphy class taught by a most talented person, Farin Blackburn of seaworthi, at a beautiful space – Lovely Paperie and Gifts in Rocky River (with lovely owner, Kate Fortney). I have never thought of myself as someone capable of calligraphy as I have terrible handwriting. The computer has become my haven as I learned that I type faster than I write. But my niece is getting married and invited me to join her at this class to get a taste for the technique.

What is calligraphy anyways, you might ask? Calligraphy is the design and execution of lettering with a broad tip instrument or brush. The word is derived from the Greek words for ‘beauty’ and ‘writing’, and that’s exactly what it is. You can do calligraphy with fountain type pens with different tips or nibs and wet ink as we did in class or you can use markers especially made with a wider edge to simulate the fountain pen or even a paintbrush.

I have always loved calligraphy as an art, as a medium, as a form of communication. It serves all design principles equally it seems to me. In the age of computers, it is possible to simulate the look of hand-lettered calligraphy and while that presents a certain amount of ease, there is nothing like custom hand-lettering and the effort and skill it takes to do it well. If you remember, it was a calligraphy class at Stanford that influenced Steve Jobs and Apple computer to bridge the gap and make typography and font options a focus of Macintosh computers – most likely something we would not have today without his influence.

Calligraphy in its original form is popular as ever, with handwritten invitations sought after by soon to be brides and commercial entities alike. In this era of handmade crafts, a handwritten note is special – a handwritten note or invitation using calligraphy is divine and may be collected or even displayed. As accomplished French calligrapher, Nicolas Ouchenir” says “it’s so classic, it becomes ultra modern”.

But calligraphy as a skill takes patience and persistence and practice… all of which are a struggle for me. Yet, as I’ve been trying to perfect each stroke of pen to paper, I find myself getting into a space of zen and I can see that this may become a new form of therapy. I have a long way to go in my technique and ability, but I’m glad I tried the class and highly recommend it to others. It was $125 for 2 hours of instruction and materials (plus snacks/drinks) – follow Lovely on Facebook for upcoming schedule of classes.

For more examples of calligraphy styles and techniques that I love, take a look at my Pinterest board on Calligraphy and Typography:

I guess you could say I’m not much of an “every day’s a holiday” decorator. I love Thanksgiving and fall – it’s pretty much my decorating season of choice with pumpkins, leaves, ambers and golds and reds and just a whole season dedicated to gratitude – how is that not perfection? And who doesn’t love a little Christmas, too – although the season is a little shorter I still want to decorate with trees, garland, etc. But once January rolls around and the new year starts, I really do not need to celebrate every Hallmark holiday by changing up my decor. However… I just wanted a little sumpin’ sumpin’ for this Valentine’s Day, I guess. After all, the language of love speaks to all of us, doesn’t it? And it’s getting to be a “stay inside kind of winter” in Ohio at least. So what better way to hunker down than to have some fun with design and crafting projects. And the sentiment of Valentine’s Day is a perfect theme to get your DIY on. But I didn’t want to go all red and pink as that just doesn’t fit with my year round color scheme. So I thought I would stick to some neutrals and see what I could create.

1. Kraft paper heart garland – Hey, nobody said these had to be difficult. Seriously, folks. Just cut out some hearts from Kraft or any paper you desire, string them together, hang them up already! I liked the brown of Kraft paper and I ended up printing out my heart outlines and cutting out with scissors. I was able to get 24 out of an 8.5×11 piece of paper. I’m sure there’s a more efficient way to do it, but I found this somehow very therapeutic, ha! I punched holes in the hearts, and I had some red and white baker’s twine so I thought using that to string through them added a subtle red and white touch. I just love a sweet little garland, don’t you?

2. Cupcake liner heart wreath – I’m sure you’ve seen all the coffee filter wreaths floating around Pinterest and the interwebs. But I realized I had some of the white cupcake liners that go between the foil ones. I never know – are you supposed to use these for cupcakes? Sometimes I do, but it’s definitely harder to peel off the cupcake from these than the foil wrappers so maybe they’re just separators for the foil? At any rate, I thought they might make nice “mini-coffee filters” and I could create a mini heart-shaped wreath or something. I cut out a piece of cardboard in the shape of a heart and scrunched up about 30 white cupcake liners and hot-glued them onto the cardboard. I still have a fresh evergreen wreath on my door, which I love for its simplicity. So I just inserted this heart right in the middle and nestled it in. Et voilà – a little transition wreath from Christmas to Valentine’s. 🙂

3. X&O letters – Ok, have you noticed how almost every HGTV show uses letters as a design element? If not, then at least you know Joanna Gaines from Fixer Uppers does (love her show, btw!). So I thought a hugs and kisses (aka X&O) might be fun to get on my mantel! But not in the cardboard state of purchase from the craft store – I painted with a little bronze and black spray paint. Did I mention it’s cold in Ohio right now? I painted these in my basement on a bunch of newspaper I laid out. Honestly, I really only like to spray paint in summer but there it is – I did it in winter. And I love them! The ampersand (&) made a nice touch between them and says “Valentine’s Day” without being in your face obvious.

4. LOVE letter sculpture – Are you familiar with the LOVE art sculpture created by Robert Indiana? He also did a HOPE sculpture in Chicago, that I think is a little better, but I may be partial. 🙂 Anyways, whether you know it or not I’m guessing you’ve seen this iconic work if even on a postage stamp. I love it (wah wah) and wanted to try to recreate it myself with something I could hang in my kitchen. I do like a little turquoise, mint, or duck egg blue so I decided to paint the canvas first with Catalina Mist Krylon paint. And then I used my bronze spray paint on MDF letters this time, that I also got at the craft store. I figured I would hot glue them to the canvas and be all set. However… this is where things went horribly wrong… the letters were too heavy for the canvas. Maybe I could have used different glue, but alas, I peeled them off and decided they might work just fine on their own and I got an extra project – “LOVE letter sculpture”!

5. LOVE on canvas – So I went back to the drawing board (aka hobby store), and found some much more lightweight wood letters. I decided I wanted a little more pop than the bronze, so I spray painted the letters white. I also broke down and had to add a splash of red to my Valentine decor with a piece of red felt I cutout in the shape of some hearts. I first used E-6000 glue this time to hold the letters on – fail! So I super-glued those suckers and that seemed to stick…literally. And then I just used spray adhesive for the felt hearts. It became the perfect Valentine addition to my kitchen.

Thanks for joining me on these fun projects. I hope you are inspired to add a little Valentine decor of your own. If you do, let me know what you create!

The living room always gets the most of my focus as that and the kitchen are the places we mostly congregate at our house. But I’ve always loved the open and spacious front entry in our house and the little parlor room where we put the piano – so now it’s the music room, of course. Join me on this Christmas Eve as I enjoy the fruits of my decorating labor and settle in for Christmas with family and friends.

The bay window is the perfect place to put our big tree with all of our collected ornaments over the years. One can never have too many skate ornaments…

I love this René Magritte ornament we got in Belgium last year to hang out with Hermey from Rudolph…

But that means the cute sofa I got for the bay window has to move to the hallway for the season. But that’s okay. It’s a cushy place to take off boots or just sit and listen to music being played or sung in the music room. I love my Canadian Banff ski poster with a pair of vintage skis.

And did I mention I can’t get enough skates?! Black, white, brown – they all remind me of many winters in Canada skating in our back yard or elsewhere. Yes, I said backyard – we had a water drainage ditch running behind our house that always froze in winter. My dad would clear the ice with hot water, prop up a big industrial light, and create our very own skating rink where we would skate and skate well into the cold winter nights!

I love this old sheet music I got from a friend hung on a ladder from Rust & Found – it creates a nice border around the bay window and link to the tree.

Snowmen and Santas always seem to pop up in unusual spots and add a little whimsy to the house…

And I have a collection of felted “ornaments” to hang on every door possible!

Thanks for joining me on this tour. I hope your holidays are not too crazy and you’re getting to enjoy some silent nights and tidings of joy! Check out some other holiday decorating ideas from my Living Room or this vintage holiday bar cart!

Blessings to you and yours. 🙂