Happy Friday!

via my instagram

Hello folks! I hope your week is coming to a good end like mine is. I don't mean to brag, but I just have to say that I have had a truly great week. It probably helped that my birthday party was Sunday, I turned 22 on Wednesday, received some thoughtful gifts + finally bought myself a 50mm lens that I love. It could also be that my workouts are going awesome this week, Nicholas has been really supportive in my off moments, + I'm just grateful to be alive and healthy.

Last night I was hanging out on the internet + feeling so inspired by countless pictures of nature + motivational things. I got to thinking, and I realized a lot of the time I find I compare myself to others. To other people, to other businesses, to other ways of life. I do it far too often + it's really something I want to change. Comparison really is the thief of joy--it will never bring me peace. Therefore, I've decided to start working on stopping the comparisons. I want to stop looking at other people's success + thinking I'll never get there. There are a million factors as to why someone is where they are with their business, + even if it's just that they're better than me, it doesn't matter. I'm doing my thing, learning in my own way, having fun, and loving what I do. Isn't that something to be excited about? Isn't that something to be proud of? I want to stop looking at people's lives + thinking I'll never be that happy, I'll never get to travel that much, I'll never have a life that looks like theirs. You know, I might be right. Those things might never happen, but instead of focusing on them, I'm going to focus on me. I'm going to focus on being the happiest I can be, traveling the best + most I can, living a life I'm proud of and happy with. This won't be easy. It's going to be really hard, especially since it's so ingrained in me to compare. However, I'm going to try + I'm going to try hard. There will be days where I do good + there will be days when I still compare... but if I'm going to compare myself to anything, I want to compare myself to who I was yesterday. I want to be a better + happier person that she was. And I will be.

Here are just a few links. Enjoy!

Paint in water... it can't get any more beautiful than that.

Artist making damaged cities beautiful again.

Cell phone crashing in Disneyland. You gotta see this.

A perfect impersonation of your everyday drunk girl. Ha!

30 big cats caught being absolutely adorable.


Also, don't forget about my birthday sale! Receive 20% off your total purchase with code MYBDAY2014! Sale ends March 29 @ Midnight. Hurry to the shop! :)

Words, words, words / 26

via my instagram

I know it's coming really late today, but I wanted to do a quick hand lettering post. It's been awhile, as per usual for me, but I'm really happy with how this turned out and felt that I needed to post tonight. I love sharing my work with you, and it feels wonderful to have gotten this done. As you can see, it's not a finished piece yet. Just a sneak peek at good things to come. That's my motto lately. Good things to come... because I promise you, they're coming. :)

"Words, words, words" is a weekly hand lettering column in which I share some goodies hand-lettered by me for your enjoyment! You can check out previous posts here!

Celebrate

via my instagram

I love my state. I'm so proud to call this place my home. Happy 177th birthday, Michigan!

Happy Friday!

Testing out new pens (via my instagram)

Hello everybody. I hope your week is ending on a high note. I've been having a good week myself. On the wedding front, I found the most beautiful Erin Fetherston dress on eBay (new with tags!) and won the auction for it, making it really affordable and absolutely perfect. I got it in the mail yesterday and it is everything I dreamed it would be. It is only making me that much more excited for our wedding in August! I also decided to take yesterday off from babysitting my niece in order to get some much needed work done... well, that didn't work out so well. On the plus side, Nicholas and I went on a lunch and movie date yesterday. We saw Thor: The Dark World and I really enjoyed it! Then we got some food and free pie(!) from Grand Traverse Pie Co. And let me tell you what, it was killer as usual. Today I'm actually getting down to business and finishing part 1 of a very secret and exciting project I'm working on. All I can say is that I think it's going to make up for my absence as of late (fingers crossed!).

I only have a few links for you today, but I hope they're worth it. Have a wonderful weekend.

Crazy photography illusions. Sure to fool your eye!

Say anything.

Grand Rapids city guide through the eyes of a local photographer, with the help of VSCO film.

Words, words, words / 25

Hello and happy Saturday everyone. What are you up to today? It's pretty quiet over here. I'm just enjoying some Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family and doodling a little bit. I designed my sister's Christmas cards and once those are all finished in a week or two, I'll be sharing those with you. When I finished that design, I decided to create a quick little illustration/lettering. It only took about 10 minutes, and it's really not that great... but it was fun and nice to do something just for the hell of it.

I might be going shopping with my mom a little bit later, but I'm not too sure what today holds just yet. All I know is that I'm having a nice day, it's beautiful outside, and I'm feeling thankful. I'll probably doodle some more later, and if I do, I'll post it on Instagram more than likely. Are you following me? If not, check out some doodles, tidbits of my life, and pretty things over on my Instagram. Have a wonderful rest of your weekend.

"Words, words, words" is a weekly hand lettering column in which I share some goodies hand-lettered by me for your enjoyment! You can check out previous posts here!

Morning Doodle

I decided to doodle a little this morning on my (well, my sister's) bamboo tablet. I like the result. Simple and pretty and positive. Have a lovely Wednesday, everyone.

Words, words, words / 24

Good evening. Sorry I'm posting so late, but better late than never! I don't have a finished lettering for you today, but I figured I'd share something that I started today at least. This is just something that I thought up today and decided to letter, and I'm looking forward to finishing it sometime this week. I think it's important to live your life surrounded by things and people you find beautiful, and to never stop laughing. I know sometimes you need to be serious, and that's okay, but never forget to laugh at things, and most importantly, don't forget to laugh at yourself. I think we all take ourselves too seriously at times, but we need to laugh. It really is great medicine. I know when I'm feeling down, sometimes the last thing I want to do is laugh, but Nicholas will make me laugh and I'll appreciate it because it lifts me up and makes me feel better, even if the feeling only lasts until the laughter ends.

Nicholas and I just finished watching World War Z, and we both thought it was pretty good. We agreed that it could have used just a little bit more plot, but overall, it was an interesting movie with a good ending that wasn't perfect. Have any of you seen it? What did you think? I think we might end up watching another movie too, and my mom is on the way home with some apple dumplings for us from Russ', so it's a good night. ;) Tomorrow we are going to this giant building full of trampolines to jump for an hour, because why not?

Also, I know I haven't posted our engagement photos yet. Time got away from me and I totally forgot, but I'm thinking Monday will be a good time to post them. Have a great night!

"Words, words, words" is a weekly hand lettering column in which I share some goodies hand-lettered by me for your enjoyment! You can check out previous posts here!

Hello November + free desktop calendar

Happy November everybody! Can you believe we only have two months left until 2014? I am in awe. Most of my year was spent in Arizona, so it feels like the year went by a little quicker because I haven't been home for very long... although it has been almost 3 months!

Things are good around here. I've been watching my niece a lot, and trying to be productive, though if you know me, you know I probably haven't been. Nicholas is currently on a backpacking trip in Manistee National Forest with his friend, and I'm pretty jealous. One day I'll have to go with him. I've only seen pictures, but it looks beautiful. On another note, I've still got a lot on my to-do list, and maybe with him gone, I'll force myself to get some things done. Fingers crossed. On Sunday we have a baby shower for our cousin and that's when Nicholas comes home, so it should be a good day.

Today I have a free desktop calendar I want to share with you! I'm really, really, really happy with how it turned out. I used this tutorial from Lauren Hom of Daily Dishonesty to practice a different way of editing/finishing my hand lettering. Her work is seriously killer, and I'm dying over the fact that I got to get a little taste of what it's like to design something like she does. Granted, hers is far better, but I'm pretty proud of mine! I learned a lot from her tutorial, and it gave me new insight into hand lettering and different tools in photoshop to use in order to take my lettering to a new level. I've also got my sister's Bamboo tablet which is a huge help. I'm looking forward to testing it out some more. Hopefully that means I'll have some new hand lettering posts soon, but no promises. Anyway, have a lovely weekend everybody! :)

Click here to download the free desktop calendar!
I'd love to know if you use it! :)

*Free for personal use only.
*You may share this freebie with others, but you must link back here for them to download the files. No hosting the files yourself, please.

Words, words, words / 23

Happy Saturday everyone. Sorry I didn't post any links yesterday. It was my first day off from watching my niece in about two weeks, so I was busy doing other things... haha. Anyway, today I'm really excited to share with you a very special project I finished recently. A few weeks ago, a lovely girl emailed me asking me if I'd be willing to create a logo for her photography business. She already had a logo, but she felt that it didn't really reflect her personality and style of work like she wanted it to. She found me through this lettering project on Pinterest, and decided to contact me. I thought it over, contemplated how much I should charge (I'm very new to this), and decided I wanted to do something a little bit different. Instead of charging her, I decided to use it as a test-run to see how the process would work and to use it as a learning experience. I decided to create her logo so I could learn and grow and use it to expand my portfolio... and it felt good to do that for her. She was extremely grateful and awesome right off the bat, and I totally knew this was going to be a wonderful experience.

Fast forward a few weeks, and I am excited to show you the completed logos. I created one logo but added an alternate background for other applications. I actually also created another thicker logo, but I'll just be sharing the regular one with you because they're very similar. Hanna was such a sweetheart, and I had an amazing time working with her. It was so exciting to work with someone who was super friendly and ecstatic about the process and outcome. Not only is her work beautiful, but she is a beautiful person as well. Anyone who gets the chance to work with her is one lucky human being.

I had an awesome time creating this logo for Hanna. It was a really fun process, and having a client who was as rad as her really helped. I still have a lot to learn and won't be taking on any logo work for awhile, but this was a really good experience. Now I have a wonderful piece of work to add to my portfolio for the future, and some experience under my belt to reference later on. I'm excited to learn more about this process, and hopefully I'll be able to offer this service in the future. Thank you Hanna for being so great and for allowing me to create something you love for you and your business. It makes me so happy I got to be a part of this.

Last night, Nicholas and I went to dinner at HopCat, an awesome local bar downtown, and saw Don Jon at the movies... it was an excellent date night. Tonight, I have a birthday party to go to for family friends, and I'm really looking forward to that. Next week is our engagement shoot with our wedding photographer, and I'm super excited, though kind of nervous! The only other time I've had professional photos taken of myself was for senior pictures, and I remember it being fun though slightly awkward. Luckily I had a great photographer then, and I have another seriously talented photographer and wonderful person for this shoot... so I think it will all be okay. I'm thinking about getting a new dress for it, so I've got to find time to do that as well! Busy busy bee over here. :)

"Words, words, words" is a weekly hand lettering column in which I share some goodies hand-lettered by me for your enjoyment! You can check out previous posts here!

Words, words, words / 22

via my instagram

I thought I'd share a little sneak peek of the birth announcement I'm working on for my nephew. He's already 5.5 weeks old, but we like to procrastinate in this family... anyway, I'm having fun working on it. My sister wanted me to keep with the woodland theme that his bedroom is inspired by, so I have leaves and acorns on it and I'll probably finish it with a somewhat autumn-y/woodland color palette. Looking forward to seeing it completed.

Tonight is my sister Laurie's housewarming party, so I'm still getting ready for that. I have a couple things to make/buy still, and I'm going to head over there early to help decorate and get everything set for when people start showing up around 4pm. I'm really excited, and still crossing my fingers that the weather stays nice today/tonight so we can have our outdoor movie later! So cross your fingers extra tight for us, please! Have a great Saturday!

"Words, words, words" is a weekly hand lettering column in which I share some goodies hand-lettered by me for your enjoyment! You can check out previous posts here!

Words, words, words / 21

Wait. What is this? A new hand lettering post? Can you believe your eyes? Because I can't.... well, it's sort of a new lettering post. I recently created some invitations for my sister Laurie and brother-in-law Nate's housewarming party this month. We are going with a very loosely themed party, 'inspired-by' The Wizard of Oz. I don't really like when parties are over-the-top with a theme and every single detail is ripped straight from that idea. I like subtlety. I like when something is inspired by an idea and not just the idea hitting you straight on the nose. So that means we'll have little details here and there that are inspired by the book/movie. I look forward to showing you the finished product in a few weeks!

In the meantime, here are the invitations I created. My sister Karen thought of the idea for "there's no place like home" which I thought was just so cute for a housewarming party. I also really loved the idea of red poppies so I drew a couple on the invite. We also have plans to make paper poppies to decorate Laurie's house with. The other card is an invitation to stay after for an outdoor movie! They recently bought a projector for fun movie nights and we thought it'd be great to use it for their housewarming party and show The Wizard of Oz. Fingers crossed the weather is nice! I'm really proud of how this turned out. I had a lot of fun illustration/lettering it. I hope you like it too! Have a great weekend.

via my instagram

"Words, words, words" is a weekly hand lettering column in which I share some goodies hand-lettered by me for your enjoyment! You can check out previous posts here!

Words, words, words / 20

Exciting day for hand lettering... it is my 20th post! It's been fun seeing how my lettering has changed and grown over these last 20+ weeks ('cause let's be honest, I definitely didn't post every week). I can't wait to see where it keeps going. Thank you all for sticking with me and checking out my work. I hope you continue to find something you enjoy!

Today's lettering is one of my favorite quotes from my favorite movie, Into The Wild. Have you ever seen it? Or have you ever read the book? It's such a wonderful story, though the ending is very sad... even more-so than most because it's based on a true story. The movie/story revolves around a man named Christopher McCandless who leaves everything he knows behind in order to trek into the wilderness and live off the land alone. He shuns society and tries to make it on his own, with an unfortunate ending, but wonderful lessons learned along the way. This quote in particular speaks of the importance of relationships with other people in your lifetime. He tries to make it on his own without any sort of outside contact but soon realizes that in order to make it in life and truly be happy, you must share your life and happiness with those who are important to you. I love it so much I had it tattooed on my forearm a couple of years ago so I can carry this lesson with me always. The movie is beautiful and has a lot of wonderful things to learn in it, so if you haven't seen it yet, you should definitely check it out. Emile Hirsch plays the role of Christopher and does a seriously phenomenal job, along with the rest of the cast.

This lettering is available in my society6 shop in the form of many different products. Check it out if you'd like! Have a great Saturday. :)

"Words, words, words" is a weekly hand lettering column in which I share some goodies hand-lettered by me for your enjoyment! You can check out previous posts here!

Words, words, words, / 19

Hello everyone! Sorry this is coming so late in the day, but as promised, here is another lettering project! The subject is a very short lyric from the song Primadonna by Marina and the Diamonds. I absolutely love her music. It's so fun and upbeat and always puts me in a great mood and ready to dance. Not to mention it's super "girl power"-y which is always great.

This is available in my society6 shop as art prints, phone cases, pillows, shirts, and more! I love being able to offer more products than just art prints. It's really cool to be able to see my work on so many different things. I hope you like it!

I'm just at school right now with Nicholas while he helps out on his friend Justin's session. Tomorrow we are going to a cookout that someone from his class is having. We get to bring a couple treats for everyone too, so that's fun. :) I hope you're all having a good weekend!

"Words, words, words" is a weekly hand lettering column in which I share some goodies hand-lettered by me for your enjoyment! You can check out previous posts here!

Words, words, words / 18

So, it's Wednesday, I know. I'm supposed to post this column on Saturday, I know. I also know that I'm awful at doing that. I don't know what it is, but there is at least one Saturday every few weeks where I just don't post because I have nothing ready. I never have any excuse, really. I usually just didn't letter something that week, so I had nothing ready when Saturday rolled around. It's a poor excuse. I have all the time in the world to letter considering I'm 2000 miles away from anyone I can hang out with, Nicholas is at school all day, and I have no job. So, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm bad at keeping up with this column sometimes and that I have no excuse for not posting. I'm hoping as time passes I get better at it. Especially since I've been feeling a lot more positive and inspired lately, which is making me more productive overall. I promise I'll keep trying to post every single week with something totally awesome and new. I can't promise I won't slip up, but I can promise that I will try not to. I wasn't going to post a lettering project for Saturday. Since it's already Wednesday it seemed that it was just too far gone, but alas here I am with a post. I think I want to prove to myself that I can letter something twice in one week, especially to try to make up for my lack of post last week. So this one is for last Saturday, and I PROMISE to have another post for you this Saturday as well!

This week's lettering features a little bit of wisdom from the show Parks and Recreation. Does anyone else watch it? I was a little late to the party, but I started watching the episodes probably a couple months ago now, and quickly finished them all, which was a total bummer because they didn't have season 5 on Netflix. However, the other week my sister told me they had season 5 on Hulu, and I jumped right back into watching it, almost daily. I was pumped. I'll be finishing up this season very soon and then I'll be all caught up to watch season 6 this fall! This show is just too good. The characters are hilarious, the actors are spot on, the plot is sometimes ridiculous but totally awesome. If you've never seen the show, you should totally check it out. Maybe it won't fit your taste, but maybe it will, and if it does, it'll be good for your soul because you'll definitely be laughing... a lot.

As always this lettering is available in my society6 shop here, not only as art prints, but as other fun items as well. Take a little advice from this awesome show and remember to Treat Yo Self! ;)

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"Words, words, words" is a weekly hand lettering column in which I share some goodies hand-lettered by me for your enjoyment! You can check out previous posts here!

Words, words, words / 17

Sorry it's coming so late in the day, but we spent the day hiking in a canyon with some of Nicholas' classmates, and I just got some time after a long day to finish this project! I'll have some pictures of our hiking trip next week, but for now, here is this week's lettering! It is a lyric from a Florence and the Machine song called Shake It Out, and it's one that really resonates with me. You know when life just isn't really going your way and you get the feeling that you're falling into a black hole? The most important thing to remember is that it can, and will, always get better. When you find yourself losing your grip in life, just remember to ride out the storm because sooner or later (hopefully sooner, of course!) life will surprise you and bring you a rainbow.

Well, that's enough speaking in metaphor, ha! I had fun creating this one, just like the many others before it. I really love hand lettering, and it's so fun to be able to look back on this column and see where I started and how far I've come. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm really proud of myself thus far, to be quite honest. Being an artist can be tough because I firmly believe we are our own worst critics, but it's a breath of fresh air when you can stand back, look at what you've created, and really be happy and feel accomplished. I look forward to seeing my progress from this point and where this column, blog, and these artistic endeavors take me! And I just want to say thank you so much for following me along on this journey (in both my art and my life). It makes me feel really good to know there are people who like the things I like and who enjoy what I do. So, thank you, really.

This lettering is available for purchase in my society6 shop here. Have a lovely rest of your weekend!

"Words, words, words" is a weekly hand lettering column in which I share some goodies hand-lettered by me for your enjoyment! You can check out previous posts here!

Freebies: July 2013 Desktop Calendar

I know this is a few days late into the month, but I just decided a couple days ago that I wanted to make a desktop calendar that would be available to you for free! I've seen other bloggers create desktop calendars/wallpapers and I thought, why not? I had a great time making this, and I really like how it turned out. I hope you do too! I look forward to creating more calendars (and other freebies!) for you in the future.

To use, click on the correct link below and click the download button. Then either right-click on the file or go into your computer's settings and set this as your desktop background/wallpaper. Easy as pie! This calendar is for personal use only, please. Feel free to share this with your friends/readers/etc., but I ask that you please direct them back to this post to download the file. Thank you. Enjoy! Be sure to comment if you use it, I'd love to know!

2048x1536 resolution for "normal" display (4:3)
3360x2100 resolution for "widescreen" display (16:9)
1440x900 resolution for "widescreen" display (16:10)

I got the chalkboard background in this calendar as a free download from Foolish Fire here! Go check it out.

Words, words, words / 16

Sorry this post is coming so late today. I was very excited to post this one (and still am), but we lost our internet for the day. We finally just got it back, so I'm happy to present my latest lettering project! I'm really excited about this one for two reasons: I love this quote because I feel that I can really relate to it, and I just really love how this one turned out. It looks a little bit different than the other ones I've created thus far. I wanted to make it a little simpler, with less color variation and more of a focus on the lettering and layout of the design. I found these great vector textures from SpoonGraphics and I am loving them! They give everything a gritty/grainy feel, and I just think they're really fun to mess around with. So just a heads up, you'll probably see me use them to death in the future. ;) As per usual, this week's lettering is available in my Society6 shop for purchase in two different color schemes.

The reason I like this quote so much is mainly because I personally do live a very calm life. I'm not always running around really busy with something to do. Most of my days, especially in Arizona, are very slow and I spend my time not doing very much. I don't currently have a job and I don't go to school, so most of my days are made up of things I actually want to do. It's nice. It's what I hope for my life to be like in the future as well. Obviously I'll want a job too, but not a regular 9-5 or even a normal part-time job. I want my business to really be my main source of income because I want my days to be spent creating. I want to live my life slowly and beautifully. I want to enjoy my days painting, drawing, taking walks, enjoying lunch on a patio, being outside, and so much more. I want to live a calm life because I know I'll be very happy with it. It isn't right for some people, but I know it's right for me.

"Words, words, words" is a weekly hand lettering column in which I share some goodies hand-lettered by me for your enjoyment! You can check out previous posts here!

Words, words, words / 15

Today's hand lettering is a wonderful quote from Peter Pan! I've never read any of the books regarding Peter, but I have seen the Disney movies and they are wonderful! This quote is such a good reminder that living life is beautiful and fun and such an adventure. Often times people get caught up in things that really don't matter in the long run. I really feel like this quote teaches you to take life less seriously and to really just have fun exploring all of the physical and emotional adventures life offers! This project is also available in my society6 shop for purchase if you'd like!

Today I'm at school with Nicholas just hanging out. I'll probably spend a lot of my day browsing the internet and enjoying some Netflix while he plays on a console and records a musician. Tomorrow we have loose plans to go to an antique store and swimming! I'm looking forward to it. I hope you all have a great weekend.

"Words, words, words" is a weekly hand lettering column in which I share some goodies hand-lettered by me for your enjoyment! You can check out previous posts here!

Words, words, words / 14

I'm back with another hand-lettering project I just completed! Going along with the theme of children's book/author quotes, this week's lettering comes from the great mind of Dr. Seuss once again! It's amazing how many good, thoughtful quotes can come out of children's books. They are a fun thing to read, but they can also teach you really good life lessons, even later on in life. This one coming from The Lorax really teaches you that unless you help to try to make a difference in the world, nothing can or will get better. It is as a result of our actions and efforts that the world can become a better place to be.

Again, this week's lettering is also available for purchase in my society6 shop, if you so choose! There are three different color schemes to choose from, as well. I really like doing a couple different color schemes for each project just so that it can reach out to people with different tastes. I hope you enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

 

"Words, words, words" is a weekly hand lettering column in which I share some goodies hand-lettered by me for your enjoyment! You can check out previous posts here!

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Words, words, words / 13

Well, this week has been wonderful. Sorry I haven't posted in a minute, but if you know me aside from this blog, then you know some of my family visited us this week! Actually, they're still here, but their flight leaves really early tomorrow morning.

This past week has been great being able to see them and also being able to get out of our apartment. I typically sit home all day doing whatever, so it was nice to get out and explore a little bit, and to spend some time with my family who I haven't seen in months! The last couple days we actually went on a little road trip up north to the Grand Canyon! Unfortunately Nicholas couldn't come because he had school, but we all had a really great time. I'll be sure to post some pictures within the next couple weeks to show you the perks of our travels! All of it was very beautiful and very nice to see. Today we went to a little market and just grabbed some lunch a little bit ago. They are back at their hotel and I plan on visiting them again a little later tonight so I can say goodbye to them before they leave tomorrow at 645am! Like I said, I've had such a good time with them, and I'm going to miss them so much. Makes me that much more excited to go home. And now the countdown starts for Laurie and Nate to arrive in a month! Yay. :)

This week's lettering post is a result of my family coming (and now leaving). It's just a little reminder to myself that although it is sad because they are going back home and I have to stay here for another 2 months, that I just need to smile because I got to see them at all. I'm really thankful they were all able to come out to visit me. It was something I know I really needed. And so, although I am sad, I am going to try to look on the bright side of things; something I think is a great life lesson as well. This lettering is also the start of a series of lettering featuring children's book and children's book author quotes! Though technically I've read that people aren't really sure of whether or not Dr. Seuss actually said this quote, it is most often attributed to him, and I'd like to think he did say it. And just like last time, it is available for purchase in my Society6 shop if you'd like! It's available in three different color schemes of your choosing. I hope you like this, and remember to smile!

"Words, words, words" is a weekly hand lettering column in which I share some goodies hand-lettered by me for your enjoyment! You can check out previous posts here!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin