kathy series

the rug one is so similar to yesterday's, i'll throw in a bonus envelope today. i really like landscape envelopes. this one is so simple, yet, i had forgotten it. i need to make a wall chart of my favorite envelopes so i remember to use the ideas.

note to self: make a wall chart

kathy series

i loved these rugs. there are quite a few variations on the theme of a rug hanging on a clothesline. i do not recall the point of this one. but, i do like the way kathy's name is layered into the earth.

also, kudos to the p.o. for making the cancellation a part of the overall design.

maybe kathy will comment on why there is a vicious slash into the envelope. maybe at the exact moment she was opening it, a bird flew into the widow and startled her and her hand slipped and gashed the envelope.

multi stamps

i wonder if i made a boo-boo on the ATH in KATHY. again, it's always fun to use up extra stamps. i notice that the PO was happy to deliver it even though i shortened Prairie View Drive to just Prairie.

stick people

i've done a couple envelopes like this one. always a good way to use up stamps after the rates go up.

favorite version of the state

love how they converted Iowa to I owe Ya. Demons is cute, too.

not just a spelling thing

this one is not just bad spelling...it expects the postal workers to know what that two score is 40

stil mor

they keep getting better. another one from down under. don't you love the way they butchered united states of america??

more wacky spelling

this one came from australia. i love the translation of jean into denim. when i taught classes in art for 4-year olds, i would tell them my name was *Jean* and to help them remember my name, I would point to my pants and say...See, I am wearing jeans...my name is Jean, like my pants. So a few of them would call me Jeans....

and this one has a great variation on des moines, too.

wacky spelling

i believe it was phylis peterson(sen) who mentioned the trouble with her name. and i think it was that she has only one L not 2 in phylis. so i sent an envelope to her and spelled her name crazy as well as all the other words on the envelope. it arrived. she mentioned it on cyberscribes. and then several people wanted to test the postal system by sending a bunch of mail with wacky spelling.

mispeling series

i have a whole series of envelopes that happened after i sent an envelope to someone who complained that nobody ever spelled her name correctly. i
i'll tell the story a little bit each day.

my mailbox

another one from sassypants senior. i'm not very good at choosing nicknames i think i just name everybody sassypants. she's not sassy at all. maybe sass can be a good thing. friendly sass.

my mailbox

this one is from a penpal. i love everything about it. colors, exuberance, multi-stamps, and those loopy-loops that go around the letters. i need to steal that idea. what a great idea for a series. me stealing ideas from my friends....

a favorite

i think this is one i intended to send, but liked it so well, i did not send it. i like the tall skinny neuland. it almost has an arts and crafts feel to it. and i like the layering. an easy way to polish the letters.

random

i never have much to say about brush lettering (on the lower sample). there are several problems with this particular example. it does show how to take the flowers from the stamp and tuck them in around the letters. but, these are not placed very well. i'll post a second envelope and see if it is any better. i just go through a list, so i don't really know which envelope will pop up next.

so, it is the dr. one. cute stamp, cute lettering. i like no caps. even though that S is bit too large, i don't mind. i think the letters look like the tube on the stethoscope.

random

compared to yesterday when there was a sliver of white between the shadow and the letter. here it looks better to have the shadow touching the letter because the blue and black elements in the stamp are rather graphic and touching.

random

skinny neuland. alternating colors from the stamp. shadow lines on the right side of the letters
and leave a space between the shadow and the letter itself...especially when the letters are strong colors. that sliver of white really makes the letters pop.

random

this looks familiar. i'd have to dig to find the other envelope that has this stamp. i'm not a big fan of the flag stamps, but this one is nice

handwriting without tears

the IAMPETH people are having a debate about a method for teaching penmanship called Handwriting Without Tears. most people think it is really ugly. when i first saw the sample, i thought of an envelope that i received many years ago in an exchange. i aways loved it. so, i took it to my guild meeting on saturday and asked the other scribes what they thought of it. they all thought it was pretty. so, IMHO, it can be pretty in the right context.

someone asked if i would have been upset if my kids had been taught this method in school. honestly, it would be fine with me if the two boys had learned to write this way. they both cram all the letters very close and their penmanship is pretty hard to read. i like space between letters.

random

ok, i know notre dame is not in notre dame, indiana. this was a sample envelope. and my blackletter is creepy. i am willing to post bad lettering just to show that a simple line is enough to tie the name and address together into a unit that balances the stamp.

random

when i typed in birthday on the label, i saw that i had used that label before, so there must be something similar already posted. but, i don't know how to go look at it without losing this post.

random

today begins a series of random envelopes that i found in a box. they were samples when i thought i could invent a business addressing splashy envelopes. i'm still working on the idea although it's pretty hard to get people excited about envelopes until they have received one.

katthy 38

i soooooooo wish this was not on a pink envelope. and i could have made much better letters if i had taken time. but, it's a decent design pulled off the stamp.

that i used black on the K and did not just use the colors of those trapezoids shows that you do not have to take things exactly as they are on the stamp. there are a lot of elements on the stamp. don't feel compelled to take all the elements. edit. or in this case, combine two...the black style of lettering with the four colored trapezoids.

kathy 37

my trick to refit things after they do not fit due to poor planning worked so well, i used it again. leaves and pine needles...two favorite things to draw. if i were to do this one again, i might do the zip code in red. the new forever stamps are coming out this month. 4 different evergreen branches.

kathy 36

so-so trees. i like the way i ran out of room and went back to squeeze in a letter before the K. i took the vowel and left the R at the end, because it was more legible that way. i like my rules for not following the rules.

kathy 35

as i mentioned yesterday. fast is sometimes just fine. this is another one that would have been done in the middle of a series and it was when i was warmed up but had not yet dissolved into sloppy or bored.

i must insert the line from billy madison here. when the school lunch lady is serving sloppy joes, she says...and i know you kids like them sloppy. i think some of you blog followers probably like them sloppy, too, eh?

everybody has permission to get sloppy to see where it goes. then, when it has gone to far, stop. there is a good rilke quote about you never know how far you can go until you've gone a bit too far. although i think he mentions going right up to the edge, maybe not going overboard. at any rate, i think billy madison and rilke are kindred spirits. i'll probably do my thesis on that topic. note to self, get that university of the absurd up and running so that we can offer a PhD in penmanship.

kathy 34

adequate idea. poor execution. letters should have been more precise. perfed stamp edges should have been done more carefully. but, it's a decent idea.

yesterday, a guild newsletter came from one of the guilds who still sends our non-guild a newsletter. there was a really nice list of everything this one scribe had ever learned. one of her tips jumped out at me. she said that the people who teach never show their failures. well...i deserve the pulitzer prize for showing failures. maybe that's the pushiter prize. cuz...i show a lot of stuff that, excuse my french, stinks.

i think there might be some other teachers who show *old* stuff. i can't say that my bad stuff is the oldest. i go on a roller coaster. and a lot of it has to do with time. but, not always. some of the fast stuff is pretty good.

kathy 33

simple. two layers of the name. couple more colors from the stamps. let the letters flow. light and fluffy. roundish. curly.

kathy 31

i forgot all about this one. realizing that there were many letters of the alphabet in kathy's name, i wondered exactly how many and then did the remaining letters in blue. i wish i knew kathy's middle name. and i hope i remember to use this idea again. it's like a little neuland lesson on an envelope

also, hi to tami rondeau. she has all the vowels in her name which i think is cooler than heck.

and i like the way i didn't do the second E in schneider. maybe you did not even notice. another good reason to just cram the letters in to the space.

kathy 32

i like a lot about this one. i can tell that it was done while i was on a roll, doing a bunch. and if you looked at all of them you would see a lot of neuland. but this one would jump out. that happens when you do a bunch at one time. especially with one name. you get a flow going with that set of letters. then it becomes fun to switch up the positions of things

christy 36/60

this is a lot like one of the ellen ones. people often mention that this is a favorite style of lettering. it's just gel pens and my double stroke letters which are double because i'm on the verge of scribbling. i don't know how i get away with this. i really would like to be more disciplined, but, this is fun. maybe it's ok to have fun instead of take things seriously all the time. not that i do. or maybe, i do. i guess i put a lot of energy into getting the addresses perfect when i address envelopes for clients. it's one area where mistakes are not OK.

oct invitation

i owe you a bonus scan from yesterday. this was a quick invitation i worked on this week. the envelopes was to a Betty G... and I messed up the G, so I made it into a sample, with a bad G... but you get the idea. the client used the kate hepburn stamps, black and white photo, which looked nice.

that's my little stick figure. stacey, at Pink Fine Stationery, here in des moines loves my stick figures. she has a blog....www.pinkfinestationery.blogspot.com and she does lots of fun custom invitations. we are currently working on the save-the-dates for my daughters wedding. i need to start a blog just for all the ideas we have that we will not get to use. the expectations are high for my daughters invitations. i think i have an idea that will be unexpected, fun and unique.

christy 34/60

i remember doing this one. something happened and i thought it was ruined, so i did something scribbly with a marker, using that tan color and i ended up liking it. one thing with these kinds of fixes, you aren't always able to replicate it. you may be happy with the outcome, but you might not ever be able to do it again. it's like a little gift. you get out of the jam, but it does not exactly carry over. like a get out of jail free card. you can use it. and then it is gone. back to the game.

don't get me wrong. these italics are still ugly. i never did learn how to do an italic that pleased my eye. but i like the colors.