stacey's pitchers

super quick. this might have been the last one i did in the series. although, there are more coming up on the blog. i'll try to go back and label them, so i can get all of them to pop up in one window. i enjoy sending an entire set to one person. there are usually one or two in the set that are more challenging than the others. this one, while done quickly reminds me that there are certain styles of lettering that need to be written with speed. you start slow, but, eventually, you need to work up to speed or the fine hairlines are wobbly. the S is better than the G, but, it's not like i practiced. this *is* a practice page.

jeri - fulbright

such a pretty stamp.
i especially like the one little heart tucked inside the e.

foreign - sitoshi kitamura

sitoshi kitamura - the same artist from last week. this is so simple and seems pretty random. it's hard to tell if it was planned out or if she truly made random marks and then filled in the information.

it reminds me of the random scrap paper that we sometimes find, that has marks, and they were not intended to be anything other than testing the pen or brush, but, eventually, on its own, it evolved into something lovely.

ellen HB balloons -

this is the official birth-date. i took a page with some birthday decorated numbers to the lettering club. the 3 has a rather elongated appendage on the bottom. and that orange is too dark. it was more experimenting with the tombo....
then, i did not find a very good stamp. but, illinois is meaningful to her...so, it's fine.

h.b. ellen.....hope you have a happy day.

ellen HB quilt

another Tombo experiment, started at the lettering club meeting. i scribbled silver gel pen over the top. when i got home, i looked for stamps. loved this one. i'm thinking it would look nice to add some teal somewhere, but, i can't decide where, so might just let it go out the way it is. the bowl on the P should come down farther. i need more practice on my Ps. i only had to adjust to three new letters. we have the 0, W, and S in wilson. i miss the I. and instead of three Ls, now she has three Es which is way fun.

ellen HB 32 candles

this was another experiment with Tombos. those candle flames do not look like candles. and i considered just tossing this one. but, i decided to send her a whole stack of mail. it is over $1 to send one ounce to australia, and i am sending her a package, so i will just put the fun envelopes in the package and tell her to open them, one a day... and pretend they came in the mail. that cute cake stamp came in a set that the p.o. offered back when postage was 22-cents. the rest of them are to the left.

ellen HB purple scribble

i took a stack of envelopes to our monthly meeting of lettering people. the basic name was dreadful. so this was an exercise in *can-this-be-saved-with-scribbling*
it's OK. when i went over the purple Tombo with white gel pen, the white turned pink. i don't use Tombos very often, but had to pick some up to do a job. they are a brush marker and i was liking them...but, maybe they are not waterproof. i'll have to do some testing and let you know.

jeri - EdGRobinson

when i write the blurb that goes with each scan, i can only see a fairly small image, so, i can't actually figure out what the jack-in-the-box rectangles are that are popping off the top of the J. maybe when this pops open on the 23rd, i will figure it out. it is a very fun idea. stealworthy.

 i made this cake topper for a birthday cake. the ladybugs remind me of the letters flying out of the J above. i used armature wire to bend the name which is very fun. i wish i could figure out a way to use this wire writing on an envelope. maybe stick it on mat board and then put it in a very heavy duty clear plastic envelope.

the cup is not part of the cake topper. the wires will be stuck directly into the cake. if you google *wire cake toppers* you will see lots of fun examples.

stacey's clock

i feel like i already posted this, but i looked back in the archives and can't find it. it is a favorite. i did pull out a template to draw those circles. i like how there is no cross-bar on the A. the G is a little droopy. and the stem on the Y (in pennsylvania) is cringeworthy. and the two Ns in pennsylvania are bad....
and i could keep nit-picking...
but, as i keep saying, i am into quantity, not quality.

sitoshi

sitoshi kitamura - a nice little painting. it looks like watercolor. that is gutsy, putting the address up where the cancel will run across it. but, i do like the pattern it makes in the sky. the ground looks like the logical place for the address. but, the whole composition is better with that space left open.

my mail

thank you kathy. :-)
great choice of stamps and beginners, note the way she put the heart stamp on-end. it looks so much better to have the three stamps all in portrait format. and the way the postmark is contributing to the overall design is really charming.

jeri - eames

fun...
not sure why she plopped the letters in a puddle of water, but it is a great addition to the letters.

i know this is redundant....
but, once again, highly-steal-worthy.

oh...i think i figured it out, i think that is a lake. there i s a tiny name in the corner. i see so much more detail when i click on the image and view the large version

stacey's phone cord

stacey has such a fun name. the S and the y are full of opportunities. i wish i had put one more loop on the end of the y. the stamps are great, too. i wish the p.o. would do more celebrating of designers and artists. the artsy stamps are usually wonderful.

stacey's lamp

stacey sent me the sheet of industrial design stamps so i figured i would return all of them to her on envelopes. i might have posted some from this series earlier. i know i have posted some examples of this font already. i forgot all about it. so, it was a treat to find a stack of old stuff. it's my usual....write fast and then outline. stacey doesn't live in denver any more. i did a lot of whining when she moved to *pennsylvania avenue*  i am now lobbying her to consult with me before she decides on her new dwelling.

ornament - skip

i am pondering a big blue bow off the top of the name. can't decide if the name should be hanging from the S or the dot on the i. or maybe it just needs to be in the center.... i'm pretty sure i will mess it up if i add the bow now. as i did the set of 30 of these, i learned that it was best to do the name, then the bow and then figure out the address placement and size.

jeri - crossword

steal worthy.

jeri has asked me more than once how i come up with so many idea...
by stealing them from people like YOU, jeri. (or, in this case, your sister  :-)

sara

sara fanelli - a swipe worthy idea that i have used a few times and i can't for the life of me figure out why i do not use it more often.

a band across the top edge and the bottom edge.
also...lines for the address. why don't i do that?
i have loved the few where i do it...so, let's plan on doing more.

ornament - e&c

this is the second one to e&c where i forgot to put in their last name. i posted a halloween one a few days ago and that one was already mailed. this one, i will add the last name, in green in that white space. i think the bottom of the C would look better if it had the same curl as the bottom of the E. and i botched the bow on the C. and the wavy lines are clunky. i'm struggling to find anything at all that i like about this one. the address is too large. luckily, i have plenty of time to do a better one. i might even see if i can peel the stamp off. plus, it will take 3 stamps to get this to australia....

this was a very early experimant with Tombo markers. i am happy to report that i eventually figured out some styles that i liked. i am ok with showing the clunkers so that you can see the improvement.

jeri - clover

super stealworthy idea
cut letters out of magazines, using meaningful pictures

ornament - hunter

i come up with more ideas when i have actual jobs. luckily, someone asked me to address about 30 invitations using the ornament stamps. this was the most challenging stamp (of the 4 different designs) because it has 5 colors and none of them are black. i think it will look best to put the address, small, flush left, and dark blue.

jeri - gwen's style

jeri says this is gwen weaver's style. i had never seen it before. i love it.
and that stamp is perfect on a brown envelope.
i hope i have time to try out this style...even with out an exemplar, i think i can figure it out.

quick and easy

the quickest easiest go-to idea i have is to just mix everything you can possibly think of and then outline it and then use a stamp that is hodge-podgy too.

jeri - chemistry

i haven't talked about versals in a while. sherri keisal is frequently mentioned in connection with this style, but the first time i saw them, they were done by jean formo. i wonder if they both spun the idea off someone else. that's the fun of the alphabet. it is pretty hard for any one person to *own* a style. and once you start playing around with it, it will inevitably look like your very own. unless you are the very best copycat in the whole world.

as always, jeri is very good at choosing colors in the stamps to use in the lettering.

polly

polly simmons -  i wish i had done a better job of labeling the posts. there have been a few that have an envelope illustrated on the envelope. it would have been fun to click on a label to see all of them together. i guess it is not too late. i can just go back and do a thorough labeling of my 1000+ posts.
ha...ha...ha

jeri - caruso

a-dor-a-ble
love the ruffled collar turned into an e.
looks like colored pencils.
don't forget colored pencils when you want to find just the right color.

jeri - purple

another spectacular envelope from jeri. i found a stack of mail and i am pretty sure this one has not been on the blog. so nice
love the arrangement of stamps.
love filling in the *counters*
counters are the spaces inside loops of letters.

thank U

this was the thank you jeri sent after we went to iampeth. i'll give her a ride any old time if i am going to get a thank you like this. note to self, take more time on some of my envelopes.

nice shakespeare quote on the card inside :-)

the post office did not cancel the stamps. i don't know how that happens, but, i like to think they if the machine can't read it, and a postal worker has to look at it to make sure it is OK, they decide that it is just too pretty to add any cancellation...

late halloween

i started this in plenty of time to mail for halloween and then, it hid in the stacks. or maybe i already posted this? without the color?

and the other one (below) ?
i know i just colored them ten minutes ago.

i might have to rethink how i do these postings in the coming year
the level of chaos is starting to get to me.

for *color* i used highlighters
they come in sets of 8 colors from the office supply stores
inexpensive, but fun for envelopes