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The Envelope as Canvas

3/10/2016

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Are you a calligrapher or lettering artist? Consider entering the Graceful Envelope Contest (deadline March 28, 2016). There's no entry fee and the contest is open to adults and children, judged separately.

The challenge is to use an envelope as your canvas, tie in this year's theme (communication), and incorporate stamps in your design. Entries must created on an envelope and mailed. Below are two examples . . . very clever.

The contest is sponsored by the Washington Calligraphers Guild and the National Association of Letter Carriers. You can find more information and get your entry form here.

Don't delay, entries are due March 28th.
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2012's Best in Show by Ruth Korch, Theme: anything beginning with the letter D
A note about this year's theme from the Washington Calligrapher Guild:
Ever since Benjamin Franklin became America’s first Postmaster General, many of our most important messages arrived inside an envelope. Now your challenge is to design the outside of an envelope to highlight this—or any other—mode of communication. Your Graceful Envelope could honor the mail or the internet; the telegraph, telephone or television; person-to-person conversation or whatever kind of communication inspires your imagination.

And here's a link to some of last year's winning entries.
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2015 Best in Show by Hannah Holder, Theme: There's No Place Like Home
Special thanks to Lorraine Swerdloff, contest administrator, for the images!
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Taking the Leap

1/31/2016

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Sketching ideas for the February Calendar of Days . . . lettering experiment (all I can see is the x created where the a and p intersect, that won't do), 29 days, 12 months . . . and a rabbit inspired by a collection of picture books I'm reading.
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Finding the Light

1/28/2016

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January is nearly over, and there are subtle changes; it was nearly 5:00 yesterday afternoon when I noticed the light. The days are getting longer. I'm glad about that.

When talk of the weather comes up, I often say that I don't mind the cold of winter. Not usually. Though I'm no fan of a cold dreary day; the cold seeps in and seems to bother everyone when it's dreary outside. But when the sun shines, it takes away some of the chill. A lot of the chill.

Morning walks are my favorite. The air is fresh, there's a quiet only morning knows, and it gives me a chance to experience the seasons, each offering its own blend of sights and sounds.

Last week, just after coming inside from a bitterly cold morning walk, the phone rang. It was my brother down in Nashville. We talked about how cold it was—down there and up here. I mentioned my walk, and told him I noticed the birds were singing. I was surprised to hear the birds singing on such a cold January morning. 

"They knew you were coming," he said.

It makes me smile every time I think of it and each time I talk about it. And I think he's right. Nature greets us when we take the time to see and hear what it has to offer.

Click on the image above to download and print the birds . . . it's a coloring page.
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Tweet, Tweet, It's National Bird Day

1/5/2016

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Name five species in your backyard!
Our January calendar asks if you can name five bird species in your neighborhood, can you? I can identify the chickadee, blue jay, dove, seagull, and yellow finch. And though I can identify the birds by sight, identifying them by birdsong is quite another thing. What about you? The National Bird Day website has a birdsong quiz, see how well you do!

A few years ago I experimented with drawing birds and came up with a sketch that is one continuous line (plumage added). The image above is from earlier attempts, too many lines. The image below is drawn with one line. The drawings are fun to color and embellish (different eyes and added plumage create entirely different personalities). If you're interested, you can download a coloring page here and if you'd like more pages to color, sign-up on our home page for access to two more coloring pages.
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Birding can be a casual hobby or consuming passion. Serious birders enter local and world-wide competitions, can identify birds by sight and sound, and travel great distances to see rare species. For the complete newbie,  The Big Year, starring Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson, offers some (Hollywood) insight into what it takes to win what is a real competition.

If you're interested in learning more, head over to the American Bird Association.

Chirp, chirp!
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COLLECTING [Three for Thursday]: Tea Cups

10/30/2014

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What is the critical number to start a collection?

Three seems like the magic number. One of course, is one. Two speaks to a pair. But three looks like the beginning of a collection.

I have six tea cups with saucers, a modest collection for sure, but a collection still the same. They are beautifully delicate and were handed down and gifted to me at different times.

Very often that's how it starts. You receive or purchase something and then people start giving you more.

The fortune-telling tea cup on the top of the stack to the left was a gift. Drop loose tea into the cup, pour hot water over and steep. Drink your tea then swirl and dump the remains onto the saucer. Your fortune is revealed in the images where the loose tea remaining in your cup gathers and clings.

In other cultures and countries, coffee grounds and wine sediment are also used in fortune telling.

Do you have a collection? Have you had your tea leaves read? Tell us about it, post a comment.
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COLLECTING [Three for Thursday]: Vintage Packaging

10/21/2014

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Rummaging through the tool bench looking for small nails to tack down the linoleum floor that tucks under the dishwasher, these three packages caught my eye.

I can't remember if we bought them, or, more likely, they were included in a bundle of hand-me-down tools and supplies.

A bit tattered around the edges, each package has something that makes it stand out: the Atlas globe with piercing nail; custom lettering on the Superior brand name; and Arrow's target marketing for women . . . apparently well-manicured nails are a must when stapling!

It's a small collection, but a collection worth documenting. If you are interested, Forbes' Eight Ways To Make Collecting Pay Off covers some interesting aspects of collecting including value, what to avoid and what to look for . . . and some crazy expensive violins.

What do you collect? Tell us about it.
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