I read recently that Megan Markle, as in Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex Megan Markle, had a little calligraphy side hustle going. Before HRH got her big break working on the show Suits, she worked for a paper company and offered calligraphy for celebrity weddings and even taught a workshop! How cool is that?! She prides her self on being very disciplined as she learned and practiced the art of calligraphy!

Everyone’s journey is always so different and inspiring. I thought I’d share this lengthy post about how I got started with lettering and calligraphy as a hobby and a love for writing, and how I turned it into a home based business. Sit back, pour yourself your favorite bevvie and allow me to share with you my journey along with some practical advice!

National Handwriting Day is January 23rd and I’ve been busy thinking of ways we can build our hand writing muscles and celebrate it! First let’s start with a few reasons why it’s important to practice our hand writing and why we should make it a daily practice. Hand writing is brain food!! It is even argued that cursive writing offers more benefits to the brain giving it an opportunity to train, and trigger different parts within the brain. I’m no scientist, but what I know for sure is that I remember things more when I’ve written them down. I also notice that I commit to things more seriously if I’ve written them down.

There is a difference between hand lettering and calligraphy. Some would argue that there’s a big difference. I personally feel that any form of lettering, is simply letters that are “drawn” vs. “written”. In both cases, we draw strokes that are very purposeful and consistent. The difference between hand lettering and calligraphy is that the elements of those strokes vary. I recorded this video to help with explaining the difference between hand lettering and calligraphy in the hopes of helping to show how the elements of each art form vary.

Click play to watch the video.

Learning calligraphy is like learning any new skill, the more you practice, the better you become. You can take classes, read blog posts, watch videos and hear about all the important tools to use or paper to practice on, but the only thing that will help you improve, grow confidence and want to continue to fine tune your calligraphy style is by practice! This free calligraphy worksheet to practice more give you an option to use a dip pen and ink or a small brush pen to help you trace words and grow your calligraphy skills.

This easy and beautiful Modern Calligraphy project will motivate you to learn calligraphy and to practice more! It's simple, easy to gather the tools and fun to do with someone! I have hired my talented and creative daughter Sabrina to work with me over the summer as I create more online inspiration and how-to's for my readers and followers.  One of our goals this summer is to share more creative ideas on the blog.  Here is our first Modern Calligraphy Project to motivate you to learn calligraphy and to practice too!

Want to learn how to letter using Modern Calligraphy and don't know where to start?! Follow along with this 5 Day Modern Calligraphy Challenge and subscribe to receive your prompts, worksheets and videos as you explore the very basics to this super popular lettering style!

This calligraphy for beginner’s series has a very short video which shows you how to write in calligraphy.  This video will show you how to write the letter "b" in cursive using modern calligraphy - in my own personal style.