A fun time lapse showing how I practice and play warming up my watercolor and lettering skills. Join me for a 6 plus hour watercolor for beginners class!

Introduction to Modern Watercolors for Beginners is a class that I developed and teach in a way that helps you learn easily, through simple projects, how to become familiar with watercolor paints but practice, observation and fun!

Each day, for five days, you will get access to a video where I teach and demonstrate the stroke and technique for the day. You will also have access to a free printable practice worksheet, which you will be able to trace, and practice from. I have also added a bonus alphabet video demonstration for you to use to help give you a taste of what you can expect when you start learning more techniques and build your muscle memory to write in modern calligraphy style lettering!

In five days you will have a good starting foundation for dip pen and ink modern calligraphy and a taste for whether this new creative skill is a good fit for you!

A brand new startup is one that is taking a significant risk. You’re heading out into the big bad business world, and you need it to be a success; after all, you’ve poured your everything into this venture! Experience is going to teach you a lot, and owning your own business is going to be the biggest lesson you will ever learn in your life. You are about to embark on something amazing, challenging, and life-changing, so it stands to reason that there will be wise words to hear before you get started!

If you've taken one of my many calligraphy and lettering classes with me, you'll already have the courage to pick up a new tool and try your hand at watercolor painting with me!

Watercolor is a natural progression for those of us who use a dip pen, a brush pen, or a paint brush to letter! I've created this class with you in mind, to teach you how easy it is to pick up a simple watercolor palette and a brush, to paint a winter wreath and even add a festive word or two!

Painting is something that I’ve done along side of my business for the last 5 years. For years I painted, exhibited and sold original art, quietly, in the background. It’s taken 5 years of painting and developing my style in order for me feel ready. To feel ready to pursue my goal of creating and selling my art more actively.

I share this with you because I know it’s hard when you are just starting out. You are witnessing most people’s work when they too have been practicing quietly for years and years. It’s tough some days to be comparing your work to others when our social media feeds are filled with edited, staged and styled photographs of what seems to be effortless displays of creativity and artistic expression. Some thing that I struggle with on days when I’m filled with self doubt and worry. We’ve all been there right?!

Years ago I was busy lettering, digitizing, designing, printing, selling & shipping, greeting cards as part of my online shop! It was a very busy few years in my business that required a lot of time and effort from me but I did enjoy creating some fun and sassy greeting cards that quickly became popular in my shop!

Greeting cards are a great way to share a personal message with a friend, say thank you to a client or if you are a calligraphy or letterer, to create a gratifying income stream or two in your business!

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!

It’s also when I am most inspired to paint as many leaves and use as much color as possible. I use what I gather as reference and loosely paint what I see as I interpret colors, shapes and lines. If you haven’t played around with watercolor yet, it’s a very simple practice to help you learn how watercolor behaves and how you can easily, in a few minutes, add some interest to your sketchbook or journal pages!

I recorded this quick time lapse video for you to see how to sketch out a rough shape, loosely interpret what you see and play with color and water flow.

Not having enough time in the day seems like a common problem all around. I’m not sure if it’s because we are glued to social media, watching endless cute animal videos or perhaps it’s all the binge watching on Netflix, to which I am guilty of myself!

These time sucking activities are all inactive, non-participatory, and time wasting activities that we are all guilty of! This fall I set a few goals for myself and one of them being; to make more time actually make art!I have set in place a few tips and strategies that I want to share with you, to help you find more time to make art too!

This practice sheet and more, is now available in the Free Creative Library that I have built for my awesome subscribers here on life i design!

Perfect to use with your dip pen, small brush pen or even a pencil! Creating consistent practice is the only way to improve your strokes, your confidence and muscle memory.

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!

Back to falling into routine and getting ready to learn!

It’s the perfect time to offer you 50% off all of my online classes!

Now is the perfect time to learn a new creative skill or take an entrepreneurial leap with classes ranging from…

This World Calligraphy Day is going to be a little bit more special. I have the pleasure of teaming up with Manuscript Pen Co to offer some inspiration to practice your calligraphy, lettering, or even handwriting for a special cause for World Calligraphy Day this year. Along with participating, we have a great giveaway to share!

If you run your own business from a home office then you will know just how difficult it can be to concentrate. Whether you’re constantly distracted by your family life or your office space isn’t quite what you want it to be, it is important you’re doing everything you can to ensure you can work efficiently.

These last 6 months, I dedicated a lot of my time and energy into painting new pieces of original art work, and also to exploring my passion for illustrating and designing.

What I’ve learned over the last 6 months is that consistency is key. Practice is paramount. Confidence comes with practice and consistency.

Teaching others how to start a home-based creative business has been something that I’ve wanted to do for years. I feel very fortunate to have been able to work from home while my kids were growing up. Working from home allowed me to have independence, to keep a part of who I was, and it gave me a break from being a Mom along with all the other jobs that go along with staying home.

If you are a fellow creative entrepreneur and are struggling to grow your business, then read on!

What I’ve learned most over these last few years of being a creative and building my online business is; how to focus on important tasks, managing my time so I’m not working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and lastly how to rely on those around me for support and advice!

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of watercolor and waterbrush pens. I teach workshops and online classes that feature a waterbrush pen to easily paint stems and leaves as well as create a variety of brush pen lettering.

As a designer and artist, I find that having a variety of mediums and tools to create with keeps my art interesting and fresh so that I stay inspired and creative.

I thought I’d share with you a few quick videos that I recorded using the Timelapse feature on my iPhone - I have to say, it’s quite an addictive feature to be able to record these timelapse videos!

I was browsing a few hand lettering groups on Facebook last week and discovered that quite a few people aren’t quite sure what Modern Calligraphy is and what the difference is between more traditional forms of calligraphy. I thought I’d create an easy cheat sheet to help explain what Modern Calligraphy is for us visual people! First, here’s a quick video that I created while making and digitizing the lettering for the cheat sheet!