Envelope Play

Just having some fun with a decorative envelope to a friend. It was really nice to do some italic calligraphy which I don't do as often as copperplate.

Little Calligraphic Books

Last month I did a trunk show with a couple of friends, and in addition to making some jewelry to sell, I made a handful of these 4x4 accordian books. The one above is one of my favorite covers. The only one I still have is the holiday book below with it's fuzzy polka dot cover paper and shiny gold writing inside.


























Since copperplate, or some variation of pointed pen seems to be the most requested style, I rarely do italic calligraphy anymore. I really enjoyed doing it for this quote that has the floral cover.





The last thing I made for the show were these mini books about 1x1.5 and attached pin backs to them. These were the only things that didn't sell, but I think they're fun to wear.













































And finally, I received a comment from Rena, who does wonderful whimsical illustrations, on my post for the trunk show saying that she would like to buy one of my 4x4 books. She told me her favorite quote and, as a surprise for her, I made this book and sent it to her. The cover here is much more a collage than the books I did for the show. I used papers, rubber stamps and gouache here. What fun to make and give a gift to someone I know appreciates my art!

I have 4 mini pins and the holiday book left. I'm giving them away to the first five people who comment : )

New Logo Design

I just finished this playful logo design for Terri. Terri makes some of the neatest jewelry, amongst other craft goodies. She added her own flair to the banner by deepening the blue and adding polka dots!

Ring Pillow

Here's a new twist on a ring pillow and leave it to creative Jo Gartin of Love Luck and Angels to come up with this idea. I used acrylic paint and a brush to letter on this rough piece of wood. The rings will be tied to this eight inch wide slice of wood with ribbon.

Martha Stewart Weddings

I just picked up the Fall issue of Martha Stewart
Weddings to check out my work that was published.
They published a photo of a seating card and
envelope in my calligraphy. The stationery designs
shown here are by Sugar Paper I've got a picture of
the cover on the right. It's always veryexciting to be published!

Birthday Envelope

A little fun for a friend's birthday.
Happy Birthday Judy!

Accordian Book

I made this little two sided accordian book for my sister-in-law Wendy for her birthday. She is a fellow animal lover and I knew she would enjoy these two quotes. This first photo is one of the covers that corresponds with the quote in black ink below.


















Here's the cover on the reverse side of the book. Because the quote below is more humorous, I chose the polka dots for the cover, used the colored ink (which coordinates with the cover on the other side) and this whimsical variation of pointed pen calligraphy.

60's Lettering and Typecon

Wow, I can't believe how much time has gone by since my last post! I've been working on some nice jobs but the calligraphy hasn't been all that different from what I've posted in the past. Well, this style is definitely different and it's a first for me. The invitation has a Beatles/ Yellow Submarine theme so I found the typeface that was used online (it's called Doobie), and worked out how to hand letter it. It was hard at first but then became kind of fun to do. Thankfully it wasn't a big job because these babies took some time!

Chalkboard Garden Markers

I was asked by Chelsea to write on these cute metal rimmed signs for her garden. Although they are chalkboards, I used acrylic paint on them with a calligraphy pen since Chelsea wanted the signs to be permanent. Makes me want to start my own garden!

Program Cover

I just got a last minute request to do a program cover from Tova Glenn at Brighten My Day. The wedding is in less than two weeks! The verbiage is an excerpt from the couple's ketubah. I used this copperplate variation to coordinate with their invitation which is shown below.

Custom Invitation and Postage

The lovely Tova Glenn, owner of Brighten My Day, an invitation designer in Atlanta, hired me to do this invitation for her client. I've been getting many requests lately for this particular calligraphy style. In addition to the invitation, I created a monogram for the couple. This is the first time I've seen my calligraphy used for custom postage!

A New Angle on Addressing

This request is the first of its kind in my 25 plus years of business. Chelsea from Sugar Paper asked me to address her birth announcements covering almost the entire envelope and wanted the writing on an angle. It was challenging at first, but then I got into the flow. Her baby Owen is a doll!

Gold Beveled Invitation

This invitation set is a combination of my calligraphy style and Sugar Paper's special flair for paper and beautiful letterpress printing.













You can really see the from this photo of the reception card how heavy weight and beautifully the gold beveled card is done.














This is my first illustrated hand lettered map. Several calligraphers are doing these so I did my own style of lettering to keep it unique.














And here's a view of the whole invitation package together with just a peak at the envelope lining.

Vanity Fair Placecards

These are from an Academy Awards party given in March by Vanity Fair. They created these lovely little booklets that included the menu for the evening and all the academy award nominations. Each guest had one at their seat along with a tiny pencil to mark their choice for the award winners. The calligraphy style here is a variation of copperplate.

Calligraphic Genealogy Book

This is a very special package I delivered to my client this past Friday morning. I was commissioned to create a genealogy, all hand lettered and bound into a leather book for her husband's 90th birthday. His ancestry goes back to the Mayflower! I had two months to complete the book and I was a nervous wreck not having ever created a bound book nor a project that held such significance for a client.

These are just some of the 18 pages from the book.

About the cover of the book. The book binder was reluctant to foil stamp the cover, concerned the texture of the leather would impair the foil. He debossed the design which I later filled in with gold gouache because the debossing was not prominent enough for the cover.

And finally the last page!

CD Cover

This CD is hot off the press! My brother Jeff Holtzman did the graphic design and I did the lettering for the title. I did an album cover for a jazz artist years ago (when album's existed!), but this is my first CD cover. The music's pretty nice too.

Calligraphy on Wood

Using the techniques I learned recently in Julie Haymaker Thompson's class, I created this piece to give Cody for her 14th birthday. Not being very experienced at using a wood burning tool, I realized after I sketched out her name and transferred it to the wood that I had designed letters that were all curves - uh oh! It was a bit of a challenge, but I got the hang of it. The only thing I wish I had done was make the letters thicker so there would have been more room for color and pattern. But, Cody thought it was cool so that made me happy!

Rook Script

I just finished an addressing job in white gouache for a client on these luscious chocolate brown envelopes.

A Calligraphy Credit!

This is one of several different pieces of lettering I did for the baby shower for Chelsea at Sugar Paper. Chelsea just let me know my calligraphy for the shower is shown on a lovely blog by Nole in Washington, DC called Oh So Beautiful Paper. I didn't see the printed pieces, so it was really fun to see them in the shower setting as well as mentioned on a blog!

Anniversary Gift

I love it when men want to give a romantic, meaningful gift! I just completed this song in calligraphy that my client is giving to his wife for their first anniversary. The song and the Hawaiian flowers have significance for them. The piece is 16 x 20.

Baby Shower Invitation

I was asked by Ilyssa over at Brenda Himmel Stationery to do an invitation for sweet Misty who works there doing graphic design. I was delighted! The guidelines included, no pink, no pastels, no cutesy. Uh oh, how do I make it look like baby without the cute??? Well, I do like a challenge, so here was what I ended up with. I typeset and printed the info for the tags, the return address, and the address on the front of the envelope. I then hand cut all the tags and labels for addresses. I then used stamp pad ink on a sponge to color all the edges. Punched wholes and added eyelets to the tags. Mounted scrapbook paper to card stock, cut the striped paper for the pocket and glued it to the base. Then added handcut flowers to the base as well. I tied fiber to each tag. I cut out pieces of canvas and rubber stamped "baby" on them and attached it to the fiber on the invitation tag with a tiny safety pin. The final touch was a ribbon around the pocket. Phew! After a day and a half of work, twenty-two invites were in the mail!











Here's a view of the whole background that the invitation sits on. The flowers that I glued onto the base paper I cut out of an envelope lining that I had leftover. The striped kraft paper pocket is from a Whole Foods hot bag!









A little surprise tag tucked behind the invitation with the registry information.










I had decided to do a few different background patterns so that not all the invitations were exactly the same. It was fun to play with the variety and still make the design work.