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The joys of spring, calligraphy styley!

modern calligraphy photography

If I wasn’t an optimist, I don’t know how I’d do February! But I’m felling all the joys of spring and so excited for the month ahead. We have birthday secret surprise adventures aplenty (two MAJOR birthdays in our family this month) and lots of calligraphy projects I’ve been a busy bee with in Jan are just about ready to share! 

A collaboration with my extraordinarily talented friend Amy Swann – bespoke wedding invitations

First on my schedule is my new Etsy wedding shop launch. I set up my Etsy store in *goes to check* 2013!! So we’re seven… and need a bit of a refresh because some of my oldest products have been on there for quite a few years now! Lots of goodies are currently floating around my calligraphy studio, and I’m excited to get them in the shop! 

Then there are workshop plans to finalise: I’ve got full-day calligraphy workshops in Coniston and Nantwich to plan for, and my Manchester calligraphy classes are almost fully booked (a couple of places left in April; March is sold out). So I’m really excited for those!

I’m pretty good with work-life balance these days, so weekends and evenings are spent notworking. (I love how my phone automatically changes that to networking, because it knows I’m on instagram and generally talking about calligraphy and weddings… haha.) But no – weekends and evenings are perfect crafting time, and I have lots of little projects on the go with the latest being clay coasters and dried flowers. Somehow, they WILL go together. No idea how… any tips?!

While it’s chilly outside I’m totally still nesting. Every now and then we head out to the beach to get all windswept and red-cheeked, and then come in, bang the fire on and snuggle with a hug mug full of hot chocolate. Or a whiskey. (Anyone tried Smokehead?) So yeah – spring’s in the air, but I’m sure we’re still to see snow, and there’s no way I’m stashing my jumpers away just yet!

For new wedding stuff, head over to my Etsy shop Etsy.com/shop/bymoonandtide

For workshops follow @swallowsandartisans and @littlepapershopdesigns or message me direct @bymoonandtide

To see all my crafting failures, watch my Instagram stories! They’re bound to happen… and I believe in keeping it real on there, so I post everything, even the less successful experiments!

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A total revamp – new calligraphy website design

My working life lies somewhere between graphic design and the wedding industry – the happiest place I can imagine working. Between the ever-changing world of bridal fashion trends and innovations in type and technology, my mind is flooded with so much newness I find I’m changing my calligraphy website pretty much every 12 months or so!

the long sunny days of June caused a little gap between calligraphy orders so I had time to review my website – and it was missing focus and clarity. So I’ve redesigned the menus to make it easier for you to find my printed or bespoke invitations, or to discover more about my modern calligraphy workshops.

I’ve also updated the visuals with beautiful photography by Kathryn Hopkins, Jenny Jones, Verona Lain, Camilla Lucinda and Inbetween Days – amazing creatives I’ve had the pleasure of working with this year.

I hope you love the new look! My net project will be dozens of new calligraphy ideas in my Etsy shop.

Follow me on Instagram for first sneak peeks!

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The new ‘handwritten’ and why it scares me!

I follow a handful of beautiful blogs on Bloglovin’ and today this led me to discover something pretty freaky… it’s a genuine service, and advertised on Emmaline Bride (which is a blog I love) as ‘a dream come true’.

Too lazy to write your own thank you notes? Happier to type on your device than to hunt for a pen and paper to send a personal note to your great auntie for the thoughtful gift she bought and gave you on your wedding day? Think your family and friends won’t recognise your thank you notes are in someone else’s handwriting? Then this is for you…

With Bond, a robot will write your thank you letters with an actual pen. And this, my lovely friends, is being called ‘handwritten’.

Oh my goodness!! I’m torn: I totally agree it’s important to send thank you notes, and handwritten is best of course! But are they ‘hand’ written if a robot writes them?!

I love the innovation but it freaks me out at the same time that this is even a thing!

Is it bizarre or the future? Is it better than printing your own thank you notes in a ‘handwritten’ font on your home printer? Can a robot hand really deliver that personal touch? I would love to know what you think!

Note: the hand in the photo is my real hand – not a robot one. For that, head over to https://bond.co and watch the videos in the background 🙂 It’s the weirdest backwards step in tech I’ve ever seen – but strangely and disturbingly fascinating!

Image credit Jenny Jones Photography