blog, diy

Agate Wedding Place Cards

As you know, my calligraphy hobby is turning into a full-on obsession. I started off first using brush pens and markers, which are so much fun. But my favorite calligraphers are old-school and use dip pens, so I wanted to try it. I had a rocky start, but with practice, I’ve gotten better at finding the right amount of pressure and ink flow!

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Weirdly enough, I’ve found that writing on agate is so much easier than writing on paper. The nibs are so sharp that they tend to tear and stick on paper. But on these smooth glass surfaces, they just glide.

These are place cards I’m making for Austin’s sister’s wedding, which is in April. She got an assorted set of 200 agate slices. The ladies are getting Ph. Martin Silver ink, the guys are getting copper plate gold.

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DIY: pup art!

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yes, we are those dog parents.

Austin has been pitching me the idea of doing “pop art” for our dog Whiskey for a while. i did a few google image searches – and yes, of course it’s a thing. i have just a tiny little teensy bit of Photoshop know-how (thank you, high school) and knew that i should use the Pen tool to cut out Whiskey’s head of another photo. i simply changed the color of that layer, and switched out the background colors to find an assortment we liked. it took only a few minutes, even for a Photoshop beginner like me.

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it took about 10 minutes to make all four photos!

i stumbled on this great website called Easy Canvas Prints, based in Austin, TX, and saw that their 16 x 20 prints (what we ended up purchasing) are only $23 each! compared to CVS Photo ($45 each), Walgreens Photo ($60!!!) and Shutterfly ($80!!!!), Easy Canvas Prints was a steal. in an effort to be a smart shopper, i checked out their reviews on Facebook, which are mostly positive, before taking the plunge. we couldn’t be happier with our new pup art, and Whiskey looks right at home in front of his portraits.

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