Following the journal prompt offered on Lil Blue Boo this weekend was great fun! (Click the button below to learn more about the project.) Being challenged to work specifically on handwriting helped me stretch a bit and it is great to know that others are thinking/creating along the same lines.
My inspiration for my latest journal entry was this piece I created a few years ago.
Lots of words on that background...why not try out some different handwriting styles on them? While doodling and sketching I revised my original wording and explored some different font styles I found at KevinandAmanda.com. The creators of this site turn handwriting samples into fonts and make them available to you and me for free! They call it Fonts for Peas and you can check them out here. Download a few fonts or just enjoy studying the different handwriting styles...the slant of this one, the loops in that one...just looking opens our minds to creative possibilities.
I created a background by drybrushing brown and then orange acrylic onto the prepared journal pages. I also added some brown "spatters" with a paintbrush. I love the texture of the underlying words showing through the paint. I chose orange because a.) it's one of my favorite colors and b.) it contrasts nicely with the aqua blue used in the lettering.
I added a title by outlining letters in permanent marker and filling them in with acrylic paint.
Unfortunately I had to actually rewrite my text on a new page as I was unhappy with the starkness of the white looseleaf paper against the warm values of the background. The loose leaf paper was also a little thin. To help keep my writing somewhat consistent I photocopied a lined sheet of paper onto a sheet of tea-stained card stock. The lines came out very light...just right.
After trimming the calligraphy pages down I rounded the corners and used a brown inkpad to "antique" the edges. (I use this technique a lot. It gets rid of that white edge and anchors the object to the background.)
My first few entries in this journal have been heavy on the cutting and pasting, so tomorrow I'm challenging myself to actually write in the book! There's something about writing in a bound book that intimidates me a bit...always has. Hmmm...I really need to let go of that.
I hope this is the beginning of a great week for you!
