It's a Word, It's a Plan, It's Letterman

If you were a fan of PBS' Electric Company back in the 70's, you might remember this phrase. Joan Rivers was the narrator for this sketch and Letterman would fix words that were causing havoc in a scene by ripping the letter off his chest and replacing it with a better letter.

I loved that show and, when my kids were little, we got the videos from the library so they could watch them. They probably humored us, but we still say things from the skits that starred Morgan Freeman and Rita Morena.

All of that to show you some lettering I've been working on. I've always enjoyed doodling and I tried calligraphy as a teen and had a good time in art school with typography projects. So, I picked up some lettering books from the library, joined some Instagram lettering challenges and now I'm back in the lettering game.

Obviously, this was the letter B that I drew after a lettering book lesson.

These are just the horoscope names in a different font. I really dig this font and have been using it a lot lately.

This one is done in gel pen and then I scribbled over it in marker and rubbed the dark blue off the light blue gel pen.

When I saw the prompt for the lettering challenge over on IG was wild, of course I thought of animal print, so it had to be chunky letters so I could draw inside them.

If you're interested in some lettering lessons, I like the book below and you can get it from Amazon here, if you want...not an affiliate fyi, and you can head to this blog, Page Flutter,  to see her top picks for beginning letterers. 

And I recommend 80# paper or paper for laser printers, so there's a smoother surface than regular copy paper. I also recommend trying a million different pens to find what you like. I've seen people who can letter beautifully with just a pencil...but I'm not fond of graphite on paper when I'm writing, so I use either Colorit brush markers or Tombow Fudenosuke hard brush tip. If you wanna join me, I'm part of the @happyletteringchallenge group.

Happy Weekend!

Chark

Winnie-the-Pooh Day

Friends! It's Winnie-the-Pooh Day! I looovvee Pooh bear. He's a throwback to my childhood and a throwback to when my kids were little. He's so stinkin' cute and the stories are so sweet and clever and innocent.

From the Time website:  A.A. Milne’s books—including the simply titled Winnie-the-Pooh, which was published on this day (October 14) in 1926—made Winnie the bear and his animal friends world famous, but they were not only the product of Milne’s imagination. 

The author, along with illustrator Ernest H. Shepard, actually based his work on some very real stuffed animals—those of Milne’s son, Christopher Robin Milne. Although the book was published 89 years ago Wednesday (2015), the beloved character got his start five years before, when Milne gave his son a toy bear for his first birthday on Aug. 21, 1921. But that bear wasn’t named Winnie: he was initially called Edward. The name Winnie came later, from a brown bear that young Christopher Robin Milne visited in the London Zoo. 

Amazingly enough, I don't have a new Pooh bear project to share, but I am in the middle of one, so I'll post it soon. And here's a project I made a few years ago...it's a little gift bag decorated with stickers a Pooh and Piglet die cut, using these die cuts from Jo-Ann.

Instead I'll post a little lettering practice I've been working on with words that remind me of Pooh Bear.

Happy Weekend!

Chark

I'll Take The Big Box

So, Valentine's Day is usually pretty big around here, since it's my hubby's birthday. We have some kind of dessert he requests, usually I make a cheesecake, but this year, it was an ice cream cake from Coldstone. It's tasty, but little and it has cake layers with the ice cream, instead of just cookie bits like Dairy Queen cakes. But I digress.

He always gets me a little something for Valentine's and it's usually a gift card to a place I like and a box of Russell Stover assorted chocolates. I am obsessed with their chocolate buttercreams. Yum! This year, I must've done something right because I got the huge box. I prefer Russell Stover because they don't put Brazil nuts in their candies ever, and I'm highly allergic, so they have always been my preferred brand :)

Here's a quote I lettered a long time ago, but finally came across again and then colored in recently. It's from the book, The Fault in Our Stars and it's fabulous. "I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly and then all at once." It's almost 8.5x11 size, so you know the candy box is big!

Hope you had a fine Valentine's Day and that you get the big box of chocolates once in a while! Keep in mind, the candy goes on sale February 15th...just a little enabling.

Happy Friday!

Chark

I'm Starting To Think Christmas

Even though I don't decorate or listen to Christmas carols before Thanksgiving on principle, I have been influenced by the way Christmas starts creeping in right after Halloween. I doodled a quote from the movie Elf a week or two ago...then I redoodled it (pretend that's a real word) later. I like my second version better, but I wonder if it's too hard to read (plus I started to write candy canes twice, so I need to fix that to an o).

I tested my husband on it and he was able to figure it out, so maybe it's okay. Do you have an opinion? Is the second version just a little too crowded?

 

Either way, it was fun to make these and know it's almost time to watch Elf and A Muppet's Christmas Carol and Scrooged and A Charlie Brown Christmas!

Happy Monday!

Chark

p.s.. a2z Scrapbooking is having tons of sales and deals this week like a lot of places. Hope you'll hop over to the Facebook page or the blog and consider spending your money on a store that was started to fund charities. It always makes me happy to shop there.

Last Weekend of Summer

Labor Day in the U.S. used to be the last weekend before school started when I was a kid (hence the last weekend of summer to me) and now my kids have been in school for two weeks already. They get Labor Day off, so it's still a holiday from school and a chance to remember the workers who made this country great. I'm pretty sure my farmer and miner grandpas count as some of those hardworking men. I know my grandma worked in a factory some too, so we're solidly blue-collar, Labor Day kind of folks.

Sharing another lettering project today, since I can't stop making them. I keep coming across quotes I like, but this time I was thinking of movie quotes and this is one of my favorite movies. It came out in 1985 when I was a junior in high school. Do you know it?

Yep, it's The Breakfast Club. The woodgrain behind the quote is actually scrapbook paper, even though it looks like a table :) I haven't decided what to do with the quote yet. I had to tear it out of my notebook because I messed up at the bottom. I may just throw it into a smash book and keep it for myself.

Oh and Shhhh! I have to let you know about an email I got from Graphic 45. Their September challenge is up and I was going to link it for you so you can enter too, however, I can't seem to find it on their website or FB page...so! Here's the info and don't tell them I told you. hehe. I love G45 and Halloween, so I've gotta enter this one! But I've also got to bring my A game, because they have amazing projects like the one below posted all the time. Isn't it gorgeous?!

 

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Chark

Quoth The Raven

So, in the novel The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, one of the best quotes is "I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once." It's a fantastic book and really good movie and I highly recommend it. My daughter loves the book, as does her boyfriend. This is his variation of the quote. She asked me to letter it for her dorm room and here it is.

I fell in love the way you fall into a Burmese tiger pit: swiftly, unexpectedly, and permanently.

 

I enjoyed making it, even though it's weird and kooky. Just like them, I guess. :)

And if you like Poe (see the blog title) you might want to check out the book, Mrs. Poe. I enjoyed it.

Happy Monday,

Chark

Caffeine Is My Helpful Friend

I'm more of a green tea drinker when I need my caffeine fix in the morning, but I love these coffee sayings so I doodled them while watching the tv the other day. I enjoy getting lettering ideas from books but these two are all me...after reading and copying lettering from the books, of course. They gave me lots of inspiration and practical advice.

I think I'll have to go back in and emphasize the word IS on the first one, because it's a little lost in the busy-ness.

I'll have to find some tea sayings next and pick up my pens and get to work.

If you like your coffee and tea, you can head over to a2z Scrapbooking Supplies and pick up the Hero Arts  digital kit called Caffeine Fix...a2z is the exclusive seller of Hero Arts Digis. I love digis because you can print them any size for cards or layouts or other projects.

This set is just $6.99 and if you want to fill your cart with other fun stuff, you can use my coupon code, CHARK15 to get 15% off your purchase of $25 or more!

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm off to get a cuppa!
Chark

Did You Hear The One About The Wookiee?

It's International Joke Day, so I've got some intergalactic jokes for you.

 

Ok, I think I'm finished now. Gotta love the Lego one. 

And here are the text pages I've been working on, now with color. I think this first one is a fail. I used color pencils and I just went a little too crazy with the coloring imo. I should've just colored part of the f, h, and e.

This one is ok, I used Tombow markers but I found out the pen I'm using (Sharpie pen) bleeds a little with these markers and the yellow isn't really the right color anymore.

I like this one, even though I still had some trouble with the yellow and black...see me cleaning my brush nib at the bottom of the page? I have to say experimenting with lettering has been fun and entertaining. Now I gotta go back to cards and projects for awhile to get some things finished.

Happy Joke Day and if you have a good one, tell me!

Chark

Can I Have The B, Pat?

The Weird Al song, Vanna Turn Me a Letter, is running in my head right now because I'm thinking of the lettering I've been doing. 

Here's my next round of tries. I used this book this time and it was pretty interesting. It has some great examples and some little "rules" to remember like using upper case then lower or upper, upper, lower, lower in the same word.

This one was fun and I made fun and I chose some of their words and some of my own and then added the "just be your best self everyday" at the bottom. I liked their scribbled flowers, so I did add some of those in. Now it's time to color it...just haven't decided how yet.

I saw this in the book and couldn't resist trying to imitate it, since I LOVE GLINDA. Although I always felt this information would've served Dorothy better in the beginning of her trials and saved her from being put in the dungeon. Apparently Dorothy had to learn some lessons and stuff first...whatever, Glinda. Good thing you're all sparkly and pink or I'd be mad at you. See the bubbles I added to my design? That's for her. 

So, I need to add color here too. Can't decide between marker, pencil or watercolor. The paper isn't really meant for lots of water, but I could probably figure something out. Hmmm...I guess we'll see on Wednesday what I came up with!

Happy Monday!
Chark

A Woman Of Letters

I just got some books out from the library on creative lettering and have been doodling while watching tv. This is the book that inspired me first.

I highly recommend it for the instruction and the examples. Here's my take on an example they gave. You start with pencil, add the straight lines, then add the flourishes that make it fun.

This is a new quote to me and I super love it. Here's my next attempt at following the instruction.

I added the confetti and swirls to fill in and make it fun. I've heard this quote before, but didn't realize it was from Dr. Seuss. Here are some more quotes from his books if you're like me and think children's books can be wise. One of my very faves (that will probably make it into my lettering collection) is “Read. Travel. Read. Ask. Read. Learn. Read. Connect. Read.”

So, do you like lettering? Here's a valuable lesson I learned if you feel like picking up a pen...they can smear, so watch your hand placement! I messed up quite a few just forgetting this fun little fact. Live and Learn, as they say :)

Happy Wednesday,
Chark