p a p e r g l a z e calligraphy

50th Anniversary Celebration

2010-09-13T22:46:00.003-05:00

What a wonderful weekend it was at my home in Kentucky. My sisters and I were able to honor our parents for their 50th anniversary. Each of us had a unique talent to contribute to the event...photography, culinary arts, floral arranging, and of course calligraphy. Thank you Mom and Dad for always encouraging us, being a constant example of faithful love and devotion to each other.

Light Inks on Dark Paper - Beautiful!

2010-06-19T22:20:00.003-05:00

Want to really make you invitations stand out? Use a light ink on dark paper. It makes such a striking statement. I recently made some samples and had so much fun shooting some pictures against some flowers in the back yard. Nature is truly a perfect backdrop!

Wedding Signs

2010-05-19T08:29:00.004-05:00

Wedding signs are a wonderful way to greet your attendants. This is especially helpful if you have a wedding outdoors or at a place in which people are not familiar. Furthermore, you can take the sign with you to the place of your reception. Most of the time, this is a place in which people may not be as familiar. This is the most recent one I did for a precious couple who had a reception at Squire Creek Country Club in Choudrant, Louisiana

P A P E R G L A Z E in Southern Weddings Magazine blog

2010-03-13T01:06:00.005-06:00

How exciting it was to see P A P E R G L A Z E in Southern Weddings Thursday, March 4, 2010. It's really teeny tiny, but if you look real closely, you can see Paperglaze Calligraphy on the 2nd line. Katharine Waterman states, "The black dessert cards by Paperglaze Calligraphy are a perfect counterpoint to all the color I think."

Exciting Weekend for Paperglaze

2010-03-03T20:54:00.005-06:00

What a wonderful surprise! Last Friday I was asked by a previous calligraphy client to do some quick place cards for a wedding dessert table. I made them and put them in my mailbox for her to pick up. Heather is the owner and creator of Social Bites of Ruston and she does WONDERFUL work. Little did I know that some pictures from the wedding would end up on a wonderful blog that would be viewed by Southern Wedding magazine. Monday I was informed that the wedding will be highlighted in Southern Wedding magazine. I don't know if some of my calligraphy will end up in the magazine, but there's a chance! Thank you Heather for asking me to do the cards for your beautiful, tasty creations. Check her out at socialbitesofruston.com. And thank you Kelly Moore for taking such wonderful pictures and placing them on your blog. Check her out at kellymoorephotography.com.

Classic Look for Place Cards

2010-01-29T17:18:00.007-06:00

I love the clean and simple look of the white ink on black. I use Paper Source place cards because they have so many wonderful colors and finishes of paper. The place card above features stardream opal paper on a black matte. It looks very elegant on a table.

2009 Christmas Menus/Placecards

2010-01-29T16:55:00.006-06:00

This place card for our Christmas Eve Dinner has two functions - a menu and a place card.

Personalized Mattes

2009-08-24T14:23:00.002-05:00

I think this is a great way to personalize a picture in a frame. Robyn set up a table at her reception to place pictures of her deceased grandparents. She had me write something personal about them at the top and the bottom of the matte. I've also done calligraphy on a matte of an engagement picture where the bride and groom wrote a thank you note to their parents. It was really cool. There are all sorts of things you can do with this idea!

Style 1 of 5 - Copperplate

2009-03-20T14:32:00.006-05:00

Copperplate is the most beautiful, traditional style. It can be made simple or more formal and flourished to suit your style. It is the most popular for wedding invitations.

Style 2 of 5 - Casual Script

2009-03-20T14:23:00.007-05:00

Take Copperplate and tone it down a bit. This a freehand script that is simple and pleasing, yet beautiful.

Style 3 of 5 - Upright Script

2009-03-20T14:16:00.004-05:00

Fun and free, upright script is less formal, yet remains neat and concise.

Style 4 of 5 - Broad Nib Script

2009-03-20T14:07:00.006-05:00

A simple, yet pleasing script with the broad nib. This style looks best in black.

Style 5 of 5 - Flourished Italic

2009-03-20T13:50:00.006-05:00

Only THREE more days left! Dillards' Wedding Fest, here I come!

2009-03-19T21:54:00.004-05:00

Several weeks ago I made took the "plunge" and decided to set up a display table at Dillards' during their annual Wedding Fest. It was totally free and not too overwhelming (like at a huge Expo or something). I knew I needed a little push, and the results have been great! I have developed new styles of writing and many samples of menus, placecards, etc. Drop by on Sunday, 2:00-5:00 p.m. if you happened to be in Monroe at the Dillard's in Pecanland Mall this Sunday! Pictures to come soon!!!

My latest work...

2009-03-15T21:01:00.005-05:00

I love making invitations look beautiful. The last two months I have done the envelopes for two weddings and it has been a joy. I have grown to love the copperplate style even more. I have even ventured into a little marketing...I bought some brown kraft paper bags and put my logo on the bag, got pretty ribbon of the bride's colors and tied it onto the bag after their invitations are done. So fun!

It must be in my genes...

2009-03-15T20:49:00.003-05:00

My great Uncle, Mayhew Peery, had wonderful penmanship. My dad found this in his home in Tennessee and kept it. I'm so glad he did. If you look closely, you can see his name written in the bottom picture.

2009-02-10T10:16:00.001-06:00

2009-01-06T19:07:00.004-06:00

This weekend I had the privilege of singing in my niece's wedding. She also wanted a sign in the entrance of the chapel and this was the result. It made a beautiful entrance, I must say! If you are interested in a large document like this, email me and we can talk prices, etc.

2008 Christmas Eve Dinner Menu

2008-12-24T10:49:00.003-06:00

One of my favorite things to do is to create the new menu for our family's Christmas Eve Dinner. Last night I worked on the menus sitting at my childhood home in Kentucky listening to Handel's Messiah on my ipod after everyone else had gone to bed. I enjoyed it so much, I couldn't make myself go to bed until very late into the night!

2000 - 2007 Christmas placecards and menus

2008-11-30T23:04:00.013-06:00

What started as a last minute way to jazz up Christmas Eve Dinner turned into a family Christmas tradition. This yearly tradition fostered my love for calligraphy at a young age. My sister started the tradition in 1981 and I started taking over the job when mom gave me a calligraphy kit in junior high! Each year the family members put the cards on the Christmas tree. They have become very special momentos. Some show the passing of a family member or new additions to the family, etc. As the years went by we started writing down on the back of each who was present at the dinner. Each card is special. Here are some throughout the years since I have had my own family.

Personalized Christmas placecards and menus 1992-1999

2008-11-30T22:39:00.015-06:00

Wedding Sample #1 - Ella (Italic Script)

2008-11-19T23:37:00.019-06:00

I love this style with Betsy's invitations. It is much more playful and fun. Because this style flows better with the speed of the pen and does not require much dipping in the ink, it takes much less time and thus costs much less than the copperplate. But I love it's personality!

My favorite pen and ink. It's amazing how much I love to just write out pretty addresses. I am so weird. The box is full and ready to be taken to the post office!

2008/2009 Wedding Calligraphy Dates

2008-07-20T14:54:00.007-05:00

Alisha; Baton Rouge, LA/August 2, 2008
Betsy; Louisville, KY /January 3, 2009
Aubri; Little Rock, AR /February 14, 2009
Heather: Ruston, LA/April 25, 2009
Audrey; Ruston, LA/ July 4, 2009

1909 Antique Wedding Invitation

2008-07-20T14:06:00.017-05:00

I found a treasure last week in an antique shop in Paducah, KY. The picture shows a beautifully hand-written wedding invitation written in 1909, almost 100 years ago. Since addressing envelopes is something I love to do, I was particularly drawn to it. The writer scripted with pen and ink on lined paper and also made hand-written envelopes. I have decided a new hobby is collecting anything old that is beautifully written or any old books used to teach beautiful handwriting. With the onset of email and computers in our day, anything beautifully handwritten is a work of art. As I have looked through antique shops, even the transfer of money on bills was written exquisitely. Signatures on checks, handwritten Christmas cards...the list goes on and on. They are simply beautiful.

P A P E R G L A Z E business cards in circulation!

2008-06-02T22:31:00.013-05:00

I spent most of this afternoon handing out my new business card that my friend, Aubri Young, helped me design. (She is a wonderful graphic designer! Check her out at aubriyoung.com). We both thought that two colors would be a nice detail. One side is off-white with a sheen, for a traditional wedding look. The other side, which has all of the detailed information, is chartreuse green - a more edgy, non-traditional color! Who would have thought that designing a business card could be so fun.

Wedding Sample #2 - Anna (Copperplate)

2008-05-20T23:34:00.016-05:00

Alisha's wedding colors are shades of brown and ivory. Her invitations look stunning with the khaki envelope and black ink. A beautiful first impression! This is a new font that I have started to perfect, and she graciously let me "practice" on her invitations. The copperplate script just also happens to match the lettering on her invitation.

Wedding Sample #1 - Copperplate

2008-05-07T22:40:00.009-05:00

I simply LOVE this style and feel it is so striking on a wedding envelope. I received an invitation in the mail today from a wonderful calligrapher in Arkansas and got motivated to make a few samples myself! This is the Copperplate style of lettering. Thanks Chartreuse Pear for allowing me to use your wonderful store for display!

2007 Christmas menus

2008-05-04T00:41:00.015-05:00

Individualized menus for our family's Christmas Eve Dinner in Kentucky. This has been a tradition in our family since 1980, and each year the menus and placecards are unique and different. This year I used a half uncial alphabet in sepia brown for an "old world" look.

Couldn't help but to put in the cutest American girls on Christmas morning!

future calligrapher

2008-05-03T23:20:00.001-05:00

We had Thanksgiving Dinner for the first time at our house this past year. After seeing her mommy make the menus and placecards every Christmas, Ellie decided (on her own) to make some for our holiday table. A future calligrapher in the making - and mommy is proud!

patriotic placecards

2008-05-03T22:58:00.013-05:00

My son's school held a formal dinner for all the 4th graders to reinforce manners and teach etiquette. I made the placecards in simple italic for all the students. The boys even pulled out chairs for the young ladies. It was really cute!

Brittany's Wedding

2008-05-02T01:05:00.025-05:00

I made Brittany's placecards and addressed her wedding invitations in cursive italic.

I love this picture of the bride and groom as they are leaving the ceremony as husband and wife. The movement in the picture and the expressions on all the faces express that moment so well!

it all started Christmas 1982...

2008-05-02T00:42:00.014-05:00

My sister who was in college at the time (early 80's), was up late one night on Christmas Eve "eve." Our extended family always celebrated Christmas together with a huge meal on Christmas Eve night. She was feeling a bit creative and made personalized placecards and menus for everyone. They were very simple, but everyone thought it was a great idea. Every year they were different and more beautiful. Kim got too busy, and I eventually took over the job as the family's Christmas calligrapher after my mom gave me a Speedball calligraphy set while in junior high...the rest is history. This picture shows the 2006 Christmas menu. Every year I make placecards and personalized menus complete with our dinner list on the inside and all those present for dinner on the back. It is special to look back and see who was present throughout the years. Our 2006 cards are extra special because they were made in memory of my precious aunt who passed away that year. We adorn our Christmas trees with these special momentos from all the years past. Some of them have become extra special with new babies being born, first Christmas together, etc.