Love and Wonder

With Easter fast approaching, I thought I would share a quote from the book Entirety: Love Gives All, by Dana Candler.

"In Jesus' giving of Himself, the hidden plan of God's heart was revealed in the midst of time and space, and Love was the message made manifest."

I am absolutely filled with awe, adoration and gratitude as I contemplate this beautiful truth! May you enjoy the rest of this Holy Week and may you have a blessed Easter.

"Loose" script

I was playing around last night with my ink and a Leonard EF Principal nib and did some "loose" style scripts. It was fun and a bit freeing to not worry about straight lines and exact ascender/descender heights, etc. Here are a couple samples of what I came up with rather quickly. They are envelopes for a couple friends who also happen to work with us at Paperworks and More. I think there will be more of this loose "unbuttoned" style coming from my pen in the future.

Lock & Key

I thought I would share a photo of a collage piece I recently completed incorporating a very old lock portion of a doorknob set and an antique skeleton key. These elements made me think of the passage from Matthew about your heart being where your treasure is found, so I included that verse in calligraphy on the piece. This is for sale at our little shop, Paperworks and More.

Wonderful Banner

Over this past weekend, my husband & I attended a conference in Fairlawn, Ohio to hear Dr. James Goll, an author and teacher from Tennessee who ministers across the U.S. and internationally. The conference was held at St. Luke's Church and the banner in this photo was hanging in their entrance foyer against a brick wall. I thought both the lettering and the graphic were gorgeous and I loved the message it presented, particularly in this Lenten season.

Getting warmer...

My post title is not referring to the weather, but rather to my efforts to customize a header for this blog which meets with my approval. I already knew that my computer skills were lacking, so my son, Jordan, got stuck with that portion of this task. However, I'm discovering that the fine hairlines in my calligraphy do not translate well to the computer screen. Thus, it is like the old game from childhood when you would try to guess something or find something and the other player would give you clues by saying, "You are getting warmer; you are getting colder, " as you approached or made your guesses. The changes in my blog's appearance seem slightly more in keeping with my "style" and yet, I think I have more work ahead of me before I am happy with the overall look.

Meanwhile, it is getting warmer outside in recent days as spring begins to make its appearance and for that I am quite grateful!

Beautiful words...

Today I just want to share some words that have struck me with their beauty. This is the final passage from a wonderful prayer -- Celtic in origin, I think.

"bathe us
with the brilliance
of Your light
like dew."

Blessings to you!

Ideas

Today I had the pleasure of meeting with Sonja at Bloom Floral Designs about some orders she is going to have me do for her shop. If you are not familiar with Bloom and live in the North Canton area, you need to discover her work! She does amazing floral designs and all the gift items and displays in her shop are just wonderful -- very clean lines with a unique and "fresh" presentation. Her designs make most other arrangements out there seem rather old, outdated and "tired." It was fun to talk with her and come up with some ideas together about how she might be able to use a few of my art pieces. Quite frankly, I am honored and excited to have the opportunity to do these projects for such a creative soul as Sonja!

Since I am new to the blogging world, I am not going to try to actually link to Sonja's website, but her address is: www.bloomfloraldesigns.com

I'm also posting some photos today of some pieces I recently completed. These are little soldered collage charms with hand-done calligraphy used on antique bottles, some with vintage chandelier prisms for stoppers. They are great for bath salts, oils or to hold a stem or two of your favorite flower. The last photo is a small picture under glass with a velvet ribbon for hanging on the wall.