Handmade How-To: Botanical Note Cards Using Dingbats

DIY Botanical Notecards via Happy Hands Project

2014 is here! I hope you all had a great New Year’s Eve celebration. I’d like to start this year (and the 2nd year of Happy Hands Project… wee!) with a note card DIY. Botanical themes grew in popularity this year and making them is easy-peasy. There are a lot of wonderful greeting cards for sale out there, like these cards from Amy Sullivan and florals from Rifle Paper Co., but if you want to make some on your own, here’s an easy way to do it. And the best thing is, it’s all for free!

In this DIY, we will be making 2 A6 cards which will fit nicely into C6 envelopes. We will be working with Adobe Illustrator, a downloadable dingbat font, and another font of your choice to write a message on the card. I am using Illustrator CS6 on a Mac, as you will see on the photos that will follow.

Let’s get all the materials ready, shall we? First, download and install the font Arboris Folium. Then download this chalkboard background from Besotted. If you’re printing the cards right away, have your card stock ready, too, preferably between 200-250gsm.

{1}
Open a new document in Illustrator. Select an Artboard size, which should be the same size as the paper you’ll be using. In my case, I use A4. Click ‘Landscape’ for the Orientation so you’ll be laying out the cards nicely on a horizontal page.

DIY Botanical Notecards via Happy Hands Project

{2}
Make a rectangle using the rectangle tool (click M for the shortcut).  Position your pointer somewhere on the artboard and click once – enter the size 105mm x 148mm on the window that pops out. This will be how big your card will be.

DIY Botanical Notecards via Happy Hands Project

{3}
Place your background onto the artboard. Go to File, select Place, and locate the file ‘CHALKBOARD_TEXTURE_BB.jpg’. The image will be placed on top of the rectangle you just made earlier. Resize the chalkboard background to a size you like. Just make sure it’s bigger than your rectangle.

DIY Botanical Notecards via Happy Hands Project

{4}
Position your chalkboard background to the back of the rectangle – Object, select Arrange, then select Send to Back (click shift + cmd + [ for the shortcut). Now that the background is behind the rectangle, we can proceed with the masking. Masking the background means that it will take the shape of the rectangle above it.

{5}
Masking! Select both chalkboard and rectangle using your Selection Tool (hit V for the shortcut). Click Object – Clipping Mask – Make.

DIY Botanical Notecards via Happy Hands Project

DIY Botanical Notecards via Happy Hands Project

{6}
Pull out your Glyphs Panel. It’s time to select a botanical element for your card! Click on Window – Type – Glyphs, and a panel will come out. This window will be displaying the characters available in a certain font. Choose Arboris Folium font to see all the dingbats this font has. (Warning: Prepare to ooooh and aaaah. I love this font!)

DIY Botanical Notecards via Happy Hands Project

{7}
Time to pick a specific element that you like. To make it appear on your artboard, click the Text tool (shortcut: T) and click anywhere on your chalkboard. Change the text color to white and type in a huge text size. In my case I used 275 pt, but you can go lower or higher. You can always adjust it later. Once you’ve chosen an element, position it to your liking. I centered mine as you can see.

DIY Botanical Notecards via Happy Hands Project

{8}
Do you want a different element on the other card? Repeat the same process, and you’ll have 2 cards in no time.

DIY Botanical Notecards via Happy Hands Project

{9}
If you want to write a message anywhere on your card, select a font you like and lower the font size. How big your text will be is totally up to you. Just in case you’re curious, I used Cantoni DIY Wedding font by Debi Sementelli. It’s gorgeous.

That’s it! Load your card stock into your printer and you have 2 note cards! Happy writing, and have a wonderful New Year everyone!

 

Etsy Exclusive: Holiday Gift Tags

Christmas is getting closer!

We are all waaay too busy preparing for a trip next month, plus I got all these ideas for Happy Hands Project that I can’t wait to share. I got a couple of DIYs up my sleeve, too, which you will see in the next couple of weeks.

In the meantime, here are 3 gift tag designs that I have on my Etsy shop. These are instant download files, so you wouldn’t have to wait to get your hands on them. These tags will definitely make your holiday gifts extra special. I’ve been playing with brush lettering lately and that’s how I came up with these chalkboard style tags.

By the way, the ‘Faith Hope Trust‘ brush lettering wall art is still on sale in the shop for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

Holiday Gift Tags via Happy Hands Project

Going Green: Calligraphy for the Little Green Dot Workshop

I am so happy to finally be able to share some photos from The Little Green Dot Workshop, Coconut Oil for Skin, Hair & Food! It is one of my favorite blogs here in Singapore and I am so thrilled to be able to share bits of my creativity with the latest workshop. During my search for eco-friendly recipes and methods, I stumbled upon Little Green Dot, and it has been my go-to resource for all things green ever since.

Calligraphy for Our Little Green Dot via Happy Hands Project

Chalkboard Lettering for Our Little Green Dot via Happy Hands Project

Yep, that’s me with all the hair. I haven’t written with traditional chalk for ages (like high school, which is synonymous to ages) so it was a refreshing lettering project for me. Because of this, I’ve always been on the look out for discarded plywood in the neighborhood (still unlucky) and looking forward to have my own chalkboard at home.

Chalkboard Lettering  for Our Little Green Dot via Happy Hands Project

If you’d like to have your own copy of the recipes from the workshop, there’s a free copy available for download! You’ll get to see more photos of the event as well. Oh, and if the photos can’t say it all, watch the Little Green Dot Workshop Video to see all the wonderful artistic elements coming together that created such an interesting collaboration.

All photos from www.ourlittlegreendot.com.

Free Chalkboard Style Calligraphy

Gosh, I have so many ideas for a wedding now that I really wish I had 3 years ago. For my own wedding. I wish I was already doing calligraphy, and sometimes I wish I have painted our invites instead. Or wrote every word by hand instead of churning out a design and eventually throwing it away to start on a new one.

It’s more difficult to plan your own wedding than somebody else’s. For real.

For my calligraphy, I’m trying another hand right now – something more fluid and playful, a bit more carefree. I always write with my own style which is a bit upright. I try to follow the lines more closely. On the other hand, ‘carefree’ writing makes me feel so free and easy that I actually enjoy it!

Free Wedding Printable via Happy Hands Project

If you or anyone you know is getting married in the next few months or so, here’s a free printable! It’s in A4 size and can be framed and placed on the table beside your guest book. Display it by your wish tree, if you have one (I think this is a fabulous idea). Then display it in your living room after the wedding. Black and white chalkboard art will blend nicely with any color, right?

Download your printable calligraphy here. Oh, and just in case, I also have a free downloadable calligraphy Photoshop brush here. Spread the love!

The 80’s and Milli Vanilli

 

Yes, I totally understand that by using the title above somehow gives my age away. And yes, I’m one of those people who was born in the 80’s. I’m either too old or you’re too young, though for obvious reasons I’d prefer the latter. Oh, what an amazing time it was – I get these really cool Michael Jackson and Madonna vinyls! The Sesame Street soundtrack on cassette! I get to dance whenever I want!

When I was on third grade I joined the Dance Club. In school we were supposed to participate in at least one school organization, and at that age I couldn’t think of any other club I’d rather be in. I guess it’s quite obvious now that at a young age all I wanted to do was dance (that’s my husband’s cue to cringe). So anyway, the big performance came and my group decided to dance to Milli Vanilli‘s ‘Blame It On The Rain‘. In tight cycling shorts, because that was really hip then.

My lovely parents saw me perform and it was one of my proudest moments ever. Luckily I didn’t have any major boo-boos, except for that one time when I lost count and failed to switch to the next move. I was assured that nobody hardly noticed.

Blame It On The Rain Print {Happy Hands Project}

I’m always racking my brain for what to write for my lettering, and this funny memory suddenly came to mind. It’s silly, I know, but ‘Blame It On The Rain’ has got to be one of my favorite songs then. For the record, I wasn’t ware of the lip-synching scandal at the time. It’s even sillier that I’m considering uploading this as a digital wall art on my shop! Well, you’ll never know, there might actually be somebody who would love to be reminded of how cool growing up in the 80’s was. Like dancing to Milli Vanilli in cycling shorts.