Watercolour and Lettering Goods on Creative Market

Creative Market Shop via Happy Hands Project

Hey everyone! I’ve been busy last month setting up shop over at Creative Market, and it’s still an ongoing process. CM is a great source of design inspiration, and a very busy marketplace for creatives. There are tons of graphic design elements that one can use for a myriad of design projects. Oh, and did I say that thay have a bazillion calligraphy fonts (like this one right here) available as well?

I got acquainted with Creative Market when they featured the Happy Hands Project last year on their article 5 Calligraphers To Follow On Instagram—thanks, guys!

As a designer and artist, I was thinking of ways to make other designers’ lives easier—and that is by supplying digital artworks that they can use for their own designs. Finally, I found the time to open up a shop and paint and paint and paint, and turn those watercolours into digital backgrounds (not easy!).

Insider Tip: You get 6 free product downloads every week. That’s where I get most of my free fonts and patterns. You need to be a member to access the free goodies, and signing up is easy peasy. Just click the Sign Up button on the top right.

I know my shop is still quite sparse, and I’ve got a looooong way to go before I can fill it to the brim. But let me share with you 3 quality products that I have so far—hope you like ‘em!

The Hand-Lettering Blog Kit

Hand-Lettered Blog Kit via Happy Hands Project

Hand-Lettered Blog Kit via Happy Hands Project

Give your website a dose of personality with these custom illustrated brush lettering elements. Build your brand by using these hand-lettered goodies on your marketing collateral. Use these as buttons and headers on your blog, or as overlays on your photos.

Check out the kit here.

Bright Watercolour Backgrounds

Watercolour Backgrounds via Happy Hands Project

All hand-painted in rich watercolour which is perfect for your marketing, stationery, branding and personal projects. Use each background on its own, or put 2 or 3 together for a different effect — the possibilities are endless and it’s all up to you!

Get some watercolour goodness here.

Ombré Watercolour Backgrounds

Faded Watercolour Backgrounds via Happy Hands Project

Here’s a dreamy watercolour kit for weddings, branding, invitations, brochures, posters, calligraphy backgrounds, packaging, websites, posters and a whole lot more. My personal favourite.

Check out the ombre backgrounds here.

I have a few more products that I’m working on, and will update you all here when a new item’s up. Spread the love!

Digitizing Your Calligraphy: Adding Seamless Patterns

Adding Digital Patterns to Your Calligraphy via Happy Hands Project

So you’ve digitized your gorgeous calligraphy. It’s pretty. You can print as many pieces as you want to give to friends and family. But have you ever wondered what’s the next step to scanning your calligraphy and adjusting the contrast in Photoshop? Well, I got news for y’all, and it’s something I’ve only done recently. How about adding (digitally) some seamless patterns on your calligraphy?

This requires some basic knowledge in either Photoshop or Illustrator, but once you get the hang of it, this will make your calligraphy extra pretty. The digital version of the above calligraphy piece was all done in 10 minutes, tops, excluding the writing part which takes waaaaayyy longer.

This is really easy-peasy, take a look at the steps below. Please note that a working knowledge on Adobe Illustrator is required to be able to follow the tutorial. We will be using a pre-made vector pattern downloaded from the internet. I got mine from here. First thing you need to do is have your seamless pattern open in AI (this will be in either .eps or .ai format).

1 :: Copy and paste your vector pattern on a new file. I used an A4 sized art board. If the graphic’s too big, use the Free Transform tool from the left tool bar to scale to your desired size.

Adding Digital Patterns to Your Calligraphy via Happy Hands Project

2 :: Make the vector graphic into a pattern. Click on the Object pull-down menu from the top, select Pattern, and click on Make.

Adding Digital Patterns to Your Calligraphy via Happy Hands Project

3 :: Save your pattern. Click OK, and delete the existing graphics from your art board. This will give you a clean slate.

Adding Digital Patterns to Your Calligraphy via Happy Hands Project

4 :: Create a full background using your newly-created pattern. Wee!

Adding Digital Patterns to Your Calligraphy via Happy Hands Project

Now this background is ready for use! For the Elizabeth Gilbert quote I’ve written, I just placed a black rectangle over the background, pasted and live-traced the jpeg scan of my calligraphy, did a bit of clean up, and saved it as an A4-sized poster. There are so many possibilities with patterns and I cannot wait to try them out!

Hope you’ll have as much fun as I have! Here are some of my favourite premium patterns from Creative Market:

Full disclosure: I've recently become part of Creative Market's Partner Program, and I get commissions for purchases made through the links below.

Patterns via Creative Market

Patterns via Creative Market

Patterns via Creative Market

Happy digitizing!

Freebie: Printable Valentine Card

Printable Valentine Card via Happy Hands Project

So. Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and let’s face it — not everyone is in the mood for cheesy love cards. I wanted to paint something using my black Higgins Eternal ink, but I was painting with my 5-year old (and she was happily blending reds and greens to make cherries) so I thought pink would be nice.

Here’s my interpretation of the unromantic Valentine card. A prickly cactus in a blend of pink and purple, giving free hugs to those who dare. I threw in a tiny heart just for kicks. Perfect for those you have utterly no romantic feelings for, but you love ’em anyway. Hope you love this free printable as much as I did!

 

FREE PRINTABLE MODERN CALLIGRAPHY ALPHABET

Modern Calligraphy Exemplar via Happy Hands Project

I was messing around with my guidelines and tracing paper, thinking of writing in another freehand style of modern calligraphy. Since I’ve become comfortable with my own style, it’s become difficult for me to try to come up with an entirely different way of writing the alphabet.

After a few tries, I came up with an entrance stroke that was pretty simple but all new to me. I wrote the uppercase letters in a similar style, but did not use my usual slant. Instead, I wrote this in a slightly upright manner, and that is how I came up with The Eloise Exemplar.

Modern Calligraphy Exemplar via Happy Hands Project

So why did I explore this other style? Well, I’m not planning on using this type of freehand in any of my calligraphy pieces, but it was a good exercise. I am very comfortable with my own calligraphy handwriting so coming up with a different way of writing letters (and eventually an entire alphabet!) was a challenge. But I’m telling ya, it was super fun.

So how about if I share this exemplar to my lovely readers? Yes? Modern calligraphy beginners, this will serve as a good alphabet guide that you can print out and copy. Having an alphabet guide in front of you while practicing will help you familiarise yourselves with the letter forms. This will also show you which stroke should be an upstroke (thin) and which should be a downstroke (thick). Once you are comfortable with writing each letter, then you can explore different styles and eventually come up with your own. How cool is that?

So get your dotted pad, ink, holder and Nikko G nib ready and print this exemplar on an A4 sized card stock. Happy writing! And remember — practice makes pretty!

 

Freebie: Printable To-Do List

Free Printable To-Do List via Happy Hands Project

I was inspired to design this printable to-do list because I feel that writing down our goals for the day (or week) is better than typing it on our smart phone calendars. You can post it on your wall, and it’s easier to see. It makes the list more ‘real’, and it personally helped me manage my time better.

Free Printable To-Do List via Happy Hands Project

The past few months were filled with wedding invitation designs and calligraphy addressing, plus a few commission works here and there. I had to list my deadlines, and make sure I stick to them.

So here’s something to help us stop the procrastination and actually do something! Coz you know what? I love the feeling of ticking one task and proceeding to the next one. The feeling of satisfaction is priceless. I hope you like the freebie for the day!

Download the to-do list printable here.

Freebies: Calligraphy Valentine Desktops

Valentine Calligraphy Desktops via Happy Hands Project

Spreading some love this week with a couple of calligraphy desktops! I’ve been doodling last weekend and have been thinking of writing something about love and I came up with these two. Well, I do have another one on Instagram in reference to Love Actually (remember the time when Andrew Lincoln was this sweet guy and not the walker-killing Rick Grimes? I’m serious.) Anyway, have a wonderful Valentine week everyone! Spread some love to the people close to your heart!

Download the Winnie the Pooh quote here

Download Love is the Closest Thing to Magic here

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

Help for the Philippines: Faith. Hope. Trust.

Faith Hope Love Print via Happy Hands Project

Reading the headlines from the past few days have been very heartbreaking. Typhoon Haiyan (known as Yolanda in the Philippines), the strongest typhoon that hit the Visayas region of the Philippines, left a trail of devastation. Thousands have died and those who survived were left homeless, hungry and cold.

The Philippines has had its fair share of natural calamities, but never to this extent. With this amount of destruction, the victims need all the help we can give.

Last night my husband and I were contemplating on how much assistance we can afford as contribution to help the victims in hard-hit Tacloban and its neighboring towns. It was also last night when I came up with this brush lettering, and I’m offering this as an instant download over at my Etsy shop. 100% of the sales will be forwarded to the Philippine Red Cross. If you don’t have an account on Etsy, just send me an email at pauline (at) happyhandsproject (dot) com with your email address and I’ll send you a Paypal invoice. You will then receive the artwork through email.

Faith. Hope. Trust.

I guess during a time like this, these are the only three things that can get us going. I hope you can help me spread the word. Together, we can help the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

Free Printable Mother’s Day Card

 

We will all be celebrating motherhood soon! Even though I am miles away from my Mom, I’m sending a card out to her today. I’m looking forward to celebrate with her when we see each other three weeks from now! I’m super excited with our upcoming trip… but I have to stop myself because that’s another story.

MothersDayCard-HappyHandsProject-1

I was trying to check the spelling for Mother’s Day earlier. Should it be spelled as ‘Mother’s’ or ‘Mothers’? Well, Anna Jarvis, the founder of the holiday, specifically noted that “Mother’s” should “be a singular possessive, for each family to honour their mother, not a plural possessive commemorating all mothers in the world.”

Can’t argue with Miss Jarvis on that, so here’s a printable card to commemorate the wonderful existence of our own Moms. I’ve been having fun with brush lettering lately, and this was originally done in watercolor. Download yours here! Let her know how awesome she is.

MothersDayCard-HappyHandsProject-2

Inspirational Hand-Lettered Wall Art + Freebie

 

I have never watched Japanese anime until I met my husband. I just didn’t like the animation itself, and that alone was a reason big enough to turn me off. The Animax channel was something I can easily live without. I grew up watching Disney – Minnie Mouse was my best friend.

Well, my husband changed all that. A few years into the marriage and I can proudly say I’ve seen two full length anime films and a few series that made me laugh and cry. I have to wonder how the Japanese can be brilliant in so many ways. Currently we are watching Space Brothers (Uchuu Kyoudai), and I have learned a lot about space flight and the rigorous tests aspiring astronauts have to go through to qualify. Set in 2015, it’s about two brothers who are as different as night and day, but share one dream – to become astronauts.

So before this turns into a geeky blabbery of something that will most likely bore my dear readers, here’s something I came up with last night.

Hand-lettering-HappyHandsProject

Well, I got so into it so I made it into digital wall art and posted them on my Etsy shop.

Chalkboard Wall Art - HappyHandsProject

Then I got even more into it so I made it into an iPhone wallpaper. I was exploring royalty-free vintage photos (taking the cue from How About Orange) and thought, hey, I can use these Astronomy images along with my lettering!

Of course you can download your very own inspirational iPhone wallpaper here. Even if you don’t watch anime, I hope my little artwork here would motivate us all to always look up, hold our heads high, and reach for the stars.

And if I may add, Space Brothers is really that good. You, non-anime viewer, should check it out.

Hand-lettered iPhone Wallpaper-HappyHandsProject

1 | 2 |