Modern Calligraphy Starter Kit

Calligraphy Starter Kit via Happy Hands Project

I am beyond excited to announce that after months in the making, the Make Your Own Happy Hour Modern Calligraphy Starter Kit is finally ready!

I know there are a lot of you who are not in Singapore and have always wanted to come to the in-person workshops. Here’s the next best thing! The starter kit is similar to the kits given out during the Happy Hour workshops, though the booklets were downsized from A4 to A5 for more affordable shipping costs. You will receive the tools to get you started—2 flexible nibs, a pot of black ink, a wooden straight holder, my favourite Blackwing pencil, a writing booklet, instruction guide, and practice tips. The kit also includes a screen printed tote and an assortment of cards and kraft tags for you to show off your calligraphy skills.

Calligraphy Starter Kit via Happy Hands Project

I’ve spent months planning what goes into this box, and re-designing the booklets and instruction guides. I hope this will help kickstart your journey in pointed calligraphy. It also makes an awesome gift for that guy or gal who has always wanted to try their hand at modern calligraphy but did not know where to start.

Each kit is hand-assembled and peppered with a lot of love (from me, of course!) so I hope you’ll love this as much as I do.

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.

Calligraphy Wedding Invitations

I am very, very excited to show you something new! I’ve added a Calligraphy section to my Etsy shop, and I’m working hard to come up with more items to fill it up. This is one of my absolute favorites, and I’m going to add more styles in the months to come. Here is the first of many (fingers crossed!) wedding invitation styles that will be available here at the Happy Hands Project. And yes, I have a lot of plans for next year and they’re just swimming in my head… so I need to organize every single thought and put each one out there!

Okay, I know that I’ve said this before, but I’m going to say this again. If I’m getting married now, I’d love to have this for my wedding. I think there’s something very intimate about handwritten wedding invites. This is one of life’s most important days, and I believe it deserves some handwritten elegance.

Calligraphy Wedding Invite via Happy Hands Project

I really had a great time conceptualizing the calligraphy for this invite. I’ve been practicing a lot lately, and I am very comfortable in this writing style because it’s very close to my natural handwriting. By ‘natural’, I meant writing with a regular ballpoint or pencil. I’m so glad I’m finally able to share this!

You can always send me an email if you have any queries – ask me anything! You may order this directly through email, or through Etsy. If you or someone you know is getting married, I’d love for you to help me spread the word!

Etsy Great Day to Shop: Dreamy Gold & White

I currently have a deep, indescribable fascination with white and gold lately. I love the purity of white, and the sparkle of gold. I’d say everyday is a good day to shop, but it’s better if it’s handmade and created with love. Check out this list I created on Etsy:

 

Gold and White List via Happy Hands Project

Top row, from left to right:
Paper Maché Bowl by etco | Holiday Card Set by CraftColorfully | Chilled Eggnog Eyeshadow by BeneficialMineralsCo

Center row, from left to right:
Gentle Reminders Pencils by AmandaCatherineDes | Vintage Inspired Gold White Crown by adamsblankie | Handpainted Stick Earrings by vickygonart

Bottom row, from left to right:
Organic Cotton Hemp Lumbar Pillow by melongings | Coconut Milk Bath Powder by AmeliaBathandBody | Yoga Eye Pillow by RLFNest

Aaah… don’t you just love Etsy? Check out the rest of the curated list here. Have fun shopping!

Happy To Be Back On The Blogosphere!

HHP-ThinkHappy-3

I’m not sure if any of you noticed, but my blog suddenly turned non-existent for a week at least. E-mail accounts were down as well, and I was in cold sweat. The saddest part was that my blog entries that were supposed to be posted on schedule were removed from the face of the Earth. We could not retrieve it.

I will not go through the technical nerdy stuff, for I myself do not understand what exactly happened. I am just amazed at how my friend, who developed my site, migrated it to another server, re-coded everything (the codes, too, were nowhere to be found), and tidied it up according to my requests.  It was really awesome.

So anyways, you can now get in touch with me through e-mail again! I have a lot of things lined up and I’m happy to be back in the game – though I’m still catching my breath because well, I have a lot of catching up to do. Thinking of how to rewrite at least 4 entries makes me want to cry.

HHP-ThinkHappy-2

Meanwhile, the latest wall art that I have in my shop is very timely. Think happy, stay happy. Nothing can be more apt for me right now. Despite the online mayhem, I’m just happy to get back on track! Good to see you here, and welcome once again to the Happy Hands Project!

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.

Creativity Is Contagious. Pass It On.

 

For some weird reason, I remembered a college professor of mine who blatantly told me that I was not ‘a true artist’. All because the pencil that she borrowed from me was not sharp enough. That classroom was packed with aspiring creative professionals, each with his own strength, his own goal, and hanging on to every word an accomplished Arts Professor said. And she just said it out loud for the entire class to hear –  ‘You are not a true artist’.

If I was such a weakling then, I would have run out the room, bawling. Worse, I might have pursued a different career path. Luckily, neither of those happened, and I’m still happily writing, designing and drawing. I’m still making art. I still have this creative mojo going on.

I guess what I’m just trying to say is, the sharpness of a pencil does not define an artist. I mean, seriously?

Creativity Is Contagious Wall Art {Happy Hands Project}

Anyhow, I have some digital wall art on my Etsy shop to share – an Albert Einstein quote that I’ve written last week: Creativity Is Contagious. Pass It On. Artistic ability may not be innate to every one of us, but creativity is. Every person can use her imagination to make things. To create. The best part? Being around creative, artistic people is extremely infectious. And you can just immerse yourself in all that creativity around you.

I hope this quote inspires you to make things and share that contagious creativity of yours. And don’t worry about your pencils not being deadly sharp. It doesn’t matter anyway. Spread the love!

 

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

Etsy Shop for Digital Wall Art

 

I have finally opened my Etsy shop! Finally! I will be selling digital files of my letterings that I have prepared as wall art. I still have quite a few that I have yet to convert to vector but it’s no easy task – so I have just uploaded one with four color variations.

Do What You Love Digital Print-Black Green

I’m quite happy with this accomplishment, as I’ve been so busy with work and mommyhood. I thought it would actually take forever before I launch this shop. I just realized baby steps are all I need. Hey, if other artists can do it, it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot, too, right?

You can find my shop here: www.happyhandsproject.etsy.com.

Spread the love!