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

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!

Printable Valentine’s Day Card

 

When I was about 10, we had a craft project in school for Valentine’s Day. We were asked to bring old greeting cards and recycle them to make a new one. Oh, how thrilled I was! With school glue and scissors in hand, I cut up hearts and pictures to make a Valentine card for my Mom. I remember trying to make a heart (or flower, my memory is already a bit bleary) pop up when the card is opened.

I managed to make a small cardboard accordion and glued the heart (or flower!) on top of it. Kind of like a Jack-in-the-Box effect. The pop-up heart didn’t surprise my Mom at all, but it sure did make her happy.

YouAreLoved Card

As a tribute to my childhood tradition of handmade cards, I made a watercolor illustration last weekend for my Mom and Aunts. I’m sharing this with you so we can all extend some handmade love to the people we care about. Spread the love!

Download the printable card here.