Gifts for Grandparents

Grandparents usually have everything they need. But the thing that means most to grandparents are their grandchildren! I've even been told that "You don't know the meaning of love until you have a grandchild". I find that hard to believe knowing how much I love my kids, but I guess I'll just have to wait to find out!

One thing grandparents never have enough of, is pictures of their grandchildren. And another thing that grandparents don't have enough of, are pictures of THEMSELVES WITH their grandchildren. So, I encouraged Grandpa Mike here, to take a picture of him with his beautiful granddaughter Victoria. It was a nice photo, but needed some photoshop work to take out a distracting background.

I incorporated a hand drawn picture of a tree, with added roots and leaves (great metaphor) (thank you photoshop!) to reflect the sentiment in the lovely words that Victoria wrote to her beloved grandpa. Then I added a gradient background to pull it all together. Completed, this keepsake will be a gift treasured by both for years to come.

Have a grandparent who you love and want to make happy? Think about Beautiful Calligraphy and YOUR Words to live by!

from the heart,
Lianda

Mother's Day Quotes

If you are fortunate to still have your mother alive, and lucky enough to have a good relationship, you may be thinking about Mother's Day coming up.
Realize that we don't need a holiday to express love and thanks to the people around us. In fact, it's best to say our feelings now, and as often as possible. Don't wait, because there are no guarantees in life. You don't want to ever think to yourself: "I should have said" and now it's too late.
I am thankful every day since my mother died last July, that nothing was left unsaid. I have no regrets about the things I wanted to say, but didn't.

A reminder in the way of Words To Live By, can be those words that are in your heart written in beautiful calligraphy. They will always we there and can fill the gap in between the times you speak with your mom.

Here's the quote I've just done. I hope you are fortunate enough so that this applies to your relationship with your mother.

To My Mother:
You’ve always been my greatest supporter throughout my life; the woman I look up to. You’ve taught me the important things in life by living the example. You’ve taught me to love myself as well as others, to trust and be true to myself. You’ve encouraged me through hard times, and celebrated with me in the good times.
Although life brings constant change, your love has always been the constant presence that I know will always be there, unchanging.
I’ll never be able to fully thank you enough for all you’ve done for me. I hope you know how grateful I am that you’re my mom.
I really love you –

By the way, I can calligraph this quote for you and personalize it with your name and even include a photo of you and your mother. The sentiment may be applicable for those of you who would like to use it instead for a Father's Day gift instead. I can also substitute the artwork in the example with other images, such as a heart. After all, this is custom Beautiful Calligraphy, Words to Live By - for you and those you love.

Designing Calligraphy

One of the pleasure of calligraphy is coming up with a design that reflects the sentiment in the words, as well as the reflects the taste of the person who is receiving the calligraphy. This is the fun part, and I enjoy encouraging my customers to collaborate with me in the process.

After all, my tastes are not necessarily their taste. And I can design something that is traditional OR contemporary, and all of the colors and textures of the rainbow are available. In fact, short quotes give you so much more flexibility with the design that it can be a real challenge! There's so much choice, that I do need some direction!

Sometimes I am blessed to have the type of customer who tells me: I like contemporary, these are my color preferences, and if you can put in something like...... Then I have such fun coming up with the design. I really want my customers to stretch - not do black writing on cream color paper. In fact, I WON'T do that - it's boring!

So, when I received this latest commission, I had such fun planning it out. And the designed evolved as I thought about it.

The quote was: Love cannot let you know music, but music can let you know love. Immediately I thought of the two words that if emphasized would give a big visual message that was obvious: Love and Music. If possible, I do the first layout of the words on my computer substituting different fonts and sizes. It's easier to move around the text that way than using and wasting paper. After all I am a "Green Scribe" : )



And of course, the most obvious symbols of Love and Music is a "heart" and "notes".



When you're doing a good design, you shouldn't do something that doesn't "hold together". For instance, if you could physically remove a part of the picture and it doesn't seem like something is missing, the design should be changed.


So, in the first printed by computer layout, you see parts of the quote that are necessarily integrated. Then I thought about what else could hold it together, and naturally, the idea of sheet music as a background popped into my mind. It was alright, but the background was white.



I felt like I wanted the sheet music to look a little aged, and I wanted it to relate to the color in the heart. So I tinted the music the color you see. And voila! A finished piece that reflects the sentiment, and artwork that supports the statement. Thank You L. for giving me free rein and trust to do your quote!



Have a favorite quote that you'd like to have made into Words To Live By: Words that you will see and remind you daily of how much that quote/poem means to you? Remember, Mother's Day is coming up, and your mother might really enjoy YOUR words of thanks and love!