Trying my hand at modern calligraphy!

I am one of those people who finds true enjoyment in things like hand-writing thank you notes and addressing Christmas cards. Ever since grade school, I have loved inky pens, writing in cursive, and that satisfying feeling of dropping a stack of letters in a mailbox.

 It's just another opportunity to feel fancy and add a personal touch to communication. You know, beyond emojis and emoticons ; )

Thus, I was thrilled to find out (via Instagram) that calligraphy workshops are a thing!  Instead of just scrolling on my phone and thinking it would be cool to try, I made it my mission to sign up for one. As luck would have it, I found and attended an Introduction to Modern Calligraphy held by Shasta Bell over this past weekend.

Everything looked almost too pretty to touch!

 After literally years of texting and typing, it felt refreshing to get back to letter basics. (And by that, I mean really fancy basics.) I also found it to be a relaxing exercise for my  fast-scribbling, heavy-handed self to really slow down and then approach calligraphy with the mindset that this is drawing more than writing.

We got a brief introduction to the history of calligraphy, learned about our tools, assembled our pens, and then got to start practicing.

Above are my first strokes, swirls and letters. Kind of wonky, but everyone needs to start somewhere!

Towards the end of the workshop, we got a chance to dabble in white ink. I think at the present time, my favorite letter is "H" and my favorite word to write over and over is "hello!"

I happened to be working alongside some very skilled people. I mean, seriously. That is not my envelope.

I'm so glad I got a chance to meet Shasta. She is one of those people who seems so cool on the Internet and Instagram and then just so happens to be even lovelier in real life. I'd love to take some time to practice the skills I learned and then attend another workshop in the future. My only wish is that I had done this before I sent out my Christmas cards!

Check out Shasta's website here to see her work and also see a class schedule if you are interested!

(And P.S. Those eye-catching floral arrangements were courtesy of Poppy Lane. Gorgeous, no?)