letters from rita

My First Market!

- Stephanie Leave a comment

natick farmers market - letters from rita

Last Saturday morning I was a vendor at my very first market! I’ve been a long time attendee of the Natick Farmer’s Market, so it was extra special to actually be a vendor at it! I honestly went in with no expectations; I knew I would probably give away a lot of business cards, and was OK if that was it. But luckily 4 sweet souls found pieces of art that they loved! I was so surprised! I had a lot of good feedback on my work, and quite a bit of interest in custom work, which I am praying will pan out in the future. I loved being part of the local action and getting to meet a variety of people from my town. One observation I made was that teenagers were particularly interested in my art. I am wondering if that is because hand-lettering is so prevalent on social media these days… or if they were just really cool teenagers 🙂

I also had a personal squad who came to support me! Nate was key is helping me set up the tent and tables, and bringing me coffee 🙂 My parents, my in-laws AND two of my four siblings-in-laws came to hang out (my mom was the principal photo-taker). A few different friends from bible study and my running group stopped by, and my sweet friend Amy surprised me with a visit as well! Thank you to all who made time in your day to say hi!

natick farmers market - letters from rita 3

I will be back at the Natick Farmer’s Market on July 30th and August 6th and I’d love to see you there!

Stephanie

5 Simple Ways to Liven up Snail Mail!

- Stephanie Leave a comment

I love writing and sending snail mail. Who doesn’t love a REAL letter in their mailbox! I think actual, non-junk, happy snail mail gets delivered SO few and far between. Maybe only birthdays? And wedding invitations? Let’s all agree, we need more snail mail!!

bestsnailmail

It’s always my goal to send at least one *just for fun* piece of mail a month. Usually my sister is the recipient, because I like her. My goal is always to make the envelope as fun as possible! I can’t say that my lettering writing skills are as great as my envelope decorating skills, though. Ha!

Here are a couple of my tricks for making fun, happy snail mail:

1. Fun lettering. You don’t have to be a pro at this. Do your best cursive. Or go back to your middle-school-note-passing-block-letter days. You can add polkadots around the capital letters. You can add squiggly lines below the address. It’s really, super easy and makes every letter look more fun 🙂

2. Washi tape. Go crazy with it. You can find washi tape at any craft or paper store! Or Target or Staples! So pretty much anywhere. Hashtag no excuses.

unnamed-5(heart stationery above is by Mara Mi from Target)

3. Dark envelopes with light pen ink. This is a FANCY way to send mail. Paper Source has a ton of darker colored envelope options to choose from. Then I use metallic Sharpies or Craft Smart chalk markers (you can find both at Michael’s) to make it snazzy!

4. Mix + match stamps! There are stamps to match any personality. I usually choose the flowery ones, or ones with really great typography on them. I’ll also buy a pack of 1 or 2 cent stamps (usually these are weird designs, but I like weird) and I’ll add those to the envelope to make it a little more interesting!

5. Watercolors! Splatter some watercolor all over the front of the envelope in an abstract pattern. Wait for it to dry completely before you figure out how to write in the address! It’s kind of a puzzle. Just make sure the mail guys can read the street name and zip code.

how to make snail mail fun

You have all the tools, now GO WRITE SOME LETTERS! 😉 Bye.

~ Stephanie

P.S. I’ll be sharing some of my favorite stationery options in a couple weeks!

Coffee Date | July Mornings

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Hey blog readers! I’ve been struggling between really wanting to blog for the sake of blogging (and not only for business), BUT not knowing which blog I should choose to do this on. I even toyed with the idea of starting a whole new blog. But I like this blog a lot and want to stay here! I don’t think this piece of my internet needs to solely be a lettering and art, so I want to share more of my regular life and random things and inspiration! So keep this URL in your blog list. Because I’m gonna be a real blogger again 🙂

~*~

Onto our coffee date! This picture is actually from a couple mornings ago, but I do have iced coffee next to me right now. P.S. Got the mug at Target! Anyways, Nate and I were up in New Hampshire for the first part of this week, relaxing by the lake, seeing friends, and reading our Bibles a lot. On this morning I was reading Colossians. I remember because the verses I read were very relevant to something going on in my friend’s life and I texted her the verse Colossians 1:11 “We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy.”

Another big part of our NH week is for catching up with our good friends and all their kiddos (the CUTEST kiddos, mind you). Whenever we see each other it’s like we never even missed a beat. I love that! When you’ve been friends for 10 years, I guess it’s bound to happen.

Nate and I took our new kayaks out on the lake for a couple rides. One of the rides being a sunrise one! We got up at 5 am to catch this beauty of a view. It was chilly outside that early, and reminded me of fall. But I promise I won’t talk too much about my favorite season until at least September 1st. Gosh, I love lakes. And sunrises. And fall.  oops 😉

I watercolored a quick little piece while sitting on the beach one morning and I used the lake water! It was a little gritty, I think I got some sand in my water cup. But I like how this painting of the lake is made with water FROM the lake! I got that idea from my great grandfather who used to paint covered bridges using the water below. Coolest idea, right! 

Welp, we’re off to the Cape for a couple nights of camping with our friends. Have a great weekend! ~S

P.S. Sorry, I’m kind of rusty at this blog-for-fun thing. It might take a few posts for me to get back to normal.