I have been busy this summer crafting.  Here is just part of what I have been making.  The little lanterns in the front are going to be made up in mostly Fall colors to grace the mantle. They look especially cute with a battery operated candle in them.   The squares to the right are the perfect size for a gift card or some tea or hot chocolate.  Busy busy busy!  Being the spinners which I did not make are three four inch sweaters I am making for our grandchildren for their 2018 Christmas ornaments.

Good morning!  It is August in Illinois and delightful to be able to hide away in an air-conditioned room and play.
I am still working on my penmanship.  I am up to the letter P.  I am mostly satisfied with the alphabet I have designed so far.  Still not perfectly happy with the B.  I will keep working on that.  In the meantime I have been experimenting with partial die cut and came up with something that I think would be useful to share.
I have`found that as much as enjoy making this slider card the center portion is a pain to cut either with an exact or a paper trimmer.  I have seen that there is a very nice die cut available for cutting this center.  While watching a video on that die it occurred to me that if I used a rectangle die which I already own I could use the partial die cut technique on one end and cut a perfect center opening any size I have a die for already.

Here is the card as it looks before I start decorating it.

A few decorations and it is ready to send.

Here is a picture of the front of another card getting ready to have the center cut.  You will see that the top plastic cutting piece stops before cutting through the top of the card.  Easy peasy and you have a slider card in just about any size you can wish for.  This one is a 3x4 1/2  base  The center die making the opening is, 3 3/8 x 2.  Sometimes I mount this on one piece of card stock.  This on is on a folded piece of card stock measuring 6x4 1/4.

I hope you find this useful and the idea simplifies your slider card production.

Wellcome to the summer 2018 calligraphy challenge.  The art of beautiful handwritten messages is being lost in the technology of today.  So I challenge you to find a style you like and to work on it for about 20 minutes a day so that by the time summer is gone you will feel comfortable addressing an envelope in your own beautiful hand.  I was so lucky to have a neighbor growing up who could make a paper bag look like a work of art.  She had an individual handwriting style that I have always been fascinated with learning.  I have two copies of her letters to use as a guide and will fill in with my own for the missing letters.  My thanks to her, Helen Gard Hanes for her willingness to share her art with me over the years.
Youtube has many videos that demonstrate using Crayola markers.  I am starting with those but might also use calligraphy pens from my college days if I can get the dried ink out of them and get them flowing again.  Anything you have handy will work for practice.  One teacher at Drake University made us go out to the quad and find a stick and sharpen it and use it for our writing.  I don't recommend it but it can be done with a nice bottle of India ink and maybe some wine.  The more practice time you put in the more you will want to use more expensive pens.  Just remember that as in anything you want to master in life, practice makes perfect.
I will not be giving lessons here.  You will be keeping track of my progress and that will keep me practicing.  As you can see from my start page I do not do this well.  I am determined to improve.
Looking forward to seeing your calligraphy art work'