name lettering for my niece

Here are simple process shots of my name lettering for my niece Tyra. Sketching, inking and guilding, both with pen and brush.

my lettering process

I have the honour of making letterings for Kyrkpressen, a Christian weekly paper in the Swedish speaking part of Finland. Every week I get a text with thoughts on faith and life. Every week I get to interpret the text into a lettering. I've made my firsts ones, got nine more to go. It requires thought, a lot of drawing and making mistakes. At least for the first one.

I want to show you how I work, what my process is like. Note: this is not the lettering that appeared in the paper, this one I rejected. I get to decide which one I want in print.

Firstly I sketch my ideas with pencil, mostly in my notebook or just on ordinary printer paper. I mostly sketch free hand, but this one needed a grid.

Then I used tracing paper, a semi transparent paper, to make a first pencil drawing of the letters with the details I wanted. I chose to draw Lily of the valley as decorations on the letters. I'll tell you more on why I chose a flower later.

I was happy with the pencil sketch so I used a second tracing paper to trace my letters with ink.

I mostly vectorize my letterings. That way I can change the size and smaller details or kerning. I do not start from scratch drawing the letters in Illustrator, I use Image Trace on my drawings, (with some work in Photoshop before opening the project in Illustrator). It is a very time consuming job, but I like the process.

Here is the first coloured draft. Växt-styrka is growing strength in English. I noticed the dots on the Ä, second letter from the upper left, were not obvious enough, so I remade them.

But then I hesitated because "växt-styrka" is not a real word in Swedish, so I remade the whole second part of the word into "kraft". Växtkraft (growing power) is a more common word.

I really liked how the letters looked in the "växt-styrka" version. More exspressive letters and better flow in the layout. I am happy with the result, but I did not want it in the paper so I drew a whole new one for that.

I chose Lily of the valley because in flower language the flower stands for woman power and innosence. Also "I´ve loved you from the first time I saw you" and ""Get to know me before you judge me". To me these meanings go well with values on growth in a Christian sence.


Here is the lettering I sent off to be printed in the paper:

I have not seen the paper myself, since I live in Sweden, but soon enough I can read it on the web. Here is the archives for the past papers. The lettering says: "God - burning letters or a still breeze". The lettering is based on a text written by Mia Anderssén-Löf, who is a pastor in the Lutheran Church in Finland.


Hope you enjoyed taking part in my process. Please, do not hesitate to ask if there is something you-re wondering about when it comes to lettering!

loppisrace i purmo

This is how happy I was was selling my out all my vintage stuff at Loppisrace in Purmo in early July. More pictures can be found at Loppisrace.fi.

Aja Lund is the photographer of the photos in this post and also the coordinator for the whole Loppisrace (Flea Market Race). Aja is also running the fabulous Lundagård together with her husband and two companions. We are both night owls so when we meet we mostly chat the night away. She is an inspiring woman and entrepreneur.

Thank you for another great Loppisrace, I got really burnt from standing in the summer sun all day, but I had so much fun! And a big thank you to Elina who shared the space with me!

Aja is shooting us from the second floor. Some of my favourite persons are on this picture, my pregnant sister-in-law (yes, I am gonna be an aunt!!!), her sister and my brave and beautiful friend Lina. Me and Lina are cooking up something sweet. More to come!

 Some of my vintage fabrics that I said goodbye to.

karkkis julutmaning - shop local for christmas

(click on the pic to get to Karins blogpost. Photo by Karin Lindroos)

I love this! The gorgeous blogger/photographer/creative lady Karin Lindroos is challenging us to think about our Christmas shopping. Instead of taking the highway of consumtion we should sneak into back alleys and find small businesses close to us, or support talented makers on Etsy or Society6, or other places where there are diamonds to find.

Where are you going to buy your Christmas presents? Go to Karin's blog and give your best tip! (And do tell me as well, I have not bought any Christmas gifts yet!)

All the best for the new week!

Sofie

DIY birthday party hats (with free downloads)

It is silly, I admit it, but when it comes to planning birthday parties for my kids I get more and more excited for every year that passes. I am no fullblooded party arranger yet, but I might have some potetial.

In early May we had the bliss of celbrating our first born wee E. Kindergarden kids and their parents were invited. Nothing special at all with the party, we played outdoors and then went indoor for sandwiches and cake.

But I wanted to make something the kids could craft and take home from the party. I read the Oh Happy Day blog regularly (look out for flood of crafty inspiration!) and found a party hat template I wanted to use.

I decided om an animal theme; wee E has got a plush squirrel and he got to play the lead part in this.

This was the road sign from the subway to our house. The squirrel also got to decorate the invitations.

Then I drew some more animals to decorate the hats. If you'd like to organize an animal themed party feel free to download an use these drawings! I trust you download them for PERSONAL USE ONLY. They are not to be sold.

Happy crafting and happy birthday partying!

book of puzzles + free downloads

I love to see my kids enjoying solving puzzles. I loved puzzles as a kid.

The great joy is when the kids love solving the puzzles I designed!

This is the book I had the honour of making together with Fontana Media, containing collected puzzles from years of drawing. It is mainly sold to schools and perishes, hence the price.

If you, like me, love spoiling the kids with books or pages of puzzles I'll treat you with four pages (not included in the book) to solve and colour together with your kids. These are in Swedish and English. Click on the picture to be linked to the download page!

Om du gillar att lösa och färglägga pyssel själv eller tillsammans med dina kids får du här fyra sidor att ladda ner och printa. Klicka på bilden så länkas du till nedladdningssidan.

Have a good Tuesday y'all!

DIY bean bags

Way back I made bean bags together with the kids. The bean bags were a birthday gift for a boy turning three. It is a simple and fun project.

Cut out squares of fabric, two pieces of each fabric. Pin them right sides facing and sew along the sides, leaving an opening. Thanks to that opening you'll be able to turn your bag right side out and fill the bag with beans.

One bag turned right side out. See the opening?

I used a funnel to get my beans, or peas as I used, into the bags. In Finland they are called ärtpåsar, which is Swedish for pea bags. It wasn't the best equipmen, the peas got stuck on their way down through the funnel. Had I left a bigger opening in the fabric when sewing I could have filled the bags easier. You learn from experience.

The kids helped me with the peas.

Close the opening with sewing some stitches by hand and voilà:

 The fabrics are second hand.

beautiful book covers

The classics have beautiful clothing! If you need inspiration for lettering or illustating just walk into your nearest bookstore. Eye candy indeed!

Jag tycker väldigt mycket om Konstverkstaden Malakta. Maja och Jukka har lyckats skapa ett hem för hantverkare, konstnärer och kreatörer. Konstverkstaden sjuder av liv och skaparkraft. I Malakta residerar musikproducenter, fotografer, forskare, hantverkare och filmskapare och fler.

Bilderna är tagna i somras från Majas och Jukkas hem. De har fyllt sitt hem med vintage, second hand, färg och form.