Typography Monday! The Braces »
These are mainly used in math, although people looking for a little decorative edge use them as well.
Archive for the ‘Diversions’ Category
Typography Monday! The Ampersand »
This comes from the shorthand of a guy named Marcus Tullius Tiro who lived way back in the first century AD. It's a ligature for the Latin word et. Many use it to mean 'and' and it is also used in the names of companies. Like Barnum & Bailey.
Happy Manatees…..Well, More of Them! (And some »
Drawing manatees is a deep-rooted love of mine. Few understand my fascination with doodling these ladies and gents of the sea. I often include little watercolors on the backs of letters I send. The photos in this post are of the back of a letter I wrote to some of my yoga teachers (hence the Om). As someone who writes a lot of letters, who
The Vintage Paris Hilton – Baroness De Guestre »
I'd like to start out with three photos of the Baroness de Guestre, AKA "The Paris Hilton of her day." Wow--risque? Not so much. But at the time, apparently so. Here's an article on the Baroness De Guestre. Article appears below if you don't want to download it:
Typography Monday! The At »
The at comes from a Latin preposition for ad. It represents the word 'at.'
Beautiful, Vintage, Public Domain Photos 9 »
Are you guys liking these photos? I hope they offer you as much inspiration as I draw from them. Mary Gullick, Zoe Gullick, Marjory Gullick, Chloe Gullick - outside Altoncourt, Killara? c.1909 from Gullick family, c.1909-1922 / photographed by William Applegate Gullick Billy and Graham Green from the Salvation Army Camp practice a little
Review of Rossi’s Medioevalis Paper and »
I tell you, packaging can make things special. It sets up your expectations and for we paper enthusiasts, it can inspire us to write. The print on the luxury boxes that Rossi's Medioevalis Paper comes in is beautiful and I am enamored with the combination of the fiery orange and warm greys. I have a box of envelopes and cards from
Even the Post Office Gets Irritated »
I write a lot of letters. I get a lot of letters too. And I am even on a first-name basis with several post office employees at my local branch. Every PO Box renter at my branch got a generic black and white postcard in our boxes this past week and after reading it I realized 'Oh my God, the post office workers get just as irritated at us as we
Typography Monday! The Octothorp »
The octothorp, also called a hash or a pound sign, first was used in cartography. It was used to represent a village. Now it means 'number.'
Moleskine in Red »
I spotted these guys at Barnes and Noble..... They're red! What a lovely shade! I've got the perfect red Diamine ink and my Gold Sheaffer Agio would compliment this Moleskine so perfectly. Glorious! What a lovely color!
Typography Monday! The Caret »
This is most commonly used when editing documents. It's a mark you use to signify that something needs to be added. It comes from the Latin phrase it needs.
Beautiful, Vintage, Public Domain Photos 8 {animals 2} »
I found a few more vintage animal postcards and thought I'd share the rest! They're all just so inspiring This just seethes saccharine sweetness. Except I feel like those cats want to nom that little bird as soon as possible. Oh gees. A singing animal choir. And look! They're all so concerned about staying in key (and are actively avoiding
Ink Review | J. Herbin’s Ambre De Birmanie »
What a fancy name. Ambre De Birmanie It certainly matches the lovely hue of this ink. Here's a page from a Moleskine. You'll see I wrote in many different styles and even doodles. You can get a good sense for how the ink looks and behaves. All the testing in these photos was done with a Lamy Safari Medium Nib. This will be a
The Pet Communicator Came To Visit »
My two beagles, Ruby and Hairy, were napping on a dog bed perched below a window; looking out onto the street below. My husband and I were wrapping up a few odds and ends in the office and then I heard a light knock on the front door. "She's here!" I ran down the steps, pulled myself together and opened my front door with a smile, "Hi
Fun Ink Day 2010 »
I think we pen, letter-writing and doodle enthusiasts can get on board with this, no? If you're feeling it, whip out your favorite color ink on: Friday, February 12, 2010 And, if you've got the time, post photos up throughout the day on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, your blog--wherever and let Mr. Guilt know! Mr. Guilt started Fun Ink Day and you
You And I Will Change The World »
This is my favorite saying. It's actually from a Hebrew song that I just adore (I can hear the tumbling notes bobbing around in my head) and it's something I truly believe. This saying is so important to me that my husband and I had it written along two sides of our chuppah at our wedding.
Typography Monday! The æ »
The æ can be pronounced ash. In English, it represents the greek alpha iota. In some European countries, it represents one of the a vowels.
Beautiful, Vintage, Public Domain Photos 7 {animals} »
I love animals. Especially cute vintage ones. ;) The inscription at the bottom reads "worth its weight in gold." What a beautiful valentines card. I love the colors and the floating hearts. Neato. I'm not sure on what ocasion this postcard was sent, but the colors are just beautiful. Oh lord. Singing cats. An accordian. I can't take
Typography Monday! The Question Mark »
A question mark is a punctuation mark. It belongs at the end of interrogative sentences.
Beautiful, Vintage, Public Domain Photos 6 »
Man, we're on the 6th installment already? Lot's of inspiration! This is such a sweet photo. Oh gosh! But this is even sweeter. Look at that little lamb. This is a nice moment. Happy creating!
Typography Monday! The Comma »
The comma is used for separation. The Greek word komma means 'a short clause' hence where our comma comes from. The comma is used as a decimal point in many European countries.
Beautiful, Vintage, Public Domain Photos 5 »
Something that's been done before always holds opportunity for improvement. Hmmmm, not sure what the goal was here. I'm sure it got lost somewhere in the decades gone by. Sherman. 'nuff said. This photo is striking. I wonder what the story behind it was. And here's an old one of Buffalo Bill. He's rockin' that 'stash, huh? Gosh,
Typography Monday! The Double Dagger »
This mark is used in footnotes. People also call it a double obelus or a double obelisk and a diesis.
Beautiful, Vintage, Public Domain Photos 4 »
What are you inspired by? Or perhaps you're searching for new places to draw inspiration and creativity from. Here's our 4th installment. Wouldn't you love to own that hat? I've always wanted to know when someone first discovers they can do something like this. Look at that little kitty. Oh Minnie, you have wonderful style. And
LAMY Al-Star Purple Review »
For anyone looking to venture into the world of fountain pens, a LAMY Safari or Al-Star would be a safe bet. I have several Safari fountain pens. This is my first Al-Star. The Al-Star is basically the same as the Safari except the body is made of aluminum whereas the Safari body is durable plastic. The Al-Stars also have a translucent base
Typography Monday! The Pilcrow »
This mark isn't used very often today. It marks the beginning of a section, or paragraph. You've probably seen it as an invisible character in Microsoft Word.
Beautiful, Vintage, Public Domain Photos 3 »
Vintage photos are a great place to draw inspiration from. Enjoy SE's third installment. :) You know what? Seeing this photo inspires me to attempt to rock this hairstyle. It's beautiful. This is an old vintage postcard. Boy, I'd love to get this in the mail. Just precious. She seems a bit misshapen to me, but that's her charm. ;) I
Vintage Find | Antique Musical Carousel »
If you don't already, go to your nearest thrift store on a regular basis. There are treasures to be had. Finds to discover. Trinkets to claim. Look at this. It's a carousel. Made of some metal of some sort...zinc maybe? No idea. It's certainly not a recent creation. Look at the details. Doesn't it just capture you? Pull you
Diamine Ink Monaco Red Review »
Yum. Just yum. Diamine is my favorite brand of ink. It's a brand I wouldn't have tried unless Doug Kennedy at Appointments in Cincinnati had recommended it to me. Appointments is a little shop downtown and they've determined, through trial and error, that Diamine is truly outstanding. Most people have not heard of it. I received
Etegami From A Correspondent »
Lookie Lookie. This is an etegami done by Deborah Davidson, from Sapporo, Japan. I found her blog a few months ago and discovered this ancient Japanese art form called etegami. According to Debbie, "Etegami (e="picture" tegami="letter") are simple drawings accompanied by a few apt words, and they are usually done on postcards. They
Why You Sometimes Never Hear Back From A Pen Pal »
It happens. It's happened to me. Sometimes, you have a pen pal that you just never hear from again. And then we ask ourselves: Why is my correspondent not writing me back? Was it me? Or is it them? My pen pal didn't write me back; what's next? Did I offend them? Am I annoying? What's wrong with me? And I can tell you that it's not you;
Typography Monday! The Copyright »
A symbol representing a person or group's exclusive right to reproduce, publish or sell his or her original work of authorship. Did you know that you're supposed to put it on the baseline? Not up top?
Blog Issues »
I wanted to let you all know that the blog has been fixed. There have been several days where nothing posted to this blog. That doesn't mean nothing was there! There was a bug in the system where it just wasn't publishing queued posts (notice how something goes up every day at 10AM?). Well, now you can expect things to run
Typography Monday! The Dagger »
The dagger is a reference mark used in footnotes and to mark the names of those who have died. You can also call this a diesis, an obelus, a cross or an obelisk.
Beautiful Beads »
These photos were taken for a product catalog and I just had to share two of them. They just look cool. Both of these were not used in the final catalog, I think, but they were done for 'lifestyle' type images. Many of the beads were supposed to reflect the photographer. You can barely make out the photographer in the magnifying glass
Fortune Telling | An Old Book »
I found this book in a 200-year-old church turned into a hub-bub of an antique store in Metamora, Indiana. It was $2. And worth every penny. The cover was ripped off the book, so the title page is now the cover. This amazing book will tell you your horoscope, teach you how to tell fortunes, decode your dreams and explain palmistry to you.
A Day Spent Antiquing »
I went antiquing with my mother and father a few weeks ago. We ventured up to Seaman, Ohio. Seaman is a very small, primarily Amish town in Ohio. It's commonplace to see horses pulling buggies, little girls in aproned dresses and boys coasting down the sometimes one-lane roads on bikes [that don't have seats, for some reason.] Here are some
Tea Time | A Beloved Mug »
I love this mug. It's just the right size; the right shape, the right weight and the rim is nearly perfect. Plus, it's on the bridge between gaudy and fabulous. I love how some of the colors aren't within the lines. I love how the paint is starting to come off in a few places. I love how this used to belong to my Grandmother. I love
My Husband’s Pen | The Cross Affinity Fountain »
My husband, Victor, has a signature pen. It's his Cross Affinity Fountain Pen in Crimson Red. This is a new model, out only since September 2009, but it's a great little fountain pen. Cross' fountain pens have vastly improved over the years and Pelikan makes some of their nibs. He uses a fine nib. And he keeps it stocked with
Moleskine Volant Notebooks »
I love paper. I love buying it, writing on it, finding new kinds, touching it; it's an odd obsession I think I share with very few people. I know many people, especially scrapbookers, love papers with unique patterns. That's not really what I'm into. I like paper that's plain and made for writing. I pay close attention to texture, thickness and
