Eleven + West

CREATIVE STUDIO

calligraphy workshop

Mother's Day Workshop

letteringGina PaulsonComment

I'm BACK! Trying to be back at least. After a month of wedding festivities and a honeymoon, I'm ready to share some crafty things on here again! I have a TON to share on here, it's a bit overwhelming and parts of me aren't even sure where to begin. But the first thing I wanted to get on here was this workshop I hosted! Back in May.... Yes, it's August. I know. So bad. 

But for those who were following along back then, I hosted a sweet little Mom & Me Calligraphy workshop. We really lucked out on the weather and were able to have the whole thing outdoor right by the lake. It was awesome. It was SO fun to see mom-daughter duos tackling this new activity together. We had light snacks and refreshments and were even joined by the cutest bernie puppy you'll ever see- seriously, her name is Elaine and I want to steal her. I like to end these workshops with a craft- sort of a way to actually apply what you've learned to use. So in leu of Mother's Day we calligraphed Mother's Day cards. It was such a good time and I can't wait for the next workshop! If you're interested in taking a workshop with me, don't forget to sign up HERE to get notified when the next workshop is announced! 

#ELEVENANDWESTWORKSHOP

C H E E R S ! 

Eleven and West | Calligraphy Workshop Debut

letteringGina PaulsonComment

HOLY COW. I have been so excited to share this. Then life like fast-forwarded 168 hours and I'm just now getting around to it?! But, finally. GUYS, I held my first calligraphy workshop, it was rad! My good friend hosted it in her darling Seattle home (also, be sure to check out her Etsy shop, Hux Goods)  I was really excited about this one because I knew the group of girls coming were extremely creative and fun- and they definitely didn't let me down with that! I loved prepping their little workstations with custom placemats, hand addressed giant envelopes containing their workbooks, and other goodies. For those of you who don't know, I'm self-taught and a firm believer in sharing knowledge. (This just inspired me to do a future post about how I started in with calligraphy, stay tuned. It's a good one) So I loved being able to share what I know with these girls. I'm also totally that future-parent who thinks the best way to teach your child to swim is to throw them into the water. So, after a brief introduction to the tools we just dove in and I fielded questions from there, but these ladies were amazing and picked it up very quickly. I was incredibly impressed at their eagerness to learn! They also taught me things- like how second graders eat cupcakes, brilliant little minds

โ€œYou should always be learning. If youโ€™re the smartest person in the room youโ€™re in the wrong place.โ€
— Erika Bearman

We ended the class by making magnets with a calligraphy quote on them and I loved how these turned out. I had so much fun with these ladies and was incredibly proud of how quickly they picked it up! Nothing made me happier to see instagram posts of them continuing to use their kits over the following weekend to practice! I'm definitely going to be doing more of these workshops and if you're interested be sure to check out my classes page for upcoming workshops

And because social media rules so much harder than real life, #elevenandwestworkshop brought some additional awesome photos I had to share: 

Photo credit: My tall and handsome second shooter (forever thankful)