Church Street Cellars

Have you even wanted to splurge on that expensive bottle of wine for a special occasion, but were reluctant to do so without sampling it first? Have I found the place for you! Church Street Cellars in Vienna, VA has a wide variety of wines available for tasting by the ounce, half glass or full glass. Located just two doors down from The Dandelion Patch, I find myself wandering in almost every week. Sometimes I try just a splash of wine, other times I purchase a bottle or two to accompany dinner. Other times I'm picking up a special occasion wine that a client has commissioned to be engraved. This week I was looking for a specific bottle of wine to engrave for my husbands birthday. Unfortunately the store was completely out, but the owner, Mark Heider suggested I try another. After a one ounce taste of the 2005 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon by Lewis Cellars, I was sold! It didn't hurt that the bottle was perfect for engraving. (I may be the only person around that chooses wine because of the way the bottle looks, making sure the bottle "seam" doesn't show in the front.) When I got home, I had just enough time to finish the engraving, take pictures and put it inside the wine fridge for our late night dinner.

Needless to say, Rick was thrilled with his gift and the wine was an extra special treat!

Over the years I've engraved every kind of message imaginable. From the typical birthday, anniversary and new home best wishes to marriage proposals and wedding favors. Among my most favorite engraving events are the ones where I personalize souvenir glasses at wine festivals. A simple first name engraved along the base of the glass takes only seconds, so I can engrave hundreds of glasses in an afternoon and still have time to engrave a few wine bottles for customers while they wait and watch.

Over the next several weeks I'll be posting all kinds of crystal and metal engraving pictures as I prepare to update my website, so check back often. You'll get to see everything from Swarovski toasting flutes to Orrefors candle votives, perfume bottles, pewter home accessories, baby and bridal attendant gifts. I'll also be adding short video clips so you can actually see the work being done the same way it would be at a live engraving event. Some customers drive over an hour to get to my studio, so if I'm doing just a few items, I always offer the option of staying here to watch so they don't have to make a return trip to pick up later.

I hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend. I think I'm finally caught up and ready to get started on my wedding envelopes for the day. See you next time!

Weekly trip to The Dandelion Patch

For those of you who live in the DC region, most likely you've heard of "The Dandelion Patch". It's a paper lovers dream! If you're in the market for invitations, you won't find a better selection anywhere in the area. Their flagship store was located on Mill Street in Vienna, VA. In the past year they moved just a few blocks away to a brand new building on Church Street. Shortly after that, they opened a second store in Reston, VA. Both stores are staffed with friendly, knowledgeable staff who will be able to help you select just the right invitation for your special event. In addition to the fantastic selection of paper goods, you'll find lots of unique gift ideas to suit most anyone on your list. I had the privilege of meeting the owner, Heidi along with a couple other members of her staff at a bridal show shortly after I moved here in early 2006. Since then they've kept me busy with calligraphy jobs as well as other special orders as they come along.

If you stop by either one of the stores, make sure to check out the chalkboard signs in the front windows. That was a fun, yet challenging job to do the store logo in chalk: Something I'd never done before, especially not that large. That's what I love about this store. I never know what the next project will be.

Here's a sampling of some jobs I did for the store this week. A carousel horse clock that a customer requested to be personalized with baby's name, birthdate and weight. I just painted over what was there and tried to match it up as closely as possible to the screen print that was already on the clock face. Another cute item that the store carries is the "day of the week prints". I just match up the artist's lettering as closely as possible and add some color to make it look just like the print. What a great baby gift!

In addition to doing calligraphy and engraving on items from the store, you can also drop off items to be engraved or calligraphed that have been purchased elsewhere. Just ask one of the staff and they'd be glad to take your order. I'll pick it up next time I'm there and get it right back to you.

Coming soon: I'll post about some of the other stores nearby in case you want to make it a day trip! My favorite is Church Street Cellars (right next door to the Vienna store) which I'll feature in my next blog.

Hand Calligraphy on a limited budget? Yes you can!

About a month ago I had the pleasure of meeting Carolyn at an in-store engraving event. She told me her daughter would be graduating in June and while she loved my calligraphy, she had a limited budget for the event. By mixing traditional calligraphy with typeset text we were able to keep the costs down and give her the overall look she wanted. Once I produce a digital file my clients can either take it to a local printer or engraver. This sample was done on beautiful Crane stock on a desktop printer. Think you can't afford the luxury of hand calligraphy? Let's work together to give you the look you love at a price you can afford.

Welcome to Just Write Studios Blog

Since I'm in the process of totally revamping my website, I thought now would be the perfect time to start a blog. So much has happened since I started my business in 2003. I was fortunate to get a great start in Tampa, Florida working with some amazing event coordinators, venues and stationary stores. Even after moving to the DC area in 2006, I was able to continue those relationships while building a new client base in this area. Working from my home studio, I spend almost every day doing calligraphy for brides and corporate event planners, in addition to engraving speciality items in my freehand script. I look forward to showing you a little bit of what goes on behind the scenes at JWS and also sharing some of my favorite vendors with you. Please make sure to check back often as I update the blog with the latest tips and techniques to help you plan the event of your dreams!

Speaking of dream events,,,,,,,this weekend marks the day Liz and Scott have been planning for months. When they approached me to design their wedding invitation, Liz came prepared with samples of exactly what she was looking for. Something modern, upright and bouncy. They wanted to highlight their names and a few other words to be used in their program, menu and response cards. The envelopes matched the invitation perfectly, as did the belly band that they used to secure the pocket fold invitation. Liz finished the typesetting herself and then had the entire invitation done in thermography (raised lettering). Take a look at the invitation done on linen paper, metallic yellow-gold backer and a black pocket fold. A beautiful invitation for a beautiful couple.

calligraphy, wedding calligraphy, Crystal Engraving, glass engraving, metal engraving, wine bottle, wine, wedding, weddings, engraving, invitations,