Since this is my first post ever, I thought it would be a nice idea to give you guys a little background about the person behind the nib - me, Connie Marie!

1. I started learning modern calligraphy in the summer of 2015 because I wanted to enhance my bullet journaling décor.

Being fresh out of college, I didn't have a lot of extra money to attend the pricey and limited calligraphy workshops available in Hawaii. So I bought a basic calligraphy kit from Anthropologie and used a lot of free resources on Google, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram. I practiced and experimented with different modern calligraphy styles until I was able to develop my own calligraphy style. I had so much fun doing it, I just wanted to keep writing more!

2. I graduated with a B.S in Biology.

I was a biology major in college and had aspirations to got to medical school. However, after working in the medical field, I realized that becoming a doctor wasn't the right career path for me. Coming to terms with this decision was very difficult, but necessary to force me to explore other opportunities, which lead me to calligraphy!

3. In college, my roommate/bestfriend taught me photography and it changed my life forever!

Like every millennial, I enjoy aesthetically pleasing things. I really wanted to become a fashion blogger (still do!), so I learned a lot about camera angles, lighting, filters, background selection, color theory and flatlaying from my bestfriend. All of my pictures were done on an iPhone and I used VSCO Cam to edit my pictures. However, when I upgraded to Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom for C'est Calligraphy, I needed to learn how to use them properly, so I turned to Google and YouTube for help. I have not yet mastered my photography and editing skills, but I love that I still have a lot of room to grow and get better!

4. My favorite words to letter are “hello,” “hi,” and “Gucci.”

Everytime I’m testing a new nib, a new ink, a new calligraphy style, or have no idea what to write, I’ll write the words “hello,” hi,” and “Gucci.” For some reason writing these words will tell me whether or not I’ll use the nib or ink ever again. These three words are also the perfect words to practice the thin upstrokes and thick downstrokes, along with connecting letters together. Not to mention, that the letter “G” is my favorite letter to write and Gucci is one of my favorite luxury brand!

5. One of my goals this year is to learn Copperplate Calligraphy.

I’ve always been fascinated by the penmanship of the eighteenth century. Copperplate Calligraphy is more than just writing pretty letters, it’s about learning the anatomy of a letter and why it is written that way. There’s so much history behind it and unfortunately there’s no Copperplate Calligraphy workshop in Hawaii so I’m self-teaching until I can find a workshop I can attend. So far the process is difficult but it’s so much fun and I’m learning how to identify and correct the errors in my own lettering. Also, I’m excited to step up on my flourishing game, because I have none!

That’s all for now! I hope you got to know me a little better and if you guys have any more questions you want me to answer, feel free to leave a comment down below and I'll respond back!