║today my way║

This past Christmas I found myself feeling displaced in time - inspired to write a couple of letters to my family abroad I looked around the flat in search of a real paper stationery I used to write hundreds of letters in my flat-chested teenage years but found nothing of that sort. I knew I have kept some attractive envelope leftovers from birthday cards but rummaging through my office drawer (sounds fancier than a random drawer which in fact refers to a box with half-eaten crayons and never reviewed grocery receipts) I realized immediately I had to write on plain A4 sheets with the only vibrant element being my meandering handwriting. I love to type but if I had my pen taken away I'd easily write with my own blood - just how desperate my fingers are to fly over an empty piece of paper. Suddenly a lightbulb moment striked in my head as I was resting my eyes on inaccessible patterns and custom images while browsing through stationery websites - DIY skills to the rescue! I leaned back and came up with my own composition.

First, I opened a new Word document and chose paper size (I went for A4 as I like to write a lot but you can also consider smaller, notepad size). Next step was to familiarize with the artwork I wanted to appear on empty sheets so going through zillions of fonts I keep downloading on a regular basis was less approved by my family but I eventually settled on few animal motifs. Font has to work as a shape and you can download them for free from various of websites. The ones I played with were called Equestrian by Darrian (horses) and Animals. By typing letters of the alphabet different images appear in front of your eyes and you just pick up the one that is most appropriate or strangely appealing for the project. When enlarging and moving the font/image across the page, make sure you've visualized the finished piece so that you don't overdo it and have blank space you want to write on afterwards. If you have a home printer and nice thick printing paper (100g and over), your stationery is within reach. Otherwise have a relaxed feel of someone printing it for you, you've just done the hard work after all. For a matching effect the same design can be printed onto the envelope.

The key to decorating stationery at home is to go for the classic colours (black or grey) and introduce simple forms (animals, shapes, silhouettes). Together they will make an impression of being created by a professional printing store or website and will magically bring the words alive.

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