Learning from the Best

Coming down from such an incredible experience is difficult. This past Thursday through Sunday Denis Brown, the master calligrapher himself came to the capitol city to teach his basic italic class. I learned so much and am disappointed that it came to an end so quickly. I had fun learning and getting to know the other students in the class.

Now back to routine...

Arbor Pointe

As you all know, I love to put displays together...whether it be for stores, events or as this case was...to showcase my calligraphy to future brides.

Overall the night at Arbor Pointe when well and I met some lovely people and enjoyed some delicious food and cake!
Best of all, I now get to have the white flower and pumpkin arrangement on my dining room table!

In the Mailbox

Today, I received this lovely welcome note from Trish Taylor, the President of the Capital City Scribes. What a lovely envelope and card! It also included her trademark "Trish-trash." At least I had been for warned. Thanks Trish for the wonderful welcome!

Mailbox Surprise!

Courtesy of Gabi Glass...Welcoming my into the Capital City Scribes! She also took the beautiful photo on the card. She took in while traveling in Prague! Such a wonderful thing...it totally brightened my day!

Elegant Envelopes

This is a glance into my day last Saturday. I attended a workshop put together by the Capital City Scribes called The Decorated Envelope. It was inspirational and fun and lets just state that I may never be able to send a "normal" envelope again!

Sneak Peak

Right now, I have the pleasure of working on a antique Bible. It is such a wonderful tradition...do any of you have old family heirlooms like this?

Working on such a special piece makes me want to start a heritage piece of my own. How easily we forget the names and dates (birth, marriage, death) of family members even just a few generations removed.

An Apple a Day

In the spirit of the fall breeze and cooler temperatures in Austin, I have been craving my autumn favorite, homemade apple sauce. This is loads better than the stuff that you can get from the grocery and worth the effort. It may require a little time, but even children could perfect this easy recipe.
Apples have not quite started flooding the market here yet but they are beginning to make their return slowly. Soon...very soon.

Apple Sauce

Ingredients:

4 Cortland Apples, Peeled, cored and cut into 8 pieces (reserve a few pieces of skin)

4 Granny Smith Apples, Peeled, cored and cut into 8 pieces

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

½ cup Simply Orange juice

¼ cup dark brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp fresh grated ginger

½ tbsp unsalted butter

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350^◦.

Mix apples with the zest and juice of lemon and the orange juice toss to coat so that apples do not brown. Mix in the sugar, and spices through ginger, toss to coat. Put mixture in a heavy Dutch oven. Top with butter and reserved apple skin. Let cook in oven for 1 ½ hours. Whisk to puree. Serve hot or cold.

Makes 6 cups or 12 servings, 110 calories per serving

Serve and enjoy!

Shop of the Day!

Amon Design Studio is so excited to be Papernstitch featured shop of the day! Thank you so much for the honor. Visit the blog to check out the feature!

Paper N Stitch

God do I love me some papernstitch! If you haven't been there you need to go. Imagine Etsy but every shop is fabulous. Hand picked by Miss Brittni (whom I must say has excellent taste) all the stores are owned by individual artisans and will link to either their etsy shops or personal websites. This is the perfect department store for the person the loves art and handcraftsmanship.


Birdies on chairs

Avian therapy

Giraffes

Oh So fancy armchair


The design above is by a fellow Austin fabric artist on papernstitch, Scarlet Fig. I found her a little while back and her designs are truly inspiring. I am completely obsessed with all the chairs and animals that she uses in her designs. Two of my favorite things.

Roast Beef and Brie

As if they were meant for each other, I just don't tire of pairing Roast Beef with soft and Creamy Brie. This sandwich a fresh and clean version of my Whole Foods staple (the Barton) pairs cajun roast, brie, arugula and surprise...peach preserves!
I wouldn't normally have paired the peach preserves (homemade but store would also be perfect) with this combination but low and behold it worked into the mix like a charm. (The peppery arugula does wonders to cut the sweetness!) The original Barton I have now been craving for ages but did not have my fig preserves handy so this did the trick!

Peachy Keen

1 baguette
1/4 lb cajun roast beef (Whole Foods house made)
1/4 lb wedge soft Brie
Peach preserves
Arugula

Split baguette open lengthwise and spread open without cutting through the other side. Spread entire loaf with peach preserves. Layer the roast, brie and arugula and season with salt and pepper.
Serves 4-5 people

It really is this simple. Experiment with any type of preserves you like...fig is the classic but strawberry could be good too.

Amon Design Studio

Is proud to announce ... the long wait for the website is finally here! Visit the site to receive get ideas for your next project or event. What a great way to start off the week!

Etsy Favorite Seller

Gracie's Eggies is a wonderful place to go for unique party favors for your upcoming wedding or event. They have just branched into the wedding area from producing mainly children and themed cascarones. They are wonderful to work with and have a delightful product. Stop by the shop or on the blog to view more options!

News on the contest...Miss Lauren from Austin, Texas is the first to win the discount on her wedding calligraphy! Lauren, please check the comments from the contest to find out the procedure to redeem. To the rest of you, there are still two more spots available for the contest found here! Good luck.

Bailey

Inventing Weddings

I wanted to send a little thank you too Bonnie Bell at the blog Inventing Weddings for including my custom wedding invitation calligraphy in a beautiful inspiration board inspired by piano keys (black and white). She does a wonderful job of curating these inspiration boards full of fabulous etsy artisans. Visit the site to check out the the collection here.

This invitation is in a traditional copperplate script style with my own flourish designs. It is part of a wedding suite (invitation, rsvp, program and menu) for a Virginia bride. It is very elegant in creme paper with traditional black ink. Find it in my shop!

Orchids

I am the first one to admit that I do not have a green thumb. To my utter shock, I was somehow able to re-sprout this Phalaenopsis Orchid after it had bloomed out the first time.
Shock and awe.
Seriously...I even kill ivy!

Announcing...

Amon Design Studio is now on Esty!!!!
Shop Amon Design Studio at:

amondesignstudio.esty.com

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend and dodging the heat!
Stop by the store and say hi!

til next time,
Bailey

Welcome Home Baby

I absolutely love to collaborate with clients and to make their vision come alive. This cute welcome home poem is printed in my roundhand text using a Faber-Castell Indian Ink pen. I love the way the chocolate brown lends such a different look than black...the baby's room will be trimmed in chocolate so this will be perfect. The handwriting also makes it a much more affordable option for people on a strict budget (an economical choice if you will). The baby's room will be painted a lovely shade of green and the birdies were inspired from the crib set below.
So freakin' cute!

Also...keep on the edge of your chair, a huge surprise will be announced very soon! Til next time, au revoir!

Friday Flowers

A view of the altar.

Just wanted to send some floral eye candy to you for your weekend.

These were all from a wedding ceremony back in February. The wedding reception was at Becker Vineyards, a very beautiful and quaint place to hold a reception. They also make some pretty stellar Texas wine...I recommend the Viogner. It has a strong nose and taste of Texas peaches, mmmm...

In case you need some entertainment, visit www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com, it made my sides cramp I was laughing so hard. You will see what happens when professional cake bakers get it very wrong. It was crazy...the longer I looked the funnier it got. It is my mfln or fml, meaning it sucks you in and the next thing you know you've been reading for an hour.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Business cards

The much anticipated business cards are finally done and I love them. It was so exciting to mix and match the vintage European stamps on the different color "envelopes." I found these great stamps here. They were wonderful to work with and I can't wait to continue to unveil some of the ones I bought. There are just so many wonderful stamp designs out there!

Scallops + Corn= Magic

Scallops aren't something that I grew up with eating. I don't really know why that is but it seems as though most of the meals growing up centered around chicken. Not that we didn't have the occasional fish or shrimp dish, scallops just didn't ever seem to make the cut.

As of late, it has been so blasted hot here that I have not been inclined to heat my kitchen up by cooking for longer than about 15 minutes. This scallop dish has turned out to be the perfect thing.

note: Scallops are kinda pricey so I tend to by one (I select the largest one out of the case) and treat it if it were a fillet Mignon, meant to be a buttery, small, heavenly part of the meal. The most recent scallop I bought cost $2.30.

Scallops and corn have a natural affinity for one another therefore the clean, simple flavors of this dish work perfectly.

Scallop on a bed of corn

For the corn:
3 ears of corn (for one I used yellow and one red...both delicious)
butter
salt and pepper

Cut the corn off the cob. Over medium heat, melt butter (I really don't use very much, just a swipe) and add corn. Season with salt and pepper to taste and cover until corn is tender but still vibrant, about 10 minutes.

For the scallop:
4 very large (2-3oz.) scallops
salt and pepper
butter
white wine (what you will be drinking with dinner), if desired

Dry off the scallops very well and season with salt and pepper. Melt butter (again another swipe) in a skillet over medium/high heat. Once the pan is nice and hot, sear scallops, forming a crust on both sides. Once scallop is cooked, off the heat, pour a bit of wine in the pan and let cook out.

Place corn in a bowl or on a plate and top with scallop. Garnish with olive oil, basil or parsley and a lemon wegde if desired.
Serves 2-4

Then, Let them Eat Cake!

I like cake, yes the band...but especially the food. I mean, put it in a bowl with some ice cream and I am darn near heaven.

Ready to drool?
This cake is a three layer sour cream cake, filled with homemade lemon curd and iced with a lemon mascarpone frosting.

This cake got its start about a year ago when I planned and catered my grandmother's 90th birthday party. I was cake testing to figure out what sort of flavor combination/s I wanted to do and I stumbled upon this. I knew it was the perfect trifecta when, sitting at my dining table, fork in hand, I couldn't stop eating it. It took my mother (who was visiting me at the time/taste testing) prying the fork out of my hand and promising me that it would still be there tomorrow. It was a sheet cake meant to serve 75 people and I devoured about a fourth of it (no joke).

Here is a photo of the original test cake.

After this experience and the sugar coma that ensued, for me, recipe testing, especially baked goods is a mighty dangerous thing.

Gabrielle

I am pleased to announce the arrival of my first posted invitation suite, written in a fun whimsical style, Gabrielle. This writing style was created to update the traditional styles of calligraphy and give a different option to make your event unique.

This style is also perfect for bridal showers, luncheons, baby announcements, really anything that needs a special touch.

Inspiration Tuesday: San Diego

A little bit of inspiration for you this morning all the way from San Diego. I recently visited and came back with so many thoughts scurrying through my head. I thought that I would share some of the magic.

It's very nice to meet you!

Hi my name is Bailey and I am the owner and founder of Amon Design Studio, a fine hand lettering, illustration and stationery studio.

Ever since I was a small girl I have been consumed by pattern, textures and techniques. My mother constantly grew weary when she would take me to a store (especially stationery, fabric or hobby stores) and would have to drag me out kicking and screaming. Since then, I have taken on many hand crafting techniques (knitting, sewing, embroidering, quilting...just to name a few) but the moment I tried writing with a dip pen and ink I fell in love. Never have I been so enamored and consumed by a craft. It now makes since to me why I was never much of a computer person and preferred instead to write on paper. I would always be renewed at the sight of the beautifully light blue lined notebook paper that I would buy for school supplies at the beginning of every year.

Since graduating from The University of Texas with a Bachelor of Science Degree in retail merchandising, I have focused on product, floral and event styling. I am so glad to meet you and that I am able to share my work, passions and insight into design with you.

When I am not in my studio, I enjoy cooking (a lot), knitting, taking pictures, gardens, flower arranging, museums and last but definitely not least, coffee.

This week I would like to let you get to know me a bit and I would love to get to know you!


First...












A little jewel of mine...my first canning experiment went right!

I have always been fearful of canning due to common known complications (botulism anyone?) and the stigma of it being difficult portrayed ever since convenience foods took precedence in America. I am here to attest that this was truly a wonderful and rewarding experiment. So much so that I will definitely be doing this again this weekend to begin early on Christmas gifts (sorry for spoiling the surprise).