I am so glad you are taking an interest in the wonderful art form of calligraphy.  My personal fascination for 'drawing letters' began in my youth and intensified when I was introduced to calligraphy as a design major in college.  I spent the next few years producing calligraphy for school, sports, scouts and so many other personal uses.

To this day, I keep my calligraphy pens and markers on hand and use them to personalize birthday cards, gift bags and wrapping paper.  It is so much fun to design personal invitations for a special event and to address the envelopes in your unique and creative way.  Now that manufacturers have developed acid-free calligraphy markers in a variety of sizes and colors, it is also a great way to enhance journaling in your photo albums and scrapbooks.

It was one of my son's elementary school events which led to the development of this guidebook.  I was asked to demonstrate calligraphy for Cultural Arts Day, and I decided to "calligraph" the students names on bookmarks.  Immediately after, I was inundated with requests from teachers and students to teach the craft or recommend a beginner book.  My unsuccessful search in finding a user-friendly, easy to follow, beginner book motivated me to create my own.

Throughout the process of working on the guidebook, the one request I received consistently was to please "Keep it Simple".  There are many instruction books on the market which make learning this craft more difficult than it needs to be.  This guidebook does, indeed, fulfill that request.  Learning calligraphy by this tracing technique makes it as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Finally, to all teachers, students and friends who have asked, "Will you teach me how to write like that?", and to those of you who have requested to "Keep it simple", here it is.  My sincere hope is that, if you decide to give this technique a try, you have fun practicing, will be encouraged daily by your progress and success, and that perhaps you will encourage someone else to learn this beautiful way of writing.