Welcome to CS MAG!
Hi there ! My name is Irene and welcome to my blog... Well, my MAG as I like to call it. In here, I will talk about three topics I live most : calligraphy, weddings and home decor ideas.
I have been pinning for years now and I’ve never thought about sharing my thoughts and ideas about these three topics. Yes you read that right, I don’t like blogging.
For me it sounds small for a such a big industry and concept. I’d like to think that I’m writing a magazine. I’ve always dreamed of having my own brand and magazine and why not starting like this ? A little introduction first and then we will move forward.
For me it sounds small for a such a big industry and concept. I’d like to think that I’m writing a magazine. I’ve always dreamed of having my own brand and magazine and why not starting like this ? A little introduction first and then we will move forward.
Now you might ask “ How did you come up with the name calligraphysunday” ?
It all started in 2019-2020. I was doing my studies in Applied Foreign Languages in Arabic and English, and I couldn’t find an internship abroad. I had been accepted into a Lebanese university and then the port blew up in a massive explosion. My internship was gone with the explosion.
Devastated, I didn’t know what to do and then I thought about creating a business.
I was a little concerned about the teachers reactions but at the same time I thought about preparing the impossible. It was a Sunday, the Easter Sunday when I open my instagram account. I realised at that moment, Sunday was the only day I could sit down, at peace and write. Either practicing my Arabic calligraphy or just copycat calligraphy words I would look up on Pinterest. And I thought : Calligraphy Sunday was the appropriate name.
As a Christian myself, at time of opening this account it was lockdown, the very first month, everybody inside and dealing with it. There was a church conference held online for Easter and one sentence stood out to me : “ A talent, if you do not practice it, you will lose it forever”. Then I knew. I could do something with calligraphy, and painting and drawing. All these things my family didn’t really knew about. I believe that I was able to achieve things with my abilities and I had the faith my talent and skills will help me to have my degree. I just didn’t know how, but I knew it will.
What happened next ?
Little I knew, calligraphy was a whole industry. I managed to finish my second year and enter into the last part of my degree. Look for the internship, apply for a university abroad (in an Arabic speaking country to be precise), a visa and present all the prep that was going with it. But the thing is … we were in Autumn 2020, still covidy (yes I found this era little nicknames to make it sound less horrible 😂), the world is still one thrid locked down half open, and everyone is opening and closing boarders like it was a game and nobody had the same rules for travelling and nobody was aligning with anybody to make it easier. Anyways, it was a mess.
My teachers and the Dean were still expecting us to find something for our internship.
So I made a few calligraphy trainings and make sure my instagram would look pretty, write way better than I did the year before. You know to have something to present to the board.
Like I said : Calligraphy was hiding a whole industry.
I was thinking about a way I could transform my little instagram page into a business. I discovered the hundreds of thousands of things you can do with calligraphy and I also realized that I needed tools. French speaker here (Oui, bonjour tout le monde depuis la Belgique) I didn’t know how nor where to find the brushes, where to start, the type of paper I needed, the type of ink either. A mess in my organisation.
In English there is a whole vocabulary behind calligraphy lexicology, etymology, semantics that are linked to … wait. before I go any further, I’m a linguist so I need to learn all the words linked to a concept to understand how it works, how to use the wordings and lexicology around that concept, that case : calligraphy was the main study case.
There were plenty of new words that were accompanying the Industry :
- Brushes (which ones ?!) - Dip pen - Quill ( the definitions is losing me) - Scripts Copperplate / Modern / Spencerian - Ascenders - Descenders - Stroke - Hairline - X-Height - etc..
I was in a phase of learning and creating at the same time and while doing it, I was getting better, I was looking for my own style and what I liked most. I was also realizing the whole potential I had within me and it made me whole.
It was hard but I kept on going.
- Brushes (which ones ?!)
What drove me to pursue the path ?
Well, I realized that there was a huge potential and most of all : my teachers accepted my proposition to turn my talent into a business tool. To open Calligraphy Sunday. I was so nervous but then ? I thought I needed to prove that I was willing to show what I was able to create and accomplish. I have had already built two mini businesses and I knew how to do. So I came up with a humongous plan, dates, due dates, actions and outcomes. A master-piece to avoid complications with traveling and at the same time, blow my teachers and the Dean's minds.
after submitting my 10 pages business plan , On Monday at 7.30 am I received an email from the The Dean which said
after submitting my 10 pages business plan , On Monday at 7.30 am I received an email from the The Dean which said
“ You are one of a kind. Challenge Accepted”
I panicked ! but I was beyond excited for that HUGE opportunity. All of a sudden, I became aware of several things my fake business didn't have. Started with the fact that I needed to be a whole team but on my own. YES It took me a lot of energy. NO I didn't sleep. YES, I had so many obstacles along the way. YES I spent-lost-invested a ton of money. YES I enjoyed the whole intern in my own business/business owner process.
People were witnessing what I was doing, I informed my friends and some curious were following along my little journey. It was a little pressure coming from everywhere. I made mistakes, it wasn't the most fanciest thing ever created, but I got to go out and broadcast my talent to people that didn't know I could draw, paint, write and all that craft ! 😏
It took me a few months to get there and I was really tired afterwards. Then I had to present what I had done and I eventually succeeded my degree.
Note that there were not graduation parties since I studies online for four years. (How sad!)
I thought about all the things I have learned during this stage of calligraphy learning. I came to know that I loved weddings even though (as of today) I’m not married, I loved writing, I really loved painting (gouache, watercolour, acrylic) and drawing and I wished at that time : Oh! if only I could do this all year long, all day every day!
Then I thought about resting because my whole body needed to rest and I needed to see where I was going and what were all the tolls and knowledge I have gains ever since I started it.
I have all the tools and now I just need to build my business strategy.
I know that in the coming months I will be able to open my shop and to promote all the services and things I have been preparing but that internship made me realize all the things I needed to know before starting the real journey.
What sincerely drove me was the fact that I know how to build a business from scratch. I have done it already and so I wasn’t scared. When I realized that I wasn’t a newbie in the business industry, I knew that that was the motor.
What now ?
The hardest in this industry was that there is always something new. And I felt like I couldn’t catch up or be on the same page as everybody else. I didn’t realize at the time that they were in their chapter 46 and I wasn’t.
I have plenty of ideas 💡 all day everyday, my brain never ceases inventing new projects ! Now I’m doing my own thing. I have chosen the topics I’d always share and talk about on my platforms and I would just create content the way I want instead of chasing numbers and attention.
At first, when this whole thing was a way for me to succeed my degree I never thought about the after ?
I have decided recently that recording my journey and my thoughts were also a good way to promote and share what I do.
How will it work ? I thought about the aspects that involved a couple in different stages of its life. Starting with the wedding preparation and all the information received that need to be processed, then how do we (re)-decorate the new home (?) and finally, if there is a skill or a talent like painting or calligraphy that can become a whole new activity, why not combining all three together and share ideas on these three area ? My Instagram - Pinterest and this blog will be the main places where I will share information, tips and ideas, freebies and more. I will also ( when the time comes) share the MAG that will be launched on a seasonal basis, but more details will follow in the following months.
This post was a way of introducing who is behind and a little background on how this blog came to life. The next posts will be divided in different sections, my boards are always refreshed and new inspiration come in. I posed on Instagram for quite sometime now and I'm sure I will be back anytime soon.
I have plenty of ideas 💡 all day everyday, my brain never ceases inventing new projects ! Now I’m doing my own thing. I have chosen the topics I’d always share and talk about on my platforms and I would just create content the way I want instead of chasing numbers and attention.
At first, when this whole thing was a way for me to succeed my degree I never thought about the after ?
I have decided recently that recording my journey and my thoughts were also a good way to promote and share what I do.
How will it work ? I thought about the aspects that involved a couple in different stages of its life.
FAKE IT UNTIL YOU MAKE IT
And see you in the next MAG Post !