CraftSanity Podcast Episode 177: Valerie McKeehan discusses her handmade business and new book, ‘The Complete Book of Chalk Lettering: Create & Develop Your Own Style.’

All photos courtesy of Valerie McKeehan.

On this episode of the podcast, artist and author Valerie McKeehan tells the story behind the 2012 launch of her Lily & Val hand-lettered art business that now employees both her and her husband full-time.

Val, 31, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania stopped off at CraftSanity as part of her blog tour to promote her inspiring book “The Complete Book of Chalk Lettering: Create & Develop Your Own Style,” (172 pages, $19.95). This book is unique in that it includes chalkboards to practice on. (The inside front and back covers double as writing surfaces.)

A self-taught hand-lettering artist, Val walks readers through the process with photo illustrated lessons on how to write messages using popular fonts and then eases them into experimenting with chalk dust as a shading technique to add dimension.

Readers also learn how to embellish hand-lettered works with banners, frames, fourishes and more. But before she launches readers into any of this, Val shows them how to condition their chalkboards and sharpen their chalk.

And no matter what kind of handwriting you have, Val presents her hand-lettering techniques in an empowering way so even those with less-than-awesome penmanship can join in the fun. Instead of stressing over writing in a beautiful script, Val teaches budding hand-lettering artists to approach the process by drawing the shapes of the letters and building decorative text art one simple step at a time.

So grab a project and settle in to listen to Val’s story.

Want to learn more about Val and her book? Check out the rest of Val’s Blog Tour below:

Dec 8 Arrow and Lace Designs
Dec 9 Girl Inspired
Dec 10 Handmade Mood                   
Dec 11 Rad Mom Cool Kid
Dec 14 Flax & Twine                   
Dec 16 Jaco’lyn Murphy Designs
Dec 17 A Little Craft in Your Day                  
Dec 18 Craft Gossip                  
Dec 21 Nearly Crafty                
Dec 22 CraftSanity                  
Dec 28 Canary Jane                  

ENTER TO WIN: Leave a comment below about your fondest chalkboard memory and enter to win a random drawing for a copy of Val’s book. The deadline to enter is Dec. 29, 2015.

Thanks to the podcast supporters
Thanks to ACS Home & Work for being a longtime podcast sponsor and also thanks to my Patreon sponsors for helping me keep this show going. I couldn’t do this without your support.

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IN OTHER NEWS

I’m will be podcasting from the Midwest Craft Con Feb. 19-21, 2016, at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus, Ohio.

Tickets are on sale now! I hope to see you there! :)