Eating my own words: I now have an Etsy shop

etsy!, originally uploaded by Sarah Brown.

I always joke that one of my many unmarketable skills is having nice handwriting. I’ve addressed the invitations for almost all of my friends’ weddings, as well as my father’s Christmas cards, in calligraphy, from middle school until I moved to New York in 2003. It has never once occurred to me that I could market this skill until a few months ago, when my friend Lisa Whiteman’s wedding was featured on Brooklyn Bride, and she got an email asking for my info and rates. She wrote me and said, “You don’t have rates, right?” and an anvil fell on my head and I said, “Wait! I have rates! Hold on, let me get some rates!”

I’ve created an Etsy stop for handwritten envelopes and place cards. Right now I’m just doing my regular pretty handwriting, not actual traditional calligraphy, because calligraphy makes me want to kill myself. But I actually really enjoy writing people’s names in a good pen on pretty paper, so everyone wins this way.

You can see the invitations I addressed for Lisa and Todd’s wedding here and here, and the link to my Etsy shop is here. Feel free to pass this along to anyone you know who might be planning a wedding or party or fancy state dinner. I’d love access to some super important ambassador addresses.