Meet Linda Nguyen. She’s a Handwriting Artist who joined the team in November 2016.
She found Punkpost while flipping through a wedding magazine, and we’re so glad she did. Today, she’s writing your messages, designing cards and schooling us all on stamps.
Perhaps you’ve even ordered one of her card designs, such as belated birthday sloth or dad with his socks and sandals. Those are just two of the seven cards she’s designed for us so far, and we’re positive that there are more to come.
She’s thrilled to get to be a part of your snail mail experience. “I love the unexpected surprise of snail mail — getting a handwritten letter or card in the mail when I least expect it can really make my day!” And we’ve heard countless times from you all that she’s not alone in that feeling.
But enough gushing about mail (because we could be here all day), you’ve got to see Linda’s lovely skills. Here are just a few of her favorite assignments from the past year:
Personal style: Of all her cards, Linda loves this birthday card from mom because it encapsulates her signature doodles—florals and cake—with her favorite color palette.
Birthday funnies: Cards that have a theme and inside jokes can be some of the most fun to write. Here, Linda incorporated the“No mas 3 egg omelettes tho …” comment into her traditional cake and candle doodles.
Pineapple party: Bright colors and shaded lettering make this card an absolutely treat to receive in the mailbox.
Making late look good: Better late than never is always our motto. No one is going to turn down snail mail, and especially when it looks this cute. (And of course, we have belated birthday cards in the shop.)
Royal inspiration: Linda used her royal knowledge from binging on The Crown and Downton Abbey to create a doodle-filled thank you card.
Love of love notes: More to come on this below in the fast facts about Linda, but she loves love notes and drawing hearts all over them.
Bee-utiful: Linda has become known for her cute little heart bees, which are great for some many occasions, but especially for a card to a little girl from her dad.
Whimsical woods: Our Summer Camp Collection has inspired many log cabin doodles this year. Linda especially likes this one because it looks just like the cabin she daydreams about owning with her husband one day.
Scary good: Branching out from her usual cuteness, Linda tried her hand at a more frightening look last year for Halloween. We think it’s spook-tacular.
Fast facts about Linda:
- Location: Los Angeles, California
- When she’s not writing cards: She’s binging on Netflix, watching game shows with her husband, taking her Boston Terrier pups (Rocket andMeatball) for long walks and hikes, gardening, cooking and eating everything and anything that looks tasty.
- Writing background: She’s had a lifelong love and journey of writing. One of her fondest childhood memories is sitting at the dining room table with her grandma learning cursive when she was only 4 or 5 years old. “She would hold my hand while I held the pencil and slowly guided my hand through each stroke. I was very proud of how uniform my letters came out!” Since then, she practiced at school and on the job. Her first job even required writing. She personalized holiday ornaments at a local store every year during the holidays for four years. Then, her wedding envelopes kickstarted her love of calligraphy.
- Go-to doodles: Confetti, birthday cakes and candles for birthday cards. Florals and hearts for sweeter messages, such as love notes. “Illustrations don’t come naturally to me,” so when she gets an assignment with specific drawing requests, she gets excited and terrified at the same time. “I like the challenge of learning to draw new things and the more I do it the more confident I’m becoming.”
- Favorite writing utensil: Crayola Super Tips because they are affordable and come in so many different colors. Tombow Mono Drawing Pens are great for outlining and detail work. Sakura Gelly Rolls, especially the Moonlight colors, for a pop of color.
- Favorite colors to use in cards: Pinks, blues and greens, especially in pastel tones.
- Favorite stamps: Wonder Woman stamps. “I love the vibrant colors and the female power/strength it symbolizes.”
- Favorite cards to write: Love notes. “It makes my heart so happy to know that there’s still so much love out there in the world. It reminds me that things aren’t always as bad as we tend to think they are.”
- Workspace: At her drop-leaf desk.
- Favorite background noise: Right now, it’s Forensic Files on Netflix. “It’s an old show, but I love crime related stories and they have so many seasons and episodes on Netflix now that I can just let it run and not think about what to listen to next.” When she’s not listening to crime stories, she taking in nature or history documentaries.
- Favorite time to write: She’s a morning person, so she tries to do as many cards as she can before noon.
- Writing process: Her go-to format is to highlight the recipient’s and sender’s names in big, fun letters. After that, she picks keep words in the message to highlight with a different style or color. Then, she fills in the rest of the space with doodles, if appropriate for the message.
- Cards written (so far): 1,000+
- Skill building: She browses Instagram and bookmarks inspiration and tutorials to come back to and try later. “When I feel like I’m in a creative slump, one trick I have is to buy some new pens or tools to get me excited about creating again.”
- Inspiration: She’s got lots of faveorites on Instagram. Here are a few she recommends: @anintran, @logos_calligraphy, @lhcalligraphy, @thepostmansknock, @piecescalligraphy, @thehappyevercrafter and @crayligraphy.
Want to see more? Follow her on Instagram: @quillsome.
Stay tuned: We feature new faces all the time so you can get to know the real people behind every doodle and letter that’s sent with Punkpost. And if you can’t wait a whole month, you can order a card from our app or site. Who knows, maybe Linda will write your name in fancy letters.
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