the queen's birthday

 
   Today we celebrate our queen's birthday but I've spend the whole day packing my
   backpack... I'm going to Tel Aviv for a week to visite a friend (with some other
   friends, hurray!).

   I did celebrate a bit last night though ('queen's night'), dancing in my orange dress
   (our royal family's color) and before going to the party, making braids in my
   friends' hair.

   See you next week!

Free friday

   Today, my fave yoga school in Utrecht has an 'Open Day' at their new location,
   free yoga and meditation classes all day long! For the full program and
   information, see here and here. For more information about the yoga school
   'Studio Vandaan', see here.

   I'll be joining the 16:15 class, hope to see you there!
   (illustration by Gemma Correll)

Dutch bike

 
   The veggie garden is almost ready (for growing). I worked hard to fight the
   weeds and planted all my seedlings and figured out the planting scedule/ design.
   The only thing left to do was to plant some marigolds (they keep away
   unwanted bugs and animals). When returning from the garden center this is
   what my bicycle looked like, a mini garden in itself!

MMKA II

 
   Apart from the Vlisco exhibition, the Museum for modern Art in Arnhem has a inspiring
   portrait/ painting show going on too. With work form my favorites Marlene Dumas and
   Klaas Gubbels (3rd and 4th picture from above) it couldn't have been better!

MMKA I

 
   There's a interesting exhibition going on at the Museum for Modern Art in Arnhem about
   Vlisco. Vlisco is a dutch fabric company, specialized in african prints and known for
   their high quality fabrics. The exhibition is a wonderful combination of Vlisco fabrics,
   the history of the pattern designs (and company) and modern (south africa-related) art.

Stamp & Fabric workshop - result

 
   Saturday was the stamp & fabric workshop and pretty things were made!

Free Friday

 
   I didn't tell before but with the 101-woonideeen interview comes a DIY-city-in-a-box I
   designed. You can see and download the tutorial (in dutch but the pictures speak for
   themselves) and design sheets here and make this 3D artwork yourself for free.
   Have fun!

Stamp workshop

   There're still a few places in the upcoming Stamp & Fabric print-workshop this
   saturday!

   what: make your own stamps (which you can keep using at home) and create your own 
            stunning fabrics!
   when: 21 april from 12-15
   where: Verlengde Hoogravense weg 150b Utrecht (Netherlands)
   price: 40,- euro all material included
   how: send an email to kim@kimwelling.com to subscribe

101 Woonideeen

 
   It's finally there... the magazine with my interview I've been bragging about for
   weeks (months even), the may edition of 101 Woonideeen.
   The only thing I can say now is big big big thanks to the very kind and lovely
   people at 101 for having me, I feel very honored!

first

 
   We finally finished with preparing the veggie garden soil and planted our first crop
   last weekend! A raspberry, blackberry, and gooseberry bush, some cabbage, peas
   and rhubarb. Next will be the lettuce and spinach. Can't wait!

Free Friday

 
   Today about my personal feeling of freedom:... finally being able to stretch my legs
   on the sofa! My old one was very small and quite impossible to lie on but my new
   sofa.... heeehaaaa, total lounge freedom!

sofa hunting

   
   Today it's time to go hunting for a new sofa! My old one is at it's end (a bit smudgy)
   and too small. Hope I'll find a new one to my liking today!

Easter bunny goes arty

 
   Gallery Tydeman did it again! An easter exhibition with this time: very interesting
   bunnies by Alisa Osinga and the poetic work of Choi Wong. (And they served
   wine with chocolate easter eggs!)

   Missed it? No worries, you can visite the exhibition in Eindhoven soon. (Keep an
   eye on the Tydeman website)

  Interesting and funny photography projects on bettyblogt.punt.nl,  here.

Free Friday

 
   My all time favorite Pikaland has a very nice give away with lovely goodies
   from the Ohh Deer shop. Deadline is april 10!
 
   Their new april free downloadable desktop wallpaper  is out too! See it here

Flyer

 
   Every now and then I'm asked to make a flyer or poster for the Utrechts Centrum voor
   de Kunsten (Utrecht Center for the Arts). The left one is the first one I made
   (remember the faces I made last week), the right one the second one, which the UCK
   preferred.

Healthy food

 
   Since last week I've finally joined pinterest and stumbled upon this recipe. I made my
   own version for lunch, no pita but toast and with cheese (I'm dutch after all), yum!

Feito Com Amor

 
   Before all the 'etsy-showroom-madness', me and friend (and business-partner-to-be)
   Ellen Vesters went to Breda to get a bit wiser about owning your own shop and
   hopefully to get inspired by Feito Com Amor's Pamela. She was so very kind to
   share some tips and tricks and showed us a glimpse into her business.

   What a lovely shop Feito Com Amor is! I've know it for a while, cause they stock
   my work, but have never been there 'live', until now. Owner Pamela (who's
   originally from Brasil) decorated it like a cosy living room/ snooping-adventure,
   you just want to keep looking (and buying)!

   She took the time to answer all our questions with a charming honesty and we
   left happy, enthused and inspired. Thanks so much Pamela for welcoming us in
   such a lovely way and for all your great advise, you're the best!

   Update: Me and Ellen have applied for a space in (yes Carly!) Utrecht that'll be 
   a studio/shop. We're still waiting (with anticipation) for the 'you're in!' as there 
   are more people who applied and hope to know more around june. 
   I'll keep you posted, fingers crossed!

Etsy Showroom III

 
   Oooh, I enjoyed myself so much this weekend! The Etsy showroom was happening and
   it was so much fun. Not only cause of the experience of meeting my buyers in 'real life'
   but also for the lovely other Etsy sellers I met during the whole event.
   My stall neighbours were:

   + Made By MO:   the lovely Marieke and her helpful boyfriend handed out
                               chocolate easter eggs in between business, yum!
   + Broesj:             Babette makes cute little brooches of vintage plastic figures and
                               during the showroom we found out that her sister was my sister's
                               best friend in primary school, such a small world!
   + Twinklebird:    Christine covered my back at the Etsy Showroom, literaly but also
                               by bringing me tea and entertaining me with occasional chitchat and
                               her cute (and fashionable!) three (or four?) year old who payed a
                               visit with her dad.
                               I was totally mesmerized by her lovely stall-decor and of course her
                               jewelry, so delicate and pretty, I had to get myself some and bought
                               a 'big dipper' necklace and got a 'confetti' ring (thanks Christine!).

   The lovely twins Dinah and Sarah from Studio LileSadi came strolling by my stall and
   both bought a breakfast plate and cup&saucer. I've seen so many other sellers and
   lovely people, I could write a week of blogposts about it!

   Last but not least, Monique van der Vlist of 101 Woonideeen came chatting and told
   me I was one of her favorite dutch illustrators of the moment, WOW blush!
   This weekend couldn't have been better!

   Thanks to everyone for coming by, all the 'gezelligheid' (cozyness/ good times, a dutch
   word that's a bit hard to translate, there's no word for it in english) and the people
   from Etsy NL and In De Ruimte for making this market such a succes!
   We want more!
   Photo 2 and 3 were made by In De Ruimte.