Happy Holidays!

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With the christmas tree decorated, James' first birthday gift bought (he'll be 1 year old on christmas day!) and a promising dinner menu... I'm taking a little brake. See you after the holidays and merry christmas to you all!

The card in the left picture is a photo by Danique van Kesteren, send to me by Imke who just launched a very inspiring slow life blog. Keep an eye on theaucitron.nl ...

The Merry Lino Print Giveaway Winner!

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Hurray! Mus, if you send me an e-mail with your address, I'll send the linocut print giveaway to you right away!

Thanks for joining!

Christmas Design Shopping at the NDSM in Amsterdam

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Have you seen the pretty designs by Jeroen van Leur I posted a few days ago? Well, for those of you who live nearby, upcoming thursday there's a great christmas shopping evening event at the NSDM studio in Amsterdam, where Jeroen and other fab designers will sell their products with special christmas discounts!

For more info see the KOOPAVOND facebook page.


A very merry linocut print giveaway

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At the last minute I've made a lino print of this merry reindeer for the holiday wishes I'll be sending out this year. Technically it's not a lino print by the way... I've used a sort of rubbery block instead of lino, much softer and easier to cut! You must make it as easy and fun as possible right?

I'm having them printed digitally on greeting cards and fingers crossed they will be delivered on time to send out to clients, family and friends!

Would you like to win the original print? Leave a merry message below and I'll pick a random winner tuesday 16th.

this giveaway is already given away, you cannot enter anymore.

Jeroen van Leur

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As an addition to my own work (like I'm not busy enough already... ;-) I'm now also assisting product designer Jeroen van Leur. I'm mainly helping him with marketing and the everyday things that come with running a creative business: bookkeeping, talking to clients, advice and selling products.
Which is easy because Jeroen makes the most wonderful inspiring products. It's great to see how a creative from another discipline works and how products are developed (there are some amazing woodworking tools in the studio and cute little miniature furniture models).

In the pictures above a few of the products that are available in Jeroen's webshop. My absolute favorite is the clever Woodstock Wardrobe, a clothes rack that is assembled into a tent poles inspired frame that elegantly leans against your wall.

For more of his work (like candle B-light, a perfect holiday gift), see jeroenvanleur.nl or the webshop.

A modest wishlist for the holidays

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As I'm getting older I notice I have less and less to wish for for the holidays and my birthday in January. (Except for functional stuff like printers and a laptop...). Maybe I'm just satisfied with my life or maybe so much of  my wishes were fulfilled over the years that there's not much left? Or, and this is most likely, I'm a bit done with owning things, it's just taking space and time.

But, I still do have a few small things on my list (ok and maybe a few more than just the 6 items above, but let's start with those):

1. the beautiful 'wants brooche' by Geertje Aalders
2. these fabulous leggings by Simkasol
3. 'Allemaal Mensen', book by Blexbolex
4. this cute handknitted cardigan for James by Sophie Orchera Knitware
5. a fine gold (wedding? M?) ring by maryjohn
6. organic sencha tea by Simon Levelt, works wonders on cold days ;-)


Illustration course: illustrative poetry

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The last few weeks my students of the illustration and digital course (analoge en digitale illustratie cursus) have been focussing on beeldrijm (I'm not sure how to translate this but it is something like 'image poetry', does anyone know the correct word for this in english?).
The assignment was to make a A5 size illustration on the topic 'the staycation: the vacation feel without leaving home'. Quite a tricky assignment (beeldrijm is a specific chapter in illustration) and therefor I'm even more proud of what they made!

The illustrations are made by Anne, Elise, Karin, Pascale, Mieke, Willy, Anna and Maruga.

James' portrait by Marjoke van der Zouw

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It's quite rare that I post photos of my son here on my blog (I'm not too fond of pictures of my little one going all over the internet) but I could not resist to show you this one.

It was taken by Marjoke van der Zouw, whom I've know since we were 13(!). She is now (among other things) a talented photographer and makes the most beautiful portraits of people (including children, weddings, travel scenery, etc).
Somehow she takes perfect shots in the most normal daily environment (this photo was taken on the sofa at her home while having lunch) and sees perspective and lighting were I just see a living room.

For more of her work, see her website at marjokevanderzouw.com.

The happy makers blog

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Those of you who have been at flavourites last weekend might have seen that Monique van der Vlist (the art director of 101-Woonideeen magazine) was there with the fab paper studio (papier atelier) and her new blog, or actualy new platform: happymakersblog.com.

Creativity, illustrations and handmade products are in the spotlights at the happy makers blog and Monique's first action was the fabulous paper studio (Papier Atelier) at Flavourites. It's quite obvious that this talented lady has some grounded experience with interior design and decoration cause it looked goooooood!

I was so busy with admiring and workshopping that I totally forgot to take pictures... so the photo's are by wimketolsma.nl. (Wimke, I hope you don't mind me featuring them. If you do, please let me know!)

Check out the happymakersblog.com for more info, beautiful pictures and great ideas!

Calligraphy workshop on skillshare

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After my first attempt with calligraphy I reckoned I could do with some basic skills and professional guidance...
I found a great workshop by Bryn of Paperfinger at skillshare.com. In the first 30 minutes I already learned heaps of things I never knew. Like how far you should dip the pen into the ink, how to get those thick and thin lines using a pointed nib and how to hold the pen. I thought as an illustrator I would know how to hold a pen but apparently there's still lots of things to learn... Hurray!

The workshop comes with downloadable worksheets that really help to practice good letter shapes.
You can find the calligraphy workshop video here.

Gift wrap workshop at the paper studio at Flavorites Live!

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The holidays are coming and with that lots of yummy gifts and presents. What better way to prepair yourself by following a gift wrap workshop?
I was asked (and feel very flattered) to teach two workshops at the Paper Studio at Flavourites Live upcoming friday. Of course there are also other great paper workshops as well during the whole weekend (friday, saturday and sunday) and then I'm not even talking about all the fun, amazing and wonderful goodies you can buy at Flavourites Live!

The paper studio (Papier Atelier in dutch) is organised by the talented and super creative Vlinspiratie, for more info see her website at vlinspiratie.nl.

In my gift wrap workshop I'll be focussing on transforming your gift into fun little caracters...
The first workshop is at 15.30 h, the second at 16.00 h.
Hope to see you on friday! 


Interview on the 101 woonideeen blog

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 photos by Riley Salyards

A while ago I was interviewed and photographed for a feature on the 101 woonideeen blog. They are doing a series on Etsy sellers and their homes, and it was my turn for the month of november.
The wonderful Riley Salyards came to our home and took pictures all morning while chatting away about our work, her amazingly creative son (I've seen some drawings of this, if I remember correctly, 6 year old... wow!) and living in The Netherlands. A wonderful morning with some nice photo's of me and the home as result.
Now, you can read all about my life and home at the 101 woonideeen blog (in dutch)!

Fave food

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We're going towards winter here in our tiny but cosy country. And with the seasons changing, so does my appetite. My focus is on cookies, bread and soups, yum! Although an occasional smoothy pleases my stomache and mind too.
Last few days I had (among other things of course) a fruit smoothy at Hay, a grilled veggie and hummus sandwich at Dwaze Zaken and I baked rosemary shortbread from the Home Made cookbook by Yvette van Boven. 

This is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1.25 (or 150 grams) sticks of butter
1/4 (or 50 grams) cup sugar
1 tbsp honey
1.5 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 pinches of salt
2 tbsp finely chopped rosemary

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit (170 C). Grease a cake pan, pie pan, springform pan, or any other pan that has a large lip and is roughly 25 square inches.

Beat the butter, sugar and honey together with a stand mixer, hand mixer, or a whisk. Stir in all other ingredients.

Put the mixture into your greased pan, and press down into the corners to form an even layer across the bottom. Prick with a fork throughout.

Bake for 15 minutes, until edges are a light golden brown. Leave in the pan but cut into smaller portions before it cools down. Leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove cookies gently.

Enjoy!

Autumn assignment - Illustration and digital course

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These are a few of the illustrations my students (Krista, Femke, Antoinette, Sabeth and Gemma) made on the advanced illustration & digital course.
The assignment was to make an autumn impression using different structures and patterns and include a least one person or animal.
They all made their own structures using pen, paper, ink, photography and so on. They drew elements by hand and edited, arranged and added the structures on the computer. Most of them only had very basic photoshop skills. I teached them some simple tricks and combined with hand drawn elements, it took them three lessons to get these results from scratch.
I'm quite proud!

Bad ass calligraphy

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Inspired by The new Uppercase and by the fact that I'm trying to be behind my computer as little as possible due to a dormant RSI arm, I turned to calligraphy. I thought it a bit dull to write just names or pretty words and therefor wrote some bad ass calligraphy instead ;-) .
Some in dutch, some in English...
It turned out to be pretty hard (harder than I thought it to be, I have to admit) to make the right angles and curls, I need a lot more practice but did have so much fun with these first efforts!

New Book - Designing Patterns

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On my trip to paper store Vlieger in Amsterdam I could not resist and hopped into the American Book Center. Of course I could not leave the store without a purchase... Meet the newest addition to my design book collectie:

Designing patterns by Lotta Kuhlhorn

It's an inspirational book about, you might have guessed.. pattern making. With how to's but also some background info about the designers life and work proces. Altogether a delightful book that will be on my coffee table for the next few weeks ;-)

Have a lovely weekend everyone!


A lazy afternoon

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Wednesday afternoon is James (our 10 months old son) and me time. Time to play, time off work. Because James sleeps a great deal of the afternoon, it's also me-time. So what am I doing? Having green jasmin tea with rosemary shortbread, reading a book and enjoying the plant that is finally flowering. 

Here I am again, back on the original blog!

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Hi there! After some changes, I am back on blogging, and also on this blog! A while ago (as you might know) I moved my blog to within my portfolio website. Unfortunately it came with a few hickups and now I've decided to pick things up here on the original blog.

As you might notice, this blog had a little make over ;-). One reason why I left this blog before was that blogger doesn't come with great design. But now I've found templates for blogger-blogs on Etsy! It was super easy to install it into my existing blog and I'm very happy with it (and my bankaccount is still happy too).

Curious? I bought my template at BloggerTemplate shop on Etsy but there are lots of other great template shops on Etsy.

On(line) the move!

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The moment is finally here... I've launched my new websiteblog and corporate identity!
This means that from now on you can find all within one site at www.kimwelling.com.

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Het moment is eindelijk daar... ik heb mijn nieuwe websiteblog en huisstijl gelanceerd!
Dit betekent dat je vanaf nu alles onder 1 dakje kan vinden namelijk op www.kimwelling.com.

Working on...

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a little gift that will announce my return from pregnancy leave to my clients...

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een klein kadootje dat mijn terugkeer van zwangerschapsverlof gaat aankondigen bij klanten...

print & pattern

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With my Illustration & digital design students I'm making illustrations for surface design like fabric, china, paper goods and phone skins. I suddenly remembered Spoonflower and went straight to business... I ordered these two prints in a light weight cotton. Can't wait to see them 'live'!

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Met mijn Illustratie & digitaal design studenten ben ik illustraties voor print design zoals stof, porselein, papier producten en telefoonhoesjes aan het maken. Ik moest opeens weer aan Spoonflower denken en ben meteen aan het werk geslagen... deze twee prints zijn inmiddels besteld in een lichte katoen. Ben heel benieuwd hoe ze er in het echt uitzien!

De Prentenmaker

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This is a post about one of my talented students, Niek a.k.a De Prentenmaker (The picture maker). She's a photographer who combines her pictures with illustrative elements and edits. Her work is such a lovely different approach to children's portraits don't you think?

For more info on Niek and her work, see deprentenmaker.nl.

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Dit is een post over een van mijn getalenteerde cursisten, Niek ook wel De Prentenmaker. Ze is fotograaf en combineert haar foto's met illustratieve elementen en bewerkingen. Haar werk is zo'n prachtige verfrissende benadering van kinder portret fotografie, vind je niet?

Voor meer info over Niek en haar werk, zie deprentenmaker.nl.

Maak Magazine

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We dutchies have an amazing new magazine at our disposal: Maak Magazine, a dutch creative DIY magazine full of inspiration and tutorials, with a new theme in every issue.
And guess what!? In the first issue you'll find an interview with moi! ;-)

Read (in dutch) all about Maak Magazine hier.
or purchase through ankepanke's shop or nikki dotti 

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Hier in Nederland hebben we een geweldig nieuw tijdschrift tot onze beschikking: Maak Magazine, een Nederlands creatief, doe-het-zelf magazine vol inspiratie en tutorials, met elk nummer een ander thema!
En weet je wat?... In het eerste issue vind je een interview met moi! ;-)

Lees meer over Maak Magazine hier.
of koop het via ankepanke's shop of nikki dotti 

Antwerp

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Two week ago we took a few days off for a trip to Antwerp with the little fella. How lucky we were with the wonderful weather! I even wore my flipflops :-)
We visited the zoo, did some shopping and had lunches and dinners (we recommend Balls & Glory and Bar Paniek) but what I actually liked the most about this little break were the rest hours in the afternoon in the hotel when the three of us just hang on the bed and spend time together, how simply perfect can life be?

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Twee weken geleden namen we een paar dagen vrij voor een tripje naar Antwerpen met de kleine man. Wat een geluk hadden we met het weer! Ik heb zelfs mijn slippers aan gehad :-)
We gingen naar de dierentuin, hebben wat geshopt en vooral veel geluncht en gedineerd (Balls & Glory en Bar Paniek zijn aanraders) maar wat ik eigenlijk het allerfijnste vond waren de rust uurtjes 's middags in het hotel als we met z'n drieen een beetje rondhingen op bed in de hotelkamer, hoe simpel en fijn kan het leven zijn?



Jellies on my mind

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The second assignment of the Lilla Rogers Bootcamp course I'm doing... is all about Jellies! When browsing for jelly-pics I found lots of pretty jelly advertisement posters from the twenties and thirties. This is how I came up with the art deco presentation plates and bowls. Also, Jell-O seems to be a copyright protected name so couldn't use that in my design. But with those dogs juggling the jellies I thought 'jelly-oh-oh' would be a good line! ;-)

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De tweede opdracht van de Lilla Rogers Bootcamp cursus die ik aan het doen ben... gaat over puddinkjes! Toen ik op zoek was naar pudding-afbeeldingen vond ik prachtige jelly-advertentie posters uit de jaren 20 en 30. Zo kwam ik op de art deco look voor de presentatie schalen en borden. En, Jell-O blijkt een beschermde naam te zijn die ik dus niet kon gebruiken in mijn ontwerp. Maar met deze jonglerende hondjes leek 'jelly-oh-oh' me ook wel een goede tekst! ;-)

Ranunculus

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This is one of the illustrations I made for Bloemen Bureau Holland. The poem is made by Kim Triesscheijn. You can read more about this project at mooiwatbloemendoen.nl (dutch).

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Dit is een van de illustraties die ik maakte voor Bloemen Bureau Holland. Het gedicht is gemaakt door Kim Triesscheijn. Je kan meer over dit project lezen op mooiwatbloemendoen.nl.

a day at the office...

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While he is sleeping... I'm organizing 'the office' (and browsing through 'Inside the Rainbow', an ingenious christmas gift from M), I might be in need of extra bookshelves...
And, a new stock of Instant Comfort Pocket Boxes (big thanks to J!).


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Terwijl hij slaapt... herorganiseer ik 'het kantoor' (en bekijk ik 'Inside the Rainbow', een geniaal kerstkado van M), ik zou misschien een extra boekenplank kunnen gebruiken... En, een nieuwe voorraad Instant Comfort Pocket Boxes (super dank aan J!).




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