Soaking up the sun

In June of last year, after months of asking myself if I should or should not, I took a deep breath and just did it. I booked two tickets, one from Amsterdam to Mumbai and one from Mumbai to Goa. I spent that month researching online a bit, booking a beach hut at a quiet beach and buying travel guides. Then I sort of 'forgot' about it. 

And all of a sudden it is the end of January and the beginning of my trip to India. I have spent the last 3 months working my ass off, for Stoffer + Blik November and December were busy months with lots of illustrating. But as always, everything happens at the same time. So I was working 3-double-shifts all this time. New jobs, new clients, new magazines...  I finished everything just in time and now I have stopped running and it's sinking in that I am actually going. I have my visum and, yes, a 'shitload' of Imodium. So I am kind of ready to go. I packed my brand new backpack for 5 weeks of traveling through the South of India. 

I am so looking forward to being amazed, excited, surprised, delighted and probably shocked, annoyed, scared and desperate at times by a country that leaves almost everyone with mixed feelings. I have been to India before (north), but that was with a group trying to see as much as you possibly can in a short 3 weeks. This time it's just me. I have 5 weeks and no plans. I want to experience it and not run past every sight, seeing it only through the lens of my camera. I want it to all sink in right there. Forget about work, forget about time, forget about my regular life. It's the mindfulness thing I guess. Just be there. Soaking it up. What better place than Incredible India?

So, this means Stoffer + Blik is closed for now. I will be back in March. Exhausted, probably. Homesick, maybe. Richer, definitely. See you then. 

A Poppy Story

Sometimes you just have to connect the dots. I've been walking around with a couple of ideas in the back of my mind, but I hadn't really done anything with it. As a result the end product was still somewhere trapped in my brain.

As you know I have been making paper lately. That was step 1. I figured out how to add flower seeds. That was step 2. I had already thought about how to make the 'grow-a-card' thing more logical. I have bought cards with flower seeds before and I have sent them to friends, but none of them wanted to actually put it in the soil. Because then you may have some flowers, but you have to destroy the card. So I thought I would fold it in three, so you can cut the 'extra paper' off: still being able to sow the seeds, without having to destroy the card and the text on it. That was step 3.

So now I had the paper I wanted and I had the shape of the card. I wanted to send my friend my first handmade paper with flower seeds, so she could test it. That's when I came up with the text that should be on it. "I look like a card, but I'm really a hug (and flowers, too!)" Because a handwritten card is really not just a piece of paper, is it? Step 4, I guess..

But still I wanted more than just text. Since I used common poppy seeds, I wanted to illustrate that. Somehow I couldn't get myself to sit down and start on it, until today. My collegue Marieke inspired me yesterday with an incredibly cool project she has been working on (check it out at Mariekjen.nl). She made a lino cut selfie by reducing the lino for every layer ending up with a portrait in 3 colors. The result is gorgeous!

So, I wanted a poppy. I thought I would give the lino a try. But... reducing for every layer means you can only make a limited amount of prints and you can make no mistakes. As soon as you start on the second layer, you are cutting away your first layer. That was a little too risky for me and I need more than a few prints. I decided to just take a new piece of lino for every layer, so I could try and fail as much as I want.

You can see the lino on the left. The original print is the one on top. I scanned the image to adjust the contrast and the colors a little. I drew a tiny line around it and added the text for the front and the instructions on the paper that is folded into the card and can be cut out. So step 5 was quite a big one, but I think it turned out quite nice. I wish I could make more, but first I need to make some extra poppy-seed paper. I have ruined a few perfectly nice pieces with this experiment. Well, so be it. Once I have more than just this prototype, you can find them in the Stoffer + Blik shop!

Weekend Treats #2: Pear 'Speculaas' Pie

I felt like baking this weekend and since my 'Weekend Treats #1' was quite some time ago, I am taking this opportunity to share with you the second edition. It's a Dutch recipe with Speculaas and Speculaas spices. A typical Dutch cookie and a mix of spices. So if you're not in Holland or Belgium, the ingredients might be a bit of a challenge.

This is what you need:

- 150 grams of butter

- 100 grams of almond paste

- 4 eggs

- 100 grams of all purpose flour

- 4 small sweet pears

- 1 tbsp lemon juice

- 1 tbsp Speculaas spices

- 100 grams of Speculaas cookies (crumbled)

- a pinch of salt

- 5 tbsp orange marmalade

Extra: rectangular cake/pie pan & lining paper

And this how you make it:

Preheat your oven to 160 degrees. Remove the skin from the pears and cut them in half. Leave the stem on, but take the seeds out. Sprinkle them with the lemon juice.

Mix the butter and the almond paste into a smooth mixture. Stir in the eggs one by one. Then add the Speculaas spices, a pinch of salt and the flour. When the mixture is ready, gently mix in the crumbled Speculaas cookies. 

Line the cake pan with the lining paper (if you lay it along the long side of the pan in one piece, you can easily pull up the pie when it's cooked). Pour the mixture into the pan and lay the pears on top with the round side up (my 25 cm pan was too small for all the pears to fit in...)

Bake the pie for 40 minutes. Take it out of the oven and cover the top with a bit of marmalade. Put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Let it cool before you take it out of the pan. 

Enjoy! 

This recipe is based on this one from Allerhande. (It looks a lot prettier there...)

5 Wonderful Organizing Ideas

I'm not sure if it's just January, the spring like temperature outside or that I'm about to go on a long holiday. But I feel like organizing. Getting rid of stuff I don't use and finding smart ways to make things not only look pretty, but getting them in place. I have found some great ways on a little web search, I would like to share with you.


I love the clipboards. It's a great way to show pretty designs and keep your stuff together. (image: Melk)

I think this is also fabulous. If you take the stick of a broom, or any round stick, lay it on top and you can make a (gift) paper dispenser, or hang anything with a couple of hooks. (image: Funkytime)

Sticky notes come in many colors, perfect for highlighting or just making it all your taste. All you need is a wall and some (washi) tape to make the 'frames' for the notes and you're good to go. (image: marthastewart.com)

I have a thing for jars and I think this is gorgeous. Simple and smart. Not only for herbs or plants, but you might as well store your paperclips and pencils in them. (image: scoutmob.com)

And finally: the 'industrial' tape dispenser. Clever, cheap and super handy. (image: Makezine.com)

Lettering

...like a new typo stamp set, handmade paper and dried flowers (that are a little sad by now from trying to get them into the paper and failing at it). You'll be seeing this lettering at Stoffer + Blik in a while. 

Happy New Year

The 1st of January. A day of fresh starts, resolutions, from now on we'll do things differently... I don't buy it. I try to find that feeling of leaving a year behind and starting a brand new one every new year's eve. But I never really do. Every January 1st feels just like every 31st of December. Monday mornings will do just fine for new starts. Or Thursdays for that matter.

I like to start my resolutions on a Tuesday in April. But for the occasion I have written some down anyway. My resolutions are all in the same category: Do more of what you love. What else do you need?

I don't need to make big changes. I am pretty happy where I am. I already quit smoking years ago. And that was on sunny day in August...

Happy New Year to everyone!