Recipes with a story

The last two months of the year always seem a little crazy workwise. On one hand there's the holidays and the gifts, so custom recipes get more popular. And on the other hand I think that things just pile up towards the end of the year. Those two combined is a recipe (ha!) for late nights working. Luckily I love my job, so it could be a lot worse. But I am preparing myself for a sore neck, stiff fingers and sleepy eyes in weeks to come.

My 'resolution' to take things a bit more slowly after coming back from the 100 days of summer trip did work out actually, even though it doesn't always feel that way. Things just don't spread out evenly across the year. Obviously. The minute I start thinking something like 'it's been quiet for a bit, I hope I have enough work this month' or 'I haven't heard from them in a while, hope they still want me to work for them', that's when the requests start to come in. And all at the same time. You would think I would be used to it after 6 years of being Girl Boss. Yeah, me too.

Another thing I've been wanting to write about (will have a new blogpost on this soon) is the workshop modern calligraphy I did two weeks ago. I loved it and have been practicing a lot. I already see the improvement: big motivation to keep it up! As you can see below, I can apply my new knowledge in my work right away.

Anyway, I came here to show you what I've been working on! This recipe has just left the building, all the way to the USA for someone's mum who is about to be a grandmother. This is the recipe of his mother's mother who passed away. A special occasion... I love how these requests come with a story.

PS. The last photo is another recipe, also for a US customer and also from a grandmother who passed away. This one's extra special because she wanted to have a little portrait of her grandmother in there as well. Excited to show you when it's all done!

PS 2. I love that color blue! (it's gouache mixed with water to get an ink you can actually write with)

An ode to my island

'Your island? I thought you lived in Rotterdam.'

Yes, I do. And we have a few little islands in the Maas. The one I live at is the Noordereiland [Northern Island]. And I love it. I also love maps, so it is sort of miraculous that this never happened before... but I made an illustrated map of the Noordereiland. I gave myself 'a day off' and what did I do? Work! (But I love it, so then it's okay. Right?)

I know what triggered it. There might be a nice collaboration in the near future with a recently opened coffee place just a few streets away. That made me think of postcards that are more specific for that place. I started with tea, coffee and pie. I tried different things and made two cards that definitely have potential to show up in the shop (and who knows... at the coffee place!).

While working on that I moved from coffee and pie to something that's more specific for this island. We have a bunch of landmarks around, especially bridges (duh...). I thought of drawing these specific landmarks, and I might. But I started with the island itself and it's location in the middle of the Maas.

See for yourself. I think it's a little too specific to put in the shop. But you can always request a printed poster if you're interested (click on the image at my website to send me an email)

PS. The coordinates are exactly where this illustration was made ;)

One clipboard out the door, another in the shop!

This week I sold two of my 'bigger' items in the shop. I love to make nice packages and walking to the post office dropping them off. Especially when the confused girl behind the counter asks me if United Kingdom is the same as United States. Poor thing. Everything has always arrived where it should, so hopefully she is just the only one who did not pay attention in English class and/or Topography.

To prevent the shop from getting empty, I have just added a brand new clipboard. The Celadon one went to Norway yesterday. The white one is now up for sale here. 

I have also added the Christmas card collection. I don't want summer to end, but the rain is telling me I have to deal with it. And autumn means that the holiday season isn't that far away. 

This little bird has left the nest

A while ago I made two new week planners. I meant to write a blog about how they came to be, with photos of the process and all. Yeah, that never happened. Sorry 'bout that. But there may be another chance, because one of the week planners has just been sold. It's spreading its wings and flying all across the North Sea to London.

But there is one more, if you're interested. It says 'Don't forget' instead of 'Important Stuff'. You can also put me to work and let me know what text you want on there (and then buy it of course ;)) Here it is. Next time I make a couple of new planners I'll do a little making of. Promise.

Drawing Challenge #elleaimetekent

Elle Aime is a shop in Rotterdam where Lisa Manuels, illustrator herself, sells all sorts of handmade creative goodies that make you happy. I was there a long time ago when it was just a little improvised shop. A couple of years ago she moved to a bigger space. Every time I am there or just walk past, I really really want to have a shop like that of my own.

Beside the creative workshops she organizes at her shop, she also organized a little drawing challenge on Instagram last week (there were a few before this week and I guess there are more to come). She posted a list of 7 combinations of 2 words. Make an illustration out of it. It can be quick and simple, or you can put a whole lot of work into it. You can be skilled artist or you still draw sticks as arms and legs. I doesn't matter. Just be creative, enjoy yourself. Then post your results to #elleaimetekent where you can find the drawings of everybody who joined.

I joined the challenge and drew a little something every day of the past week. I tried using different materials and techniques each day: papercutting, watercolor, ink, fineliner and pencil. And be original, which is not that easy when you are joining a creative bunch of people. But I'm pretty happy with the results. Thanks to Elle Aime for the inspiration and the challenge. Looking forward to the next round! 

Here they are: 

1. swan + sock

2. pencil + donut (I made two, first idea was posted too many times...)

3. camera + cotton candy

4. stamp + lamp

5. panda + apron

6. slipper + marshmallow

7. banana + bow

Sunny side up!

Just a little experiment with a puncher and colored paper. That turned into this egg and peas.

Our big 100 days of summer postcard project

While we were on our 100-day trip along the Mediterranean coast, M and I had a couple of little projects going on. One of them was take a duo-selfie every single day, so I could make a 100-frame video of our changing (tanning and growing beards. Him, not me) faces and changing surroundings. Lots of fun to see that now we're back home.

The second project was send ourselves a postcard from every place we were visiting. Arriving in a new town we had three tasks: get a postcard, get a stamp and find a mailbox. Sometimes it was easy, sometimes it was hard. But we always managed to send our postcard. We have both written a few sentences on each, so it's a bit like a travel journal.

After 100 days of traveling, we had sent about 60 postcards. Once we got home, we found a big lovely pile of memories in our mailbox. There's only one missing. It was a bit of a challenge making a book out of it, since the cards are all different sizes and the pile is rather large. I thought about it for a while and figured out the best way to do this. Even though I bended the rules a bit, my bookbinding days paid off.

Here's the result.

This is (most of) the stuff I used. What's missing in this picture is bookbinding glue. It's just a big ugly white bucket.