Instagram GIVEAWAY - custom recipe style!

Instagram Give Away! You can win your own personal illustrated recipe. Only this week!

What do you need to do? It's really simple. You go to Instagram and find me there: @drawmyrecipe. Like the post, follow my account and just say something below the post so I know you want to join.

Nothing else. I'll randomly pick a winner next week. I'll contact you via DM on Instagram to ask you what recipe you want me to illustrate. So, one week from now. I say GO (and good luck!)

If you're just not lucky and you want one anyway, you can! Visit www.drawmyrecipe.com to see how. And you'll find lots of examples there as well. 

 

Draw My Recipe

Happy news: I have launched a new website! And it's all about drawing recipes.

I already did that of course under the label Stoffer + Blik. But I decided the recipes deserved a little extra. So I came up with the name 'Draw My Recipe' and a new logo that you may have seen on Instagram. Along with that I just launched www.drawmyrecipe.com where you can find lots of examples, many happy-customer-reviews and all you need to know to get your own recipe drawn by me. You should go check it out! But before you go... I have some more news.

A former colleague of mine just opened (today!) a brand new store slash lunchroom in Voorschoten, called Bij57. And you may have already guessed it: my Stoffer + Blik goodies are for sale there! The store is absolutely gorgeous in pastel greens and filled with beautiful high quality products and one of a kind vintage finds. You'll want to have all of it, so it's a bit tricky going in there.... Another reason to visit is the yummy coffee, lunch and breakfast she's serving (I designed the menu. I know what's on there, believe me).

The photo below is made the evening before the official opening. I haven't seen it all finished by daylight either...

Non related to Stoffer + Blik, but also lots of fun: I painted the logo of Bij57 (it's huge, you should see it ;)) on the wall in the store. And I also hand lettered the opening hours on the door and a couple of words on the window.

So there are two places you need to go:

One > www.drawmyrecipe.com
Two > Bij57, Schoolstraat 57 in Voorschoten

Oh and.... if you order a custom recipe via my new website, before the end of November, you'll get a 10% discount! Just so you know. Perfect timing before Christmas right?

Enjoy! :) 

Customized Weekplanners

A while ago I sold the last chalkboard weekplanner in the shop and I promised to make a bunch of new ones. And take some photos of the process.

I started with sandpapering the wood and drawing the shapes on the board. Mask the shapes with tape and paint. It takes a couple of days, because the paint needs to dry in between stages. The first stage of the chalkboards you can see here:

Next day I added a little color, my favorite: Celadon. And again I wait...

 

When the board is all dry I add the lines and the letters of the week. The last thing is to glue the painted clothes pegs to the bottom.

Usually I would add a text at the top, like 'to-do-list' or 'important stuff'. But this time I decided to make them customized. So I will add the name (or other text) that you request when ordering. That means you can have your (kids) name on it and make it a cool personal gift! You see examples below in chalk, but when you order one I will paint the name in the same white paint as the lines.

I have only three of them. Get yours here!

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)

#9. Watercolor Tags

#9. Watercolor gift tags with handlettering

I really love how these turned out. They are all completely unique because of the watercolor doing its thing. I am thinking about making a couple of sets for the Stoffer + Blik shop. That would be a nice addition, don't you think?

#7. Some People...

#7. Some People... Pen & ink, edited in Photoshop.

#6. Practice makes perfect

The whole calligraphy thing seems to take a lot of testing and trying out different pens and brushes. I bought a calligraphy ink pen that doesn't give me the freedom in thick and thin lines I was looking for. I guess it is more suitable for traditional calligraphy and not so much the hand lettering that I wanted to do.

My regular ink pen, that I've been in love with for years, is wonderful in detail and fine lines, but for the thicker parts of the letters you really need to fill it in afterwards. It works, but I don't think that is the way to go either.

I found some advice on the blog A Fabulous Fete on hand lettering tools. I ended up buying two Japanese brush pens and thought it all would be fabulously easy. Not. I guess that's how you know somebody is really good at something: they make it look effortless. I'm still very far from effortless.

As you can see below one pen is not the other. So I'll be trying out more pens, work on a steady hand (!) and practice, practice, practice!

Pentel is on the left, Pilot on the right. I bought them here.

#2. Calligraphy Words

Another new thing I have been wanting to try is calligraphy. I thought about joining a class or doing a workshop, but decided to do a little research, get the right materials and just get started. First few sheets were a big mess of ugly words and big drops of ink. Pinterest really helped with the inspiration and the possibilities of the more modern calligraphy. Plus I needed to add a little patience, so I did.

I say not too bad for a second try. This might actually go somewhere.

#2. Calligraphy Words.

While we're on the subject... I can't help thinking of these Outlandish lyrics (Sakeena)

We be tight like
2 perfectly matching calligraphy lines
What drew us together
Doesn't conform to the laws of nature
It is written