Ameland

On our way to the island of Ameland in the north of the Netherlands we stayed in Leeuwarden and visited some beautiful towns, museums and some of my Frysian customers!
One of them - the lovely Gerrie Tiemersma from hairsalon 't Kapperszaakje in Franeker bought me this little gift in the local thrift store. Beautiful vintage montessori school supplies! Very inspiring for the future tiles collection I am dreaming of...If you are in the neighbourhood - even if you don't need a haircut - you should visit her salon on the Dijkstraat number 60. It has an extraordinairy, crafty and nice atmosphere, my designs feel at home there! 
And don't forget to drive to Sneek and visit Elles and Maaike in their new and huge store Nio & Elva (they sell Hay, Muuto, Ferm, Marimekko and my Blom flowers).

And then we went to Ameland for a couple of days, to breath some sea air, get some salt in our hair, sand in our shoes and study fishing net structures

DIY-copper mobile

I would love to make this awesome copper mobile, with a little help of the clear tutorial by the Craftysisters. I read on their blog that it is inspired by the work of Alexander Calder and I recently visited an exhibition of his work in The Hague. Each shape is made from two copper disks cut to fit together.
Thanks for sharing this one!

cast cup

Just came back from ceramics class with my very first cup from the cast mould I made some time ago during a workshop.
Have to admit: I cheated a little...didn't make the model for the mould myself, but I asked an experienced and talented class-mate to throw me one (thanks again, Annemiek!). The rest of the cast-work and all the details (lines/glaze etc) are mine though!
The idea that I can make this same model over and over again in numerous variations makes me happy...

dipped

It is so funny to see lots of designers use 'dipping' as a new technique. Must be in the air somehow.
From above: DIY- neon dip dye egg, find the tutorial at: Oh Joy. Dipped pendant hanger from Heuteschmidt on Etsy, so simple! There are even designers that 'dip' one material in the other. As you can see at the awesome baskets above by Cordula Kehrer from Germany.

new elements

My poor house: It has been ages that I gave it some attention! I have no spare time for styling, painting, sewing or to go treasure hunting in thrift stores.

Since there will be a photo shoot this Wednesday I got a little nervous...how does my house look through the eyes of people who don't live in it? Sian Williams and Brent Darby come all the way from London, for my house that is so tiny and furnished practically....

Well, we gave our house some love last week: my husband finally finished tiling the bathroom (after 10 years, no kidding!), I hung new roller blinds in the bedroom and I went on several nightly treasure hunts on the internet.

I had bought the paper lampshade already some time ago and last week we placed it in our bedroom. The lovely sixties glass lamps I found at Lamplord (I just checked, they still have 2 pcs, look under 'lampenkappen'!)

 

Bought these awesome HAY-cushions at BijzonderMOOI* last week. Fell in love with them from the first minute I saw them last winter. The Kvadrat fabric is wonderful, the shape is great and I love the fabric buttons!

If you've been here before you might know the cottage houses by Ontwerpduo, I wrote about them in this post last year. I was actually looking for the right pot and the right plant to go with this little paper-village.
I found a large vintage plant-bowl and the right plant to go with it: our new green pet, a carnivorous plant!

my new pop-up posters: WIN a set!

Today my new pop-up posters are ready and for sale. I am so happy that I can finally share them with you!

 It is an honour that both Irene from Bloesem and Sandra from BijzonderMOOI were willing to publish the very first photo's. They even organised a great GIVE-AWAY: Check out Bloesem Blogs to read all about it!

 Pop-up posters - Tree - Fish - Landscape

These graphic artworks appear understated……but see what happens when you take these few simple steps!

Open the fish and the leaves of the trees, open the landscape and the sunshine. Choose a background colour to suit the mood of the picture. You can use one of the colours provided or perhaps something completely different.

The posters are printed on traditional Rives paper (220 gsm) and then pre-cut. Each poster includes a double-sided background sheet printed in two plain colours.

The A4 posters are sold individually and packaged flat with a stiff cardboard liner in a transparent A4 bag, rrp € 11,95 per piece. The A3-size landscape comes in a sturdy, triangular white cardboard tube with a handle, rrp € 17,95.

All my products are eco-friendly.  The paper carries the FSC-logo, and is acid- and chlorine-free.  The Vega-Fast ink is a Dutch developed printing ink based on vegetable oils.  The plastic-looking bags are actually made from cornflour and are bio-degradable.

spring trade fair

A mini report from the Spring Trade Fair in Utrecht last week: We had the same stand, as you can see in the previous post, with the same crew (Snor and Jurianne), but we had it painted in a different colour... You can get a glance of my latest product (the Pop-up Posters) which I will show next week, when I have had time to take some proper photo's!

Traditionally we organized dinner in the 'street' in front of our stands on Monday night. Wine, Thai food and good vibes! Joining us: Sabien and Aisa from Engel, Ingrid from Ingthings, Guusje and her partner from Breekwater, Bibi from Bl-ij, Brigitte from Miscellanious, Gemma from Milestone Cards, Wendy and Rianne from Gezinnig, our new friend Hera Bjørk from Iceland and many more...