Oh Creative Blog

Instagram brings such lovely and creative people into my life. Like sweet, Australian lady Shannon from Oh Creative Day. We connected via #4ThingsILove (a hashtag made up by Shannon, aka @ohcreativeday, and her friend Hazel, aka @hidden_egg).

I love Shannons happy making instagram feed and blog, full of inspiring creative ideas. Please do check them out :) She has a great eye for finding beauty in everyday things and I just adore the way she creates precious memories and learning experiences with her kids through art, craft & picture books.

Of course I was super excited when she asked me to make her a new blog header! She had a clear vision of the colouring and shapes she liked, so I could start working on it pretty much straight away... Di-da-doodle time followed:

Aaand here's how it turned out...

So happy she's chuffed with the result :) 

P.S. This was actually my first experience making someone (other than myself) a header. Super fun! Thanks for your trust and enthusiasm Shannon. xx

Happy new month everyone!

Congratulations and celebrations

It's nearly my mom and dads 40th wedding anniversary! Also: my mum will turn 70 soon, and my dad 81. They celebrate these festive facts with an intimate lunch in a nice restaurant.

It was of course a lovely job to make their invitation. Don't they look super cute and 70s in this picture:

P.S. Can you guess my parents hobbies? ;-)

Congratulations dear mom & dad! Cheers to many more happy years together. <3 

February is here!

Cheers to 50 years!

Close friends of my parents recently asked me to design their 50^th wedding anniversary invitation. What a wonderful request! I’ve known Tineke & Aad all my life and they are like an aunt & uncle to me, which made this a lovely personal commission.

Below are the first sketches I made for them. I wanted to either make a design with words that were meaningful to them, or a design with illustrations of meaningful things and situations.

After a family brainstorm (including a delicious homemade dinner) they decided on the illustrated version. I loved painting all the little details...

And here's the end result...

There are so many things they enjoy, as you can see! Never a dull moment for them. ;-) On the inside I painted a branch that's part of a beloved painting they own..

And this tiny cheese cube car is on the back... 

What's up with all the cheese, you might wonder? Well, the golden wedding couple used to be cheesemongers. They owned a very nice store, and yes: they also drove in this super fun cheese cube car! They have a great sense of humour. :-D

Happy 50th wedding anniversary dear Tineke & Aad! May many joy filled years follow!

Love and marriage... and illustrations!

The past few months I've been excited and busy designing my own wedding invitations, menu and other paper goodies. And I must say: it was quite difficult for me having to postpone this blogpost with the endresults until after our wedding day. ;-) But now I can finally share this... Yay!

My wedding theme was autumn, since John and I married on October 15, 2015 (15 years after we met in the fall of 2000). Here's what the envelopes with my very own stamps looked like...

I had been wanting to make our own address stamp for aaages, so now was the time!

Here's the complete wedding invitation suite (including the leaf-placement-cards, cake-toppers and thank-you flags to put on our wedding favours, which were little plants).

I wanted the card to tell a personal story. At the front I made an image of our two hands holding each other while sitting at a table. My hands are different, because of my juvenile rheumatoid arthritis; smaller and more fragile. But they can still love and create. This is how we often sit together at a restaurant... Simply enjoying each other company, sharing an apple pie, listening to music and each enjoying our own interests (me: a notebook and pen to write and make drawings / john: his iphone that symbolises his love for gadgets; being a software engineer and nerd in general).

And then at the inside it was all about our autumny wedding and our venue: De Hortus Botanicus in Leiden...

And to conclude: our matching menu...

All in all it was quite some work, but a joy to make!

Mr. Ice Cream loves Sundaes...