Moving 'house'

Hey there. Just a short note to inform you that there is a brand new blog where I am hanging out lately and it's called: Pencils & Pasta. It looks real nice, if I say so myself :-) You'll find it at pencilsandpasta.com. It's all about illustration, inspiration, making my work mainly location independent, travel and moving to Italy. Say what? Yes! I am moving to Italy. Ok, maybe not right now. But I am working towards it and my new blog is there for you to join me on my adventurous journey.

I hope you want to join me too! You can subscribe there if you don't want to miss any new blogposts. Read on for a little piece of writing from the new blog.

Here's a little bit of the 'why' I have written on pencilsandpasta.com/about:

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....I work mostly from my studio at home and the plan is to change the location of ‘home’. That’s where Italy comes in. I love that place. I love the language, the food, the sun, the ocean. And M and I want to live there within a certain amount of time. A simpler life: more nature and less concrete, more time and less stress, more sun and less rain. La bella vita, si? Obviously that doesn’t happen over night and we will definitely not go unprepared. So there’s work to do. Learn Italian, making sure we can both do most of our work from anywhere in the world (read: Italy), so we won’t be eating bare pasta without any wine. Impossible! And figure out where we want to live. Quite important.

This blog is about my life as an illustrator and this adventurous road to Italy. I’ll show you my work and how it’s made. You will read about the materials and programs I use. I will show you what inspires me. You can join me while I figure out how to earn a passive income and how I am about to change the way I work to being location independent. But it’s not all work related, you can join me here while I go back to school to learn Italian. And of course, you can tag along while we go to Italy and find the perfect spot.

I hope to inspire you to live your life to the fullest and follow your dreams...

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Curious yet? Please join me and don't forget to subscribe there! www.pencilsandpasta.com

Sweet 'n Spicy

Are you sending a card to your Valentine this year? And if you do, will it be sweet or spicy?

Spicy?

Or sweet?



Both cards are available at Stoffer + Blik.
You'll find the hottie right here. And for the sweet one, click here.

If you're in the USA or anywhere outside of Europe you best order within the next two weeks for it to be on time for Valentine!

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. 

 

Tools of the Trade

I'm not making as much new Stoffer + Blik products as I would like to. I am hoping to find a little more time next year to do so. My hands are itching for carving new stamps and designing new cards.

But I have just added an extra item to the shop. This is a postcard of an illustration I made for my own portfolio site. As you might know I am a freelance illustrator and graphic designer, so I have a portfolio website for self promotion. This website was thoroughly updated a few months back, which resulted in a lack of time for other things. And... this illustration. Tools of the Trade: pencils, nibs, a tablet, macbook and some pantone swatches.

If you are a creative like me, you'll probably recognize the tools!

The postcard I made, you can find right here. Only 1,20 euro. For all you creative folks out there!

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! :) 

The start of a little Natural History Collection...

I had an interesting offer from a (a real one, stone and everything) shop recently that wanted to sell my items. I might go ahead and do that... I will let you know the details when it's actually happening. As a result I took the weekplanners out of the Etsy shop. These were to be customized and therefor unfinished. I decided to finish them and use those to be sold in this shop. Sorry about that. I will add new ones in a short while!

The other thing (also a result of this in a way) are these new items in my Etsy shop: mini posters. Maybe you remember the grasshopper linocut. It needed company, so I cut a beetle out of lino to start a little 'natural history collection'. I cannot really call it a collection when there's only two pieces, can I? But it's a start. I used both stamps to create these mini posters, A5 sized. They're actually printed with blockprinting ink, rolling and all. No stamping ink this time. And the color is so gorgeous! It's a deep blue that really lies on top of the paper. 

I made a couple, limited and numbered. They're all different and completely handmade and unique artwork. Two are in the Etsy shop, the others are reserved for the 'real shop'. You can get your hands on #4 right here and here.

Minimalist love card

For all you not so corny lovers out there who secretly do like Valentine: a minimalist love card. Simple and elegant! I stitched three X'es on a double white greeting card. 

I only have one right now, but I'd love to make more!

Be the first and get it here