Merry Christmas Everyone!

To all my sweet sweet visitors, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas!

I am so grateful for all of you, for all your comments and emails, feedback and questions, you are too kind.

Hope you will have a blessed holiday with lots of fun, love, food, and all that goodness.

I will be back after Christmas with my (daily) posts!

(image is from my vintage postcard collection. it has been sent once long ago, but i can't read the postal mark since it's been faded too much. it's from the MUVA postcard company and was printed for the missionary home Saint Willibrord in the Netherlands)

Pay it forward

Have you heard about the crafty Pay-it-forward movement already? I am following Deborah at Nesting Notes, who followed camilla, who followed bibi, and the list goes on with beautiful crafty bloggers who are participating.

How it works is, I send a crafted gift to the first three people that comment on this post that want to p(l)ay. Each of them then posts the message below on their blog and invites another three people to join in on the fun.

The gifts of handmade stuff gets paid forward, and we all get packages in the mail! Who doesn't love that?

The promise:
"I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don't know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."

Even if you've never commented on my blog before, only came to read my adventures, now would be the perfect time to come out and say hi!

(Image with this post is from my vintage postcard collection.)

Having fun with Hypotrochoids

Hypo what??
Hypotrochoids.
Maybe you know it from when you were a little kid and you played with a SpiroGraph set.
I got this somewhat more 'grown-up' art set. Basically the same as the SpiroGraph, but the tools are a bit more sturdy and professional, it came in a pretty box and it's called by the official geometric name Hypotrochoid.
Decorated these small cards which will be send out to some lovely creative people very soon.

Going away party

No time to design my own invitation cards... But i did find a pack with these stylish cards to invite my family to my birthday & going away party.

I'll be leaving for NYC on June 7th and my birthday is on June 3rd, so it all comes together like that. I hope it will be a wonderful Sunday with my lovely large family (around 60 people!). I will miss them so when i'm gone, but i'm also so excited to go!
More on this and the rest of my journey soon!

Baby Girl Alyssa Isabella

Finding an envelope with your name printed on in pink is a very good thing.

The baby announcement cards have been ordered, sent out and received. I think they came out lovely. Hope that it touches the cute spot inside everyone who received it from the happy parents.

I loved designing it for them. Really wanted to end up with a card that they would truly love.

It was a fun process. Of course it would turn out as a typical ismoyo illustration. But it wasn't only up to me, desiging it for them wasn't only a great gift to give to them, but in a way they were my clients too, so i had to listen to what the mommy wanted and liked and what daddy saw for his little girl.

We went and moved on from some other ideas, ending up choosing the pink baby deer.

Showing some variations that went by the 'judging committee'. ;)

this, that and something else

I opened my mailbox and found that my Love had sent me this adorable image. How super cute!
I don't know where he found it, it reminds me of a page from a coloring book. All of a sudden i want to go to the petting zoo and feed a small deer. Don't we love Bambi?

My friend has delivered her babygirl! I'm so proud of her. The little girl is an Indonesian/Dutch/Italian mix and already looks so pretty! They haven't send out their baby announcement cards, so i won't show the design i did for it here yet. Wouldn't be fair. But i did dove in my fabric scrap box and whipped up a pink congratulations with the new baby card.

I went to the market yesterday to get some zippers and found these wonderful old fabrics. I really wasn't planning to buy that many, but the lady was so kind to make me a deal i couldn't say no to. I bought some pink trimmings too. I was so happy that i totally forgot about those zippers i needed to get!

Blank cards + Fabric

Blank cards + Fabric and a little bit of embroidery = Animal fabric collage postcards

Lotta cards

With my card collection i look for a certain style, a certain era of cards. I go for the vintage 60's 70's children's postcards.
I also like to look for specific illustrators from those times.
These four cards are by Lotta.
I like her drawings, her kids look so happy and sweet.

Moerman's boys

I have shown my collection of 60's/70's artworks before and promised to make some more close up pictures.
Today's spotlight is on the print on wood (bottom left) done by the artist J. Moerman. It has a small mark on the back from art dealer 'van Hulsen'.
Like most illustrators of my collection i haven't been able to find information about Moerman. Except in my own collection of vintage postcards. Well, not really any background info, but i do have two more illustrations. Both have been printed for the Hendik Pierson Foundation. A foundation helping mothers and children. The back of both cards has been written on, which i like cause it tells the story, a little bit of history. They have been used to send birthday wishes, the postal mark of the one on the left is stamped in 1971, the one on the top right also has a stamp but unfortunately i can't make out what it says.

Happy New Year

- Happy New Year - Gelukkig Nieuwjaar - Selamat Tahun Baru - Bonne Année - Feliz Año Nuevo -

Thank you for visiting my blog, thank you for being loyal readers and sending me emails and leaving me notes. Thank you for encouraging me, inspiring me, blessing me.

Have a happy new year, stay safe and see you in 2007!

this vintage new year's card has been sent to celebrate a prosperous 1975...

Merry Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful merry cute and creative Christmas!

About the postcard:
Prettige Kerstdagen en een Voorspoedig Nieuwjaar = Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.
Printed by Muva. Sent and stamped in 1972.

Picture Postcards; vintage dolls

New additions to my postcard collection. I love these old cards with the dolls features on them. Who took these pictures? Who placed the dolls lovingly in the little set ups to portray their adventures?
The one on the right bottom is very special. You can't really see it in this scan, but the red part on the card is made of some kind of felt fabric. Soft!

Some people (collectors) prefer cards to be blank, not have anything written on it. But I do like that, it gives the card another level, a story, a history.

Unfortunately the back of these cards don't tell a whole lot of extra stories about their histories. The picnic scenery doesn't have anything on the back besides the printers name, Printed in Holland by Vita Nova Hank. The lady on the top right corner has no written message also. But printed on it, it tells us that it was printed in Rotterdam (city in the Netherlands) by the Brothers Spanjersberg company. It states that the picture is from Josee van Meurs and is called 'Furga Doll'. The cuty in the car is printed by Muva and has some unreadable kids scribblings on the back. The felted one is printed by Kruger in West Germany. It has been given to somebody on his or her birthday, on the back is written 'happy birthday by your uncle, auntie and nephews and nieces'. Unfortunately no stamp/postal mark to trace the date..

Flower Power Postcards

I'm so excited about these new additions to my collection of vintage childrens postcards!!
I found them on an Dutch online auction site, Qoop. Mental note: not to get addicted to online auctions...
Aren't these flowerpower girls cheerful? They do make me smile.
The cards have been sent around 1976 to one lucky birthday girl!
(The text 'Hartelijk Gefeliciteerd' means 'Happy Birthday')

Moving overseas - an update

I have been receiving some sweet emails of blog visitors inquiring about the progress of my big move overseas. Thanks for the interest. Well, progress, not really, unfortunately. It has to be put on hold for a couple of more months... (I'm not a happy puppy due to this)
It's not that me or my hubby don't want to have it happen asap, but with some things in the visa process we're depending on other people. And we're grateful that they are willing to help us out so you can't just shake them around and scream "Please fill out those forms!!!"
Nope. We have to be patient. Patient. And have some more patience.
Ohoh. Not something I'm normally very good at..
If all goes well, or should i say as well as can be, the whole process will be picked up in August again. Then I'll get the final forms which i need to proceed. After that, it's all on me, i have to go for a medical exam and a final interview and if that works out positive I'll be able to move. But it does mean that i probably won't be moving this summer. More likely Fall/Winter.
It makes me sad 'cause i miss my LOVE very much.
Hopefully I'll be able to fly over somewhere in July for a quick visit.

Illustration Birthday Postcard

I hadn't had the change to scan in this great postcard yet! It was sent to me for my birthday by a group of people i worked with in the past and most likely will be working with in the near future.
I love it when it's so obvious that something is picked out especially for me and when the person who picks it out really knows the style of design i like!
(of course all other cards which i received were beautiful and much appreciated also, i just wanted to share this one with my fellow design/illustration freaks out there).

Spoiling myself!

Told ya I was making sure I would receive great mail deliveries during my last week as a twenty-some year old!I have a couple of sweet small illustration books by Joan Walsh Anglund. She's a writer/illustrator from back in the days. I adore her cute drawings of kids with themes of love, friendship and spirituality. I found this (small) bargain plate by her with the two kids on the playground. Sweet!
These paintings might be considered kitsch by a lot of people, but hey, they just belong in my interior!
I collect sixties/seventies vintage children's postcards and I found some great ones online. Now they make a welcome addition to my collection!
I got a whole stack of old 'Tina' comic magazines from the early 70's era. I love these magazines because I remember having a subscription when I was little. The illustrations are terrific and I love the showcase of fashion from that time. I will scan some pages and share them here, because they are too great to keep to myself!
Marion magazines. Sewing pattern magazines from the early seventies. Wow. I'm almost jumping up and down with joy! I want to make almost everything out of these mags! They are so so wonderful. My mom saw these yesterday and couldn't put them down anymore. She remembers buying them when me and my brother were still kids and making us clothes from it!
Back then the magazines didn't use real models yet, so the clothes are shown by drawings. Such an enormous source of inspiration! Lovely.

And of course I got spoiled too! My man, who is in NYC right now, had friends of him over here arrange that I received a large bouquet of roses and a bottle of yummy wine! How sweet!
My brother brought a bottle of champagne, yeah! And I got a nice Thai dinner, a Paulo Coelho book, Armani perfume and more.

This is my last week

As a twenty-some young lady. Next weekend i will be hitting the big 3-0! I'm not afraid. I'm feeling pretty good right now. If i look back at the 30 years passed, i can't say it was uneventfull. I travelled a lot, met lots of interesting people, laughed, cried, had much adventures, grew, lived, loved, and learned. I have no regrets. Ofcourse there are things i would do differently nowadays, but hey, you do the best with what you know, right?

To celebrate ME i'm making sure i'm receiving fun mail presents this week.
Yes. I'm hooked to online auctions. Ohoh. And i promised myself not to.
I started selling my old stuff on a Dutch auction site. You know, thinking of moving overseas i can use every euro and the less things to move, the better! So no browsing the offered items on the site. I didn't. For almost 3 weeks.
I made the mistake of clicking on one add, got curious, typed in a search and before i knew it i was bidding already! Ohoh.
Now i've put myself on a 'buy-gifts-for-my-own-brithday'- budget. And already went over. It's just that my heart skipps a beat if i come across an add for something i've never seen before but have been waiting for all my life. How can i not make bids? But not to worry about my future credit reports. This is this week only!

So i'm turning 30 and buying kids postcards and childrens illustration books. Yup. I'm growing up. I could say they're all retro, vintage from the sixties/seventies. But that doesn't change the fact they're still kids things. Well, i get lots of inspiration from all of it.

I'm also looking online for a present for my visa co-sponsor. I love her so much for wanting to help us out and i know there won't be a way to just say thank you. She's a collector too so i'm searching for rare items for her collection.