Holiday time

Happy Easter Holiday

Tomorrow starts a Spring Break for kids in the Netherlands.
I will be off for two weeks. We are going to Scandinavia, I’m looking for it, so much!
Happy Easter days!

photos from Donna Wilson

Design - Donna Wilson

Do you know Donna Wilson? I didn’t! How come?
She set up her company in 2003 after making odd knitted creatures for her final show at the Royal College of art. The creatures sold out and since then she has built her business designing and making a collection of many products for home. Originally from Scotland, Donna runs a studio and workshops in London.
Wilson’s knitted creatures “ are inspired by the everyday oddities and deformities of life. She likes to think of each of them as a character in her very own wonderland—a place where you could stretch out on a sea of pom-poms, have a picnic with a poodle, or get grumpy with a ginger man. “
Donna Wilson was chosen as British designer of the 2010 Year by Elle Decoration.
some of my  pick from her 2010/2011 collection  :

Her official site here

Toys – hand made by Timo

TIMO is a small design line, based in Teal- aviv, Israel, all hand-made, and each and every item is one of a kind. The fabrics are mostly recycled. TIMO is part of the EcoDesign trend, standing up for minimisation of manufacturing waste and simplification of processes.

From the author: “A small case of multicoloured threads I once inherited
A well-loved shirt, wrong sized, I couldn’t pass on for its magnificent texture
A jar of buttons, no relation to one another whatsoever
A handkerchief with grandpa's initials
An embroidered pillow cover, hole included
A romantic dress once found in a second hand shop abroad...
The desire to sew these together,
to make something new, was born of the materials themselves.”

The dolls are simply amazing, It was difficult to choose. I like Rabbits the most, and
the Bead Dolls. For me some of them are just art. The care of details is stunning.
More beautiful things to wonder on Timo web : here

Crafty parents - Made by Joel

Today I want to present  :
Joel Henriques from Portland, OR, United States, to follow on his blog Made by Joel. here

Joel is an artist working in his studio at home. He is also a dad of twins, which are now 4 years old. The crafting story began for him with an old sewing machine which he got from his mom. Joel started to make simple toys for his children, and began to write his blog.....the process grew, and now, next to being widely recognised for his work, he is also having his own book published with inspiring ideas to do with kids.
Joel is sharing with people his simple and joyful concepts. Everybody can play with it home with their own kids, and have so much fun. I like it for its simplicity of materials and a great ideas.
Keep a good job, Joel, and Thank you!

Toy - Miller Goodman – ShapeMaker

Miller Goodman – ShapeMaker is a set of 25 colourful blocks of hardwood, hand-printed and beautifully decorated with geometric prints. The blocks can be combined in plenty of surprising ways. It is a beautiful “new classics” in the children’s market and a Golden Winner in 2009 of the “Practical Pre-School Awards" in England. For my a "must have ".

here Miller Goodman shop 
in the Nederland you can find ShapeMaker  in a nice new online -shop gosto-design

Design - Kidsonroof

The Dutch are world-wide known for they simple and original design.
Kidsonroof is a company  which try to connect modern urban life with sustainability. Since 2005 Romy Boesveldt  and Ilya Yashkin, together with their three children run a test lab where new ideas continue to arise. Encouraging the imagination and creativity is the core of all Kidsonroof designs.

Their objects are not only ecological and playful, they are also so beautiful!

photos from they site here Kidsonroof

My design – baby plush

Yesterday my little boy was having his half a year anniversary.
I wanted to do something nice for him. I thought of a toy and a vest.
This funny snake-fish toy was immediately stolen by my older son, which he cold  a “beating club “ and he was hitting everything with it :-) So it was my small success of the day.

Book - “Magic Chicken”

“Magic Chicken” is a new Polish magazine for children, with stunning graphic quality. It  is a large, colourful magazine , printed on a nice heavy paper, and there are no commercials inside.
It contains poems, stories, coloring pages, and original paper cuts.
The new issues appears every two months.

“Magic Chicken” was awarded in the international competition for graphic design:
European Design Awards, and received a silver medal in the category of "Self-initiated projects"
official site here czarodziejskakura

Crafty parents– part 1

I get really inspired by reading  the stories of crafting parents. How they stay creative, run own business and keep they everyday life on track.
Today I want to present :
Kajsa Wikman  from Helsinki, Finland, she is a owner of  beautiful Syko Design.
Her firs book “ Scandinavian Stitches” is just published !
She said:
“Sewing is what I like most and is my full-time occupation since 2007. Things that inspire me: children's drawings and illustrations for kids, naive folk art, colours, materials, people and everyday life.”  You can read interesting interview with Kajsa  here 
and enjoy her work on her blog here

Toys – Lucky Boy Sunday

Camilla and Camilla, two friends, sat on a bench, near the lake of Copenhagen, on a lucky Sunday in 2007. They had a dream of creating their very own version of child reality, and they started the Lucky Boy Sunday brand. All products, dolls, cushions are knitted in 100% alpaca, and they are just amazing!
You can read all the story here 

foto's are from here and here

Inspiration - Kids Fun Foods

Let kids play with their food.  It's a great way to get more veggies into tummies too.

 

 more great idea for Kids Fun Food you can find here  and much more....

Monday - fresh start.

The last days it was such a sunny weather here in the Netherlands.
Definitely it is time to play outside for children!
here are some outdoor photos...I like.

Drawing lesson

My  4 years old son, doesn’t really like to draw. When I ask him, draw something,
he is answering “ I’ can’t mom”, then we sit and we try to imagine, how the things look like.
I actually really like his abstract way of seeing and drawing things.
Here one of his drawing. It is a monster eating bad children. The yellow/orange round things, are treasures, hidden inside the monster and corridors to go to them ;-)

Inspiration - children photos

Children are never ending inspiration for making photos. They are changing so fast. So full of energy and ideas. With emotions painted on their faces, without any masks, so truthful.
How to catch all of it?
I like to look at photos on blog La Dans La here. There is hardly any text, just photos taken by a French stylists. You can see an interesting house, mum working nowadays on her shoe designs, and two boys running around. Its nice to by a spy sometimes.

I was playing a ball with my little boy, and I did some photos.
It is sometimes scary what can be done with an iPhone photo. You make a picture, digitally process it in a blink of an eye – and here we go! My cross processed picture for today.