Merry Christmas

Ieder jaar maak ik een kerstkaart, dit jaar een linoleumsnede. Ik wens jullie allemaal een heel fijne Kersttijd en alle goeds voor het nieuwe jaar.

Every year I make a christmard card. This year I made a lino cut. I wish you all a very merry Christmas and all the best for the new year ahead. 

Barcelona!

Today it's Casper's birthday. Twelve! Keen on traditions as we are -OK, maybe just I am- we came up with a new one. For their twelfth birthday, one of us takes the birthday kid to a European city of choice. What a joy it was this morning to see his face lighten up as he opened the little booklet I made for him. "This is a flight ticket, right?" He didn't get to choose the destination, but we were sure he would have chosen Barcelona. Ever since he found a book about Gaudi on our bookshelf, he's dying to see it for real. And guess who's the lucky parent...

Party preparations

Just like a lot of you I like planning the birthday parties of our children. In less than two weeks -I'm the kind of girl that needs a little pressure- Valentijn is turning ten! The days of pirate and knight parties have long gone. We've been climbing, abseiling and 'polder-sporting' which  basically comes down to 101 ways to get across the water. We have two boys, so I ran a little out of inspiration. Valentijn askes for a 'Wie is de Mol' kind of party. This is a popular gameshow about 10 candidates, who get assignments by which they can earn money for the whole group. However, one of the members of this group is a traitor, the mole who tries to keep the amount of earned money as low as possible. I think this is nice, active game for boys this age. We live nearby the dunes, a perfect spot for this game! The linocut made a perfect stamp for the invitation.

Lino cut

It's my dad's birthday today. Men's gifts, never easy. Last year we went to the Matthäus Passion. In a concerthall, which I highly recommend. It definitely beats sitting on a hard bench in a cold church. We'll go again this year, but it seemed a bit lame to make it his gift again. So I tried something new. Lino cut.  I liked making this very much and I only needed one band-aid...

If anyone wonders: this is the church of Wons in Friesland, my father's birthtown. We've talked about it lately and he was very pleased with the print. Unfortunately I got a flat tire on my way home. And guess what; I left my cell phone at home. Grr.