Build your dream

Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. -Farrah Gray-

I am in the mids of building my dreams.. Heaps and heaps of them scatter around me and I can not seem to get them organised. I know where I would love to end up but getting there is kind of a struggle.

Juggling the kids, the house, the work and all other tasks that keep pulling at my sleeve I sometimes wish for a week long "holiday" on a remote site (with internet) to catch up on the big backlog of items on my to do list.

Coming to terms with losing my job wasn't easy. Although the financial crisis played a big, huge part in the decision I still took it quite personal. From being a working, busy mom I went to a stay-at-home mom that is trying to find a new passion.

I really do love my kids to pieces but since the weekdays easily overflow in the weekend and back I sometimes wish for my co-workers.. (yep, even the not so nice boss). I needed my time away to recharge the battery and to keep me on my toes.

The quote I found today is a bit in between for me. I love building my own dreams but I miss the predictability of having a dayjob and a paycheck at the end of the month.

I am still gonna print it out and put it over my desk. To remind me what I am working on.

Click on the image to download the printable.

Pinspiration #3

Cute as a bunny

I am so in love with all the craft ideas on Pinterest. I have loads on my board. Hoping to one day have the time to actually make a few. I found lovely cute felt bunnies. Some very minimal, others cute and fluffy. They inspired me to some wallart for the nursery.

A little patched up and cuddled a lot. I can so imagine my baby girl having this toy for real to hug it. She is very much into bunnies (although cows are her absolute number 1 animal). I might want to make an illustration on that to. For her room.

Elja

Pinspiration #2

Nothing more beautiful then the promise of new life. 

Todays inspiration comes from the beautiful quotes on Pinterest and the amazing pictures of pregnant women. Being a mother I can really relate to the feelings. My pregancies did not all come easy, nor did they go as planned but the end result was worth all the waiting and tears.
I used the pictures on Pinterest as an inspiration for the new illustration. I am thinking to turn it into a birthannouncement or a greetingcard maybe. It would be cool to have your own personalized cards you can send out. You can order your personal picture via www.yourdayinaframe.nl
Still have to think about that though.

Pinspiration #1

The past year have been a lovely rocky road for me. The beginning of the year was dedicated to the startup of my business. Doing what I love and be inspired by the world around me. It took me a while to find my niche. My sweetspot.
It turned out to be illustration happy moments. Special moments. Or not so special moments that you want to remember. In the middle of the year Your day in a frame was born.
To make and keep memories.
This year I will be expanding the happy memories. I am thinking of birthannouncements, births, and all moments that are worth saving.

To start the new year of good I let myself be inspired on Pinterest. I try to take a pin every day (or at least every few days) and give it a go.

For the first day of the year I have let a pin inspire me to some advice for my little girl. I sure hope she takes most of it for granted.

Your day in a frame

During the last months I was busy with a new project. I was working on designing birthannouncement and during one of those still moments where no babies were born I worked on an illustration of a shoppinglady. She turned out so nice that I desided to draw another one. A "What I wore today" illustration. 

And since my sweet little girl was also dressed nicely I drew her too.

 

The next day I did some nice things so instead of a "What I wore today" I drew a "What I did today" for me and her. The reactions were overwhelming and I desided to make a business out of it. To turn an ordinary day into an extraordinary day and save it for the future. Save all the cute things your baby says or does. Save a memory that you normally would forget.
Your day in a frame was born.

Take a look at my site if you like. (it is in dutch now. Working on a translation).

Elja van der Laan

Inspiration Wednesday

Experience is the child of thought, and thought is the child of action.

Benjamin Disraeli

For this inspiration wednesday I started to look for some DIY stuff to do with the kids. The weather here is dreadfull so we need a lot of indoor activity. At pinterest I save a special board for these days. Here are some of my nicest finds.
All pictures link back to the original website it was posted on.

Being inspired myself now I am going to design a printable for some partylights. We need some light in these (still) dark days.

Greetings Elja

A little birdie told me..

A little birdie told me..

that Valentine's day is here.

Last week I gave myself a spontanious assignment to make a free valentine's day give away for each day untill Valentine's day. And now that day is here.

I did not get tons of cards in the mailbox but I had a lovely day with a friend. Talking about future plans for the site we have for birthannouncements. It will take some work from my part because I want to redesign the whole site and make it more customerfriendly. But if we succeed it will be more easy to find the cards.
And in between I designed about 5 cards for the site and a free giveaway card for an event I am joining on Friday. I have to present myself (ieks) and decided to make a card to break the ice. I cannot show it now but I will for sure later on in the week.

For todays free giveaway I made a little birdie basket. Fill it with candy (again *I know*) or small notes you want to keep.

You can download the basket here. Have fun and have a LOVEly day.
ELja