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.

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

Love Labels

~At least once in a lifetime you meet a person who leaves an impression on your soul that time will never erase~

During the years some people made a very deep impression on my soul. Ofcourse there are my husband and kids, my family and some friends who are more special than others. Not that the others are not valuable but some people just get under your skin.

One of those people gets a little highlight here. We never had a relationship but we shared a few valentines notes.

One of my best friends, Severijn*, past away when I was in college. I think we only knew each other for a year or two but he made a lasting impression. Even to this day (he died over 15 years ago) he is sometimes here with me. He never knew my kids but he would have adored them. He would have supported me during the rough times when we could not conceive. When we had miscarriages  but also during our high times. When we maried and just for the little joys in life.

To this day I still wish I could tell him stuff. These love labels are dedicated to him. You can use them for anything. On a gift, on a bouquet of flowers, as a bookmark or just leave it as a note at the door.

You can download them here.

Valentine's countdown 5 days to go

Believe in yourself

When it comes to love nothing is more frustrating than not knowing if the one you love, loves you back.
I remember when I was younger that the period before you were dating was nerve wracking at best. Doing everything and following every class where HE also went to.

Showing of the best sides of you. Wearing your most beautifull clothes and loads of perfume. And when he looked at you, you quickly glanced away. Pretending not to see hem. Hoping for the moment that he would speak to you and you would end up nerviously giggling with the girlfriends.
Sometimes the moment never came. He was not interested or maybe not even aware of you having a crush on him.

Those days are now well behind me. I met my husband in school  but we only started dating in college. We took our time so to speak. We wrote loads of letters when I lived abroad. Even then I illustrated my letters but I still wish I then had the skills I had now.

Here is a new valentine's day card. Use it wisely. :)

You can download the card here. 

Lots of love Elja

For the sweet (at) heart

You are as sweet as candy

Valentine's day countdown. Only 6 more days to go.

I have to admit. I am totally addicted to candy. Chocolate is the favorite but a good winegum or heart candy will do also. I always used to tell my colleagues at work that there ALWAYS is a reason to give treats. We had a large candyjar at work and it was more empty than filled and that was not due to the fact that it was never filled.

When we got married my husband and I got a really huge (and I mean really really huge) candyjar completely filled with candy. I think it did not last us for 2 weeks. Up to this day we still use the candyjar although we never ever fill it till the top anymore. It can hold over 6 large bags of candy.

It is a miracle that I am not wider than I am tall and still have all my teeth. The next gift is not as huge as our candyjar but it makes a nice gift nonetheless. Fill the box with your favorite sweets for your sweetheart.

You can download it here.

Lots of love Elja

A note full of love

For you see, each day I love you more 

Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.

~Rosemonde Gerard~

Valentinesday is the perfect moment to share your love with the ones you love.


Now that I am married there isn't as much excitement over cards and who they are from. I doubt it whether there will be cards at all. My dear husband isn't the real romantic type that sends me cards. 


He isn't that bad. Takes home sweets and candies very often and shows his love for me during the week but if I am hoping for flowers I have to leave some very clear hints. (like a note or something). I normaly use whatever paper there is around. Envelopes, post-its, newspaperclippings, etc. 


But now I decided to make my love something more special. Valentines notepapers. And you get to have it as well. You can print as many (or as few) as you like to leave your loved ones a special note. You get 2 different notes. Click on the images to download the notes.

If you like my work have a look at my etsy shop for more DIY and customized work. 

XOX Elja