week 42: Patterns

A while back I got CS 6 on my computer, it stands for Creative Suit 6 and has the programs Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. They're the programs most used by graphic designers (like me). Illustrator is my alltime favourite!

In Illustrator they added a lot of extra's to make patterns. So I had to dive in! It's always been my secret wish to design wallpaper and fabrics! Let me show you what I've made so far:

I started with the one above. I tryed to make a retro style. It's a little static (don't know if it's the right word). But nice to begin with :) (I thought of a teatowel)

Then I tryed to make a design, where you wouldn't see the repeat of the design so clearly. That's very difficult, I didn't succeed, but it's a beginning. (my next challenge!!)

Then I tryed to design a few patterns, that would make a good combination together. (Just in case they become fabrics one day, and I want to make a quilt of it ;) )

Another one

and another one.

And this is what my future quilt would look like :)

Please, tell what you think!

Illustrator tutorial

Lately I've been doing a lot of tutorials in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Just to keep me sharp and updated.

I found a tutorial on the internet that was a combination of Illustrator and Photoshop, but after step 3 I couldn't figure it out anymore. (they skipped so many steps). So I thought: I think I can make this, just in Illustrator (my favourite anyway :))

Well, here's the result:

Tell me what you think :)

My best friends wedding: part IV

And the last part...

The flowers and the rings.

There was a great party at the beach at night. Nancy, Frank and I agreed that is was time to party for me too. So I've put camera away and partied like it was my best friends wedding :)

Looking back on this day:

First of all it brings a big smile on my face! It was the best day!

Second: I was sooooo nervous, and usually that blocks me. It did in the beginning, but then I saw some pictures on my screen an I thought: I NEED to make better pictures!! And this is the only day you can do that! So I did a checklist in my head: What kind of light is this and how do you set up your camera for that? What kind of filter do you put on your camera? Because I was so busy with this I 'forgot' that I was nervous and then suddenly I was having fun!

I'm very pleased with the result and so are newly weds.

But, of course, there still is a lot to learn :)

My best friends wedding: Part III

... and part III (one to go) The actual wedding! It was in a lovely little church in Heiloo. Nancy is from Castricum and Frank is from Alkmaar, Heiloo is in the middle of that. Great choice!

It was a beautyful ceremony, with lots of music (their both in a musical-perform-group, that's where they met) and time to congratulate them and have piece of delicious cake or a cupcake (made by Taarten op Texel)

My best friends wedding: Part II

We went to Alkmaar to take pictures. Frank is a policeman (on a motor). His colleage-policemen escorted us to Alkmaar. Which was very cool!

My best friends wedding: part I

As you might know, it was 'My best friends wedding' on the 20th of april 2012.

I made their invitations <see here> and they also asked if I wanted to make the weddingpictures. 'No!' was my first response, 'You should hire a professional'. But, to make a long story short, I finally said yes.

I was very nervous, so I thought: The only thing I can influence is PREPARATIONS. So I took a course how to use an extern flashlight. (I've already done a few other courses in the past)

Made a list of all the moments that would be important on their weddingday and looked at a lot of photo's on the internet. And of course made a lot of pictures. I also went to the church they were getting married, to see the light.

The week in advance, I had a horrible stomach ache, couldn't sleep, couldn't think of anything but 'The Day'. There was some serious nerve-racking going on.




Then the day was there! And.... it went well. The weather was very grey, that was a pity. And at the last moment there was a change in location. I also went location-hunting in advance, but we never went there :(

But... I like the result. And more important: the weddingcouple loved the photo's!

So, after some doubt (I wasn't sure if I would show these on my blog) here is part I of my best friends wedding:

PS There will be more parts. This was the first part of the day.

To think about

On this blogpost I want to give you something to think about. I saw this phrase once on pinterest and it hit me. This is exactly how I think about life. So I made a design for it.

A few of my thoughts:

I think everybody knows the phrase: "The grass is always greener on the other side". I think many people look too much at what other people have and what they don't have. Try to look at the things you DO have, is my motto :-) It's an endless story if you always look at others.

And second: 'If you put energy to something it will come back to you.' A lesson my father told me a lot! My father is the most optimistic person I know. And he's right about this.


And third: it's funny! 

What are your thoughts about this? 

Get your own Homemade Strawberry Jam label

When we re-designed our garden a few years ago, I had the plan to make a ‘picking-wall’. On one side of our garden we have  a very long wooden fence, I wanted to cheer it up with climbing plants. So onto the fence , John made ‘screens’ where the plants could climb up onto. I chose some plants with pretty flowers, but also a few with berries. We have strawberries, blackberries,  gooseberries and wineberries - > my favourites! And not only because they have the word wine in them ;-)

When they are ripe (Huub keeps picking them when they’re green though), we always eat them right away. But I always have the dream to make my own jam; for the delicious jam, but mainly because then I can make cute labels for the jars.

Bottomline, I don’t see me making jam in the near future, but I did make  the cute labels… Maybe one of you is making their own jam. So if you leave a comment with your e-mailadress (or send me a private mail, if you don’t want to share your e-mail adress), I’ll send a PDF to you, so you can print your own strawberry jam labels.

What kind of jam do you like to make? Maybe I’ll make a label for that in the future J

week 25,5: Mini Herb&Vegetable garden

Here an update about the Mini Herb&Vegetable garden:

The rocket isn't turning out, how I thought it would...

It's too high, very small leaves (the part you eat) and it's giving flowers (they're pretty though)

And so, I got it all out.

Time for new things. I planted carrots, springonion and leek

And I'm trying Haricot verts (green beans)

And this is our first harvest of radishes. They're small, but very tasty!

And I'm trying to get seeds of my Lupine and grow new plants of them

week 25: Flowerpress #2

This is the second flowerpress I made. I think this one is more fun, because all the flowers and leaves came from our own garden. This is what I made with it:

These were the flowers and leaves I picked

Getting everything ready 

What paper should I choose? (I chose the one on the right)

It's exciting to open the flowerpress and see how it turned out

I like the result

Now trying different lay-ots

Huub was eating his lunch

Trying another lay-out

And another one

Beginning to like it...

...

I chose this lay-out, simple, but I like it :-)