Learning to read

My friend Yvette once gave me this tin box with learning material for young children who learn to read. Kids were meant to link the story to the picture and they had to put them in the right order. I cannot put a actual date on it but the sentences tell me it's quite old. The text is rather formal.

Cars, cars, cars

Lewis is 4 years old now, but when he was 2 all he played with were cars. So, the obvious choice was a birthday invitation with a car on the front. It was clear that it was a wishlist as well...

A few more gifts

A few more birthday gifts I found in a box. I made these for the children who were at my kids birthdays. (see an earlier post)

Animal lotto

This game is for children in pre-school. It's learning material made in Belgium. 'A game to develop their senses', according to the manual. It doesn't say on the box how old it is, but I'm guessing it's from the sixties.

Folding birds

Still trying to live up to my new year's resolution (see earlier post) I've folded 11 birds so far. Only 989 more to go!

Doodling during teammeetings

These are some of the doodles I do during teammeetings on mondaymorning. Funny enough they keep me focussed...

Marian Bantjes

I love Marian Bantjes' work. She's a Canadian designer, she calls herself a lapsed Graphic Designer. I admire her accuracy, her persistency, het typographic feel. I wish I had just a tiny bit of her talent.

Wooden ABC

Just a quick post before I go to bed. I love these wooden printer blocks. Whenever I come across them I try to purchase them. So please, let me know if you have a few lying around!

Soap, but not on a rope

Beautiful, right? Not very well photographed, but you get the picture, hopefully.

Clothing rituals

I'm desperately trying to throw out junk I've been collecting over the years. Going through boxes I'm always amazed about the amount of junk I've been collecting over the years. Sometimes I come across nice collections though. Such as clothing labels. I'm always interested in how they are designed and executed. Sometimes they are so collectable!

Going west

I stumbled upon this gorgeous video. I saw it on a papercutting blog. It's a film for New Zealand Book Council Produced by Colenso BBDO Animated by Andersen M Studio.

Exit the building

I had almost forgotten about these two exit-signs. I found them wrapped in papers in a sock drawer. They are glass signs, so quite fragile. After being in a sockdrawer for years I decided they deserve a more special place. So they've moved to a more prominent place: they're actually on display now in the living room.

More clutter

I really love this cabinet. Dominal was a German manufacturer of sewing thread. This cabinet was used in stores. It's quite worn out, but I cannot get rid of it yet...

Of pills and powders part 2

In 1993 (!) when I was an intern at design agency 2d3d my worst nightmare happened. I was assigned to make about 12 illustrations for a magazine for pharmacists. I was never any good at illustration in Art College so that assignment was really freaking me out. In the end, I think it came out quite allright.

Jaapje and Fikkie

Just a quick post of these pages I cut out of a children's book. It's in Lewis' room, but I don't think he appreciates the beauty of it...

Tips for dummies

When my friend (and colleague) Yvette left the company she received a goodbye-gift from all the colleagues. Everyone received a small box to fill with wishes. I was responsable for the small boxes so I cut out 80 boxes and 80 covers. My fingers were hurting for a long time afterwards. I filled a few boxes myself, one of the boxes had a small book inside with tips for dummies; how to spend your lazy days 'written' by our dog Pepper.

Tickets please!

I always love these old-fashioned looking tickets and stubs. They still serve their purpose 'cause I received the one on the bottom-left just last saturday in a cheeseshop (how Dutch is that?).

Doodle, doodle, do

An A4-size doodle. Had a lot of fun making it in front of the TV.

American history

For Americans this is probably well known reading material from highschool. I picked it up at a thriftshop in Holland. So I haven't got a clue how it crossed the ocean and who brought it to the Netherlands. It used to be the property of Woodland School according to the stamp on the inside cover.

My collection of the day

Inspired by Lisa Congdon's blog, a collection a day, I thought I'd show my tiny collection of small tin cans. Check out Lisa's collections at www.collectionaday2010.blogspot.com

Differences

My daughter Mila has a little trouble distinguishing the letter B and D. So I made these for her this morning. Hopefully it'll help her learn to recognize them soon.

Lead

My aunt gave me these printer's metal ornaments. They are quite small but quite decorative!

Love and marriage

This wedding invitation is the first one I made, ever. I still like the idea of the transparant paper and the building ornaments but I would definitely change the typography now.

Travelling by train

Every monday to thursday I take the train to Amsterdam. I love travelling by train, eventhough I can call standing the whole journey hardly romantic... I once bought this booklet, which is a timetable slash travel brochure. Eventhough the title says 'cheap journeys' the prices suggest otherwise. Back then travelling by train wasn't cheap at all!
I fact, two of my favourite things are combined in this book; information design (time tables) and the train!