New blog and new cushions...all coming soon : )

...this fox cushion and mushroom cushion will arrive at the end of October in the shop! I am also working on a new blog, totally devoded to all things made in paper (my sketchbook, drawings, dolls in cardboard, kids activities made in paper) I have paper and cardboard on my mind for a long time now, just love the plain old material and thought, why not use the blog and share my ideas, so stay tuned : )

Wishing you a lovely Summer...

...we are praying for a little bit of sun here but would like to wish you all a happy Summer! Esthex will be closed for the summer holidays from July 22nd till August 8th. All emails will be answered and orders will be shipped on the 8th of August. To make up for the delay of your parcel we will include a handpuppet. See you in August : )

Sofie and a new friend...

...a little while ago I came across this lovely website http://www.mazimazi.lt/ and was surprised to see this very cute picture : )

Homemade Birthday Cupcakes...

...a few weeks ago two 5-year olds made, with a little help, these cupcake-decorations for their little sister who turned 2!

New set of Owl Hendrik cards...

...last week the owl cards came in and are the new Give Away for July and August! We will add a pack of 5 cards (held together in a nice thick grey cardboard folder, featuring Mr. Morris Fox) to each order. The cards are blank but if you like you can write the name of the birthdayboy- or girl in the balloon!

486 tractors...

...behind our garden is a big meadow, normally filled with sheep. Once a year, it is filled with tractors and caravans and a festival is heald for a whole weekend. This year I was amazed by the work of a man who I saw building "something" while I was at work in my studio. It looked like a caravan at first, but within an hour the caravan was lifted, on the truck and had a view overlooking the entire meadow. He said he was building two more at his home, all together they should form a castle, how cool is that?

Newborn Gift Special...

..in our salescorner we added a special offer! A newborn gift package containing a pyjamabag to hold your baby's favourite toys or socks, a chain to decorate the nursery and to swing every day to create a smile on your baby's face and a dummyholder to make sure an important item won't get lost during a walk in the park...all will be wrapped nicely before sending, have a peek here if you like : ) http://www.esthex.com/en/shop/sale/ 

Linda and Lola...

...it must be in the "L", Lola loves Luna and Linda..

...thank you StyleCookie for placing Owl Hendrik against my favourite pattern : )

On my desk...

...it was not a mother's day gift but it would have been perfect for this occasion, one of my daughters drew my doll from the esthex colouringbook, it was a great surprise : )

...such a decorative feeling in these drawings, they have been on my desk for a year now and they must have inspired me. I like the pink, orange and blue and the happy circus and balloon feeling!

Give away on Facebook...

...Renee from the lovely Canadian website Babybot.com told me she is running a Give Away on Facebook, just click below  if you want to give it a try : )
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150589159175451.712056.361080970450&l=1c82e2c255

Found in an old "box"...

 

...while searching for some missing files this morning I found this image of my very first, handmade (and even hand cut : ) leaflet which I had send out myself to several shops in The Netherlands. I think it has been 8 years ago and brings back good memories of the start of Esthex and how much fun I had making this. The picture of Dragon Peter in the kitchen cupboard I made for the very first website.The dolls look so different in my opinion, but yet feel very familiar : )

New header and a special request...

...as a result of showing the kitchen images I received a request to show more images of our house. Well, these are my favourite rooms and while seeing them now from a sort of "distance" I realise I subconsciously had a special colourpallet on my mind, workwise (new header) and home-decorating-wise : )

Donna's lovely tray in my kitchen...

...last Christmas I had Donna's lovely black and white tray on my wishlist and I was so happy to receive it and complete my kitchen with this finishing touch : ) Donna has put it on her blog together with some more images, have a peek here if you like!  http://donnawilsonsblog.blogspot.com/

Free Handpuppets in the shop...

...they come in green, blue, fuchsia, orange and yellow and will be added as a spring present to each order! Made from 100% woolfelt, they are ready to entertain! Happy Spring!

 p.s. running till the 30th of April, the colour and character will be a surprise...

In love with a pattern...

...it must have been over a year ago that I started seeing this pattern everywhere and really fell in love with it. The strange thing is, I don't really know what to call it. Some call it Harlequin, some Rhomb and I keep on calling it Diamond. I noticed it while cycling the kids to school (in a window) then on the train near Amsterdam used on a large building, on old men's sweaters in the streets, it really seemed everywhere. And two days ago, on Monday, I was working in my studio which has a view on a large meadow with normally sheep in it, caravans arrived and in a few hours this tent appeared and gave me a view for the next days on my favourite pattern. Thank you little circus, we will pay you a visit on Saturday for sure.

German Luna Magazin & Lola Blue...

http://www.lunamag.de/cms/luna-kindermode-lunamagazin/luna

Esthex Travel and Blue Limited at Dutch Design store BijzonderMooi...

...the picture shows the home of Sandra, owner of the Dutch design store called BijzonderMooi (meaning "really pretty", well, that's my interpretation : ) and I am really happy she included Esthex in her list of  designerlabels. The store can be found here http://www.bijzondermooi.com/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=74 and the pictures above were taken by StyleCookie...

Sweet Paul...

...Sweet Paul is an online magazine which is really worth reading, beautifull pictures and colours! My own "proporty", the Storagebag "Dutch House" is featured on this page http://www.sweetpaulmag-digital.com/sweetpaulmag/spring2011#pg24 thank you Paul : )

Sketchbook look...

...Sofie is getting ready for Carnaval...

Bloesem Blog Travel Give Away!

Bloesem says:
What can you win :: A super cute canvas Travel suitcase + a lovely Canvas Musicbox of choice both from my favorite Dutch children's soft toys label Esthex. 
What do you have to do :: just leave a comment stating which item which you would like to see added to the Esthex Travel collection?
This giveaway runs until Wednesday 2 March and the winner will be announced the following day.

Thank you Irene, Bloesem was my first blog I read and is my daily addiction : )

Just leave a comment behind if you like at http://bkids.typepad.com/  and thank you for those who already did, it is much fun to read and very helpfull!

p.s. pillows are in the sample-making room at the moment : )