As a great paper-lover, I’m also a big fan of everything you can use on it – be it to write, draw and even cut with (I have a large collection of scissors, but that’s a whole other story!)
I especially love old coloring sets (which are hard to find), fountain pens and ordinary drawing pencils, which you can often come across secondhand if you keep your eyes peeled. They’re usually lying somewhere at the bottom of a container or box in amongst all kinds of bits and pieces, and are very often not even priced up. The first time I found such a lonely used pencil, I wanted to buy it straight away, but the woman at the cash desk said, “Ah, just take it, it’s yours…” which I thought was lovely. And so began my collection of “old pencils that I received.”
Since that day, I’ve often found myself in that situation, because time and time again I am able to take a stray little pencil home, even though I always ask how much it costs…
Of course, I don’t use all the pencils—I’ve got enough to last me a lifetime. Moreover, I don’t find all of them that nice to draw with: one may be too hard, the other too soft. You may well know what I mean…
I made this drawing for a series of coloring pages that I sell myself (I love the quotes from Dr. Seuss, they’re such fun). But since this is my last guest blog for Flow, I thought it might be nice to include some drawings that you can print out for yourself.
*Tree; apple pie; loafing around; me; child; sea; pineapple; summer; air; space; spring; mooch about; daydream; swing; giggle. Favorites: apple cheeks; autumn storm; breeze
*a pile of beautiful words
I have a piece of paper on the wall above my desk with only the word: sea. Every time I see it, I imagine the sea before me, which is lovely. On my blog, I asked people to name a word that gave them a good feeling, and I got a lot of responses. It turns out that a nice word happens to recall something good in a lot of people. It also turns out that—since posing that question—I am not only a collector of pencils (and many other things), I am also now a collector of beautiful words.
*starry sky, elsewhere; the sea, giggle; whistle, apple pie; a summer’s evening, a field of poppies; fluffy clouds, beloved
I’m still working on the series of cards using these words, but as a taster, I thought I’d give a few here for you to print (they’re only in Dutch, but I hope that doesn’t matter, it might be a nice way to learn Dutch :-). I also left some spaces empty, so that you can insert your own beautiful words (or the translations which are written above) because, ultimately, you know best what works for you, right? You can hang your favorite word up anywhere, but you can also cut them out along the dotted line, make a little pile of them, wrap them up in some paper and give them away as a gift (let’s face it, who couldn’t do with some nice words these days?)
This series of names was something I made a few years ago—they are the Dutch pet names I used for my daughter when she was little, like honeybun, darling, buttercup, puss cat and treasure. I sent this print out to a lot of people upon request, but you can print it out yourself here, if you want.
Of course—as I’m sure you will understand—all these images I’ve provided here for printing are for your personal use only.
This is my last image on this blog. I would sincerely like to thank Flow’s editorial team, especially Jeannette and Jocelyn, for this opportunity. I really appreciate the fact that you thought of me, and that you invited me to write these blogs, which I did with great pleasure (even though it is a bit nerve-racking to blog somewhere else other than on your own trusty old blog. But sometimes it’s refreshing to do something different, particularly if at first you think you can’t quite do it).
Finally, I would like to thank you, the readers, and wish everyone lots of luck and fun in life. And don’t forget to walk with your head in the clouds every now and then (as the picture above suggests!).
Ingrid.
