Famille Summerbelle

New! BERLIN map

We are so happy to show you our latest paper cut map: BERLIN!
Available in 5 colours: blue, green, pink, blue, black and a limited edition gold.

Storing Legos pieces with our House Boxes

Our two boys (aged 10 and 5) are at the age where they spend hours on end playing with Legos. They both play very well together which is really sweet.
Today they made this pretty fun art installation on the kitchen bench displaying all the Legos characters (I found out that most have no hands which are most probably lost somewhere in the house!).
As this might sounds familiar, Legos pieces often ends up in every corner of the house. Who hasn't walked in the middle of the night on a sharp piece of Legos cube swearing with an acute pain on the foot!
I found a nice solution with our House Boxes for storing away all these little pieces!
If you are really motivated at tidying up your child's Legos you can also arrange them by colours as the House Boxes comes flat packed in 4 colours: blue, pink, yellow and black!

Happy 2020!

The advent calendar is up!

It's December 2nd and it's starting to look like Christmas at home!
Today I finished customising the advent calendar I had cut the previous year and added some colours and new activities to do on the back of each illustration.
I had no time to make a brand new one this year and to be honest I think this one deserved a second life!

10 years with Lucien!

Yesterday we celebrated Lucien's 10th birthday at home, the 5 of us. Lucien had chosen what he wanted to eat on the big day, it was going to be pancakes before school and home-made hamburgers and fries for dinner!
I also cooked a chocolate fondant for dessert and on top I made colourful 3D style paper cuts featuring the big number 10.
After blowing his candles, Lucien said proudly: Maman, I will know have a two digit number for the rest of my life!

As you may have previously seen on my blog, I have been recording Lucien's growth since he was born, with the same setting, him laying on a bed, with his age written with coloured felt letter (I bought them on Etsy, 10 years ago).

When I started photographing him I never thought I would do it for the next 10 years, I was just having fun recording his first few months and somehow it became a tradition on his birth date. I only forgot to do age 6. I think we were probably moving country as we do often!

I wish I had done it as religiously for his big sister and his little brother. But you know how busy life gets, especially with 3 kids! For Ophelia, the first child I wrote down in a beautiful little book at every stage of the pregnancy with photos, I made photo albums for every year...well until number two was born. Poor little Téo I haven't even started a single photo album (I'm 4 years behind!)

I find it fascinating to see how his face has changed but still it's Lucien all along, with his blond hair and cheeky smile!

I'd like to keep this tradition going, of course if he is willing to cooperate and if we keep it fun. But I'm not sure when he turns 15 that he'd like to have his photo taken with the cute little felt letters on top of his head :-)

Julie x

This is Lucien's first 12 months. How the project started and as I mentioned above I never thought to do this for the following 10 years!

Pink is the new colour for our paper cut maps!

New colour alert!
Our paper cut maps are now available in this beautiful soft pink!
Cities available are Paris, London, Amsterdam, San Francisco, New York City and Copenhagen.

Amsterdam:

New York City:

Paris:

San Francisco:

Fig Leaves - Original paintings

For the first time, I offer for sale my original paintings I made over the Summer.

These 8 unique watercolor paintings were inspired by a more than 100 year old fig tree in our family home in the South West of France.
It is a beautiful tree with quirky old branches and large leaves that change colors according to the warm light of the South.
Available for sale on Famille Summerbelle e-shop.

Famille Summerbelle exhibition in Tokyo at Galerie Doux Dimanche

I have just returned from an amazing week in Tokyo where we celebrated the 11th anniversary of Famille Summerbelle with a colorful exhibition of new paper cut works, original watercolors and our city maps.

It was an honor to celebrate our 11 years in Tokyo at Galerie Doux Dimanche since it is also 11 years that we have been collaborating with the creative couple Hisashi Tokuyoshi and Fumie Shimoji, founders of the Edition Paumes.
Together we made the book "Be Creative with Famille Summerbelle”. I was warmly welcomed by the team for my second exhibition in this charming gallery, located in the beautiful district of Jingumae in Shibuya.

For the occasion I made a large drawing on the window of the shop adjacent to the gallery to entertain visitors and passers-by!

It was such a pleasure to spend time again with the charming team of the Galerie Doux Dimanche who have also welcomed my mother and I for an exhibition 7 years ago. My mum who's a ceramic artist exhibited with me which was really amazing. You can read and see images on the blog, it was back in 2012!

Paper cut City maps:

London paper cut map:

Famille Summerbelle tea-towels:

Be Creative with Famille Summerbelle by Edition Paumes. The books is a peak inside our home and family life back in 2012. It includes tips and inspiration for handmade ideas and inspiring home decor. It, of course, includes plenty of paper cutting and fun activities to do with your children.

Thank you all at the Galerie Doux Dimanche for your warm welcome!

Julie Marabelle (yes that's me!) and Hisashi Tokuyoshi, DA, photographer, co-founder of Doux Dimanche and Edition Paumes!

The exhibition of Famille Summerbelle runs until Sunday 23rd June 2019:
Galerie Doux Dimanche
3-5-6 Jingu-mae
Shibuya-ku
Tokyo - Japan

Famille Summerbelle x Bonton Japan

During this trip to Tokyo I was also lucky enough to be invited by the Kids Concept Store Bonton for the opening of their new shop in Takashimaya department store in Shinbuya.

I made an installation of about sixty paper cut illustrations on the theme of their collection Little Italy that were displayed in 3 areas of the shop. I also had a lot of fun drawing across their ever so long shop window. I love drawing on a large format, is it very satisfying and rewarding!

The Saturday before my departure I organised a paper cut garland workshop that the children happily coloured and cut to leave with a pretty decoration to hang in their room!

Thank you Bonton for your warm welcome and for this fun collaboration!

Famille Summerbelle celebrates 11 years!

11 years already! I never thought 11 years ago that I will go to Japan to make an exhibition to celebrate Famille Summerbelle 11 years in business!
Tokyo was our first destination while Family Summerbelle was only 6 months old. We met there with Hisashi and Fumie, the founders of Editions Paumes and Galerie Doux Dimanche, with whom we have collaborated many times since our first meeting.
I am very happy to return to Tokyo in a few weeks to celebrate these years of creative work with them.
I can not wait to share this trip with you!

If you live in Tokyo, come and visit me at ">Galerie Doux Dimanche on Wednesday, June 12th.
From 14h-16h I organise a workshop where we will cut a wreath of flowers, it will be followed by a small party to celebrate the 11 years of Family Summerbelle

The Famille Summerbelle exhibition at Galerie Doux Dimanche starts on Tuesday 11th June, ends on 23rd June!

Our Family Tree prints are back in stock!

Due to popular demand our best selling Family Tree prints are now back in store and available framed. It's a great present for parents to be, for a baby shower and to decorate your child's bedroom.
The print comes in two parts: The front print comes with 12 openings for photo frames.
Each frame opening measures 3.5cm x 4.5cm.
The back paper has guides for placing the photos.

OUR EASTER BUNNY!

This is Ludo my favorite bunny.
Wishing you all a very Happy Easter!

Hand screen printed bunny, perfect for kids rooms.

Our best selling birch wood tray and our beloved cushion featuring Ludo the bunny on one side and his friend the Maximilien the magician on the reverse.

Do the dishes on Easter Sunday with the colourful bunny tea-towel & be rewarded with a cup of tea in our fine bone China mug.

Miró in Majorca

It was my birthday treat during our week in Majorca. I really wanted to visit the Fundació Pilar i Juan Miró in Palma and it was really special: not only it was sunny, it was my birthday (42 eeek!), I was with my favourite people (my husband and my 3 kids) and in a place so inspiring and full of history.

If you ever come to Palma de Mallorca, go and visit this place. You won't be disappointed!

Juan Miró relationship with Majorca lasted his whole life. He was born in Barcelona but his mum and later his wife were from Mallorca. He spent his Summer there as a child and later in 1956 Miró settled permanently in Majorca where for the first time he had a stunning studio built by his friend Josep Lluis Sert.

By this time Miró was already an acclaimed painter but he needed a quiet place where he could retreat and work in silence.
A few years later he needed more space so he bought the adjoining land and San Boter, a typical Majorcan house from the XVIIIth century.Initially it was intended to be a sculpture studio but it actually became his second painting studio for large scale painting. Miró left some beautiful charcoal drawings on the walls of the villa.

Mallorca in March

This year we decided to do something a bit different. We usually go to the mountains skiing for the Winter holidays but instead this year we decided to head further South to the island of Mallorca. We needed some sun and blue sky after weeks of clouds and cold weather here in Germany.
It was our first time travelling to the Balearic Islands. From Bonn-Cologne airport it was very easy to fly to in only a couple of hours.

Simon was really happy to discover the island on his bike. Mallorca is THE place to go for professional and amateur cyclists. The mild weather and the diversity of landscapes makes it a great place to practice during the Winter months. I later discovered that a lot of triathletes, hikers and runners also come here to train (our hotel seemed popular amongst sportsmen).

Once thing i'd like to mention: I am not sure I would visit the island in Summer as it must be incredibly busy, we were really lucky to experience it in Winter, it was very quiet, no traffic and the beaches were empty.

For the first time we stayed in a hotel with a half-board service and it was amazing! Normally we stay with family or rent during our holidays but I have to say it was really relaxing to stay in a hotel and not worry about cooking food!
We stayed in the PortBlue hotel in the North of the island (only 45mn drive from the Palma airport) near the port of Pollenca. It's a great place to stay for families as they have really nice Family rooms, indoor and outdoor (heated) pools and a kids club. Our children didn't go to the kids club as there wasn't much to do at this time of the year. For the parents/adults there is a really nice spa overlooking the bay of Pollenca and a well equipped gym.
We had two interconnecting rooms, one for the 3 kids and one for us :-) large buffets for breakfasts and dinners with food freshly cooked. The kids were so excited!
On the first night and despite the variety of available food, Lucien came back to the table with a huge plate of fries and a couple of slices of tomatoes (because I told him to get some veg) and on the side his chocolate ice cream melting while he was eating his fries!! He later understood that you can choose more than fries and that desert can wait until the end of dinner!

The old Palma has a lot of charm with colourful facades and a maze of narrow, quiet streets. Our daughter Ophelia had written down two addresses for eating out so on our arrival we had a delicious lunch La Molienda (great coffee) and on another day we had lunch at Rosevelvet Café (another place where you can enjoy great coffee with delicious cake!)

La Molienda

Café du Cycliste This place was for Simon (cyclist fan) Facing this shop you also have Rapha, another great shop/café for cyclist fans :-)

We went to visit the stunning Drach caves on a cloudy day. The kids loved it and after we went for a picnic on the beach.

View of the Cala Figuera from the car. The drive to the lighthouse at the far end of Cap Formentor is breathtaking. The narrow and winding roads are very popular with cyclists.

Photo with the kids at the Cap Formentor while Simon was having a great time on his bike.

We found this dreamy beach - Playa de Formentor - were we had picnics on few occasions. It felt like we were lost in the Caribbean as the beach was empty (in Summer it must be hell!)

My love for colours and leaves

Today is the first day of Spring, my favourite season so I am very happy! I wanted to share with you some paintings I recently made inspired by my love for colours and leaves of all sorts and sizes!
I made a lot of sketches of the beautiful variety of leaves that you can find on the island during our recent trip to Mallorca and made this serie of paintings. Let me know what you think and if you'd like me to make prints from this collection?!

Téo 4 years old birthday party!

On 1st March we celebrated Téo's 4th birthday with his friends at home. I can't believe how time flies...These 4 years have gone so fast since our little Téo was born in Amsterdam!
For the occasion I made a paper cut mural illustrating all the things Téo likes: helicopter, cars, PJ Mask characters, tulips to remind him of the Netherlands, a skateboard, a football, arc and arrow and I hesitated but I included his favourite pacifier ;-)
Usually birthday parties are exhausting but for the first time I had help from my older kids, Ophelia and Lucien who were so eager to help out and to organise activities for the little ones. Ophelia made a playlist with Téo's favourite songs and they played Pass-the-parcel and Musical chairs (on cushions!). Lucien had prepared a face mask activity with cut pieces of felt and pompoms to stick on a piece of paper. It was so cute and Téo's friends were really happy!

The cake large plate, small plates and tumblers are part of the bamboo Circus tableware collection I designed for Engel.

The joy of playing with paint

The other day Téo ask me to watch his favourite cartoon Paw Patrol on TV but as he saw his brother using paint he quickly changed his mind. He wanted to do the same and play with paint instead. Phew :-)
I asked him which colours he wanted to use and we made a pretty palette with a mix of green, blue, red, white and yellow. I have a lot of cardboard sheets that I use for packing Famille Summerbelle orders and they are great for painting projects.
Here are some images of our little painting session and to get kids distracted from watching TV!

LOVE

Our LOVE BUGS paper cut to surprise to your loved one!

Happy 2019!

Advent calendar paper cut style!

This year the kids kept asking me to make an advent calendar so I managed to finished it just on time! Behind each illustration I wrote a fun activity to make with the family on each day up until Christmas!