Famille Summerbelle

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!

New! House Boxes now available in black & white

Following many enquiries from our customers, we are very happy to offer our House Boxes in Black & White.
They are great to store small objets or toys (yes, these little pieces of Legos that can be found everywhere in the house!) and look great display on a shelf or window ledge.
The boxes are sold as a pack of 4 boxes, shipped as a flat pack. Incredibly straightforward to assemble, and can be dismantled and rebuilt as many times as you need!

We also have our best selling House Boxes in many colours available here.

DIY house for your cat

During half term Ophelia and Lucien had a really nice idea to build a little house for their cat Pipo. Since we moved house 3 months ago, the cat has been sleeping on the armchairs in the living room. As soon as they started cutting the windows the cat fell instantly at home and would not leave the box!
I only helped them to cut the roof to glue the vintage wallpaper, for the rest they did it all by themselves. I love the Scandinavian look with the red walls and white framed.
Pipo has now a new home and sleeps inside every night...

What you need to build a cardboard house:
-A medium size cardboard
-extra cardboard for the roof
-pencil
-scalpel
-scissors
-metal ruler
-paint
-brushes
-wallpaper for the roof
-wallpaper glue

FREE Un Dimanche à Paris tea Towel

As an extra treat for our customers 💕, we will include a FREE Un Dimanche à Paris tea towel in every order placed between today and Sunday 21st October.

My Little Voyageurs interview on my favorite kids friendly spots in Amsterdam

A few months ago, before we even had planned to move, I met up with Charlotte Burgoyne, the co-founder of My Little Travellers, a reference blog for traveling families.
We met in one of my favourite café near our home in De Pijp.
Charlotte is a well travelled French mum who happened to be visiting Amsterdam with her family so I was very happy to meet up with her while she was here as she now lives in Algeria with her husband and their two young daughters.
We could have talked for hours about far destinations and our passion for travelling with our family.
Head to My Little Travellers to read the full interview where I share my favorite kids friendly spots in town.

We moved & House boxes offer!

Sorry for the lack of posts over the past weeks. We moved from the Netherlands to the neighbouring country, Germany this August. We are slowly settling in this beautiful white house who must have been built in the early 1900. How stunning is this entry with the stained glass windows?! This is the 5 of us waving goodbye to our dear friends Esther from Babyccino, her husband Tamar and their 5 beautiful kids. They stopped overnight before heading back to Amsterdam after 6 weeks exploring Eastern Europe with a camper van. I'm sure you have followed their wonderful road trip on Instagram!
We spent a lovely evening together listening to their travel stories and dreamt the rest of the night of doing the same one day soon...

The removal boxes have been emptied although we pretend not to see the pile of remaining unpacked boxes when we go down to the basement ;-) I think it takes a while to get used to a new place, how to organise each room and where to place the framed artworks on the walls. We lived for 5 years in Amsterdam and yet I never felt like the flat was done in terms of decorating. I had lots of ideas still. I like to know that it is never done and that decorating is always work in progress!

Saying that we managed to organise the kids bedrooms relatively quickly.
The boys are so happy to finally have their own room while they have always shared the same space in Amsterdam. Lucien who's turning 9 soon is delighted to have his own space to build his Lego towers without having them knocked down by his younger bro.
Téo has a bedroom with lots of light (there are 6 windows in his room!) and a big door surrounded by shelves. They were already there when we moved in this rented house. These shelves are perfect for displaying his books, toys and I was very happy to add some more colourful touches with the House Boxes! It is a cute and playful storage solution to hide all the small toys like Playmobil, Lego, cars, pencils and the never ending small things that kids have in their room!

New bedroom for little Téo:

HOUSE BOXES OFFER:
We have currently an offer on. When purchasing a set of 4 HOUSE BOXES, we will offer you the fifth FREE. It will be added to your order and the colour will be a surprise (Pink, Yellow, Pink or Black).

Unwind in l'ile de Ré

We arrived in l'île de Ré exhausted after busy weeks in June and July preparing our move to Germany, but so happy to finally switch off for a couple of weeks. We've planned nothing apart from going to the market, make jam, cycle around the island, draw and read book by the pool :-)

A new chapter, we're moving to a new country!

After 5 wonderful years spent in Amsterdam we will leave for new adventures in the neighbouring country, Germany!
It is every time unplanned and fast moving but it seems like every 5 years we are going through big changes in our life! It is a bittersweet news as we are so happy as a family in the Netherlands but at the end of August we will be leaving our beloved Amsterdam for new adventures in Bonn, near Cologne. More on this new chapter in September once we have settled in our new home.
In the meantime if you have any recommandations on Cologne and Bonn i'd love to hear from you as this is all very new to us!

Vive la France!

Last time I watched so excitedly a football game was in 1998!! I cannot believe that 20 years has gone by!! I was 21 years old and I remember so vividly working with my best friend on a beach hut/bar/restaurant in Saint Tropez and celebrating the French World Cup like crazy!
Watching the final last night with my kids was so much fun! I am very proud my country. Bravo les Bleus!
Love from the Netherlands ;-)

Map of France
Hand screen printed, format 50x70cm

World Illustration Awards - Somerset House

I wanted to share with you some images of the World Illustration Awards exhibition that was held on 7th June at Somerset House in London. I was very happy to be there for the opening ceremony and to see my paper cut map of Copenhagen as part of the 200 shortlisted illustrations on display.

We all cheered the winners who were announced on that evening. The talented Stevie Gee won two awards. One as Professional Overall Winner for designing a range colourful and interactive boxes for Stella McCartney Kids underwear, and another one in the Advertising Category for his Here to Create campaign for Adidas.
One of my favourite was also the work of Swedish-based illustrator Monika Vaicenaviciene who designed a stunning book 'What is a River' who won an award for the Overall New Talent category.

A small description of the show by the Association of Illustrators who is the organiser of this wonderful event:
The exhibition, held in Somerset House’s Embankment Galleries, is the largest World Illustration Awards show to date, showcasing the full shortlist of 200 works. It explores what illustration means today, how it shapes our world and charts how the art form itself is changing. At once global and personal, visitors can expect to be inspired by this diverse, engaging exhibition. This annual survey of the best illustration globally will explore where illustration is now, and where it is heading in the future. As WIA judge Rob Alderson of WeTransfer says “in a visual culture dominated by photography, illustration provides a deliciously different way to see the world.”

Photo Credit Josh Redman.

Photo Credit Josh Redman.

Photo Credit Josh Redman.

My paper cut map of Copenhagen was shortlisted under the Design Category:

The WIA exhibition ends on 20th June but will go on tour in different venues in the UK and will also travel to Seoul Illustration Fair

Seydou Keïta at Foam Amsterdam

I had the most wonderful Sunday celebrating Mother's Day on a boat with the family. As it was early morning we took a flask of coffee and some patisseries for a very special breakfast in the beautiful canal rings.

Later my daughter and I went to the Foam Photography museum to cool down (it was so hot by 11am!) and to see the stunning portraits of Malian photographer Seydou Keïta.
As a teenager Keïta was given a camera by his uncle and fell in love with the medium while learning how to master the technical skills to shoot and to print in black and white.
In 1948 he opened up his studio in Bamako that became very successful with families, individuals, couples and children.
He liked to use a pattern backdrop and props such as music instruments, Vespa, hats, costumes and even his own luxury car.
He would also hang a backdrop in a courtyard and have beautifully dressed women queuing up to have their photo taken. The photographer would always gently direct them how to take the best pause.

Mums in May

We've put together a selection of gift ideas to celebrate all the beautiful mums this May!
Your order will be pack with love, ready to give as a gift.

Bouquet Paper Cut:

House Boxes, Paris map print & Paper Flowers:

Love Bugs Print:

A selection of Paumes books:

Un Dimanche à Paris tea towel:

House Boxes:

We've made some cute little gift packs, ready to be sent to your mum:

World Illustration Awards 2018

SO HAPPY to hear the news that my paper cut map of Copenhagen has been shortlisted for the World Illustration Awards 2018!! The 200 shortlisted work (out of 3300 entries) will be exhibited at Somerset House in London during the month of June and a ceremony will take place on 7th at the same address to announce the winners! A very good excuse to come to London ;-)