What a perfect assignment. A birth announcement card, for a baby girl named Vera, in autumn theme. When I look out of the window I see deep warming tones ocher. Bolsters of beech nuts, elegantly folded open towards the sky, are crunching underneath my shoes. The nuts have fallen out, sprinkled all around between the leaves. A nice metaphor for new life, and a soon-to-be mother and father expecting their first child. If you look closely, you might be surprised by a mushroom popping out at you with it’s bright red color. With white dots all over, like in a fairytale.

Birth announcement fall theme

That same week I get a request for a birth announcement card in autumn theme from England, for a boy named Axel. But this time with a squirrel on the inside, because they run around in the garden of the future parents. Autumn colors, beech nuts, fallen leaves, mushrooms and squirrels. I have my sketchbook ready and am ready to go!

Ink drawing with watercolor

Lately, I’ve been working a lot with ink and then add small splashes and details with watercolor paint to bring the drawing to life. I always love the process of really looking at what you draw, nature is such a beautiful thing. The ‘skirt’ that sticks out underneath the top of a fly amanita. The graceful veins running through a beech leaf. I love the seasons and all it brings…

Spring, summer, fall & winter

Would you also like to have a birth announcement card made with nature elements matching the seasons? I would love to hear from you. Also take a look at birth announcement Josephine, in spring theme, with newly hatched flowers and butterflies. Makes me long for the spring months!

Of all the special birth announcement cards I made for lovely people around the world, this one is definitely at the top of my most special list… Because this birth announcement is for our own baby girl. As I am writing this blog, we are waiting for her arrival (and have passed the due date of May 20th). An impatient but also magical time… We can’t hardly wait!

Blooming in springtime

While collecting ideas, I knew quickly that I wanted to do something with flowers blooming in springtime. I had a fairy-tale-like illustration in mind, as if walking through a field of wildflowers. At the same time I wanted to keep it simple (because the most beautiful things in life usually are). Maybe by working with ink, keeping most of the illustration black and white. I started out with sketches of red clover, field mouse-ear, lily-of-the-valley, cuckoo flowers, butterflies, wild grass and twirling dandelion seeds. I also fell in love with the rare twinflower (Linnaea Borealis) with its two humbly hanging heads.

The return of color

Because I could already picture myself for hours and hours behind the sketch table, because this is such a dear-to-my-heart project, I was surprised how quickly I put the initial drawing down on paper. Probably because I had the idea floating around in my mind for quite some time. Because spring is a time of fresh green leaves and the return of color, I wanted to try and add some soft spring colors. The result is some subtle streaks of water color paint that bring add light and life to the illustration.

“Our house, in the middle of the street”

Daan and I have been living in our apartment in Amsterdam for over five years now. We are both a bit curious how the three flights of stairs will work once we have our little one (including stroller, diaper bag, etc.) but we will figure that out as we go. At the same time we are very excited to welcome our little girl to this special and unique place in the heart of the city. That is why Daan came up with the idea to include the house in the illustration, which I loved to do. I never studied our street, house and balcony this thoroughly.

Matching envelope and stamps

I combined the card with an envelope to match the off-white laid paper. And when the stamps arrived by mail I was dancing around in the living room. Very happy with how the twinflowers liven up the envelope. After all, it’s all in the details.

On top of the fire place

By now, the card is proudly framed and stealing the show in our living room. Which is such a fun thing to do, to have the birth announcement card beautifully framed or give as a present to new parents. Only the date needs to be modified when the time is right… Josephine, we are ‘patiently’ waiting!