Dear readers, you might have noticed my absence last week. There is a very sad reason for this. My mother, who has been ill since last year, passed away last Wednesday. We knew that this day would come but it is still very hard to cope with. Thank you to all of you who have supported me with comments and personal email over the past months. This is very much appreciated.
Although I am having a hard time right now and my heart is filled with grief, I will try to continue blogging on a daily basis as usual.
Love, Danielle
Happy New Year to you all! I hope 2012 will be filled with happiness, joy, love and laughter. The photo above is from our home, we had a Christmas tree made from scrap wood this year.
Update: the knitted pouf with birch stem legs is available from Le Souk.
We are going through tough times because of family circumstances. I will continue blogging as I need the distraction but the frequency of posts might be different that usual. Just so you know..
(image source unknown .. apologies)
Sanoma media is organising a Lifestyle&Interior Design bloggers meet up during the Woonbeurs (Interior Design fair) in Amsterdam this Saturday. 45 bloggers will be getting a tour around the woonbeurs, access to the VIP room, meet&greet with chief editors of home deco magazines and are able to network while having a drink.
I am happy to attend this meet up and I’m looking forward to see the VT Wonen booth (which is a decorated house) at the fair. For those of you not attending the fair, I will be shooting some pics which I will be posting next week. Thank you Kirsten Jassies (content manager Home Deco at Sanoma Publishers) for organising this fab event and for embracing blogging!
I am happy and proud to tell you that my new website The Travel Files is now live! Together with Carlos (who created the winning design) I have been working hard to tweak the design to perfection. Check it out! I hope you enjoy it.
The Travel Files is about traveling, exploring, dreaming and enjoying life. We showcase beautiful destinations from all over the world. Small or large, urban or rural, budget or high end: it doesn’t matter, as long as a place has a certain charm, edge or uniqueness. The Travel Files is dedicated to search the globe for beautiful hotels, B&B’s, restaurants, shops and other places worth visiting.
I am finally ready to announce the winner of the travel files website design contest. Reviewing all submissions took a bit longer than expected as I wanted to be sure that all submissions would be judged fairly and thoroughly. Receiving so many great ideas was exciting and I had a great time reviewing them. Initially I wanted to feature the winning designs as well as the two runners up. But as people put so much effort in their submissions and the quality was high I decided to show you the top 5 designs. The winner is announced at the end of this post.
Design by Sarah Lyth, who works for IflooksCouldKill.
Design by Carlos Lorenzo. You can see more of Carlos’ work on his website adesgana.com. His email address is carlos [at] adesgana.com.
Design by Joana Dionisio. You can find Joana’s contact details on her website where you can also see more of her work.
Design by Motoko Smith. Her website is motokosmith.com.
Design by Paula Biggs
And the winner is …. the second design by Carlos Lorenzo from Spain! Congratulations Carlos, I am looking forward to working with you on the final design. I would like to thank all the designers for their contributions. I very much appreciate the fact that you have taken the time to design for the travel files!!
I have some news to share: I am starting a new blog! While going though my files in search for a holiday destination, I got a light bulb moment: I want to share these great destinations that I have saved over the years with you. This is exactly the same reason why I started the style files over 4 years ago. The name of this new blog will be … drum roll…: the travel files.
Now, in order to start blogging, I need a website and a logo. As you can tell from the (rather standard) design of this site, I am not a graphic designer. So… I’m in desperate need of YOUR help. If you know a bit about graphic design and you would like to contribute to my new blog, I’d like you to participate in the travel files web design contest!
Rules:
- In order to be able to pick the winning design, I need an artists impression of the definite website design. This needs to include an idea for logo, header (including logo) and overall site design and lay out (the style files lay out serves as a good reference).
- The final logo needs to be able to be used for multiple purposes, including but not limited to business cards, stationary, Twitter avatar etc .
- The lay out needs to be based on the possibilities and limitations of WordPress, so in essence we are talking about a WordPress theme.
- I’m not a web design guru (nor do I have any experience in setting up web design competitions), so I need some support here and there!
- Submissions can be send to danielledelange [at] gmail.com.
- The winner will be picked by me on the 25th of May. The theme, logo banner etc then needs to be designed and created in the following 4 week period including feedback rounds. The launch of the travel files will on the 22nd of June!
- The winning design will only be used –and prizes will be rewarded- when the final result is satisfying subject to my approval.
Prizes?! What prizes?!
- The winner will receive goodies from Le Souk (and other items – all handpicked by me) with a total worth of at least 400 EUR. One of the items that will be in the prize winners box is the popular crocheted pouf.
- The winner (and a maximum of two ‘runners up’) will be mentioned on the style files in a post. The winner will be credited for eternity on the travel files as the designer of the site.
- If you are an avid reader of the style files you probably know what I like in terms of style but you can always send me an email if you have any questions!
I am very much looking forward to receiving your ideas!
Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments and email about the birth of our son Kick. We enjoyed reading them and were touched by your kind words! I’d like to invite you to virtually join us for a ‘beschuit met muisjes’, which is a typical Dutch tradition when a baby is born.
“Beschuit met muisjes” (“Biscuits with little mice”) is the traditional food served to celebrate the birth of a baby in the Netherlands. Beschuit is a kind of toasted bread. They are round, and are prepared by baking a small cylindrical bread, cutting it in half and baking a second time. They are spread with butter (or margarine) and the muisjes (literally translated: ‘little mice’) are sprinkled on top. These muisjes are sugared anise seeds. They are sold in a mixture of two colours: white and blue which are servered when a boy is born and white and pink for a new born girl.
Last Monday, 13 September, we became the proud and happy parents of a beautiful baby boy named Kick (which is an old Dutch name). We are all doing great (despite the lack of sleep..)! I have some posts lined up so I will continue blogging but perhaps not as frequent as I am used to. I will resume to my regular schedule in about 2 weeks time.
I am very proud that my blog is included in the September print issue of Martha Stewart Living! The style files is mentioned amongst fourteen recommended sites to bookmark in an article about 100 great finds for every room in the house.
