Sint & Piet // Dutch Holiday season start // Kleurplaat & Kijkdoos

For non-Dutchies this might be a little bit of a strange post. Each year The Netherlands celebrates Sinterklaas the first week of December. It is quite similar to the well known Santa tradition in the US but our old white bearded man comes from a typical Dutch heritage. He arrives on a boat with a dozen of helpers that come and turn the dark November month into a sweet candy filled mayhem. Like Santa fills socks, Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Piet fills kids shoes with presents and candy.

Each year we try to create a cool freebie around this traditional Dutch holiday. This time of the year we need some cool crafty projects to work on while it is pouring out go sit down and have a nice crafty afternoon with your kids. This year we have a fun project to work on. A Sinterklaas and Zwarte Pier themed set of drawings your kids can color, cut and paste into their Sinterklaas paper Peepshow. Click on the image below and save the file to your desktop. Don't forget to send us your results!

This crafting set was originally made by me around 10 years ago for H&M Holland when I was still working for a design company that was hired to do all H&M's graphic design in The Netherlands. The original illustrations were made for them and this crafting project was a free give-away they handed out to mommies and daddies shopping for their youngsters.

Sinterklaas & Zwarte Piet // Dutch Holiday season start // Kleurplaat & Kijkdoos

For non-Dutchies this might be a little bit of a strange post. Each year The Netherlands celebrates Sinterklaas the first week of December. It is quite similar to the well known Santa tradition in the US but our old white-bearded man comes from a typical Dutch heritage. He arrives on a boat with a dozen helpers that come and turn the dark November month into a sweet candy filled mayhem. Like Santa fills socks, Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Piet fills kids shoes with presents and candy.

Each year we try to create a cool freebie around this traditional Dutch holiday. This time of the year we need some cool crafty projects to work on while it is pouring out go sit down and have a nice crafty afternoon with your kids. This year we have a fun project to work on. A Sinterklaas and Zwarte Pier themed set of drawings your kids can color, cut and paste into their Sinterklaas paper Peepshow. Click on the image below and save the file to your desktop. Don't forget to send us your results!

This crafting set was originally made by me around 10 years ago for H&M Holland when I was still working for a design company that was hired to do all H&M's graphic design in The Netherlands. The original illustrations were made for them and this crafting project was a free giveaway they handed out to mommies and daddies shopping for their youngsters.

Sinterklaas // Dutch Holiday season start // Kleurplaat & Kijkdoos

So yes, for non-Dutchies this might be a little bit of a strange post. Each year we celebrate Sinterklaas the first week of December. It is quite similar to the well know Santa tradition but our old white bearded man comes from a typical Dutch heritage. He arrives on a boat with a dozen of helpers and turn the dark November month into a sweet candy filled mayhem.

Each year we try to create a cool freebie around this traditional Dutch holiday. This year we have a fun project to work on. A Sinterklaas and Zwarte Pier themed set of drawings your kids can color, cut and paste into their Sinterklaas paper Peepshow. Click on the image and save the file to your desktop. Don't forget to send us your results!

This crafting set was originally made around 10 years ago for H&M Holland when I was still working for a design company that was hired to do H&M's graphic design in The Netherlands.

> Sinterklaas, zwarte piet and christmas patterns are up!

For most graphic designers that work for commercial products and companies the holiday season starts in the summer. Little Smilemakers Studio is always working six months ahead. To post my new christmas home deco projects and patterns here on the Little Smilemakers blog during the summer feels kinda strange so i always wait till i see a first sign in the shops. I was amazed to see the first signs of our typical Dutch holiday 'Sinterklaas' and 'pepernoten' in my local grocery this week already!

I have been working on several holiday patterns as you can see above. The top pattern was made for a Sinterklaas wrapping paper collection but you can also order this print as online postcard. Could be an invitation for friends to celebrate this holiday together or just a cute note for a Dutch friend or family member overseas. I love the Sinterklaas tradition.

If you would like to send one of those christmas patterns and designs as a merry christmas card to you friends or family just check out my online cards at Kaartje2Go.