In the Netherlands we're as a nation postponing the Christmas cheer until after December 5th, when our own Saint Nicholas heads back to his palace in Spain.
But boy, then it does start in earnest. The Weekend following Sinterklaas' departure, it's absolute mayhem in every garden centre selling Christmas trees. 

Personally i love the Holidays not so much because of the religious significance, but rather because people all over the world go through lenghts to spend time with the people they love.
No matter what (if any) religious meaning you attach to this time of year, the way this season helps get people together is a reason to celebrate on its own.

And it's not just about seeing everyone you love in person, this season is also about sending your best wishes to friends and family.
​How about sending them some flowers as well? Not actual flowers of course, they'd wilt in the mail, but wildflower seeds caught in a Holiday card.
​
​Especially for these festive times we designed 4 new Holiday Growing Cards.
​The cards have been printed on Growing paper: 240gr recycled paper that contains wildflower seeds.

 To germinate the seeds, lay the paper in moist soil, place in a sunny spot, cover with a thin layer of earth and keep moist. 
Depending on the kind of seed in the paper, you'll see the first tiny green leaves pop out of the earth after about ten days.
​
Order now and we'll send along a matching Bee Happy envelope for free!

<See all growing cards>

Here at House of Thol we're very fond of being able to wrap presents in a stylish unexpected way and are big fans of public domain works of art that we can use.
Last year we launched two types of custom wrapping paper for our Flower Constellations: The gorgeous dark flower painting by Dutch Master Rachel Ruysch and the vibrant original by Ambrosius Bosschaert the elder . 
​Both beautiful floral Dutch Classics.

About a month ago we finished the design of the official Helios Packaging: the brass growing disk comes in a small eco-cardboard box that is lovely to gift.
And because it is such a suitable present, this calls for great wrapping paper.
Since the Helios is not so much about Flowers as it is about plants and greenery, we scored the Public Domain for colorful paintings that are all about growth. 

Instead of going for just one, we opted for two different wrapping papers to choose from right from the start. 

Find out more about the works by Henri Rousseau and William Morris below.

Henri Julien Félix Rousseau only started painting in his 40ties and never received official training.
Although he is now seen as an inspiring avant-gardist, his naive style got ridiculed during his lifetime.

Rousseau painted many jungle-themed works, but probably never left France or saw a real jungle. 
He was an avid visitor of the botanical gardens though, and loved being surrounded by tropical plants.
The animals he painted were inspired by texidermy settings of wildlife. 

This painting of monkeys in a tropical forest from 1910 was probably one of his last. Rousseau died in Paris on September 2nd 1910.

Currently William Morris is best known for his Ats and Crafts textile and wallpaper designs, whereas in his lifetime he was better known as a poet. 

Though officially trained as an architect, Morris started a firm focussed on interior decoration with several associates in 1861. He took over as sole owner in 1875, renaming the company 'Morris&Co'. 
The company flourished during the Arts & Crafts period (1880-1900), and stayed in business until 1940.
Many of the Morris&Co prints are still in production.

This 'Fruit' (or 'Pomegranate') wallpaper pattern was designed in 1865/1866, and is one of the first paper designs William Morris brought to market.

Father's Day is around the corner! 
And although it might seem all fathers need new Americana accessories for their BBQ, we know for a fact many dads love to let things grow.

That's why we busted our behinds to get the Helios out there in time: the new durable tool to help you grow your pits, bulbs and cuttings on water.
Read all about our Helios Constellation here.

Is your dad more of a houseplant fan?
Why not gift him a Waterworks-set to help keep his indoor greenery happy and healthy.

But that's not actually what this post is about: As a little something extra, we added a few new Father/Family-themed Growing Cards to our collection.

With these cards, you're not only sending your dad a sweet message, you'll also give him something to grow.

The cards have been printed on Growing paper that contains wildflower seeds.
To germinate the seeds, lay the paper in moist soil, place in a sunny spot, cover with a thin layer of earth and keep moist. 
Depending on the kind of seed in the paper, you'll see the first tiny green leaves pop out of the earth after about ten days.

Mothersday is around the corner! 
​Does your mother like flowers?
​Gift her a Flower Constellation this weekend so she can create stunning floral masterpieces every time while saving on flowers.

Because we are huge fans of mothers in general, (and ours in particular), we designed special Mother-celebrating Bee Happy Growing cards for Mothersday.

With these cards, you're not only sending your mom a sweet message, you're also giving her a delayed bouquet of flowers. ​

Want to dave time and have your present sent directly to your mothers' address?
We can do that! Simply fill out the correct address at check out.

We can even write your mothersday-card for you. Let us know what should be on the card (max 5 lines) and we'll make sure to write down your message as neatly as we can.

Remember <this blogpost> about Rachel Ruysch a little while ago?
We asked you which painting you liked most, so that we could turn it into wrapping paper.

Well... the votes are in, and the winner is: Painting number 3!
Over all, most people liked the bright colors and explosive composition in this painting most.

Out of the Rachel Ruysch painting, we created this lovely wrapping paper that fits perfectly around the Flower Constellations. 

The Netherlands is historically known for quite a few things.
Of course there's wooden shoes, cheese and wind mills, but what about Flowers and Golden Century painters?

​(We'll go ahead and gloss over the stuff the Dutch are infamous for, meanwhile hoping that soon we'll get over our adoration for pirates and invaders.)

We came across the beautiful Flower still life paintings by Dutch Artist Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), which we absolutely loved. (The dramatics!) 

Here's the plan: we'll use one of these paintings as our Christmas gift wrapping paper for the Flower Constellations.

After months of eager anticipation they're finally here: The Flower Constellations!
And they're everything as wonderful as we'd hoped.

After receiving the final pieces of the Flower Constellations puzzle last week, we rallied friends and family and spent the Weekend wrapping constellations, printing labels and preparing packages.
Which means that the Flower Constellations are now ready to go!

For all Kickstarter backers and the people who pre-ordered in our webshop: your Flower Constellation order is packaged and ready to be shipped this week.

This first period after launch, the Flower Constellations will be available exclusively in our own webshop.
Get them there now, or in a store near you pretty soon.​

<Buy Flower Constellations now>

Hi Everyone!
We hope you're enjoying summer as much as we are?
We've just returned from a little sunny break with the kids and came back to the best of the best: 

The Flower Constellations are in the house and they're looking good!
​Photographs of all Constellations will follow soon of course, we just didn't want to wait any longer to let you in on the good news.

Last but not least comes the Pisces, or should i say 'come' the Pisces. My apologies if i'm getting it wrong.
Yesterday we were talking about the age of Aquarius (remember). It's believed by most astrologists we're currently in the 'Age of Pisces'. The age started around 1 AD, not coincidentally around the birth of Jesus Christ. It's the age of religion, of faith, believe and sacrifice, and it should be coming to an end within the next 130 or so years.
Considering the current religious turmoil all over the planet: let's move to the next age sooner rather than later.

Anyway, back to the Pisces star sign. Pisces means 'fish', and the story goes, Aphrodite, goddess of love, and her son Eros turned themselves into Koi fish in order to escape Typhon, father of all monsters.

So now we've unveiled them all, it's about time to pinpoint you to this page that has all Flower Constellations in one neat overview. 
​
Like what you see? Click on the button to pre-order now!

Capricorn is the smallest and faintest constellation of the Zodiac, yet has one of the oldest mythical back stories. 
It was originally depicted as a sea-goat: half fish / half goat. Which is without a doubt the silliest combination of animals you could come up with (i mean, imagine the walking?! What would it eat?). That said: feel free to add even sillier combo's in the comments. Thinking about stuff like that is the best for people with vivid minds like me. 
​Anyway, in Dutch, the translation of Capricorn is mountain goat, so that's what we went with for the packaging,

Using the more 'natural' approach gave us the opportunity to use a snowy mountain in the collage. Not only because it's wintery (the sign 'kicks off' right after winter solstice), but also because it represents the 'view from above' people born under Capricorn supposedly have: resulting in great management skills as well as sometimes coming across as condescending. 
Remember: that's just what the astrologers say, don't blame the messenger. 

Check out packaging for the signs Aries,  Taurus,   Gemini,  Cancer,  Leo,  Virgo,  Libra,  Scorpio & Sagittarius - Tomorrow: Aquarius

The Scorpio: secretive, passionate, elusive, associated with tarot card 'Death' and a pack of not so very sweet totem animals including snake, phoenix and vulture. All in all a sign that's hard to warm up to.
Even if it's your own.
Which in this case it is.
Luckily it's not all bad: We' are also supposedly resourceful and decisive, and will research until we find the truth. I'm guessing Pitbull might have been a good totem animal to add to the list.​'

The Mythological backstory of the constellation has to do with the Scorpion that killed Orion, either sent by Greek deity Artemis because she didn´t like Orion, or by her brother Apollo because she liked him a bit too much. 
Lovely. - You should definitely check out mythological stories by the way, I'm pretty sure all modern day soap opera's are based on them.

Check out Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo & Libra - Tomorrow: Sagittarius

Ah, libra, litteraly the most balanced of all Zodiac Signs. It has to be, it's depicted as the scales of lady justice.
During this time of the year, night and day are in balance and so are the ​people born between September 24th and October 23rd. Supposedly.
Honestly, i don't know that many balanced libra.
But then again: i don't really know a lot of balanced people. Luckily. (boooring).

Anyway, this is one of the Flower Constellations i got to try out, and i love creating minimalistic set ups with the 4 holed brass tool. You don't need a lot of flowers for a wow-effect.

Tomorrow: the secretive Scorpio.
Check out Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo & Virgo