Have a great weekend!

Just wanted to say thanks to you all for visiting this week - and for all your comments. It's so fun, after a busy day in the studio, to check back here and read all your comments - I appreciate every one of them! Have a great weekend and I'll see you back here on Monday morning!

Image from here.

Photographer

Super photography and styling from this talented photographer.

Smitten

I am so smitten by some of the French blogs. Those bloggers have so much fabulous stuff to photograph - it's really not fair - is it? They just get up in the morning and wander down the road to the fabulous french flea market with their cafe au lait in one hand and their vintage Hermes scarf blowing in the lavender scented breeze. I'm moving to France. Well, not really, but I am checking out some gorgeous french blogs these days including Esprit Boheme - her photography tres magnifique!

Window Shopping

I stopped by the Cox and Cox website yesterday to see what's new. Great to see their pretty little holiday ideas. Don't you love this tube of giant matches?

Studio

I have some pictures to show you this morning of my studio(looking remarkably tidy I must say!) I'm not the best at taking interior shots - I always find it hard to get the lighting just right but these aren't too bad. The studio has very high ceilings - maybe 14' high which I love because it makes it feel very spacious. Recently I installed industrial gallery lighting which has proven to be the solution to bring good light in. I have a big open work space - a stock room and an office. The furniture is either from IKEA or the gov't surplice store for large mapping tables and drawer systems. the final picture is the view from the studio door - and lastly one of our regular visitors in the summer

At certain times of the year - spring and fall - we get a lot of black bears around the studio. They are very shy and harmless if you don't bug them! I feel so lucky to be able to stop work and watch the wildlife!

Inspiration

How you can you not be inspired by these colours? I love these bold, bright, antique Chinese carpet designs from Red Pagoda.

Found

Look at these beautiful objects - Chinese horse hair painters' brushes from the 1920s. The handles are made from marble, agate and jade. What beautiful items for display - from here.

Found

These are crazy clever. I saw them yesterday at Dandy Bread and Candy and was so impressed. The artist is Elsa Mora who has an Etsy shop and she has a great blog on paper cutting. Then I found her other blog on personal style The Hidden Seed - (YOU MUST GO THERE!) So my next post is on Elsa's jewelry (I can't stop - I just love what she's doing!) So first up are the amazing paper cuts - enjoy . . .

More

So now we have Elsa'a very cool jewelry - I love it and I think you will too. You can see more here.

Books

So now that you are inspired to cut up some paper and be super creative, here's a book that looks like a great introduction to making pop up books, how fun - Magic Books and Paper Toys - "Everyone loves a good book, but what’s better than one you’ve made by hand? And not just any straightforward book, but simple pop-up books, flip books, magic pamphlets, pop-up maps, and accordions! Esther K Smith, author of How to Make Books, unlocks the secrets of making tricky book forms even if you’ve never worked with paper before." Excellent!

Chop chop

And what more do you need than a big clunky pair of vintage, aqua handled, scissors to get you started on all your new paper crafts.

Found

Good morning - I'm back in fine form this morning with lots of particularly pretty paper products for your viewing pleasure! First up - Doug bought me a print of this Leonetto Cappiello painting. I really love it. I love the symmetry and the graphic quality. I have it hanging in the kitchen over the cappuccino maker(our Italian district!) I love all Cappiello's work - he really revolutionized the art of poster design at the turn of the 19th century.

Garlands

Have you seen these wonderful paper garlands by Lobster and Swan - I think they are just terrific. What a fun way to decorate a studio or a party - you can see more here.

Found

Here's a great supplier for that wonderful Japanese washi tape - Pretty Tape.

Found

These wonderful handmade books are created by Monkey Puzzle Press using vintage paper and wall paper for the covers - aren't these great? What a great way to recycle those rolls of old wallpaper I always see at the junk store. Found at the Poppytalk Handmade Market.

Good morning - I almost didn't have a post for you this morning - our open house gained momentum and rumbled on into the evening last night - what a fun time I had! It was such a pleasure to have the studio full of such nice people - a number of whom were blog readers that I was meeting for the first time(which was a real thrill.) Thank you to everyone who came yesterday, it was a great success! Thank you to Linda for being such a perfect assistant and to Doug who kept everyone's champagne glasses full. We had a draw at the end of the evening, just like last year, and the winner won all the product that was on display(a great big stash of Cartolina cards) - So I would like to announce that the winner of the draw is Tracy Fillion, congrats! Coincidentally, Tracy brought me a fabulous print of a vintage matchbox cover from San Francisco and also this gorgeous letterpress card from Hammerpress which I am thrilled with because I am a huge fan of Hammerpress - thanks Tracy (oh, and did you leave your sweater here?)

I'll be back tomorrow with regular posts - have a great day everyone!

Open House 

Don't forget the CARTOLINA OPEN HOUSE on Sunday afternoon - 3pm til 6pm. Give me a shout if you need directions to the studio. Look forward to seeing you all  ;-)

The tag team

Today I would like you to meet my clever friends Cate and Martin and their brilliant new business Blanket. These fabulous little gems are actually super stylish ID tags for your dog or cat to insure that, if they ever goes missing, they can be indentified and returned to you by means of the very clever Blanket website. I'm sure you'll agree that this is such a great idea. Each tag has a unique number that you register at the website - you enter all your animals details, size, colour, breed, number of legs etc and even a mug shot. So when someone finds your wayward puppy they go to the site(listed on the tag), enter the tag number, and Blanket will let you know that your pooch has been found. And if you realize your prize poodle is missing you can notify Blanket and they will alert local shelters, SPCA etc for you. They will even print your "Poodle Missing" posters using the photograph you uploaded and even organize local search parties with other members. I love the designs on the tags don't you? - Cate designed them - she also has a very fun blog, Under The Blanket, which I really enjoy because she has such good taste and features all sorts of super stylish pet inspired gifts and decor. I think Blanket is such a brilliant idea, in fact our Mimi is now a member - she is sporting the orange gingham tag - to go with her orange leg, of course!

Interiors

I really love this style of apartment. I was watching House Hunters International on HGTV the other night - I am addicted to that show - and the buyer was looking for a place in Buenos Aires. All the apartments she was looking at looked just like this - very high ceilings, enormous windows and elaborate mouldings - oh, and the light was incredible.

Thanks

A great big thank you to Style at Home Magazine for featuring one of our Cartolina glittery holiday cards in this month's issue. Our little chubby robin friend has proven to be our most popular Christmas card this year. I wasn't sure when I designed it because he's a British robin - very different from the big robins we get in Canada but he seems to have caught the attention of lots of editors and buyers too - which is great! Thanks!

Inspiration

These gorgeous images are from Pale & Interesting. I have actually never found pale very interesting until recently and I definitely could be persuaded after visiting this beautiful online boutique.

Found

These make me laugh - I am drawn to them as a designer because they are so authentically kitchy and sculptural. I don't have much else to say about them. They're so darn cute and there are dozens of them right here.

Pattern

There's a rather fabulous piece of barkcloth for sale at this Etsy seller if anyone's interested - going, going gone . . . . .

Inspiration

These caught my eye on Etsy - clever paper flowers from Tangle And Fold - something different - that's refreshing!

Interiors

Look at this fabulous place - this is Le Chandelier in East Dulwich, London. This is a tea shop! What I would do to sit with a cup of Earl Grey in this amazing space. And what d'ya know - they sell chandeliers too!

Interiors

I love this downstairs, east end, London flat. If you've been to London(or any old european city) you'll know that a lot of people live in flats that are just below street level. if you don't mind living in a subterraneum world you can find yourself in really interesting spaces that possibly used to be servants quarters or wine cellers etc. You can get a good feel for the kind of space these flats have to offer from these photographs. . . . .

Found

Look at this clever idea - Christmas paper chains from Ormolu. They arrive flat and you link them together yourself - I love this simple sweet idea.

Cartolina giveaway{ and Interview }

A few weeks ago I was excited to announce that our Cartolina products are now available in the UK. I had a lot of emails from readers wanting more info. One of those emails was from Huma Qureshi who is a journalist for The Guardian in London. I've gotten to know Huma over the last few weeks and have really enjoyed reading her column in The Guardian online. She regularly writes for the Life and Style section of the paper (which is always my favourite section of any paper!) I was thrilled when she asked me to participate in an interview and a giveaway on her freshly redesigned blog - Her Little Place. Huma is so professional - her questions were so well thought out and I am looking forward to reading her piece. She tells me it will be live around noon (london time) on Tuesday. So by the time I am getting up on the west coast I should be able to read it. I hope you enjoy it.

Treasures

I have spent a lot of time browsing through this website - Manon 21. I speak a little french and from what I can tell the writer of this blog lives in France and travels to various Brocantes and to Les Puce(junk stores and flea markets) and takes pictures for her blog. She loves all the same vintage treasures that I do - there are some great images of the markets and people of Province.

Patterns

Wallpaper patterns from Tricia Guild. These look like reproductions - that would be easy - no, these are new designs. Really impressive. I'd love to see these in person, maybe in New York in January.