Eye Candy

Good grief I love these 2 images - the styling, the props, the colours, the patterns and the textures - everything in these images represents how I feel about design. I want to climb into that bed, be surrounded by those textiles and have a big creative nap!

 Happy New Year everyone - see you in 2009 :-)

Stylist | Katie Sellers

Don't worry I wouldn't dream of signing off without leaving you some great patterns - this time from the portfolio of Katie Sellers. I think the top sunrise pattern is brilliant - really unique, slightly deco and very, very current. Even the second, brown pattern is interesting, it's very simple but very cool. . . . . what do you think?

Calendar | Daisy Janie

I am sure you are all familiar with the great fabrics and bags available at blogger and designer JanDiCintio's Etsy site (we love her blog too - Scoutie Girl.) 

Well if you're looking for the prefect working gal's calendar, here it is, hot off the press from Daisy Janie:

Jan Says, "I was looking for a great big 2009 calendar that I could hang and write all my daily scribbles and appointments. Not finding any to my liking, I took some of my sketches and created patterned backgrounds for each monthly page – and added large note-jotting sections for each month as well. Everything is printed in black & white, for the clean, simple & versatile aesthetic. Designs range from mod to marrakesh to boho…all good stuff! The calendar is offset printed with FSC & Ecologo Certified, 100% post-consumer, processed chlorine free recycled paper (manufactured using biogas energy) and using non-toxic soy toners."

We think it's great and just what we need to keep our eco-conscious selves organized in 2009, which, by the way, starts tomorrow - so you'd better hurry up and get a calendar!

Wake Up Eyeballs!

Good Morning! For all you pattern-holics here's a little inspiration to get your creative juices flowing. I know that many of you are in design mode for the new season - I've got lots of patterns up my sleeve to rev you up and keep you working into the wee hours in your studios over the next few weeks - so watch out!

Calendar | Alicia Bock

Here's a very pretty photo calendar by Alicia Bock featuring some of her best selling polaroid images. Very nice! I'd like to do calendars next year.

In the Mail Bag!

Just wanted to show you a couple of things that made their way into my mailbox over the last week (and definitely not into the recycling!)

Can you believe the beautiful handwriting on this envelope that came to me from Tara at Ephemera Press ? The card is gorgeous too but the handwriting stopped me in my tracks. Fuschia pink on lime green - fantastic! (Did I mention this is all handwritten?)

This is one of the most beautiful modern holiday cards I received. It is a 3-fold with a mirrored interior that reflects the die cut forest. very clever from MOMA.

Now this is a clever idea. This tag is actually one of a set of paper coasters from Fish's Eddy that I gave my sister in law. She chose to punch a hole in the top and use them as gift tags. they are all different scenes from Alice in Wonderland. I loved this idea. Wish I'd thought of it myself.

Gorgeous vintage French christmas card that needs a little TLC (looks like someone had a stamp stuck on her head) but beautiful anyway. These french cards were known as Bluets.

Vintage Italian Holiday card from the turn of the century. Great little outfit - trust those stylish Italians!

Thanks everyone - I really appreciated all the cards - especially the ones from fellow stationery designers - it's been a treat to run to the mail box for the last couple of weeks to see what's waiting for me.

Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered the quicky giveaway that I snuck in on Wednesday morning! It was so fun to read all the animal stories. I popped all the entries into the big glass bowl as usual and Mimi dipped her furry little hand in and scooped out 3 winners. So the winners are: Cicada Studios, Paper Stories and Brittany Noel. Email me and I will get those cards out to you asap! Thanks everyone. Stay tuned we'll do a Cartolina Notebook giveaway very soon(well, just as soon as I take some good photos of them!)

Happy Holidays to you and yours from all of us here at Cartolina - see you next Monday! Doug and I are going to spend the next few days overeating with our families and hopefully get some skiing in - to offset the eating! Wherever you are, stay warm, drive safe - and enter my giveaway(below!)

Let's have a Cartolina holiday giveaway!

So it's time for another giveaway! This time we are giving away a set of our new animal cards(illustrated by Doug.) These little beauties are all ready turning out to be a very hot item. So if you would like to snag a double set of these just leave a comment below and we will make the draw on Monday next week(like a belated Xmas surprise!) This time I want you to write a quicky comment about your favourite pet, now or in the past. Can't wait to read them! Thanks!

Artist | Yulia Brodskaya 

Here's something fun and colourful for a blustery winter day. Can't remember where I first saw this artist featured but her work is simply amazing - her portfolio is so fun to browse through. Makes me want to cut up some paper and start curling!

Blog Alert | Bricolage - Julie Reed

If anyone ever asks me how to get their product featured on a blog the best advice I can give is to start writing comments on the blogs you would like to be featured on. A good example is Julie Reed. Julie commented on a post I wrote a couple of weeks ago(with no expectations other than to leave her comment.) I read all the comments that come my way and if I can click on the author's name to find out more about them, I will. So I clicked on Julie's name and found myself at her charming blog and discovered she is a very talented gal. Here is one of the recent craft projects she is sharing on her blog Bricolage.

These are so pretty - I think you will love her blog and her good taste!

So, you see, you can spend a lot of time and money on press releases etc when all you really need to do is make yourself known to the blogger.

Window Shopping | McMaster and Storm

Julie's decorations, above, reminded me of some brilliant Xmas decorations I saw at McMaster and Storm. My other friend Julie introduced me to McMaster and Storm last year and, If you don't all ready know them, I think you will enjoy browsing through their store and their website. Lots of treasures. Here are a few pictures.

I once considered having a blog which purely featured the insides of stores like these because they are so visually stimulating - may still consider that!

Baby it's Cold Outside!

Wow - is it cold where you are? There's a deep freeze happening up here in the Pacific northwest and I'm thinking sweaters, scarves and winter woolies! I'm not the best at finding all the good stuff on Etsy but I did manage to find these wonderful warm woolen things to share with you.

Photograph above by Photobird.

Two glorious white cowls from Windowsill - love these!

Fabulous chunky orange scarfe from Bossyboots

Superb green cowl from Happiknits.

And finally 2 great cowls from Homelab originally seen on Scoutie Girl.

Deluxe Scarves

Super duper swanky scarves from Anthropologie. Would you like the red one or the blue one - I personally would go for the blue - though if you forced me to wear the red I would  :-)

It's a Wonderful Life - in Japan!

We got this book in the mail on Friday. It is the Japanese version of It's a Wonderful Life!  A couple of years ago Doug was asked by Penguin Books to collaborate with Jimmy Hawkins(who played the youngest child in the original movie) to produce a kid's illustrated version of It's a Wonderful Life. It was really fun for me to watch the book come together that summer. The finished book, It's a Wonderful Life For Kids has been selling well for the last couple of years. It was fun to check out the Japanese version.

Here is the first scene in the movie and the book - Doug's illustration of a wintery night in Bedford Falls! The US version of the book is available here(Amazon). And here's a link to all Doug's books(Market Day is my favourite!)

Inspiration | Stylist Katrina Cargill

I know that many of you, like myself, enjoy the work of talented magazine stylists. We get to see some great photography, wonderful images and beautifully showcased product. I love it when I find a few new stylists' portfolios online to browse through. Here are a couple I found recently - I have chosen images that I find inspiring and, as many of you are designers and creative types, I think you will like them too.

The above images are all styled by Katrina Cargill originally seen at Jubella.