Vintage |  Posh Bags

We love Posh in Chicago! Here are some great interior shots of their store - isn't it fantastic? Let's go. It could be our first Cafe Cartolina field trip :-)

Can't leave for the weekend without posting something vintage, something worn or something with a great patina. These bags(below) have it all - I love these, especially the first one - which almost looks new(and could almost be from Fossil, but it's not, its a vintage postman's bag from Holland) and you can get yours from Posh. We love Posh - oh did I say that all ready?

Window Shopping | Layla Grayce

Very pretty things from a store I just found - thought you might like them too. Here we go . . . 

Check out these magnetic mirrors, above, and these are the little brass magnets that come with them. This is a cool idea, I like this.

Great linen pillow, above, simple and sweet.

Well what do you think? Some pretty cool options for decorating. Love the black and white, calligraphic bedspread(and that orange one would be great to wake up under) There's a lot to choose from, right here at Layla Grayce.

Thank You Washington Post!

Looks like our Xmas cards are featured in the Post this morning - how fun! Editor Kathleen Hom is encouraging everyone to put down their mouse(mice?) and pick up a pen to write a real Xmas card this year. She has picked out Cartolina as a stylish card line that thinks out of the box! Thanks Kathleen! And we are happy to welcome lots of new Cafe Cartolina visitors from the DC area this morning - come on in, sit down, stay a while :-)

Inspiration | Super Styling

Today we are celebrating the super styling by stylish stylist Selina Lake - round of applause please. For your viewing pleasure I have chosen the following images from her portfolio but you might want to take a look for yourselves - she's a very talented lady.

I'd like to feature a professional stylist every week. Send me some links, I know you're out there  :-)

Inspiration

How many times have you stared at a pile of paperbacks on a shelf and thought - wow that's really beautiful? Probably never - me too! So when I saw this image on Poppytalk yesterday I was delighted by the creative eye of this photographer, to show me something that I have looked at many times but never seen before.

Ceramics | Aida Dirse

Lovely shots of ceramic bowls by Aida Dirse via More Ways To Waste Time blog.

Shopping | Fossil

You may find this hard to believe but I am actually not a big shopper. I like to browse and to window shop but when it comes to making a purchase it takes me a long time to make my mind up. I do buy a few things at Fossil now and then, especially leather bags, wallets etc - Their brand intrigues me - love their use of vintage imagery in their ads and packaging - so here are a few of my favourite things on the Fossil site right now. Probably won't buy them though because it takes me too long to make my mind up and they will have discontinued them by then!

Illustrator | Hanna Sandvig

I bought this sweet little card illustrated by Hanna Sandvig the other day(I bought other ones by her too but I especially love this one). Hanna is a self taught artist with talent to spare. I love her contemporary take on japanese imagery and her delicate use of colour. Do you ever buy a special little thing that you really love - and you have to share with all your friends - I hope you will take a look at Hanna's site and enjoy her work too.

Inspiration | beautiful sites

There are a number of web sites that I frequent not because I shop there on a weekly basis(see top post) but because the imagery and the graphics are so incredible - pure eye candy. Here are a few of my favourites . . . enjoy!

Odd Molly

ABC Carpet and Home

French General

Free People

Design Swoon | Louise Fili

Louise Fili is a design idol to many designers. If you are in the design business you will be very familiar with her work and especially her design books with partner Steven Heller. I never get tired of looking at her work but if you are not familiar with it - then voila, Ms. Fili . . . . . .

I love the 3 dimensionality of her book design and this Le Monde logo/signage below is one of my all time favourite pieces of identity design.

Dimensional type seems to be a specialty of Ms Fili's and this piece above is very impressive - totally evokes and era - love it!

Hope you enjoyed our little Fili retrospective. And I hope that I have inspired even just one person to seek out her work and her books - they have been a valuable resource to Doug and I for years - instant sources of inspiration. If I ever met her in person I would say, thank you Louise!

(Check out her design books on Amazon - right here.)

Ephemera | french documents

I cant really follow a post about Louise Fili with just anything. Here are 2 of my favourite bits of french ephemera. Love the cartouche on this receipt and the handwriting on the letter is just brilliant - I want to write like that!

International Links

I have a lot of international readers(especially Scandinavian and Italian) and I love to troll through their design blogs - to get a new perspective on art and design. So I have a couple of links for you today and I hope you like the images I have found. This stunning photograph of me in my new dress is from an Italian blog called Un Matrimonio Formato JPG. There are some really beautiful Italian design blogs(some really great crafty Italian blogs out there too - like decor e blablabla )