Happy New Year Everyone!

Just a short post today - I'll be back in full form on Monday next week! 

I spent some time with family over the last week and I was talking to my dad about design. My dad has a background in publishing,among other things, and we got talking about when he went to Scandinavia in the early 70's to meet with textile producers in preparation for redesigning the publishing facilllities at Collins, the publishers(now Harper Collins), in Glasgow. The reason we were talking about this is because my mum had recently found a bunch of samples of Marimekko fabric that he had brought home with him from their design house in Helsinki - and I was interested to see how similar the Marimekko designs from 1975 are to their current collections. Here's what I found on line:

It has taken me a long time to come to terms with design from the 1970's. I'd like to talk some more about this in the near future(maybe we could have design therapy for any of us who were teenagers of the 70's) - I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a love hate relationship with anything orange and brown(mosty hate!) Marimekko makes it seem so much more sophisticated than I remember - how about you?

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!)