Cartolina | Studio news etc.
{We got home rather late last night from the Okanagan so today's post is longer on words shorter on pictures than usual - sorry!}
So it's been very busy at the studio since New York. There have been a lot of orders to get out the door and lots of other stuff in the works. I am still so excited about the Anthropologie order - the labels have arrived(some of the big stores have you apply their price stickers to the back of each item before you ship the order). And we are just about to print the second print run of the notebooks(the Anthropologie order will pretty much clean out the notebook inventory so we have to be ahead of the curve with the printing schedule). As anyone who has a small business knows, you have to anticipate the ebb and flow of orders and, believe it or not, I am just about to sit down and start designing the Christmas cards for 2009. Doug is pleased that the animal cards are selling so well - they are available at Kate's Paperie now and lots of other lovely paper boutiques across the country.( Doug is working on some really interesting illustration at the moment - perhaps I can show you what he's up to later this week. )
We took a quick trip over to BC wine country this weekend to do a little shopping and to start planning the Cartolina expansion into the wine industry (ha! - in our dreams!) We spent a lovely afternoon at the award winning Inniskillin Winery tasting some Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese wines that are still in "discovery" stage at the winery. It's such a great drive through the all the vineyards even at this time of the year.
Grace at design*sponge has asked me to participate in her regular Sneak Peak feature - which requires me to send her images of our home and studios to post on her blog. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I am honored that Grace would ask me but it has made me pace, nervously, around the house scrutinizing all our stuff :-(
Our house is rather rustic - after all we do live in the mountains surrounded by trees, on the edge of a lake - it's the kind of house you would expect to see in this setting. And the interior reflects the outdoors - lots of wood and stone and natural colours. Secretly I have actually been wanting to add some colour to our space so I think I will take this opportunity to update a few things with some brighter colours. I have a couple of weeks - so I will let you know how it goes. In the mean time here's some inspiration that is just oozing with colour - some of it a little OTT but I think I can try to incorporate some of these ideas. (The first image is definitely more 'us' than the others.) I'll keep you in the loop . . . .
This bright green room above looks more like a window display at Pottery Barn - my friends would wonder why I had put ceiling medallions on the wall - but I do love the contrasts and the drama created in this space - hmmmm drama, maybe it's drama I need?
This blue room is so pretty - but I would have to completely redcorate and that's not really the point of Sneak Peak!
This purple room is just too fun - and so not me - ha!
I love this last image - it just wouldn't work in our house but perhaps in the next place . . . .