It's a 4 day weekend here in Canada - Friday and Monday off. I'm heading off to visit family for the weekend. I just wanted to wish you all a wonderful easter and hope you relax and enjoy a dose of spring fever! I may be back here on Monday morning - you never know! I'm leaving you with a very pretty picture to get you in the mood for relaxing!

This is where I grew up - in that little village at the bottom of the valley, Dollar, Scotland. 

This image is taken from the top of the castle.

Anonymous art | ffffound.com

This morning I have some beautiful images for you from ffffound.com. The only thing that I am not crazy about on ffffound is that often there is no source for the images that are posted there. I really try to always credit the artist/store or producer when I feature their work but it's not always available on ffffound. Anyway I think all this work this morning is terrific and if you are the artist I'd love to give you credit!

Inspiration | perfect platters

I'm always looking for inspiration - have you noticed? Well I stumbled on these the other day and got really excited by these wonderful shapes. Obviously this is dinnerware - by Paola Navone to be precise - but the shapes of the individual plates and platters are fantastic - really inspiring silhouettes - perhaps this should be the official Cartolina dinnerware here at the cafe  :-)

The Happy Little Book of Pugs

I love it when I see vintage imagery applied in a fun contemporary way. I was really impressed by this book - which is one of a pair designed and written by Kay Schukhart. You can see more right here -- there is some really fun, tongue-in-cheek pug stuff that will make you smile. Don't miss the lab version too. What a fun gift for a pug lover! Not your average doggy book at all!

The Happy Little Book of Pugs is Published by Harper Collins and available right here.

Botanical prints from Cavallini

Remember we were talking about decorating with botanical prints the other day? Well I found these sheets of wrapping paper from Cavallini - $5 each and they would look great framed don't you think?  Check out their site for retailers.

Window Shopping | IKEA

I haven't looked at an IKEA catalogue in a long time - our closest IKEA is an 8 hour drive from here so it's not usually my first choice for furnishings but I ran across these the other day and I was really impressed. I'd love to have both of these items at the studio. Maybe we'll have to go on a little road trip soon - good idea!

Window Shopping | Cosas

I know that the other day I said that I prefer a stenciled graphic on a wall to a vinyl decal - well I am making an exception to that rule - believe it or not these blue and white plates are vinyl decals! I could hardly believe it when I saw them. There are 4 to choose from and I think they look so realistic - you could make a wonderful arrangement on your dining room wall with a dozen of them. Anyway, these are from Cosas - who now have an English language site(which is handy). Cosas have some very pretty ceramics - real ones! They definitely have a Scandinavian feel to their wares which is simple and sophisticated, lots of white and red. I, of course, managed to find all the more exotic looking items  :-)

Decals!

My time

I know that some of the other design blogs have a very admirable blogging agenda - a tight, well evolved system of daily features and a consistent, though sometimes narrow, design focus. To put it simply, I don't. If I like something, if it catches my eye, if it speaks to me - then  it may very well make it to my blog. I figure if you are a regular reader here then you probably know this by now and won't be confused or offended if I dedicate an entire post to some pretty pictures of vintage alarm clocks. I found the very last image here on Kim's photostream yesterday when I was looking at her vintage fabric and it just reminded me of how pretty they are. Reminds me of waking up at our summer cottage in Scotland when I was a kid.

From here

From here

From here

From here

From here

A mystery - any ideas?

I know nothing about these images - I believe they are probably English drawings - that's all I know. I fell in love with them yesterday when I followed a link sent to me by Paula from Henry Road(thanks Paula). I am so inspired by these classical faces and the costumery. Even the printing technique intrigues me - it looks like chromolithography but there are so many dots - it's hard to tell. Anyone out there know anything about these images? I'd love to know.

Random Objects | Silver Screen Star Necklaces

A little more vintage fabric. These gorgeous creations are from Flora Bond. She calls them Silver Screen Star Necklaces. These so remind me of the boxes and boxes of vintage millinery flowers that I have seen for sale at the Paris flea markets - they are always squished and faded but still evoke an era of sophistication - like something out of My Fair Lady!

Inspiration | Vintage fabric

I am designing our 2009 holiday collection at the moment and I have been spending a fair amount of time researching vintage Christmas graphics. During this process the other day I stumbled upon this Flickr stream of some extraordinary vintage fabric. Here are some of the amazing graphics that I found there. As I trolled through the images it became apparent to me that this Flickr user is also an artist/crafter. I eventually found myself on her Etsy site where she transforms all this wonderful vintage fabric into bags and pouches which I have featured for you on the next post. 

This final image is the one that orinally caught my eye - dancing leaves - how strange and beautiful!

Etsy | Niesz Vintage fabric

So the above fabric collector is Kim and her Etsy shop is Niesz Vintage Fabric. My favourite items in her shop are these darling little pouches using vintage children's fabric and linen. Great little easter present!

Spring has sprung

It was such a beautiful weekend here - is it spring in your neck of the woods? It was sunny and warm here and we went for a drive and a hike in the sunshine. The birds were singing and it put my in the mood for spring. So we are all about flowers and birds and all things spring-like here at the cafe this morning! Hope you have a warm sunny week where you are too.

This image first found here

The best way to spend $4?

What a nice surprise to find this in my INBOX on Friday(thank you Judith). The May issue of Country Living Magazine thinks our recycled Notebooks are "The best way to spend $4" - and I have to agree with them of course. Thanks Country Living!

Random Objects | Bird cookies

Wonderful little birdie cookies to take on your spring picnic From New York bakery  Elenis. They're just too pretty to eat aren't they? 

Going Going Gone!

Who loves this pretty little tea caddy? Well I certainly do. It would look great with those vintage Chinese tea boxes I bought at Fan Tan Market a couple of weeks ago. It could be yours - From Little Byrd Vintage.

Fresh and Fabulous | Yellena James

These intricate floral images are from Oregon artists Yellena James

Her work is very interesting - and feels like spring to me! One of these would look so fresh and inspiring with a wide white mat and a simple white frame. Three of them together would look even better. $20 each - or $60 for three!