Inspiration | Ephemera

I love this vintage Japanese postcard - from here

Inspiration | Donuts and Sushi!

I have been meaning to post about these fabulous pieces that I first saw over at Kim Vallee's blog. {Kim has such great taste and such a beautiful way of styling her blog.} So this is the Donut and Sushi Collection from Moroso. I am really drawn to the 3 patterns used on these pieces - from here it looks like japanese emblems, Spirograph and a heavy brocade - very clever.

Inspiration | patterns

It's no great secret that I use lots of vintage Japanese and Indian influenced imagery in my design work. I love the richness of the colours and the exotic textures. Here are some of my favourite decorative papers including some wonderful Chiyogami papers available here at the Paper Studio

Window Shopping | Tokyo Made

I thought you might need a couple of bags and a scarfe to go with the new shoes you got yesterday. Gorgeous vintage kimono accessories from Tokyo Made.

Inspiration | packaging

Warning: the following items are all far too pretty to use - so let's just admire them from here.

Mmmmmm, don't these all smell great? You can get yours from here.

Announcing the new Cartolina shoe collection! Just kidding! But if we did make shoes I could only hope they would look as gorgeous as these from Hettie Rose created from vintage Japanese kimonos. There are lots of style to admire right here.

Window Shopping | West Elm

I'm sure these have probably been all over the blogosphere already - I must have missed them. In case you missed them too here are the scoop back chairs from West Elm - how fabulous. Someone at West Elm has very good taste!

Random Vintage Objects

I always see these in the vintage stores, flea markets and brocantes in Paris but I've never seen them here. Enameled apartment numbers - from BALLAST POINTE TRADING CO.

Good morning!

We're feelin' a little Etsy love here this morning. I find myself using Etsy like I used to use Ebay - to find some really great vintage and handmade goods for a great price - though with Etsy I don't have to deal with the auction anxiety - which I don't enjoy! I'm getting better and better at finding the cool stuff I am looking for on Etsy. So here are some wonderful things that have caught my eye in the last couple of days over at Etsy - and if you've got some great stuff in your Etsy store, I'd like to know about it - so email me!

Inspiration | vintage type

Fantastic French biscuit box{hopefully you could remove the duct tape from the top hinge!}. From Ric Rac and Buttons - prepare to waste a lot of time at this shop - though time well wasted!

Truly gorgeous type and what wonderful vintage shades of red and green - check out the way the green circle is actually a belt with a buckle!

Paper perfection

Wonderful example of vintage imagery beautifully applied to a simple paper tag and tied up with hand dyed vintage seam binding. These are simple and lovely. Good job Ellie Cate!

A random swoon

Gosh I like these! What a good eye this artist has for combing the old and the new. And the photography - girl you should give lessons to other Etsy sellers - completely swoon worthy jewelry from here.

Random Recycling

We've seen lots of recycled bags recently but these ones are really good. The designer seems to have access to great colourful graphics - on what looks like recycled vinyl ad banners. She has a great eye for cutting the fabric at just the right spot to showcase the bag design and the cool imagery/type. Wonderful work from here {Now, just a question, why do some Etsy sellers make it very difficult for us bloggers to figure out their shop name?}

Notebook Giveaway at Crow and Canary!

If you missed the last notebook giveaway we had here a few weeks ago you might want to zip over to Crow and Canary where Carina is offering a full set of notebooks to one of her readers. The giveaway is open until next week. Thanks Carina! 

We'll have a giveaway here again soon - is it too early to give away our brand new sparkly Christmas cards? They are hot off the press this week - what do you think?

Credit management

Today I discovered that this beautiful image was styled and photographed by Holly from decor8. Such a gorgeous still life - I was completely enamored when I found it! This image found its way into the blogosphere and ended up on numerous blogs in the last few days - including this one. So today I was reminded to always do my best to find the artist behind the image and I would like to encourage you to help me keep on top of that. As a visual artist myself I know the importance of crediting the correct source each and everytime we use an image. We are lucky to have all the image resources and the generous artists that make our design blogs as pretty as can be!

Gorgeous image styled and photographed by Holly Becker, decor8

Random Inspiration

Sometimes just a snippet of colour or pattern can really inspire me for a whole new series of designs. I absolutely love the graphics on this old french board game. I love the colour and style of the illustration. I figure it is about 110 years old. Next up on the design schedule is birthday, thank you and 'lovey-dovey' cards. I definitely want to incorporate some style from these wonderful pieces of ephemera.

Mary's Monday Mosaic

I know that lots of you really enjoyed the post on Kusudama last week. The very talented Mary over at Suffix Abuse blog put together is wonderful Kusudama mosaic last Monday, that I missed, so I wanted to show you how pretty it is. Have any of you tried the tutorial yet? Annavallance? I'd love to see yours! I'm going to Vancouver for a few days next week so I am going to pick up some pretty paper at Paper Ya to build my own pretty paper petal ball. 

Inspiration - repeat pattern stencils

I think this is clever. Combing stenciling and imagery to create one of a kind walls. I especially love the first image with the squirrels because there is something a bit surreal about them and it brings a little edginess to a stenciled surface. There are loads of ideas at The Stencil Library and as a designer I find them all very inspiring - especially if you are thinking about designing repeat patterns etc. Stenciling is a fine example of how a repeat pattern comes together.

Window Shopping | RE

Thought I would take a second trip to RE to see what's new. I love this shop - I could spend hours in here. I picked out a few things for your viewing pleasure.

Very pretty shelf edging - quite Scandinavian  don't you think?

This is a clever idea isn't it - using old wire utensils to display cards?