Cartolina news

Wow what a day I had yesterday. Six pallets of new product showed up in a big truck - all had to be unloaded in the pouring rain - 65,000 new cards and 12,000 new notebooks. Very exciting. Then, unexpectedly, samples of our fabulous new glittered gift bags showed up and blew our socks off - gotta love sparkles! Then, just as I thought nothing else could happen, we signed our first licensing deal which I am very excited to tell you about next week. So, big day yesterday,Thursday, and I completely ran out of hours in the day to prepare a Friday post for you. Sorry about that. I hope you have enjoyed the posts this week - I am still smitten with yesterday's sequin and floral pillow. I'll have a whole load of new Cartolina designs to show you next week - can't wait. Have a good weekend - see you bright and early on Monday morning!

This great picture was taken by Lori(aka Marzipan, Fin & Roe and Citrus & Clover) I love this shot. Lori takes a picture every day and posts it on her blog, Paisley Wallpaper . And you can buy her pictures too - she's got it all covered.

Found

How wonderful are these fabulous accessories from Accessorize? I simply adore the floral motif on the pillow and the makeup bag. And combining the flowers with the silver sequins - my my my(mine mine mine!) Hope you have time to browse through their site - pure unadulterated(literally) fun.

Found

Lovely, random, rusty object from here.

Window Shopping

I've been smitten with John Robshaws textiles ever since I saw them at Cabin Fever in Sandpoint, Idaho - one of my all time fave shops. Here is a great selection of beautifully inspiring patterned sheets and pillows. This first orange one is my favourite.

Window Shopping

So say you won the lottery today, what would you pick out at Appley Hoare? I would go for mostly green blue treasures starting with this set of majolica asparagus plates. (At the last antique fair I went to there was a booth that sold nothing but majolica and it was a feast for the eyes.) Then I would head straight for any wooden furniture with blue green paint - preferably peeling paint. Then I would grab a handful of old books, some monogramed french linens and I'd be out the door and back to my cute flat with the high ceilings in Kensington. How 'bout you?

Found

Really great rusty old metal treasures from Vintage Embellishment. I could just eat this stuff for breakfast - the more rusty the better. I should get the R shouldn't I?

Found

Thought I'd check in again at Mibo and see what's new. Love these 2 tea towels and a beautiful blue shade. I started replacing all the boring plain shades in our house with bright patterned ones - I love the update. There are lots of shades to choose from at Mibo.

Found

This is simply a random beautiful picture from Cluttershop on Flickr. Made me happy so I am sharing it with you . . . .

Paris Hotel

Yesterday I got a lovely surprise when Lynn from Paris Hotel featured my work on her lovely blog. I've been a fan of Paris Hotel for such a long time. I've featured items from her store here at The Cafe lots of time. Lynn has been doing a bit of research on great grand father, Sam Berger, who was an extraordinary wood carver - and I mean extraordinary. You must go and see the posts of his work the old photographs of the carvings will take your breath away. He worked on massive projects like cathedrals - carving the statuary and the ceilings, doors and pillars. Doug and I were speechless when we saw the photographs. I hope Lynn doesn't mind if I post one or two here for you . . . .

Calligraphy again.

I got quite obsessed with calligraphy yesterday. It got me thinking though - when does calligraphy become 'hand drawn type'? Know what I mean?This writing is so freestyle and wacky(which I love) but is it calligraphy or hand drawn type? Maybe it's always called calligraphy if you are writing an address in an envelope ? I seriously would love to know how to do this. I have pretty good drawing skills and a good eye - I wonder how long it would take me to learn how to do this - any of you tried? This fabulous work is by Queen Quill - amazing talent.

Found

How could I resist these wonderful simple plates from Rae Dunn. They would look great on a wall as a group. The scale of the number to the size of the plate is quite perfect.

Ode to the bean bag

These caught my eye yesterday - sturdy little bean bags. I have some similar bean bags in the studio that are about 6 x 8. Made of wonderful striped, vintage ticking. I filled them with dried peas, if I remember rightly. They are very heavy and extremely useful. I have at least half a dozen of them which I use for propping up books, weighing things down while they are glueing, holding things up from behind for photo shoots, holding open vintage books - you name it. One of the most useful things in the studio. These very cute ones are from here.

Inspiration

Wanda Gag was a children's book illustrator in the 1920s and 30s. Her books are considered some of the first children's picture books. Her best known books are Millions of Cats and The ABC Bunny. I mentioned Wanda here last week so I thought you might like to see more of her work. We have a copy of ABC Bunny around here somewhere but I couldn't find it while I was writing this post - it's an original lithographed version, very cool. Here are some images if you are interested.

Inspiration

There are some really inspiring and cheery pieces over at Loja de Estar. Everything from oil cloth bags to mexican blouses. if you are a fan of bright colours I think you'll like it there :-)