Cartolina News!

Well, if you have been following along, you will know that we are off to New York again for the Stationery Show today. It's been a busy busy time here - I am constantly amazed at how fast we have grown in such a short time. I'm excited today to let my friends down-under know that, as of June, all our products are going to be available in beautiful stores across Australia including select David Jones stores. This is something that I have been working on for some time now and I am thrilled that it has finally come together.

The response to our new collection has been overwhelmingly positive and I am so grateful to those of you who wrote to tell me how much they liked the new designs - very heartwarming. So many of the readers here at the Cafe are fabulously talented and creative - it's always a bit daunting to debut a new collection here!!

So I have a little surprise for you today - Jennifer at Modern Paper Goods is offering a great promo to any of our readers who purchase Cartolina products for the next week - 50% off shipping! She has all the new product available including the notebooks and pocket mirrors. All you have to do is enter the promo code SHIP50 when you checkout - offer is available until the 21st. Thanks Jen!

I'll be back here in our neck of the woods on Friday the 21st - hope to do some blogging from New York in the next few days - so stay tuned - and have a great weekend.

Inspiration

My friend Linda is out on a little road trip around the Okanagan and she stumbled on a vintage clothing store yesterday in Penticton, Vintage and Vogue. She sent me this picture of a fabulous vintage curtain fabric skirt that the owner of the store had made. She had got 8 skirts out of a double set of vintage curtains. Isn't the fabric amazing? There are so many illustrators emulating this style of illustration from the 1950s these days but you can't beat the real thing - can you?

Inspiration

A little glimpse of bulletin board inspiration from Country Home. Love the louvered shutters - though I think they should hang a few pretty cards from those slats don't you?

I have this secret wish that one day I'll see a picture of someone's beautiful bulletin board in a magazine and one of my cards will be pinned to it!

Inspiration

What do all these pictures have in common - well they are all diy projects over at the Country Home website. I love them all especially these paper covered bins . . . . .

Inspiration

We have featured Rie Elise Larsen here before and it's great to check out the new designs - displayed so beautifully. So here, fo all you pattern junkies . . . .

Inspiration

Ha! I love these - I'm sure you would have guessed that! These notebooks by Assouline are so up my ally. The imagery is by a Frenchman, George-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon from mid 1700s. These works are so rare - the kind of thing that just never turns up in antique stores any more and one can only dream of finding. This artist influenced so many of the other naturalists to come after him including Cuvier who is another of my faves(we have a few pieces that we use in our imagery.) Anyway, I'd like one of these notebooks - I may just have to order one online at Assounline(they are a wee bit pricey but they are large with leather binding and silver leafed page edges!)) Gotta love the pig/bear!

Inspiration

Love this image from Corbin Lee Gurkin via Design Sponge. I'm such a sucker for vintage lithographed tins, and grouped like this they look wonderful.

Going going gone!

Check out this great little vintage toy sewing machine - love it's smooth organic shape makes me think it's European from the 30s maybe - what do you think? It can be yours for just $40 - wouldn't it look fab on a shelf in your sewing room?

Found

Doug's best pal Robert has, for years, had a blue face lady painting hanging in his home - a bachelor with good taste, no less. And I, for years, would suggest that perhaps it was quite tacky and he should hang something else. Well low and behold his favourite art piece is a hot item these days - and I can hardly believe that I now know who the artist is Tretchikov. I find these paintings very pleasing these days - I've come a long way baby!

Second and third image are from here.

Found

I don't wear hats but how could I resist these hat bows? Beautiful gross grain ribbon embellishments from San Francisco's House of Nines. I love the muted colors, the textures and the pheasant feathers and watch part details! They have a wonderful selection of hats, fully adorned for all your hat wearing occasions.

Found

I am really digging these craft aprons. I have never really thought of wearing an apron at work but I love the idea of these little shorties. Hmmmm, what would I carry in all those pockets - well I guess stuff I use(lose) frequently during the day like markers, paper clips, tape, box cutter, calculator, measuring stick(my secret device for counting cards in a box) and probably some snacks ;-) All the things that mysteriously disappear around here! These cute little aprons are from Pamwares . She has the best selection of fabrics and are round about $20 each - great deal