SURTEX

Next month Cartolina will be exhibiting at SURTEX for the very first time.

We are so excited! We will be at Lilla Rogers Studio booth - #309 May 20, 21 and 22.

Javets Centre NYC.

SURTEX is the global marketplace for licensing art and design - where artists, agents and licensors connect with manufacturers and retailers to create beautiful products in every category imaginable. Since I started licensing with Lilla's studio it has been a whirlwind of interesting jobs, keeping me busy in between designing cards. There's so much to learn about licensing - I'm glad I got an agent - I can't imagine doing it alone. I'll be at the show this year in New York, buzzing between the Stationery Show and SURTEX (they are in the same location, same dates) so if you are attending I'd love to meet you. You can email me or tweet me to catch up for a chat.

Forage - Gabriola Island this summer!

Recently, I was asked by Mariko Paterson McCrae to be a keynote speaker at FORAGE in August. I was delighted to say the least!

Forage is a summit/symposium for creatives of all sorts to tackle the issues that we face as self employed artists in today's global environment. Best of all, it takes place on Gabriola Island in the BC Gulf Islands - one of my favourite places to be(I'll be bringing my kayak)

I will be speaking about how my experience, launching and managing an internationally successful creative company from our remote location in the back woods of BC, can help you. Whether you are an urban artist or a rural crafter, I have lots of useful and insightful information to share with you. We'll discuss issues of business planning, scaling and sustaining your production, social media techniques, importing and exporting details, marketing and advertising - you name it - if I know it, we'll be talking about it!

If you are interested in participating check out the FORAGE website - attendance is limited, it's a great price and I think you'll have loads of fun! Let me know if you're going to be there! I'm looking forward to meeting lots of new people.

Oh, and guess what else? Doug's speaking too - so it's like a 2 for 1 - you get both of us :-)

New at Cartolina!

Well it's that time of the year again - time for new Cartolina Cards! Our latest collection is so pretty, I'm super excited. The buyers are loving them and I think we may have a couple of best sellers on our hands! As you know, I'm always on the lookout for beautiful vintage imagery to incorporate into our designs - I license pretty, antique illustrations from a variety of art dealers but I've also been interested, in the last year, to find a collage artist to work with at Cartolina - someone that can collaborate with me, that has a similar aesthetic and sense of design. I get a lot of portfolios sent my way, but I'm pretty picky! So, long story short, when I saw April Meeker's work I really hoped that we would have an opportunity to work together. So April has worked with me on this little collection and I think it turned out GREAT! A collaboration really is a meeting of minds and I thoroughly enjoyed working with April's collages and concepts - together we turned her ideas into 3 really great cards - the circus gal on the horse, the fabulous sailing ship and the pretty little hot air balloon. So we have 6 new Cartolina Cards - and I think we should have a giveaway next week - what do you think?

Cartolina and Flow - again!

It's so nice to have another Cartolina image on the front of Flow Magazine again this month, from Holland. I just got my copy and it's amazing - I so wish we could get an English version! This month with your Flow Magazine you also get a free matching notebook - nice!

Wild Chairy

These gorgeous chairs are from Wild Chairy (via HGTV). They are just stunning and the before and afters are truly inspiring. Great job!

Poppytalk Handmade Market

The new Poppytalk Handmade Market is showcasing some remarkably gorgeous handmade goodies such as these lovelies from Stitch and Tickle, My Bearded Pigeon and ImagineNations.