Olde Tyme Notions!

Wonderful vintage, lithographed tins from Olde Tyme Notions. I can't get enough of these. I have an old jelly cupboard stuffed to the gills with old tins - I really love them - especially the little kingfisher one below.

Maranon

There's something about these that reminds me of the Spirograph post from the other day - must be the geometry factor - what do you think? I've had my eye on these for a while and I like the way they have evolved. From Maranon.

Guest Post at Small For Big

I have a guest post over at Small For Big today that you might like, featuring some of these amazing vintage tin toys. Mari's blog is a fun place to find great stuff for cool kids and their hipster parents - take a look.

New Twitter!

We have a new Twitter account specifically for the Cartolina app. Follow us at http://www.twitter.com/CartolinaApp to be first to see all the new Cartograms and hear about the latest pretty updates to the app. Thanks!

Ist month anniversary at Etsy!

Just sold and relisted this pretty 'Dream Big' art print from the Cartolina Etsy shop. This has been one of the most popular prints in the shop so far. Thanks to everyone who has purchased items from the shop and made our first month at Etsy a roaring success!

Isabelle Abramson

What do you follow a post on Spirograph with? With these amazing carved pocelain bowl from Isabelle Abramson Ceramics, of course! Beautiful!

Kool dye job!

No I'm not going to start knitting! I was dying to show you this(sorry about the pun!) This yarn was dyed using a Crockpot and Kool-aid. Isn't it pretty? I saw this on Crafty Minimeg via Craftgawker and originally from a tutorial on Do Stuff Blog. It's really quite an incredible process and I encourage you to check it out. I simply can't believe that it's Kool-Aid :-)

Spirograph(OMG)

I started a frenzy of flashbacks on Twitter a couple of weeks ago when I mentioned how much I loved my Spirograph when I was a kid(actually it could have been my sister's - not sure.) It was so fun, though it came with some complicated options that I was so intimidated by - like those long flat pieces that you were supposed to twirl your plastic circle around to create something other than a round pattern - did you ever actually try that? I want a Spirograph right now. I would try all the toughest tricks in the guide book - no problem - Yeh!

You can by these prints at Monster Gallery.

Urbanite Jewelry

I rather fancy these earrings. In fact I rather fancy a few things from Urbanite Jewelry. Their pieces are very inexpensive($12) and really unusual. I bought a cool paisley tunic from the John Robshaw collection at Lucky Brand when I was in SF last week. these black earrings would look very exotic with the indian motif on the fabric - I think I'll treat myself!

Hand Painted signage

I just know you are going to love these. Hand painted letters and signage from Golden West Sign Arts in Berkeley CA. The first letter A here caught my because Doug loves 3 dimensional, art deco type and uses it all the time in his work - it's so fun and all hand painted!

Spring has sprung!

I'm loving this sweet little pendant from Anna Humphries. So charming. This is an original watercolour painting that has been permanently sealed under the bezel. Lovely!

Birch and Bird

Big thanks to Vancouver's Birch and Bird for including our Cartolina Art Prints in their Roundup of Artful Ideas last week. We love their blog and they have such great vintage collectibles in their store - especially this super cute kids book - gotta love that cover!

John Ward

We have a new café in Nelson. My friend Amy opened the John Ward Café 2 days ago in THE BEST location in Nelson. I'm very excited for her and very excited that she asked me to design a logo for her. Thanks Amy! So I headed in to Nelson yesterday morning to have my first latté and I was so impressed with the space - especially the cool vintage wall treatment. Apparently a friend had found these old boards, from vintage packing crates, in the wall of an old house they were renovating in Nelson and asked Amy if she could use them - she's so creative(as is her whole family) So they put them to good use, on the wall and I thinks it's fab fab fab! I couldn't wait to show you because I know you are going to love it too. . . . .

Giveaway!

Would you like to win this Cartolina print? It's one of my favourites - the background is an 18th century copper engraving from Italy and the 'wood'carving is one of Doug's illustrations - so pretty and so much detail. My friend Kate from Pennello Lane is giving away this poster and a goody bag of Cartolina loot - all you have to do is go to her blog and enter - right now! I LUV GIVEAWAYS!

Vintage treasures from La Sirena

I would like to show you a couple of the pretty vintage pieces that I picked up at La Sirena on my trip last week. The first is a reproduction advertising piece that I just had to have, love everything about it. The second is this small chalkware sheep. I don't know much about it - I expect it was from a series of collectible animals, Noah's Ark or a Nativity set. I have this thing about small sheep figurines - having grown up in Scotland - ha! Do you like it?

Hand Shadow Cards

I've featured a few things from Cog and Pearl here in the past. I spotted these reproduction 'hand shadow' cards at Pursuitist and couldn't resist. So wonderful!

More information here.

SF storefronts

I always like to include a pictorial selection of my favourite storefronts when we get back from a city trip. Here's my selection from San Francisco. Love the trendy one-bright-colour look. This first yellow establishment is a newish, very hip, German Gasthaus - Leopold's. I think if you head there for a beer after work you won't be disappointed ;-)

Vintage signage

So many great vintage signs in SF - I especially love this first one - it goes so perfectly with the surrounding architectural details. Enjoy . . . . .