Happy Saturday!

I don't post a whole lot of pictures of me here. I figure there are more exciting things to feature than myself! But Doug took this picture this morning and it really reflects how I'm feeling at the moment - happy, calm and looking forward to hunkering down with a good book in front of a roaring fire for the next couple of days. Have a great weekend everyone - I'm going to rake some leaves . . .

A luxury nap - we all need one of these!

I spotted this today via a Tweet from Christine and I thought how fun it would be to have one of these Suzani mattresses. I'm not sure what I would really do with it but it seems like such a luxurious way to nap!

Random object . .

How cute is this Jack and Jill tin tray? I think it's meant to serve those tiny tin cups that I'm also coveting - all of which can be found at Sushipot Parts!

Doing My Stuff

I think these are super cool. Vintage pin back buttons from the 1930s. "Authentic, vintage pin back button made by the Johnson Smith Company who started out in 1905 selling novelties and practical joke items in Australia. They came to Chicago in 1914 and are still in business to this day." Available for $4 each from Suite22

Be inspired while you sleep!

More amazing bedding - this time from Designers Guild!

Upholster your Toms!

Want to jazz up your Toms? Easy - just send them to Flavorful Fish and she'll custom upholster them and they'll be one-of-a-kind!

Another great idea!

I saw this online and thought - what a good idea! If you're like me you have loads of bits of inspiring ephemera and crafty paper bits that you don't want to stack in a pile or put in a scrap book - you want to keep them handy - right? Well this looks like a simple solution - a handy sling that hangs on the wall! You can make it as long or as short as you like to fit that unused space in your studio. Directions are here at Penny Carnival.

Updates and surprises!

So what's been keeping me so busy that I've missed a few daily posts here? Well one of the things I've been doing behind the scenes is designing a few new holiday Cartograms for the Cartolina app. Here's a sneak peek at one of the new designs. In a couple of weeks we'll be adding some of the holiday Cartograms from last year's Seasons Greetings app to the regular Cartolina app - and including a few new designs too. These will be a *free update* and I hope you love the designs! Stay tuned - you should see the update soon! AND we'll be launching our big surprise project in about 3 weeks as well - I can hardly wait. I hope you've signed up to be first to hear about it - you can sign up on the left << over there!

Ephemera sheets

What do you think of these new sheets from Anthropologie? I sort of like them especially when they are combined with other pieces. From here.

I saw this ages ago and ran across it again yesterday. Concrete lace by Doreen Westphal. It's so beautiful isn't it? More information right here.

It's been a while since I checked out the lovely and unusual collections at Lost and Found - and they are bigger and better than ever - check it out.

Giardino

I just discovered the wonderful, block printed world of Giardino - and I'm hooked! Love the simplicity and scale of these designs. The colours are wonderful too :-)

Cartolina at Lilla Rogers

Our Cartolina page is now up at Lilla Roger's website which is very exciting. We have had lots of interest in licensing since we started with Lilla's studio and we're looking forward to Printsource in January and SURTEX in May - not forgetting Lilla's Open House on November 9th. Check out our page, our bio and our studio - it's very fun!

If you're interested in licensing any of our artwork for your next project you can contact Lilla here.

Style at Home holiday card 2011

A few months ago the ladies at Style at Home asked me to design them a holiday card to send to their clients etc. I sent them 3 to choose from and they decided to turn it into a little competition in the November issue of the magazine and on their website. There's still time to vote if you like on their site. There are about 115 votes right now - they are going to choose a winner from all the votes - and the winner will get some nice Cartolina holiday cards - and I might pick a couple more winners too. So go now and vote - do me proud ;-)

Happy Halloween!

Okay people - go for it! If you've been waiting patiently to use the Halloween Cartogram from the Cartolina iPhone app - now's your chance!

New at Hus & Hem

Aren't these great? I spotted them at Print and Pattern. They are apparently new at Hus & Hem!

10 garlands

A great little tutorial on making 10 different garlands from A Beautiful Mess - how fun!

Vintage packaging

Vintage packaging from here. Aren't these incredible pictures? Do you think this is authentic vintage? I think so - but I have been tricked in the past!

Weekend treasure hunting

We went to a very good antique sale in Sandpoint Idaho at the weekend - Sandpoint is about 3 hours from here, south across the border. There are quite a few good vintage shops down there and this was a one weekend only sale. It was in a big barn and there were lots of large, farm and industrial pieces that I would have snapped up if I had the space for them. I was really impressed. Here are a few pictures of some of the smaller pieces

Even though it was in a barn they had merchandised everything really well.

Loved this old linoleum rug. It was in remarkable condition considering it's probably almost 100 years old.