Free Postcard Day!

If you've been procrastinating about sending a Cartolina postcard from the Cartolina Postale app well we have a surprise for you. Tomorrow we're offering a free postcard to all our app users - one day only. You'll see how easy it is to pick a card, customize it and send it directly from the app. So give it a try - the app is free to download and it's lots of fun to send a card - a real one!! Down load the app from the link here.

Mirror image collages

We just got back from the gift fair in New York (NYIGF). It was great fun and I loved visiting with all my industry pals. Saw some wonderful new products and designs. New York was sunny and we walked for miles - in a completely different world than the one I live in! Talking about new stuff - I've been working on some fun new stuff including a large series of these mirror image collages . . I hope you like . . they are actually very large and don't show very well here on the blog but you should get the general idea!

Year of the Dragon!

I wanted to share this illustration with you from my friend Chris Chun. It's so pretty and looks like it was a load of fun to paint. You can see more of Chris's beautiful work right here on his site.

Pack your bags!

Since I've been travelling so much recently I thought I would feature some lovely vintage luggage labels - aren't they gorgeous?

From here.

Thank you Uppercase!

I am so proud of our feature in Uppercase Magazine this month.

We've been featured in lots of mags and newspapers but this one is very special to me because it speaks to my peers and that's important stuff! The piece is written by the lovely Erin Loechner for Janine Vangool/Uppercase. It's no secret that I, like so many other creative people, am a huge fan of Uppercase and I really encourage you to buy a subscription - it's definitely the best thing to arrive in my mail box every few weeks - you won't be disappointed!

Stitched

Thought you might like to see this poster that was hanging locally here in Nelson last month. So sweet! It's a print of the actual stitched piece - it's quite deceiving though - looks like the original doesn't it?

Treasures under glass

I have a house full of cupboards - full of tins - full of treasures - and I bet you do too! I love knowing that I have them but I definitely forget what I have. Does that happen to you? So I love this idea of having 2 or 3 glass cloches that you display tiny vignettes of our prized miniatures in - to admire - and then swap them out for another selection when we get tired of them. This is a fun tutorial, at 2 Gypsy Girls, on how to make said displays - now where can I find those cloche(for a reasonable price?)

This gorgeous images of a french home come via Lucy Auburn's Pinterest board. They are from Cote Maison. I love all the shades of grey. Do you think it would get depressing to live in such a grey interior? I suppose this would be the perfect place to throw a handful of bright pink pillows etc to brighten things up if need be - what do you think?

Nest

Hello everyone. As advised, I spent a good 20 minutes in NEST in San Francisco at the weekend. Thank you to everyone who knows me well enough to recommend this beautiful shop to me. I love a store owner who has the confidence to step away from the normal wholesale channels and fill their shop with amazing, one of a kind pieces and vintage treasures. It is indeed a remarkable store. I have just a few pictures of NEST - but I do have lots of good street shots of San Francisco that I'm looking forward to sharing with you this week - so stay tuned :-)

Shopping advice please!

I'm going to San Francisco this week for a couple of days. It's mostly a work trip but I do have a few hours for shopping. Do any of you have favourite boutiques in SF that you'd like to share with me? I really need to add a few key pieces to my wardrobe and I'd love some advice from my lovely readers :-) I need some fun, chic/stylish clothes that I can wear to trade shows and to speaking engagements. Advice please!

Super size me!

Big bus tickets on the wall - well what do you know! Of course I love these! I guess almost all ephemera looks great when it's super-sized. I fantasize all the time about enlarging some of the vintage scrappy engravings I have in my collections and plastering them all over the walls. I think that's why I love looking at vintage prints under magnification. These are from here.

Background art.

Wow. I love this 'mural' that I spotted via Nicole Balch on Pinterest.

This is so up my alley - as you can probably imagine. It would look amazing at the studio. It looks remarkably like some of the background imagery we use at Cartolina. Great find!

Tiny treasures.

I like these tiny paintings from Stephanie at Milady Productions. I like how rustic and honest they are. Stephanie has a wonderful portfolio - I think you'll enjoy it.

Morning inspiration!

These bags are made from vintage Kantha textiles from India. Love the two in the first image - especially the yellow. Just thought you might like a colourful break in your day :-)

These bags are from One Kings Lane - which you have to sign up for but it's worth it!

Movin' and shakin'

Hello everyone. Sorry I've been gone so long. I really took a long break this Christmas and it feels great to start the new year feeling fresh and inspired. We have lots of new things happening in 2012 and the first one I'm going to tell you about is really big for us and also big for our retailers. As of today Cartolina has a new US distributor. I'm excited to start working with the Nelson Line this year. They have been in the stationery and gift business for a long time and I am thrilled and honored that Cartolina will be part of their collection which includes some very big names in the industry. And the other part of this news is that we are excited to be back at the New York Gift Fair this year in the Nelson Line's booth. So if you're going to be at the fair I'd love to say hi. I'll be there for a couple of days and I'm really looking forward to it. And for all of our US retailers we are delighted to be able to do business with you at the Nelson Line and you can email them right here to set up an account or have a rep call on you.

These are so sweet! From Jayson Home. These are simple gift tags but so tastefully done - don't you think?

I like these - now :-)

Really interesting designs on these tea towels from Anthropologie. I probably wouldn't have given these a second glance a year ago but it's amazing how our tastes change in a few short months, isn't it?