Ahoy matey!

I went for a coffee with my friend this morning and across from me there was this young guy waiting for his latté with these boots on - I couldn't resist taking a picture - and he seemed quite delighted with it when I showed him. (Apparently his friend made them for him!) Maybe he'll see them here on my blog ;-)

Washi tapes at Omiyage

I'm really loving these new washi tapes at Omiyage - lots to choose from, take your pick!

iPad shells from Tech Candy

These are from Tech Candy. I recently (like just last week) got a brand new iPad and I was searching for a pretty rubber shell to make it easier to hold (I find it quite heavy and slippery without a cover.) I like these because they are texture but they are not too chunky. What do you think?

Cartolina at Jack Cards

Did you know that you can now buy Cartolina Cards online at Jack Cards? It's a great site with a great service. You can start a planner and add birthdays, addresses and reminders. They will send you your card, with a stamped envelope if you like, and if you're in a real hurry they'll even write your message and send your card to the lucky recipient. Here's a link to Cartolina at Jack Cards.

Hello!

Surprised to see me here? I'm sorry I've been MIA for the last few weeks. The truth is that I've been finding it really tough to get all my work done everyday and then find time for the fun stuff - like blogging. I think that most biz owners find themselves in a position like this at some point. It's great to be busy, and have a thriving business, but you definitely have to sacrifice some of your leisure :-(

So I took a vacation - I just got back from 2 weeks on Maui. It was a great opportunity to step away from work and really relax. If you know me well you know that I rarely take a trip that doesn't involve work. Well that has to stop! My vacation made me realize how important it is to take care of ones self. I was able to 'zoom out' from my life and see it in a new perspective. It's so true that a person can get too 'close' to their work and yet not be able to see it clearly. Coming back with fresh eyes I'm reminded how lucky I am to have such an interesting life, loyal friends and a fab job.

I miss my blog - I miss the feedback and the connection to you guys :-)

I have so much stuff bookmarked to show you - let's get started!

These ceramics are from Katrin Moye via Print and Pattern. Stunning!

New Toile

I love toile and I love that it's being reproduced in such awesome colours these days. This wonderful toile collection comes from House to Home - and there are even more pictures!

Justine Ashbee

Aren't these neat? These are the Justine Ashbee artists edition oxford from Osborn.

New at Cartolina Postale

Hello everyone. I wanted to tell you that we have a new update to the Cartolina Postale app today. If you download the latest version you will see that you can now email and Tweet your postcards. We heard from lots of you that said you'd like to email the postcards - not just mail them - so we listened and as of today you can now email them. And you can also send fun greetings on Twitter too.

If you'd still like to use snail mail I'd like to show you how easy it is to design a postcard using images from your iPhone. You've probably got lots of pictures on your phone - but like me, you may not be comfortable always including a picture of yourself on one of our postcards. Here's what I do. I get out some of my vintage cards and ephemera and I take a nice picture with my iPhone, save it to my camera roll and then use it one of the Cartolina Postale postcards. I love this first one and have used it a few times recently to say hello and thank you to our newest retailers. You can also email yourself images from your desktop computer, save them on your iPhone and use them the same way. There are lots of good ideas. have fun.

Save photos of vintage graphics to your iPhone and use them instead of family pictures - above.

Use vintage clip art - take a photo of the clipart with your phone, save it to your camera roll and use it on a postcard. This would make a fun dinner party invitation, don't you think?

When you email the postcards there are size options. I recommend using the medium size - but if you'd like to print the final piece out then use the largest size. The Cartolina Postale app is available for iPad and iPhone and is available here.

Cartolina

I'd like to show you some paperweights and magnets I designed for IPOP/Madison Park recently. They are so cute! I love the big domed paperweight(1st image) the little owl is lovely. There are lots of designs to chose from and they come in 3 styles - a pack of 4 little magnets in a box, 1 big magnet in a box and 1 fabulous big glass domed paperweight in a box. If you're a retailer and you're interested in stocking them in your shop you can contact their wholesale division at info@madpark.com and ask about the Cartolina IPOP products. Thanks!

Anchors away!

This showed up in my INBOX about 5 minutes ago - now it's here - that's how much I love it. Fresh and new at Dolan Geiman.

Splash out!

Couldn't resist these lovely little mermaid silhouettes - perhaps they'll inspire you to do something splashy this weekend!

From here.

Aren't these lovely? I've seen lots of pretty lace pottery but these are the best! Maggie Weldon makes these. I love her glaze colours and the scale she works at - really suits the texture of the lace. She uses original lace doilies to create the patterns.

One of a kind!

Oh boy this is pretty! From One King's Lane.

New at Fossil

I'm a big Fossil fan - practically every bag, purse and wallet I own are from Fossil. These are new at Fossil - simple fun sleeves for anything you can think of - love the vintage decals.

Hooked!

I'm quite smitten by Barb Tappa's Crochet Madness Pinterest Board. I think you'll love it too - so hard to pick just a few images for you.

From here.

From here

From here

From here

From here

We've got you covered!

Download the Cartolina app right here. It costs $1.99 and every Cartogram you send is free.

You can email, text, Facebook and Instagram your Cartograms. What are you waiting for?

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.