Well hello! It's great to be back. I missed you! Just a quicky post today to say hello and say thanks to all of you who checked out the archives(and left lots of lovely comments) while we were away - hope you found some inspiration to keep you going while we took a brief, but fabulous, vacation to BC's west coast. Saltspring Island is one of my favourite places to visit in the summer - if you haven't been, then you must - just don't go on a Saturday when the population doubles for their famous farmer's market(I have to say it's one of the best.) We had a brilliant time visiting with our friends Martin and Cate from Blanket. Cate is simply the best host ever and we had lots of fun. I'm not going to bore you with hundreds of holiday snapshots but I am going to insist that you check out the vista from the top of Mount Maxwell(Saltspring) - it's breathtaking!

Have a great weekend - see you on Monday - bright and early, with all the usual fabulousness!!

Good morning! I'm off on a well deserved vacation today for a week. Every year around this time we close up shop and head off for our summer break. Thank you for visiting Cafe Cartolina so regularly and religiously - I am truly honoured that you stop by every morning to get your daily dose of inspiration. Cafe Cartolina is officially 2 years old now and there's so much beautiful stuff in the archive that I encourage you to browse through when I'm gone. You can follow us on Twitter while we're gone and if you'd like to be one of our Facebook fans I would be very thrilled! We have a super exciting project that we are going to launch in September - still can't believe that I've kept a secret this long! So I'll see you all back here, relaxed, refreshed and inspired, end of next week! Ciao!

Fiona xoxoxo

image by Stacey Brandford

Inspiration - blue/green

A little bit of eye candy to get you in a blue/green mood on a Tuesday morning - via Piet Hein Eek.

Inspiration - diy centerpieces

I just love this simple diy project from Ruffled. These pretty paper-covered cans are so easy to make and can be as pretty as the paper they are covered in. So easy and effective. You can see all the instructions right here.

Found - Omiyage(Canadian)

I found a great online supplier in Canada for the wonderful Japanese masking tape that everyone is wild about at the moment - thought I would share it with you. I think this box of assorted tapes is such a great gift idea - don't you? From Omiyage.

Inspiration - lighting

These are interesting, repurposed, galvanized lighting fixtures. It would be fun to make some light fixtures out of salvaged junk - wouldn't it? And you might have to make them because these are from Terrain - where everything is ridiculously expensive.

Found - Viva Zapata

If I was going to The Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago, September 11th + 12th, I would head right over to Viva Zapata and pick myself up one of these fab bags. You really must check out their website. There's so much cool stuff including the intro which features images of the cool, vintage, South American pop culture that inspires their brand. I love this company, they have nailed their brand - their site is a brilliant example of a consistent product supporting a solid brand with a great story to back them up - you must go!

Found - Orangy Porangy

These skirts, featuring vintage fabrics are so sweet and beautifully made. You can admire more of these lovelies at Orangy Porangy's website - some people have such good ideas, don't they?

inspiration - vintage containers and props

This is a fun post. If you've ever wondered where people get all those cool vintage containers and props for their eclectic/boho style studios and workshops, well look no more. Three Potato Four have an amazing selection of really interesting vintage pieces - in multiples - that could make your studio look fabulously interesting and inspire you to be fabulously more creative. The selection is almost endless - boxes, trays, bottles, cans and props . . .

You may notice things getting a little sparse around here over the next few days. My vacation officially starts soon and so I will be taking a little bit of time off from work and blogging. It's great to have a rest at this time of the year and then come back relaxed and inspired - full of good ideas. I'll be here for a few more days and then off next wednesday - I'm just giving you a little heads-up :-)

Artists - Inaluxe

This artist's work is new to me - I spotted these prints at Bloesem this week. Being in the market for art these days I was attracted to these colourful pieces. You can see more of these interesting, mid century inspired pieces by Australian Inaluxe right here.

Inspiration - tea set

Well, inspiration comes in many forms here at The Cafe and this morning I am feeling overwhelmingly inspired by this tea set from Susabella Brownstein. How can you not be? Photographing this set on a black background is a brilliant idea - the orange and the green the repeat pattern of the 4 cups - faaaaabulous! Phew!

There's so much repro celluloid jewelry out there these days, it's nice to see some originals - at least I think they are originals! From this Etsy seller.

Inspiration - vintage linoleum

Why didn't I think of this? Doug and I have renovated a whole bunch of Victorian houses in the last 15 years, here in Nelson, and boy we've taken a lot of vintage linoleum to the landfill. I have a few pieces in our scrap book of home renos but I should totally have thought of framing a few pieces - like these from Enhabiten . . . . they are so pretty. You can get yours right here!

Artists - Anna Emilia

Have you seen these beautiful paintings by Anna Emilia? They are quite charming. Make me feel like picking up a paint brush and creating something pretty - which I guess is what art is all about, inspiring you to see things differently and creatively.

Inspiration - the bold and the brave!

These are too cute. This gal has such a great eye for scale - she's not scared in the least to use oversized elements in her work - I really appreciate that! It's good to do the unexpected. Good design combined with a brave attitude will catch my eye every time. She also has some fab, flowery belts that you will LOVE!

Fab bags from Mojo Spa Style.

Inspiration - oil cloth covered room

I spotted this room, covered from head to toe in oil cloth, at ReadyMade. It got me wondering what's new in the oil cloth biz(for instance I don't remember seeing this particular pattern, on the walls below, at any of our local oil cloth stockists. What I did find was Viva La Frida who stock some great designs and also some great saddle bags for your bike in very pretty, girly, yet durable, oil cloth.