Inspiration | Stylist Finola Inger

Bold texture and colour inspiration from stylist Finola Inger. 

Imagine showing up at a shoot and seeing all this wonderful stuff you have to work with - I would feel like I had died and gone to heaven - and then you get to spend the morning organizing it all into nice piles so that someone else can fiddle with the camera and take great pictures of your work  - and then you get to rearrange it all into new piles - and take more pictures - sounds too good to be true . . . .

Window Shopping | Yokomono

I like this big bag - I like big, multi purpose bags like this that become a big part of my outfit. You can barely see what this woman is wearing because of her big bag - that's fun - and I like the oversized pattern(of course!)

This bag and other fun stuff are available at the Yokomono Etsy shop right here - go now.

Notebook Giveaway | Last Chance

Last chance to enter the notebook giveaway. I'll pick some winners at 6pm tonight(Pacific time)so it's last call at the cafe! Enter here!

Ephemera | Ebay

Snapped a few nice things on Ebay recently including these very old matchbox covers and a whole bunch french stamps ( my favourites pictures above.)  Feeling very inspired by these - love the bonsai tree.

Inspiration | Vintage Indian Textiles

It's no secret that my work is really influenced by my grandparents' textile export business in India years ago. So I was excited when I found these wonderful images of Indian textiles here. These detail shots give me all sorts of good ideas for patterns and textures - I love the crude random stitching and the once rich colours faded to muted tones. I could look at these images all day. 

We interrupt this post with a photo of my grandma on an elephant in India - we have so many elephant riding pictures in our old family photos it must have been a very popular past time!

Update - Notebooks now available online!

Well I have great news - especially for everyone who emailed us last week to ask how to buy the notebooks online - Our online card retailer, GreetQ, is now going to also be carrying the notebook collection - YAY! The notebooks should be available by the end of the week at GreetQ(or just as soon as the mailman gets them there!) We are thrilled! They will also have a whole new selection of cards including the new animal cards.  And remember, with GreetQ, for every 10 cards you buy GreetQ plants a tree on your behalf with  Eco-Libris - how great is that?

Notebook Giveaway

Thank you to everyone who as entered our recycled notebook giveaway. I am astonished at how many entries we have - I guess that means we will just have to have a few more winners too! You still have until Wednesday to enter!

Photographer | Trevor Dixon.

While I was checking out this photographer's online portfolio I couldn't help noticing the fabulous props used on this shoot. I especially love the box the socks are draped on(I could find a much better use for that box!) And I love the big letters and the tobacco boxes - all fun . . . . . 

Licensing News | Print Source

Some exciting news from Jan DiCintio -  Daisy Janie/Scoutie Girl.

Jan will be showcasing her new designs for home, paper, textiles and childrens at the Print Source Show at the Hotel Pennsylvania in NYC starting next Tuesday Jan 13th thru the 15th. Jan's booth number is #19. I have had the chance to see a number of Jan's new designs and they are all so fresh and wonderful - here are a couple of my favourites . . . . 

Jan walked the show in 2005 when she was looking for original fabric designs for her line of fabric handbags. It was a very "aha!" moment for her, realizing that she could design her own fabrics for her handbags! She's been in the business of making art for 11 years, but most of the strides she's made in professional & personal growth have come in the past 3 years (since that show). "I knew I wanted to get back there as a designer - and working toward that goal has been the silent motivator for everything I've done. I love, love, love what I do - and I hope that my designs project as much passion as I put into them."

We LOVE the new designs Jan and we are sure they are going to be a big hit at the show - good luck!

Time for a Giveaway!

Well it's been a very exciting couple of days at Cartolina. Lots of great response to our new 100% recycled notebooks over at poppytalk and design*sponge. Thanks to Grace and Jan for starting the notebook rush! These little beauties are simple, pocket sized(4" by 6") books with blank pages and pretty covers. They sell as singles, with the bands around them, for $4 each or $12 for a mixed bundle of 3. We are releasing these at the New York International Gift Fair in 2 weeks from now. The notebooks are not going to be widely available until the end of the month so we thought it would be fun to end a great week by having a giveaway :-)

So all you have to do is check out the nine notebooks above and tell me your top 3 favourite designs - list them in order of preference. This will be a great way for us to anticipate the best sellers and plan our next printing schedule! Let's leave it open until Wednesday and then we'll pick a couple of random winners, and perhaps a couple of runners up depending how many entries we get. Top winners will get a full set of our little notebooks :-)

Window Shopping | Farmhouse Wares

Found myself on this lovely website yesterday with a great selection of vintage inspired housewares and decorative items. Here are some things that caught my eye including a wonderful, folding, wooden desk caddy - I love that!

I think this caddy would make a fantastic display fixture - don't you?

*Stop Press | Notebook Giveaway*

We have had such amazing response over the last 24hrs to our notebook post on poppytalk and design*sponge yesterday that we have decided to offer a notebook giveaway starting tomorrow. The notebooks are not widely available until the end of the month so this is a great chance to snap up a bundle before anyone else does! Check back tomorrow morning! I love giveaways!

Frequently asked questions | Round 1

People ask me all the time about the green background that we photograph all our products against. Well - it's a vintage steel "board" in a wood frame, with a handle on the top that Doug rescued one day. It had been discarded in a back alley. I love it's authentic patina, it's outrageous green colour and its rusty bits! It has become the official Cartolina backdrop. 

I don't actually know what this board is - do you? It's 30" x 40", steel, painted green(and rusty) and exactly the same on both sides. Doug thinks it's a vintage portable chalkboard(and I think that's what it had been used for before he rescued it.) But there's something about the square handle that makes me question that theory. I think it's perfect for a photo backdrop for our products because of its rustic but rich colour and texture. I'd love to know what you think it might be - or perhaps you have one too.

Anyone who has product that they need to photograph frequently knows the value of finding exactly the right system to produce the best images. It can be a very frustrating process. This board works for me!

Frequently asked question | Round 2 

Another question that I get asked often is regarding this card holder that I photographed at Tinsel Trading in NYC last summer. People really seem to be drawn to this object for the same reason as I was - a great way to display cards and ephemera. So I thought I would do a little investigative work to see if I could find anymore online. There must be hundreds of these around today because every company had one for years and years - the junk stores must be full of them. Here's what I found . . . . 

There are actually lots of them on Ebay - easy to spot the vintge ones. I like the steel ones but there are some nice wood ones too. So on Ebay I searched using the words "time card rack". The bottom picture is from Three Potato Four. The middle right picture is from here. Happy hunting!

Ebay Distractions

So while I was looking for vintage time card holders on Ebay I stumbled on these great, original prints. Really curious engravings of fantastical planktony stuff! Thought you might like them too . . . . 

I love the title on this one(above)Schwimmpolypen!

Designer | Ingrid Anderson

Oh I love these oversized graphics and shapes of these bags from Ingrid Anderson. Lots of great patterns to choose from. If you look closely at these images you will remember what summer feels like . . . . .

Designer | Erica Munro

Clever use of discarded coffee bean sacks - lamps and cushions from Erica Munro

Aldo Londi Ceramics

My parents are moving so we were having fun going through their things over the holidays. Most of our old family posessions are either Indian or Scottish but my dad(who is really my step dad, his name is Gilbert) spent many years in Italy when he was in his 20s. He has very good taste and some of his Italian momentos are quite fabulous including this amazing lamp designed and produced by Aldo Londi for Bitossi in Milan. Gilbert says he bought it in 1963 in Milan at La Rinascente department store for about $20.These pieces are very valuable in todays market and what's even funnier is Anthropologie is selling reproductions - who knew?

This lamp is very big and heavy and absolutely covered from top to bottom in the stamped markings that are typical of Aldo Londis work. Part of the collection was a set of animals that are very close in design to Jonathon Adler's animals. Thought you might find this interesting  :-)

These are not my images, they are from here - I forgot to take photos of Gilbert's lamp!