Introducing Cartolina Postale!

I have something special to show you this morning!

This is the new Cartolina Postale iPhone app. YAY!

We've been working on this for a few weeks and are thrilled to announce that it's available, as of today, at the app store.

The response to the Cartolina app has been so overwhelming over the last year that we thought that the natural next step was an app that actually allows you to send physical paper postcards. So the Cartolina Postale app lets you combine our pretty, vintage images with your own photography - it's so fun!

There are 32 postcard designs to choose from, including some lovely holiday designs! You can take a picture using your phone or you can choose a picture from your photo gallery and it pops right onto your chosen card. Then you can scale the image, move it around or change the card design. It's so simple! After you've customized your card and you're happy with how it looks, you can write a message on the back. There's loads of room for your message. You'll be asked to open an account, which is very fast and simple, and from there you can address your card and it will be printed and sent. The app is FREE and the cost of printing and mailing a 4 x 6 postcard in the US is $1.99. Cards arrive very quickly - within 5 days according to our tests (in the US and UK) and a little longer to Canada. The quality of the cards is great, shiny, bright, heavy weight card. For even more information why don't you visit the Cartolina Postale website - it's very fun!

Details: Our super talented developer is Denis Hennessy at Peer Assembly - thank you Denis for all your hardwork!

The app is available for iPhone and iPod Touch right now and will be available for iPad by the end of the month. It will work on your 3GS as long as you have iOS 4.0 installed. The cost to mail a card to Canada is $2.99 but apparently Sincerely, who take care of the printing and mailing of the cards, are working really hard to bring us a $1.99 card in Canada asap, so stay tuned!

We are super busy today getting ready for our big launch tomorrow. See you here, bright and early, for our big reveal!

I love these vintage Kantha quilts - I bought one last year from Fan Tan Gallery and it's one of my favourite things. These are from Niki Jones' website. Lots of lovely things there! The colours are very inspiring, don't you think?

These are Pakistani quilts from Sri - a textile gallery in Brooklyn - I think you will find these exciting and inspiring. The shades of grey and brown with black are fantastic. I'd love one of these too!

Really great hand lettered advertising pieces for STAG in Austin Texas. I found them here.

This is from Snedker Studio where they do amazing things with marbling - you have to check out the wood floors. So pretty!

I have a couple of these Chinese tea tins. from the 50s - I keep old photos in them. They are quite hard to find these days. If you're looking for vintage ones - beware of the repros ;-)

Inspiration

This style of hand painted embellishment is making such a come back these days - here's one place to find inspiration - old biscuit tins and tea caddies! This one from Ocean Swept.

Three more tins. The red one has some of the oddest illustration I've seen in ages . . .

last 3 tins from here.

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.