Updates and surprises!

So what's been keeping me so busy that I've missed a few daily posts here? Well one of the things I've been doing behind the scenes is designing a few new holiday Cartograms for the Cartolina app. Here's a sneak peek at one of the new designs. In a couple of weeks we'll be adding some of the holiday Cartograms from last year's Seasons Greetings app to the regular Cartolina app - and including a few new designs too. These will be a *free update* and I hope you love the designs! Stay tuned - you should see the update soon! AND we'll be launching our big surprise project in about 3 weeks as well - I can hardly wait. I hope you've signed up to be first to hear about it - you can sign up on the left << over there!

Ephemera sheets

What do you think of these new sheets from Anthropologie? I sort of like them especially when they are combined with other pieces. From here.

I saw this ages ago and ran across it again yesterday. Concrete lace by Doreen Westphal. It's so beautiful isn't it? More information right here.

It's been a while since I checked out the lovely and unusual collections at Lost and Found - and they are bigger and better than ever - check it out.

Giardino

I just discovered the wonderful, block printed world of Giardino - and I'm hooked! Love the simplicity and scale of these designs. The colours are wonderful too :-)

Cartolina at Lilla Rogers

Our Cartolina page is now up at Lilla Roger's website which is very exciting. We have had lots of interest in licensing since we started with Lilla's studio and we're looking forward to Printsource in January and SURTEX in May - not forgetting Lilla's Open House on November 9th. Check out our page, our bio and our studio - it's very fun!

If you're interested in licensing any of our artwork for your next project you can contact Lilla here.

Style at Home holiday card 2011

A few months ago the ladies at Style at Home asked me to design them a holiday card to send to their clients etc. I sent them 3 to choose from and they decided to turn it into a little competition in the November issue of the magazine and on their website. There's still time to vote if you like on their site. There are about 115 votes right now - they are going to choose a winner from all the votes - and the winner will get some nice Cartolina holiday cards - and I might pick a couple more winners too. So go now and vote - do me proud ;-)

Happy Halloween!

Okay people - go for it! If you've been waiting patiently to use the Halloween Cartogram from the Cartolina iPhone app - now's your chance!

New at Hus & Hem

Aren't these great? I spotted them at Print and Pattern. They are apparently new at Hus & Hem!

10 garlands

A great little tutorial on making 10 different garlands from A Beautiful Mess - how fun!

Vintage packaging

Vintage packaging from here. Aren't these incredible pictures? Do you think this is authentic vintage? I think so - but I have been tricked in the past!

Weekend treasure hunting

We went to a very good antique sale in Sandpoint Idaho at the weekend - Sandpoint is about 3 hours from here, south across the border. There are quite a few good vintage shops down there and this was a one weekend only sale. It was in a big barn and there were lots of large, farm and industrial pieces that I would have snapped up if I had the space for them. I was really impressed. Here are a few pictures of some of the smaller pieces

Even though it was in a barn they had merchandised everything really well.

Loved this old linoleum rug. It was in remarkable condition considering it's probably almost 100 years old.

Cigar box diy.

Remember I bought all those cigar boxes a few weeks back? I stashed them away in the closet. Then I found this little chest of drawers on Pinterest made from cigar boxes - I love it. I think I'm going to try this with mine - I even have a little shelf unit I can use. I have some small, vintage, library drawer pulls that I might use instead of cotton spools for handles.

Cartolina at Cardstore

Here's something brand new for Cartolina this week. I've put together a little collection of pretty holiday cards for cardstore.com. As card sending habits change we think it's important to participate in all the new ways to send greetings. Cardstore is an online, print-on-demand stationery store - you can pick out a card, have them write your message and even send it for you. We chose to partner with Cardstore on this new venture because we recognize lots of our talented, stationery designer friends there and we're happy to hang with the cool crowd! I'm sure we'll have a few other dips into this new style of card sending. Take a look when you have a few minutes - you might find something that you like!

Shhhh, we've got a secret!

Sign up! Sign up!

We have some super exciting tricks up our sleeve for the next month - we can't wait to reveal all. Why don't you add yourself to our mailing list to be one of the first people to find out just what we've got going on :-) I've put a little sign up box in the top left corner of this blog - I'd love it if you would leave your email address there and watch for the news in a couple of weeks. If you've signed up before you'll get a little message - that means you're still on our mailing list. Thanks! Can't wait to spill the beans!

Gallant and Jones

I don't know about you but I love getting a deal at end of season sales. The lovely girls over at Gallant and Jones Handmade Furniture, from Vancouver BC, have an End of Year Sale which is really worth checking out. There is at least 25% off everything so they can make room for next years fabric stock. Prices start at $70. I love their wares - handmade outdoor furniture and accessories - and the fabrics are to die for! Take a look at their Etsy site.

Remember these? I featured them here a few weeks ago. Well guess where I finally found them? At Swan and Shears - of course! I think that these would make such a pretty and interesting gift for the vintage loving friend who has everything! For $5.99 - you can't go wrong.