Interiors

Look at this fabulous place - this is Le Chandelier in East Dulwich, London. This is a tea shop! What I would do to sit with a cup of Earl Grey in this amazing space. And what d'ya know - they sell chandeliers too!

Interiors

I love this downstairs, east end, London flat. If you've been to London(or any old european city) you'll know that a lot of people live in flats that are just below street level. if you don't mind living in a subterraneum world you can find yourself in really interesting spaces that possibly used to be servants quarters or wine cellers etc. You can get a good feel for the kind of space these flats have to offer from these photographs. . . . .

Found

Look at this clever idea - Christmas paper chains from Ormolu. They arrive flat and you link them together yourself - I love this simple sweet idea.

Cartolina giveaway{ and Interview }

A few weeks ago I was excited to announce that our Cartolina products are now available in the UK. I had a lot of emails from readers wanting more info. One of those emails was from Huma Qureshi who is a journalist for The Guardian in London. I've gotten to know Huma over the last few weeks and have really enjoyed reading her column in The Guardian online. She regularly writes for the Life and Style section of the paper (which is always my favourite section of any paper!) I was thrilled when she asked me to participate in an interview and a giveaway on her freshly redesigned blog - Her Little Place. Huma is so professional - her questions were so well thought out and I am looking forward to reading her piece. She tells me it will be live around noon (london time) on Tuesday. So by the time I am getting up on the west coast I should be able to read it. I hope you enjoy it.

Treasures

I have spent a lot of time browsing through this website - Manon 21. I speak a little french and from what I can tell the writer of this blog lives in France and travels to various Brocantes and to Les Puce(junk stores and flea markets) and takes pictures for her blog. She loves all the same vintage treasures that I do - there are some great images of the markets and people of Province.

Patterns

Wallpaper patterns from Tricia Guild. These look like reproductions - that would be easy - no, these are new designs. Really impressive. I'd love to see these in person, maybe in New York in January.

Pattern

Fabulous colours and patterns from Designers Guild. I love to check out their site to see what's new. If you don't already have Tricia Guild's book, Pattern, I totally encourage you to pick up a copy. It's wonderful inspiration for any designer or DIY decorator.

Found

Good morning, hope you had a great weekend!

Oh you are going to love these - little felted dogs from The Work Shop in Edinburgh. You can buy a little kit to make your own dog(I'm so tempted!) I think these are absolutely brilliant and I found them at my friend Cate's blog Under The Blanket(she has lots of super cool products for your furry, four legged friends.)

Inspiration

Not only are these great photographs - beautifully styled - but they also have some great ideas that I haven't seen before - check them out . . .

Check out this headboard - this would be so simple to make with a sheet of MDF and an illustration(trace it on to the board with a projector like an Artograph) and paint.

Look at these 'bell jars' - they are not as they seem - one is even an upturned wine glass!

Taking an antique armoire and building cubby holes into it - I love this idea - and the bright paint colours - brilliant!

A plain duvet cover with coloured, crocheted doilies sewn onto it - looks like it's straight from Anthro doesn't it?

Simple stencils on a thrift store cupboard - fresh and beautiful!

Beautiful photography and styling from www.camillesoulayrol.com

Cartolina Sale at GreetQ

I want to tell you about a Cartolina promo on at GreetQ starting today. If you order $50 worth of Cartolina products, right now, GreetQ will give you a pack of 8 Cartolina glittered gift tags for free - a retail value of $6. That's a great deal! Click here to go to their site. Thanks Jen!

Just a couple of pix from our new Cartolina glittered collection - you can see more right here.

Road Trip

It's a short post today. I'm going to try to grab an extra day off this weekend and hopefully head off on a little road trip to visit my parents for a few days today. It's such a crazy busy time of the year for us here - but we love it and wouldn't want to be spending our time doing anything else! Don't forget, if you're a local, we have our Cartolina Open House next Sunday, the 15th, and we'd love to see you. We have a couple of very exciting things coming up next week - a great offer from GreetQ if you are considering buying Cartolina glittery holiday cards(more on Monday) and also a fun interview and giveaway over at a wonderful UK blog which I will post details of here next week too. Lastly, thanks for all your comments this week - it's been really fun reading and responding to them - makes my day! See you Monday - have a great weekend!

Three beautiful photographs from one of my favourite House and Home photographers, Canadian, Donna Griffith.

Inspiration

I saw this Etsy seller on Poppytalk the other day ( Dadaya ) and was so impressed with the originality and honesty of her work I just had to include it in today's posts. The felted mittens remind me of the Inuit mittens that my friend Michelle, who used to live in Labrador, wore every winter. They are just charming and they bring a smile to my face - are you smiling?

Window Shopping

I was so taken by these bags when I saw them on the Greet Q blog and then suddenly they were popping up everywhere. Really nicely designed bags that can be worn as a shoulder bag, or as a pack, from MIMS. The fabric choices are wonderful and the leather upgrades make the bags look like a million bucks. I am very taken by these and may put one on my Xmas list this year!

Window Shopping

Here are some fun paper goods from Etsy shop May Third. Love the vintage look - very nice.

Found

I ran across these on Etsy front page yesterday - very impressive I'd say. L'Alfabeto Italiano by Bibitty available in poster format or individual cards which I love.

Magazines

This month, thanks to Jennifer at GreetQ, our little Cartolina notebooks are featured in Traditional Home Magazine. I never realized what a beautiful magazine it is - gorgeous features, wonderful layout, nice quality paper. It got me thinking about magazines. For the last 15 years I have always subscribed to a great selection of home decor magazines but recently I let them all expire. I have been without magazines for a few months - and I've really missed them. I will hate it if more of my favourites go out of business because people like me are spending more time looking at online design blogs and e-zines than the pages of pretty publications. So yesterday I signed up for all my faves again, Style at Home, Canadian House and Home, Living, Sunset, Harpers and now Traditional Home. I also signed Doug up for Fine Home Building and Rolling Stone. I want to encourage you to buy more magazines, renew your subscriptions and encourage your friends to do the same - Doug and I can't single handedly prop up the industry by ourselves you know!

Covet

Back in July I bought some tourmalines and strung them together in a natural 'rainbow' like these and I love them. Saw these on Etsy yesterday, drooled over them and then decided that I would share them with you because I really don't need any more :-)

Pretty gem stones from Fabulous Rocks

Cartolina Open House

Come one, come all, to our annual open house on November 15th. We had great fun last year - lots of people came. We drank champagne and ate yummy hors d'oeuvres and everyone went home with Cartolina goodies at less than wholesale prices. It's a great way to pick up your holiday cards for a great price and a good excuse to socialize too! And if you don't already know we are located in south east British Columbia, Nelson to be precise! Email me if you need directions or any other info. Looking forward to seeing everyone there ;-)

Window Shopping

A couple of days ago, one of my faithful readers, Ali, sent me a link to this amazing site - Factory 20. I have spent way to much, of the little time that I have, on this site in the last 24 hrs! There are just so many amazing vintage treasures to be found, from furniture to mirrors to toys and bottles - it's quite staggering. You know, I always thought Doug should have business like this because he's so good at finding cool vintage stuff - but there's only so much room to collect stuff in the garage. Enjoy . . . . .

This is a bank - above.

This photograph(above) could have been styled by one of the best don't you think?

Love the fact that you can see the reflection of all their vintage stuff in these mirrors.

They have lots of vintage store fixtures and display cases - like these.

Recommended

Wrist Worms - what we all need at this time of the year to keep our hands warm when we are working at the computer. Last week I reached out to my Twitter friends for some recommendations on wrist warmers and these won, hands down :-)

Found

These are so sweet - granny square blankets from Sandra Juto. I can't help loving these. I attempted to make one of these when I was about 13. I had the 1970s edition of the Vogue knitting and crocheting book and it had this great orange, yellow and white version of this blanket that I wanted so badly. I think I made about 6 of the squares and then gave up. It's complicated you know!

Revisiting a past project

Hello everyone. I hope you had a fun weekend. We have more words than pictures this morning - how odd!

Yesterday Doug and I got up very early and went for a drive up the lake. We decided to go and visit the cabin we built 14 years ago. It's about a 90 minute drive from our place, along a beautiful, winding road to the north end of Kootenay Lake. We have probably only been there twice in the last 14 years because we sold it shortly after we built it. It holds a lot of memories for us - it was our first foray into the world of real estate. We bought the lakefront property for $10,000 which left us no money to build our little holiday cabin so Doug salvaged used building materials and built the entire cabin from recycled lumber, doors and windows. Our friends thought we were mad but the cabin ended up costing less than $1000 to build. And it was a summer well spent. It was fun to see it yesterday. The owners use it for just a few weeks every summer but I can tell they love it - there was a canoe and a fire pit and a well used trail down to the beach. But what I liked the most was to see how it had aged - it looks like an old miners cabin that's been there there for 85 years - I like that.

The Honest Scrap Award

I have been awarded the Honest Scrap Award from my pal Kitty at Return To Bohemia. Apparently I have to follow these rules:

1) Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award.

Thank you Kitty! I love your blog and am very happy to have met you through the blogosphere!

2) Share 10 honest things about yourself.

1. Thanks to my grandparents I can recite Humpty Dumpty, and various sea shanties, in Hindi.

2. When I was young I won 3 Blue Peter Badges(fellow expat Brits will understand the enormity of this.)

3. I've spent the last 6 years teaching my cat to speak.

4. In 1988 I spent 2 weeks taking care of Cathy Lee Gifford's hair and makeup.

5. I get up very early every morning - I don't like to have to do anything early but I like to be up, just in case.

6. I have a serious addiction to peanut butter - salted, crunchy - and never, ever, with jam or jelly - yuck.

7. I have tried most crafts but only enjoy the ones I can complete in one day.

8. I was a strict vegetarian for 16 years but never gave up haggis - it is, after all, a vegetable - isn't it?

9. The night before flying out of Paris last year I bought a beautiful pair of boots which turned out, the next day, to be 2 right feet.

10. I can't get wet - especially in the hair area.

3) Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.

1. Cate at Under The Blanket because she is so interesting and I think everyone would enjoy her responses.

2. Carina at Crow and Canary because she's such a cool chic with a great sense of humour.

3. To Dandy Bread and Candy because she's a great designer and an enthusiastic blogger - I like her style!

4. Cathe at Feterie because she's hard working and generous and I'd love to know more about her.

5. Nina at House of Temps Perdu because she lives so far away in Helsinki and I think her life must be so interesting.

6. Julie Reed at Bricolage because I want to know more about the gal behind the vintage fabulousness.

7. At Home With Kim Vallee because she has so much energy for social media and she inspires me every day

4) Tell those 7 people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving.

Twitter into Fall

Sweet and simple autumn style from Suzanne Made. One of the reasons I am really enjoying Twitter these days is I get a sneak peek of people's most current work. I think it's a great forum for crafters and artists to announce their new collections and debut their new lines. Suzanne's work caught my eye and I'm always on the look out for pretty things to feature here. So if you are not all ready using Twitter I encourage you to do so and start following the people that you'd like to get your work in front of.

Inspiration

A little inspiration for your weekend in the form of French art deco packaging and advertising graphics - luv 'em! Images from Steven Heller book, stolen/borrowed from Doug's studio.

Found

Pretty pictures from All The Luck In The World via Daydream Lily. So light and precious - a really fun little site of handmade and found objects from Holland.

Photography

Simply gorgeous images from amazing photographer Julian Wass. I love these tramp-art frames in the first image - makes me want to go out to the junk stores and hunt some down this weekend.

Inspiration

Good morning - thought we'd check out some interiors today. I clipped this image a while ago - thought you might like it. The poster, the cream painted furniture, the shoes and the symmetry - very nice - don't you think?

Images from here

Interiors

I love the simple rustic warmth of this Dutch interior. I'm definitely keeping this one on file - especially the kitchen. If I can't have authentic BoHo then I'll go with Euro Rustic :-)

Photographer - John Dummer

Photography

I love this green and white striped jug of white bell flowers. These pictures are gorgeous aren't they?

Photographs by Finola Inger