Happy weekend everyone!

It's been 3 weeks since we launched the Cartolina iPhone case collection and it's been so much fun. For the first time in Cartolina history we completely sold out our entire inventory in less than 10 days. Fortunately everything is back in stock and available on our website again - phew (that was stressful!). Thank you to everyone who has ordered cases for their stores and to everyone who has purchased a case on our website - we are extremely grateful and touched by the overwhelmingly positive response. have a lovely weekend everyone!

New Shipping room - and a DIY table for you!

We have been making lots of changes at Cartolina and to accommodate this year's new distribution system we have had to expand the studio. We are so lucky to have lots of space and so Doug built us a really wonderful new shipping room - a space devoted entirely to packing boxes! I wanted the space to be functional, with really great shelving and a fabulous work table. 

The Table:

When I started looking for the perfect table I was really surprised that the options I was looking for were just not available. So, Doug to the rescue - he designed and built this GREAT table for me using plumbers, cast iron pipes and fittings. It's 8ft long and has a heavy wood work surface. When Doug started to design the table we were surprised that there were no plans available online for a table like this.  I knew that, as soon as I revealed the table here, loads of you would have questions for him about the construction. 

Our table is 35.5 inches high - which is great for a kitchen island or a work table. You can definitely shorten it for a dining room table. The pipes are all cut at the plumbers supply shop. The top is 8ft long and 32 inches wide - made from rough lumber from the lumber yard - sanded and varnished. You could also use reclaimed lumber for a wonderful vintage look! 

Also see our directions on how to produce and install an 'end grain block' floor right here.

SURTEX

Next month Cartolina will be exhibiting at SURTEX for the very first time.

We are so excited! We will be at Lilla Rogers Studio booth - #309 May 20, 21 and 22.

Javets Centre NYC.

SURTEX is the global marketplace for licensing art and design - where artists, agents and licensors connect with manufacturers and retailers to create beautiful products in every category imaginable. Since I started licensing with Lilla's studio it has been a whirlwind of interesting jobs, keeping me busy in between designing cards. There's so much to learn about licensing - I'm glad I got an agent - I can't imagine doing it alone. I'll be at the show this year in New York, buzzing between the Stationery Show and SURTEX (they are in the same location, same dates) so if you are attending I'd love to meet you. You can email me or tweet me to catch up for a chat.

New at Cartolina!

Well it's that time of the year again - time for new Cartolina Cards! Our latest collection is so pretty, I'm super excited. The buyers are loving them and I think we may have a couple of best sellers on our hands! As you know, I'm always on the lookout for beautiful vintage imagery to incorporate into our designs - I license pretty, antique illustrations from a variety of art dealers but I've also been interested, in the last year, to find a collage artist to work with at Cartolina - someone that can collaborate with me, that has a similar aesthetic and sense of design. I get a lot of portfolios sent my way, but I'm pretty picky! So, long story short, when I saw April Meeker's work I really hoped that we would have an opportunity to work together. So April has worked with me on this little collection and I think it turned out GREAT! A collaboration really is a meeting of minds and I thoroughly enjoyed working with April's collages and concepts - together we turned her ideas into 3 really great cards - the circus gal on the horse, the fabulous sailing ship and the pretty little hot air balloon. So we have 6 new Cartolina Cards - and I think we should have a giveaway next week - what do you think?

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!

Romantic Homes

Hey, we got ourselves a whole page in this month's Romantic Homes Magazine! I was very excited to see Cafe Cartolina as the featured blog this month. And I love that they featured my great great grandma's snowdrop tea set - must tell my mother! They also featured my little pie safe with the biscuit tins, a great shot that Doug took in Fish's Eddy and a sweet little vintage egg cup set from Fan Tan Gallery in Victoria. Thank you Romantic Homes!

Can I help?

I'd like to tell you about a brand extension that I'm launching this week . . .

Every week creative entrepreneurs email me with questions about starting a small business. I love talking about business and I'm flattered that people come to me for advice. I can talk for hours on the phone about design and branding, marketing and social media. I love seeing business happen - especially in the creative world. I firmly believe that when creative people apply themselves to business it can only make for a better world.

So I've decided to start offering consulting services to creative entrepreneurs.

I've been a self employed artist, living with another self employed artist for over 15 years. Along the way I've learned what it takes to turn passion into profit by learning every aspect of the business from the ground up. After a number of years as a freelance designer/illustrator helping build brands for clients I turned the table and developed my own brand, Cartolina, which I'm proud to say sells in some of the most beautiful stores around the world.

I live the life, I walk the walk and I understand how it feels to be responsible for your own small business. If I can help you - I'd love to! Details here.

www.fionarichards.com

www.cartolinaconsulting.blogspot.com

Australian Home Beautiful

We are very excited and honoured to have the Cartolina app in Australian Home Beautiful this month. Here's a little clip of the page. We took the Cartolina brand into Australia last year and I'm very grateful to all our Australian fans for making it a huge success. Thank you!

Giveaway!

Would you like to win this Cartolina print? It's one of my favourites - the background is an 18th century copper engraving from Italy and the 'wood'carving is one of Doug's illustrations - so pretty and so much detail. My friend Kate from Pennello Lane is giving away this poster and a goody bag of Cartolina loot - all you have to do is go to her blog and enter - right now! I LUV GIVEAWAYS!

Happy Monday!

Hello everyone!

Thanks for visiting today. It's so nice to be back here! What a great week we had in California. Doug took so many pictures, it was a bit overwhelming to organize them all last night. So today I'm starting with a few iconic San Francisco images and then on to a couple of favourite shops. In the next few days I'll show you some other highlights of our trip including the usual fab, vintage, store fronts and vintage signage that Doug always takes such great shots of. We had 3 days in San Francisco and then 4 days in Carmel - we had a blast and if you are interested in any details, hotels etc I'll post some of those tomorrow. But I can guarantee we will be heading back to Carmel again this year some time - we absolutely loved it. Enjoy the photos . . . .