So, another source for cheap and lovely art is paper!  Sheets of wrapping paper come in so many amazing patterns and textures.  Most of the sheets are 20"X 30" and fit into a standard sized frame (the Ribba frames from IKEA are my favourite).  

One company, Cavallini, makes wrapping paper that look like old maps and are perfect for framing.   For only around five bucks you have a fabulous piece of art!

Cavallini also makes wrapping paper in other designs that are suitable for framing.  We have the fruits and vegetable poster in our kitchen.  How sweet would the alphabet design be for a nursery?

An Italian company, Rossi, makes divine handmade marbled paper and each one is totally unique.  I have an aqua blue and gold one framed in our dining room.  The picture below doesn't do it justice....trust me, it's gorgeous!  

Rossi also makes a paper that looks like old fashioned calligraphy that would look really cool framed in an office.

Waste Not Paper makes funky wrapping paper and this nautical themed one would look great in a bedroom or bathroom.

Chiyogami papers (from The Japanese Paper Place) are beautiful and detailed and look lovely in a series.  I have three framed in our hallway.

Most of these papers are also available to purchase at my place of employment, The Papery  (669 Fort Street in Victoria, BC).

Have you heard of www.freevintageposters.com?  It is a great source for free artwork.  You could take an image from the website to a printer and have a high quality poster made in virtually any size!  There are ten different categories to browse through and many images to choose from under each heading. 

I liked these two botanical posters for the colours and their simple, graphic quality:

I thought these two would be sweet in a little girl's room:

This one would be perfect in a kitchen or dining room:

And the two travel posters might be fun in an office or den:

In my next post I will discuss another source for cheap, cool art!

Since I discussed ecards in my last post I thought it only fair to mention some divine stationery companies producing high quality paper goods.  

Egg Press has some unique designs all letterpressed onto thick card stock.  

http://eggpress.com/

Night Owl Paper Goods prints whimsical and adorable designs onto wood veneer.  They also print some of their designs onto paper.  Very cool!

http://nightowlpapergoods.com/

Driscoll Design creates very delicate, feminine images that are often highlighted with glitter (when in doubt just add glitter!).  

http://www.driscolldesign.com/

Rifle Paper Company has been widely publicized on blogs and for good reason.  Lovely, original designs!

http://riflepaperco.com/

Waste Not Paper has a lot of fun, fresh and colourful graphics on their greeting cards as well as kits to make your own crafts.

http://www.wastenotpaper.com/

Red Cap Cards has artwork that is sometimes slightly bizarre and definitely unique.

http://www.redcapcards.com/

Coral and Tusk is a company that was recently featured in Martha Stewart Living and their designs are embroidered onto cards!  They are not inexpensive but would look great framed and hung on the wall.

http://coralandtusk.com/

There are many more stationery companies I could mention but these are my current favourites.  Happy Browsing!

I was spoiled this past week for my birthday and wanted to send ecards to thank everyone.  I checked out http://www.pingg.com/ which has some really nice designs but none of the thank you notes immediately appealed to me.  I then discovered that evite has a separate section of ecards http://www.postmark.com/.  I found several that I liked and so I ended up sending different ones to different people.  Postmark has some really cool designs and they are sent with envelopes that have coordinating liners.

Thank you correspondence:

Birthday party invites:

Cocktail party invites:

Coffee date invite:

And a lovely section of shower invites, save the dates and wedding invites:

Even though I work in a card and paper store, sometimes the ease of using an ecard or evite is too hard to resist.  Of course I prefer the feel and permanence of a real paper card.  For instance when my daughter was born I pasted almost all the cards we received into a baby book for her as a keepsake.  It just wouldn't be the same to copy a bunch of ecards onto a disc! 

Several dear friends treated me to brunch today at  JAM cafe on Herald Street to celebrate my birthday.  After a 25 minute wait in line (where coffee was available) we were seated at a booth in the front window.  Directly behind our table was a vintage old school map and on the opposite wall was a display of reclaimed windows and clipboards with maps.  Such a funky place, and the food was delish to boot!  We shared the red velvet pancakes to start and then I had the Charlie bowl (a hash with crumbled biscuit, hash browns, two sunny side up eggs, ham, green onions, cheddar and sausage gravy).  Yum.  

The decor reminded me a bit of the ACE hotel chain in the U.S. but with more of a country vibe.  The photo below is of the lobby in the ACE hotel in Portland.

Some of the rooms even have a SMEG refrigerator in them!

(Photo from the West Elm catalogue).   

 I hope to visit an ACE hotel one day!  It's on the bucket list for sure.

Even though I have never really had an office job, there are few things I love more than office accessories.  Paperclips, sticky notes and tape...oh my! 

Tape dispensers come in so many shapes, sizes and colours and it is difficult to choose just one.  Three of my favorites:

Concrete (source unknown).

Wood (Design Within Reach).  And definitely filled with washi tape from Japan please.

Acrylic (Kikki K).

As for staplers, the coolest one is the Ace Pilot Stapler that was 

originally designed in the 1930's:

Available at Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co.

Always handy are a decent pair of scissors and these ones from West Elm are heavy and very satisfying to use:

It doesn't get more basic than a ball of string (from a store that is now closed):

A cool vintage looking clock from Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co. would turn me into a clockwatcher :

Old School phones from Pottery Barn that probably have a charming ring:

Mini tape measures and leather mousepads in fun colours by Campo Marzio (made in Italy) from Kate's Paperie NY:

The company also makes some stylish rollerball pens that I covet:

Leather journals from Paperthinks in every colour of the rainbow:

Nautical pencil cup and tray from See Jane Work:

Funky files are a must (John Lewis):

Boxes and magazine files from See Jane Work:

Cath Kidston laptop case in an old-fashioned floral print:

Bins that could be used to hold recycling from The Container Store:

Mini binders and accessories from Russell and Hazel:

A custom address stamp (www.lindsayletters.com):

And what office is complete without delightful paperclips?

Having all of these fun office toys to play with would be pleasantly distracting!