Ho Ho Whoa!

What's everyone doing this weekend? In case you didn't know, there's only 1 more week until Christmas! Wow! If you're like me and you save your shopping until the last minute, then I'm sure this weekend will be a bit hectic. Remind yourself to take a deep breath, relax and enjoy these festive - and slightly creepy - photos if you need a good laugh...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Counting Down the Days

You know what today is, don't you? It's December 1st, the beginning of advent! For those who are still kids at heart and love the excitement and anticipation of counting down the days until Christmas, it's not too late to order your own mini desktop advent calendar online or run out to your local shop and pick one up!

let the paper do the talking

As I was trolling Etsy for Christmas gift ideas I came across these designs and thought to myself:

If anyone ever gave me this at a bar...

I'd really wish I had one of these to hand back to him...

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Perfectly Unperfect

I spend all day designing and thinking about greeting cards and invitations. Trying to get them just right: type in the right spot, color palette just so. Sometimes something so un-polished and un-invitation-y is a relief. My friend Pete, a writer in Amsterdam, sent this out for his son Oli's first birthday. Perfect. And happy birthday Oli!

Weekly Favorites

A Seattleites guide to all things coffee.

I love a good Jamie Oliver recipe...and it looks pretty too!

Look what twitter says about us!

Do you have an overwhelming list of "honey-do's" to get done this weekend? If so, call on these gals!

Check out our newest blog find of the week! I feel like the last one in the all-things-design-blogosphere to come across this lovely, inspiration-filled space and I'm so happy I finally did!

Here's what we've been listening to this week (and I'll be seeing them in 2 weeks!):



I hope you all have a lucky Friday the 13th and a lovely weekend!

image found here.

tweet! tweet!

Rumor has it that Pinkerton's tweeting. A few little birdies told us so. Why don't you follow us on over and see what all the commotions about...

creative cuts

Amazing, right? This hand-cut map is the work of Karen O'Leary, an architectural designer who's creative goal is to replace the common with something more beautiful. The patience and determination that must have taken, not to mention a steady hand with the sharpest exacto knife. Wow! She describes it as "removing the unnecessary, leaving valuable information to navigate with color defining the main paths of the city".  I call it awesome!

First, she started with an ordinary map like this:

From there she began slicing away at each and every street in Manhattan, all the way up to 120th street and parts of Brooklyn and Queens.

She's also done a map of Paris and is currently working on London.

 

If you want to be wowed some more, she also does a series of prints using repeated vertical lines indicating the streets of Paris using the simplest form, pen and paper. Up close it doesn't look like much, but the farther away you are the more amazing and obviously extraordinary it becomes. Check out her etsy page for more designs.

advent calendar thanks!

Why don't you take a minute or two and click on over to The Stationery Place and check out the amazing post that Lyndsey wrote about our advent calendars and holiday cards! We're honored to be her first holiday card post of the season!  Her blog is sure to be a new obsession, as I have just spent the last hour scrolling through page after page and have yet to find a design I did not like. Thanks again Lyndsey!

And a big thank you goes out to Design Mom for blogging about our advent calendars too! We're flattered and so happy you liked it!

This Place Doesn't Blow.

In a city known for a lot of rain, a new bar has opened that's sure to keep Seattle from drowning in our sorrows. A new style bar, that is.

Swink Style Bar, downtown Seattle's new blowout & makeup style bar has women flocking to it. With a menu full of a variety of styles and names like "The Cosmo" and "The Knock Out", this spot is sure to be a hit! The best thing is that each style costs only 30 bucks and takes a half hour!

We also couldn't be more happy that Swink is carrying Pinkerton cards! This one was practically made for them!

When we first got their call, we couldn't believe our ears. This is exactly what Seattle has been waiting for! What a great idea before a special date, a girls night out or just because!

Swink is bound to be Seattle's new happy hour spot!

happy hallo-weekend...

Whatever you do, whether you're tromping through an eerie cemetery, or staying inside where it's warm and baking something delish....enjoy!

Photo: Joe Buckland via Veer

what's new?

well hello there.

It's been a while, hasn't it?

Our apologies for leaving our blog hanging. If things weren't busy enough, then they're really buzzing in the studio now!

Here's some news we'd like to update you on:

- We have new shipping prices on our website and orders over $50 are FREE! Yes, I said free. Now would be a good time to stock up.

- While you have been mourning the end of summer ( or celebrating the arrival of fall, depending on your outlook on life) we have been in the holiday season since September! And we've got some great new additions to our holiday collection - including a mini desktop advent calendar. Counting down the days till Christmas isn't just for kids anymore.

- Notice the photo above of our new ("new", as in we've been here almost a year!) studio in Phinney Ridge! We're still loving our studio's neighborhood and excitedly exploring it daily.

- If you haven't checked in with us since our last post, then you won't want to miss these new everyday greeting cards!

Have a great weekend!

Telly Online Shop Launches

Our friends at Telly Chicago have been making fun, functional kids' stuff for some time, but they've just made it easy to find their entire collection by launching their online shop. Chicago mom Amy Bailey created the line herself, after strolling around the blustery Windy City with her newborn, and recognizing a need for a really good baby blanket. We recommend the snuggly-soft fleece blankets that will quickly become every mom's favorite. (We even use ours in the Pack-n-Play as a mattress pad when we travel - it fits perfectly and seems so much more comfy.) Also, you'll find some Pinkerton cards here that you won't find anywhere else (not even our own site!)- flat notecards designed especially for kids in cowboy, bug and other fun themes.

Garden Series Prints

Our Garden Series greeting cards have been a big hit - and now we are excited to be able to offer art prints of each of the designs. These are available on our Etsy shop (hopefully will be available on our own site soon.) in 2 sizes, for $20-$3o. They are beautifully printed - on a very high end digital printer that produces fine detail and solid bright colors, using archival pigment inks. We use a heavy cotton art paper, and the result is gorgeous. These would look great framed as a series, or alone. And so much easier to maintain than a real garden. No weeding, guaranteed.

If there are other designs you'd like to see as prints, send us an email. We are just getting started doing prints, and are looking forward to offering more.

MAUM Tea Packaging

Today I stopped for an iced tea instead of a coffee on the way to work. I ended up with a horrible tasting Assam. I won't mention the brand, but it got me digging around on the internet and I found this. Clever - the little guy hangs over the edge of your cup, like he's hanging out in a hot tub, while his tea bag body brews your tea. It just makes me happy when someone rethinks and redesigns something basic like a bag of tea. More here on WDARU's site.

Images from WDARU.

something funny for a friday

Happy weekend to you all! Enjoy the good weather if you've got it!

via xkcd

hey mama!

Don't forget about Mother's Day this Sunday, May 10!

It's not too late to stop into a store in your area for your Pinkerton cards! Don't see a store in your area? Let us know where you think Pinkerton cards should be sold or buy them online and rush them straight to your home!

There's a Giveaway Going On....

We're so happy to be a part of a giveaway over at Sweet Greens! Jennie's always giving away lovely earth-friendly products, and we're so pleased she chose Pinkerton to take part! You can win a set of our Garden Greeting Cards.

The giveaway ends on May 8th, so hurry on over to her blog and sign up!

summertime farmers market

I'm sure you're aware that Seattle is known for our large, year round farmer's market in Pike's Place. It's a place for tourists to come and wander the streets filled with the best Seattle and the Northwest has to offer. For us locals, we also have smaller, seasonal farmer's markets in neighborhoods all over town that will soon start opening and selling all the wonderful fruit, veg, flowers and hand-made goodies.


Here's a cheesy, posed photo of me at the Ballard neighborhood's farmer's market - I could have easily filled a few tote-bags worth of produce!




Check out Seattle Magazine's blog, which featured a list of the upcoming farmers markets to open all over the city in the next month. Now that we've moved to the Phinney Ridge location, we're looking forward to Phinney's farmers market to open on May 29!

Garden Giveaway results...

And the winner is....

MARY ANN!! We'll be emailing you shortly for your shipping info. Congrats!

Thanks to everyone who entered. It was a fun first giveaway and it definitely won't be the last, so please check back often for other giveaways and for random design inspiration from Pinkerton!

a Wordle week

It's been a wonderfully busy week here at Pinkerton (can't complain about being busy these days, right?) and when I saw Wordle, a website where you create "word clouds" from blogs or any text you provide, it seemed fitting to end the week with a creative way of jumbling up all the things we love!

Also, don't forget that the Garden Card Giveaway ends at 5pm on Sunday, so get your comments and emails in asap! We look forward to giving away some cards first thing on Monday.