Pinkerton Blog

Pop Chart Labs: Rapper's Delight

2010-10-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

This is so awesome it actually got me started on my Christmas shopping. I ordered two, one for me, and one for a lucky friend. Who I will not name, in case he/she reads this and the surprise would be ruined 2 months early. But since I have not posted since May, chances are he/she has given up on my blog.

Anyhoo, check it out, I cannot wait to inspect every ridiculous little detail.

Reminder: Greenwood Phinney Art Walk this weekend!

2010-05-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

Just a quick reminder about the Greenwood Phinney Art Walk happening this weekend on Friday evening, May 14, from 6-9pm and Saturday, May 15, from noon-5pm. Among the many local designers and artists being shown, Pinkerton's art prints will be featured and sold in the Greenwood Sip & Ship, located at 8560 Greenwood Avenue. Head on over to support local artists and to help kick off the summer season of monthly art walks!

Plush Herbert

2010-04-08T14:14:00.000-07:00

Aren't Maggie Hurley's Plush owls the cutest?! I must buy one for my godson but just my luck, they're sold out. I'll have to custom order one, but I can't decide because there are so many to choose from! Which one do you like?

Also, check out the book she self-published called "The Accidentally Adventures of Herbert the Owl." Cute.

Shop Update: New Mother's Day cards!

2010-04-05T14:16:00.000-07:00

Speaking of Mother's Day, we just added our new Mother's Day card designs (and Father's Day, in case you wanted to get a head start) to our shop! Check out all the designs here!

Mother's Day Giveaway

2010-04-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is coming up and it's the perfect time for a giveaway, wouldn't you say?

Here's the deal: Visit our shop to see all of our tote bags and notebook designs, pick one (or two!) out and also pick out any Mother's Day card you'd like and you'll receive it for free!

Just enter "welovemoms" at check out!

Peepshi

2010-04-03T06:57:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter from Pinkerton!

Here's a step-by-step Peepshi (peep sushi) tutorial for your holiday weekend!

(Pinkerton disclaimer: we wouldn't exactly call this "kid-friendly", because nothing's scarier than a be-headed peep.)

weekend web roundup

2010-04-02T13:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a jump start to your Easter holiday weekend - a roundup of interesting bits from the web that had us ohhing and ahhing our way through the week. Enjoy!

(from the top left, clockwise)

Antique scarves

Friends of Type

Hand-embroidered invitation

Laser show graphics

(scarf & friends of type found via Oh Joy!, graphics via Black.White.Yellow)

flora and henri children's boutique

2010-04-01T15:48:00.000-07:00

As I was wandering around the Capitol Hill neighborhood the other morning, I turned a corner and came across the sweetest children's boutique I have ever seen - flora and henri! Such a sweet name too! Take a look at these adorable outfits...

The sweet little bloomers remind me of the matching dresses my two sisters and I wore growing up - unhappily, of course! My mother sewed the dresses herself along with matching bloomers for underneath. For some reason, I don't remember swooning over them back then as much as I am now.

Along with the adorable clothing and toys for children, they carry many things for mothers as well including Repetto ballet flats (love!) lightweight scarves, and delicate jewelry. Such a lovely shop for the stylish & chic mother and child!

shop update: Elephant art print

2010-03-31T10:49:00.000-07:00

We've added another art print to our online shop...the letter E in our Alphabet Series!

Now we have the letters S, G and E!!

3 letters down, 23 more to go!

how to design a logo story

2010-03-30T15:27:00.000-07:00

Here's a cute story about the process of designing a new logo for Purl Soho. I happen to stumble upon thier blog, the purl bee, today and I'm so happy I did!

The evolution of their two stores joining into one large store this April is what lead to the re-designing of thier logo and it sounds like they had a lot of fun designing, with the help of Brooke from inchmark (another great blog!) and Natasha Tibbets, a digital art designer for the New York Times.

The evolution of the digital design to the hand tracing and how every slight change make all the difference is so interesting and beautiful!

( on purl bee via inchmark)

Pinkerton recommends: Cicchetti

2010-03-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Looking for a new restaurant to try this weekend? Cicchetti (pronounced "chi-KET-tee"), which means small nip of wine or plate of food is a new Mediterranean restaurant in the Eastlake neighborhood. It's located right around the corner from it's sister restaurant and long-time local favorite, Serafina!

Dishes:
- Octopus with salsa verde and chickpeas
- Tunisian spicy carrot salad with harissa
- "Oven-floor" cheese and fresh bread
- Portuguese baked clams with spicy sausage

Drinks:
- Caravan Spirit - a mix of fine Moldavian brandy, Oloroso sherry, lime and orange juices, with a dash of house made cardamom and mace tincture. (please note: not knowing what half of the ingredients are adds to it's allure, i think!)
- great wine menu!

Best for:
- girls night out
- casual date night
- private parties (they have a "library room" located upstairs or a lovely patio outside!)

Enjoy!

giddy-up!

2010-03-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

When you send as many packages & letters as we do, it's nice to stick a little something special on there. I'm loving these new commemorative stamps honoring the Cowboys of the Silver Screen, designed by Carl T. Herrman (who also designed the Redwood Forest and Old Faithful express stamps).

sorting things out

2010-03-18T14:24:00.000-07:00

While eating lunch today and making the rounds thru my favorite blogs, I came across this very informative post on Black Eiffel about how to be more eco-conscious, including a list of books and films to read and watch to educate yourself. Personally, I've got the "conscious" part done - and how could we not when every where we turn there's reminders to recycle, eat local and ride your bike, not your suv. But beyond all that, the way to follow thru with what we already know is really about convenience and putting together a system that works for you and making it a habit.

In order to create a more convenient system here at the studio, we installed this simplehuman recycling & trash bin system under our sink a few weeks ago and let me just say, it's a dream! It's so easy to sort thru our trash, recycling and compost when it's all organized and easy to pull out and see! Simplehuman has many other designs to make organizing our trash more efficient and easy.....I'm ordering one for home too!

Happy Birthday Johnny Cash

2010-02-26T10:13:00.000-08:00

Don't Touch My Pinkerton Card

My mom told me it was time for a new post, the Valentines were getting old. As usual, she's right, but I don't have much time. So here's a quick post: happy birthday to the Man in Black. Maybe he would have been a little cheerier if he would have gotten more birthday cards.

Bizarre Valentines

2010-02-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

Nothing says love like a smoke served in a heart-adorned pitcher. Thanks to Marc Felion at Chicago Now for sharing these gems from a friend's collection of odd, creepy or just plain weird valentines. See more here, and Happy Valentine's Weekend!

need a break?

2010-02-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

Why don't you take a minute to jump on over to paper n stitch where the lovely Brittni has blogged about our notebooks! Her blog is a daily must-read and is full of design, fashion and crafty inspiration!

(sort of) new notebooks!

2010-02-08T14:56:00.000-08:00

Obviously, it's been busy over here because I've completely forgotten to inform you, dear blog reader(s) that our new notebooks are now available! The cover designs are printed on thick recycled stock and there is a colored flysheet between cover and 64 lined pages. We also have coordinating boxed note cards for most of the designs, too!

There's more where those came from!...

Felt & Wire Shop

2010-02-02T17:00:00.000-08:00

We're proud to have just set up shop (mini-shop) over at Felt & Wire. Sort of like Etsy, but paper-focused and edited down to only the good stuff, Felt & Wire is definitely worth a look. Brought to you by the people at Mohawk Papers, makers of fine uncoated stock, loved by designers everywhere.

Here you'll find our valentines and new journals. Along with this brilliant Apple-A-Day poster by Vik, which has a tiny square for you to put that little sticker from your apple (or pear, or whatever) each day:

love is in the air...sort of

2010-01-29T15:30:00.000-08:00

Are you still searching for the perfect Valentine's Day card that says exacly what you're thinking? Well, look no further!

For your recently laid-off lover who still wants to show they care but can't afford more than $3.30:

For the flirtateous and slightly forward suitor who's ready to take things to the next level:

For the cynic who despises sappy, romantic movies, over-priced boxed chocolates and thinks February 14th is "just another day".... but still wants to support small businesses:

For the realist, who says it like it is:

For the lonely, perhaps even borderline suicidal wanna-be-lover:

Wait, there's more!

Ho Ho Whoa!

2009-12-18T15:01:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-01T15:17:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-20T11:41:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-19T11:48:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-13T15:54:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-13T00:03:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-12T10:27:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-12T09:57:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-11-11T19:07:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-10-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-10-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-23T13:04:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

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

via xkcd

hey mama!

2009-05-06T15:53:00.000-07:00

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....

2009-05-01T10:38:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-29T12:50:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-03T15:53:00.001-07:00

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.

thanks, man.

2009-04-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

As expected, it's mostly women that are hoping for a chance to win some of our new garden cards, but ladies, don't forget about your men! I'm sure they'd love to say thank you without all the cute flowers and gnomes, right? Well here's their chance with our new Manly Note Cards.

Our guy-friendly designs are a masculine dark grey with a bit of color, and just like our garden cards, these note cards are also printed on 100% recycled, post-consumer waste paper with vegetable-based inks. No need to worry guys, Pinkerton's got you covered.

Go Green with our Spring Giveaway!

2009-03-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

Trees and flowers are blooming, the weather is warming up a bit and we're so excited to be kicking off the spring season with our new Garden Series greeting cards! We're giving away a set of the 3 different designs, each boxed with 8 cards and envelopes. We're also throwing in our cute gardening gnome "i dig you" card and the "happy birthday" party gnomes card!

In keeping with the "green" theme, the cards are printed on 100% recycled, post consumer waste paper with vegetable-based inks. They're good to look at and good for the environment! The cards are also blank, so feel free to write any sentiment you like.

To be entered into the giveaway all you have to do is leave us a comment and email us so we can let you know if you've won and also include you in all future giveaways, sales and promotions.

Want an extra chance to win? Link to us on your website or blog and we'll enter you twice!

The giveaway will end at 5pm on Sunday, April 5 and we'll draw the lucky winner and post the results on the following Monday, April 6.

Good luck and Happy Spring!

happy birthday shout-out!

2009-03-05T09:47:00.000-08:00

sing it with me now...

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Paper Delights!!
Happy Birthday to you!

One of our favorite (and local!) stationery stores is turning 1 years old today!! YEA!!

If you're in the Seattle area, they're having a birthday party tonight at the store from 6-9pm. There will be cupcakes, tissue paper flower making and best of all, everything in the store is 20% off! Stop on by and check out all the goodies on display or just chat with the lovely mother/daughter team who own the store.

Congrats to Paper Delights! Cheers to a great year - and many more to come!

Hater Pack

2009-02-23T19:57:00.000-08:00

My smart-ass side thinks these "anti-whatever" stickers from youworkforthem.com are genius. I can picture them on all kinds of signs and places and it cracks me up. But my nicer side is horrified at the thought of someone using one of these on something of mine - a sign, a product, my logo, etc. That would make me sad.

Martha's blogging studio

2009-02-09T13:02:00.000-08:00

I'm taking a break from our studio today, as we're painting a large magnetic wall right now and I couldn't handle the paint fumes, so I've decided to spend the remainder of the afternoon working from Cafe Ladro, my favorite local coffee shop.

Amidst the browsing websites for work related things, I stumbled upon Martha Stewart's blogging studio. Yes, she has a dedicated house for blogging!! And as expected, it's pretty nice!

I love her inspiration wall and the clean and serene atmosphere. I'd take it!

This is Ridiculous

2009-02-06T14:16:00.000-08:00

One of the things you most often here about Seattle is that Seattlites love their coffee. After moving here a few years ago, I can tell you that not only is it true, but the stereotype is nothing compared to the reality - there are so many freaking coffee places. Since we just moved the studio in January, and I have a new commute, I decided to count how many places I can get an espresso on my 1.6 mile drive to work. So far I have counted eight, none of which are Starbucks:

Monkey Grind
Green Bean
Espresso Stand at Fred Meyer
Java Hut at Greenwood Market
Neptune Coffee
Diva Espresso
Chocolati Cafe
Herkimer Coffee

If I go one block out of my way, I can add in:
Greenwood Sip N Ship
Starbucks at Safeway

I am on my way to trying them all...

Herkimer Coffee

Neptune Coffee

Monkey Grind
Green Bean Coffeehouse

Chocolati Cafe

Diva Espresso

NYC in Legos

2009-02-06T14:04:00.000-08:00

We have not graduated from Duplo blocks to Legos at our house yet. But these simple, clever, Lego illustrations by artist Christoph Neimann get me thinking about all the fun things we'll build out of Legos one of these days. Originally in the NY Times online, these sum up life in NYC in a great way. See the whole series here.

office inspiration for a blank wall

2009-01-16T11:52:00.000-08:00

We moved into our new office space yesterday and it's lovely!! Big, spacious and lots of room to create! We'll post pictures as soon as the pile of boxes gets cleared, but until then, here's some inspiring pictures I came across to give me ideas for our new space.

My desk now faces a blank wall and I really love the idea and the look of an inspiration/collage wall

...or maybe something like these modular shelves hung on a brightly colored wall? We already have a limey/greenish-yellow colored wall that would work perfectly!

...but a bright graphic print would be a bold statement, too! Gosh, there are so many options!

images via living etc

musical illustration inspiration

2009-01-13T19:38:00.000-08:00

I was admiring the artwork on the Flight of the Conchords album cover today (and anticipating the start of season 2 on January 18th! ) and came across fellow Seattleite Tyler Stout's illustrations. Along with the Flight of the Conchords album, he's designed many other great bands and music related posters.

colorful mugs

2009-01-06T10:09:00.000-08:00

In order to get through the long, cold winters here in Seattle we need to stay warm, and there's never a shortage of tea brewing around our office. We're always keeping our kitchen stocked with the necessary basics like green or black tea or something unique like Chocolate Macaroon Tea from Todd & Holland to get us through the day.

These colorful Pantone mugs from W2 Products are a perfect way for a design studio to brighten up our cup of tea (or coffee) and would make any morning ritual that much more enjoyable. I love the tea color palette and the espresso colors (pictured below)! Check out all the other bright colors on their website!

Hatch Show Print at EMP in Seattle

2008-11-15T08:00:00.000-08:00

Hatch Show Print, Nashville's almost-130-year old letterpress print shop, is bringing an exhibit of their work to the Experience Music Project in Seattle. Hatch is known for it's music industry posters, designing and printing event posters for everyone from B.B. King to Dolly Parton to the White Stripes. But they've got some great work from events as diverse a Negro League baseball games to the Kentucky State Fairs, too. I've been a fan since the owner, Jim Sherraden, came to speak when I was in school for design. Exhibit runs October 11, 2008 through July 16, 2009.

Grey Garden Thank You Notes

2008-11-03T11:08:00.000-08:00

We are excited to release these 4 new thank you note designs, hot off the presses last week. I am kind of into muted yellow at the moment (We've even used yellow, tan and a smaller dose of watermelon pink for our 2009 Valentines), and love this combo with light blue and warm grey. These are available on our website, in boxes of 8 folded cards and blue or white envelopes, for $12.50. They are printed with vegetable based ink on lovely FSC-certfied & recycled white stock.

Tuesday's the Big Day

2008-11-02T20:31:00.000-08:00

Here is some inspiration to get out and vote. These posters are part of the AIGA Get Out the Vote 2008 campaign. See more submissions, and find out how to buy your favorite poster here. No matter who wins, Wednesday means no more political TV spots, something I think we can all celebrate.

ANOTHER Occasion we hadn't thought of

2008-10-21T12:18:00.001-07:00

Apparently we are just not thinking over here at Pinkerton Design. While we've been busy designing birthday, anniversary and thank you cards, the geniuses at inSPOT.org have been coming up with "Hey, I think I gave you an STD!" cards. The scary thing is these are for real. See all your options here.

let me introduce myself...

2008-10-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

Or just my arms & toes, that is. I've worked here at Pinkerton Design for a year and a half and I believe my big break was our tote bag photo shoot! :) Thanks to all the great blogs for the press coverage since launching our new site! It's exciting to see blogs I read religiously admiring Pinkerton as much as I do. And now I'm all over the internet. Mom and Dad would be so proud.

WORKING ON: Todd & Holland Tea Catalog

2008-10-02T11:28:00.001-07:00

There isn't much time these days to take on graphic design projects, but every year I do design Todd & Holland Tea Merchants' catalog. Here are a few shots from this year's photoshoot, along with a couple faves from last year. Photos are all skillfully taken by Chicago photographer Kipling Swehla. Lots of fine teas and most of the accessories you see here are available on the Todd & Holland site (where you can also sign up to receive the finished product, their print catalog). Ok, back to working on it, enough talking about it.

Print & Pattern Blog

2008-10-02T11:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Bowie at the oh-so-inspiring blog, Print & Pattern, for the great coverage of our recycled totes yesterday. See the profile here and while you're at it, peruse the many other great finds she's collected.

Illustrator Adrian Johnson

2008-09-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine owns a pizza place in the UK (Clever Wally's) and introduced me to the work of London illustrator Adrian Johnson, who does work for his pizza business. I love these illustrations, kind of retro but modern. Especially love this witch, I guess because Halloween is on the brain. I am fascinated when someone takes something you've seen drawn a million times (a tree, a bird) and draws it in a way you would not expect. There is lots to see on his site, and tees for sale here so you can order your own little piece colorful, funky art, right here in the U.S. of A.

Photographer Dick Garvey

2008-09-24T16:38:00.001-07:00

On a recent trip to San Juan Island, we stopped in Scott Milo Gallery in Anacortes, WA, and discovered these beautiful large-format prints by local photographer Dick Garvey. Generally a city girl, I was surprised how drawn I was to his agricultural shots -- instead of what could be a cliche shot of a farm in the hills, his versions are graphic, modern, and seem to be taken when the light is at its most interesting. The prints we saw were huge - so much more impactful than these small, on-screen versions. I hope they don't all sell out while I debate which is my favorite!

An Occasion We Hadn't Thought Of

2008-09-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

The greeting card industry doesn't get profiled much on TV shows (the only exception we can think of is 90's sitcom Caroline in the City, which we never watched), so we cracked up recently while catching up on the Flight of the Conchords on DVD. John Hodgman makes a cameo as a greeting card exec, agreeing to use one of the Conchords' songs in a musical greeting card. Predictably, it's not a big money-maker, especially since it gets used on a card for an occasion with not much mass appeal: HAPPY 80th BIRTHDAY, SON.

BOO.

2008-09-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

With just over a month until Halloween, it's time to load up on mini candy bars and contemplate what you (or your kids) will be this year. Too bad they don't make these anymore - problem solved! And if you are throwing a party, you are going to need invitations! This is our first year offering Halloween imprintables -- there are two designs, jack-o-lanterns and not-so-spooky spider. Both come in boxes of ten, with orange envelopes, and can be easily customized at home with your laser or ink jet printer. Available on our online shop!

Lucky Deals in Seattle

2008-09-21T17:16:00.000-07:00

Pinkerton thank you notes are featured in September's Lucky Magazine. Seattlites -- visit Paper Delights in Wallingford, one of our favorite local shops, and get 20% off everything, including Pinkerton products! Paper Delights, 2205 N. 45th Street, 206.547.1002

First Things First

2008-09-20T16:57:00.000-07:00

It's a little intimidating writing the first post in a blog, so let's get this one over with. Done. Moving on.