Courtesy of Village Invites in New York, NY this custom letterpress wedding invitation order was fun to see come to life! The vibrant colors (raspberry and turquoise inks) and reverse-printed bellyband created a very unique invitation set for a destination wedding. Jaye and Nathalie are a joy to work with and we are happy to showcase their work when they ask for something that looks this good.

inks: raspberry + turquoise | fonts: stockton + smock harrison | paper: 2-ply white | printing: letterpress | letterpress belly band |  square invitation: 7 x 7 |

It’s not often we get to see what we eat outside of our homes and the grocery store. In September, a few of us had a chance to get up and personal with our peppers and onions during a tour of the beautiful Grindstone Farm in Pulaski, New York. Many Smock employees have CSA shares from Grindstone, and it was enlightening to get a good, hard look at what goes into creating our tasty, organic produce.

We spent a long time talking with Vic and Dick de Graff about what it’s like running a small organic farm in the snow belt of upstate New York, where snow comes early and often, and the local food movement is just catching on. They have adapted to the weather over the years by growing many of their vegetables in hoop houses, like the one featured above, in order to extend the growing season into November.

While Grindstone farm may look like an idyllic place to live, farming is anything but easy. One mistake, like forgetting to cover the lettuce before a potential frost, can ruin an entire crop for the rest of the year. As a farmer, your backyard is your home office, and there is always more work that should be done. But just like our love for creating beautiful, sustainable letterpress goes beyond the normal 9-5, the farmers at Grindstone choose this life because of a passion for growing and providing food for friends and neighbors, and because they want to spread the idea that feeding the world can happen one small plot of land at a time.

Interested in finding a farm like this near you? Check out localharvest.org for CSAs, U Pick Farms, Farmers Markets, Grocery Co-ops and more!  Want to see more photos from our trip to Grindstone Farm & our CSA pick-up spot here at Bella Figura? Check out this slideshow!

Celia at Urbanic came to us for these “day of” pieces for a September wedding. Our Odin design was a perfect fit, especially when designed using the right cartouche and blend of our ocean and peacock inks. Carrying the design over to the table numbers and place cards was a great way to make the motifs stand out at the reception.

inks: peacock + ocean | fonts: cecilia + social | paper: 1-ply white | printing: offset | program with cartouche | program size: #10

Are you ready for take off?  We bet these custom letterpress wedding invitations will make you swoon!  This whimsical set was submitted to us by our good friend, Darcy at Pearl Beach Paperie in Orlando, Florida.  The invitation is printed in an AMAZING combination of cherry and black inks.  The exterior of the folio is offset printed in cherry which adds to the romantic vibe!  You can see the couple’s passion for airplanes and even a bit of the couple’s personality in every piece.  This set features just about the cutest reply postcards we’ve ever seen!  The reply postcards ask guests if they’re ready for take off or grounded due to inclement weather -as the choices are to accept or decline.  These creative invitations let guests know that the wedding celebration will be filled with fun!

ink: cherry + black | fonts: submitted| custom artwork: submitted | paper: 2-ply ivory | printing: letterpress | folio exterior:custom pattern in cherry | folio interior: custom pattern in gold | liner: custom pattern in gold |invite size: 5.125 x 7.75 |

Our latest Smock Design Contest was yet another success (THANK YOU!). We were so thrilled to see all the customizations, and the hard work from our lovely dealers certainly paid off! At this time we are pleased to show off the Smock Design Contest Winner Plaques! Designed by our talented in-house designer Lindsy Aragona, these stunning plaques are letterpressed in our rich ocean and azure inks on our 2-ply white bamboo paper.  The amazing Debi Zeinert adds her gorgeous touch of hand calligraphy. We gave these plaques to our top ten winners. Our next Smock Design Contest will be featured in 2012!

We were so thrilled when Lily Kesselman (the amazing photographer behind this next real wedding) shared her images of Katie & Jack’s gorgeous New York wedding. Katie worked with our friends at Judy Paulen Designs for their elegant Haddington wedding invitations, which were printed in midnight ink on our white bamboo paper.  This wedding is overflowing with preppy sophistication and we can’t get enough of it!

Katie and Jack were married at the Convent of The Sacred Heart on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. After the ceremony, the couple rode to their reception in style in an iconic vintage taxi, while the guests and bridal party headed to the reception on chartered Greyline double-decker buses – complete with champagne and a tour of the city!

Our great friend, Toni at The Write Image in Rockville, Maryland submitted these breathtaking Sabion letterpress invitations to us.  Our midnight and lavender inks print beautifully on our thick 2-ply bamboo paper. The couple chose to coordinate their set with two cards that were printed with the lavender front patterning and then two cards were printed with only midnight ink – which makes for a peppy look with contrasting pieces! Corner rounding and a beautiful patterned envelope liner in midnight complete this suite.

inks: midnight + lavender | fonts: poetica and therese | paper: 2-ply ivory bamboo | printing: letterpress | front patterning: sinclair in lavender |corner rounding |liner: the rousseau pattern in midnight | invite size: S8

Sent to us by our friends at Bridals by Lori in Atlanta, Georgia these precious Dorset letterpress baby announcements will surely tug at your heart strings!   These adorable baby announcements are printed in pearl and pewter inks with corner rounding to make for the most gracious curves and a completely finished look.  We love to see the unique customizations proud parents dream up to celebrate their new bundle of joy! Paired with our champlain envelope liner in pearl we love this added feminine touch!  We think you’ll agree that these baby announcements are absolutely precious.

inks: pearl + pewter| fonts: smock bescal + stockton| paper: 2-ply ivory | printing: letterpress | edge painting in pearl |back patterning: sinclair in pearl |corner rounding |liner: the champlain pattern in pearl | size: S6

Lose your heart in San Francisco with these recently printed custom letterpress wedding invitations designed by Lindsy Aragona, who is just one of our many wonderful in-house designers.  This ultramodern and whimsical set was submitted to us by our great friends at Union Street Papery in San Francisco, California (would you have even guessed?).  The San Francisco Bay Bridge is letterpressed in our lovely coral ink and the bubbly persona is carried through onto all pieces.  They say people go crazy for a great city like San Francisco-and we’re just as crazy for this imaginative set!

inks: coral + peacock | fonts: clementine and stockton | paper: 1-ply ivory bamboo | printing: letterpress | invite size: S8

This is the first order sent to us from The Wedding Company in Hong Kong and we already can’t wait to see what’s coming next! Michele uses a combination of whisper and pearl inks to give a wonderful 2-color accent to the invitation text of this Dawson-inspired design. The border chosen frames the English invitation as well as the Mandarin one in such a beautiful way. We are very happy to showcase our newest friends, particularly when this is the quality of the invitations they come up with. Well done Wedding Company!

inks: taupe + pearl + whisper | fonts: cameron + carrington | paper: 1-ply ivory | printing: letterpress | size: s8 | 3-color, bilingual invitations |