It’s time again for us to extend our endless thanks to the wonderful editors and bloggers out there for featuring Smock in their fantastic publications this spring! Smock’s double-sided gift wrap, letterpress wedding invitations, jotters and more have been spotted in some amazing places lately.

First up, Brides magazine featured letterpress wedding invitations from our custom line in their April and May issues — a pretty customization of our Hekla invitation was featured alongside some of our signature envelope liners (based on our gift wrap!) and feature fun chevron stripes in a pretty purple hue. In May, our Tallmossen invitations were featured (also seen with signature envelope liners!) in a gorgeous round-up of wedding elements with Mediterranean charm.

Next up, an absolutely adorable DIY from the June issue of Woman’s Day magazine. Woman’s Day did a “Berry Pretty!” project with our Pollen, Sorbet, and Pearl double-sided gift wrap –aren’t those containers fantastic?!

Stationery Trends magazine did an extensive (and fabulous) feature of our creative director Amy Graham Stigler, showcasing her for their “Designer Profile” in the 2012 winter edition.

Celebrate magazine did an amazing round-up of nautical party-picks in their May/June issue, so we were thrilled to see our cheery Breakers gift wrap featured in such fun company!

Victoria Magazine also featured a fun assortment of vibrant, floral inspired stationery and included our Fete and Veranda jotters along with our Picadilly notebook.

We’d also love to extend a huge “thanks” to the following websites and blogs that have featured Smock over the past few months: Real Simple, Oh So Beautiful Paper (times 2!), Once Wed, Papercrave, Style Me Pretty, Green Wedding Shoes, Eco-beautiful Weddings, Young House Love, Discover Paper, EcoChicDesign, The Stationery Place, Curating Style, Simply Modern Weddings, Wedding Row Charlotte and the Washingtonian!

It’s official: foil stamping has arrived at Smock! Today we’re sharing a special sneak peek of the letterpress invitations we printed for the 2012 National Stationery Show, and we think you’ll love the new additions we’re bringing to the line. We’re adding two gorgeous new fonts to our collection of exclusive Smock calligraphy fonts, and these invitations feature both of those new fonts! Plaza is an elegant, formal script based on Sarah Hanna‘s calligraphy, and Stella (based on a Kelle McCarter hand) has a more playful, whimsical feel. The invitations are just a hint at what’s new: besides foil stamping and new calligraphy fonts, we’re also introducing four inspired new wedding suites, 12 dazzling colors for foil stamping, 100% recycled coasters, and lots of cool new products for our Everyday line (including 6 new styles of double-sided gift wrap, new notebook styles, more man-friendly stationery, and much, much more!).  A special thanks to master calligrapher Debi Zeinert from The Blooming Quill for addressing the invitation envelopes – aren’t they gorgeous!?

Foil stamping will be available at Smock dealers in early June, so stay tuned!

Mother’s Day is May 13 and quickly approaching, so make sure you’re ready with a nice letterpress card and a sweet gift for mom! Cheery stationery goods in bright colors and patterns are sure to be a hit, but she’ll be even more impressed when you wrap it up beautifully with some of our eco-friendly, double-sided gift wrap (here’s a hint: you can use one side to wrap the gift and use the other like ribbon)!  We’ve picked out a few of our favorite gifts for mom, but be sure to take a look at all of our new letterpress stationery goods to find the perfect gift today!  And if your mom has a green thumb, be sure to check out our sustainable Sunflower cards (pictured below) — 100% of profits help the Pesticide Action Network, and the cards come with organic sunflower seeds that can be planted in her garden!

1. Botanical Thanks boxed letterpress cards $14 for 6 | 2. Mother’s Day Flower Burst letterpress card $4 | 3. Ness notebook $9 | 4. Pearl Jotters $6 for 2 | 5. Queen for a Day letterpress card $4 | 6. Flower Burst letterpress scratchpad $7 | 7. Pearl boxes: small $6; medium $12; large $18 | 8. Park boxed offset notes $12 for 8 | 9. Picadilly notebook $9 | 10. Carri attachments sticky note cube $18 | 11. Mom & Trust letterpress card $4 | 12. Sunflower boxed letterpress cards $14 (100% of profits help save the honey bees!)

The votes are in: Odin is the Smock design of the month! From now through May 14, all custom orders that feature the bright and bubbly Odin design (wedding invitations, social stationery, save the dates, programs, menus, calling cards, hang tags, baby or graduation announcements, birthday party invites, and more!) will be 10% off (or 15% off for orders with 6 or more pieces!). Locate one of our amazing Smock custom dealers today to get started on your Odin stationery!

Thanks to everyone who voted, we’ll be donating almost $200 to the Earthworks No Dirty Gold campaign to help put an end to dirty mining practices that are devastating the planet. (Click here to read more about dirty gold and find out what you can do to help). To show you just how unique our Odin design can look with a few simple tweaks, our designers put together the stunning customizations below to get you inspired!

inks: ocean + saffron | fonts: parson + chaplin  | paper: 2-ply white | printing: letterpress| back patterning: van in saffron | invite size: s8

inks: eggplant and gold | fonts: elsie + lazlo | paper: 2-ply ivory | printing: letterpress| envelope liner: filby in eggplant | corner rounding | invite size: s8

inks: sand + pewter + peacock | fonts: alice + percy | paper: 2-ply white | printing: letterpress + offset | back patterning: everett in pewter | edge painting: peacock | invite size: s8-sq

inks: whisper + pink | fonts: percy + fairchild + louise | paper: 2-ply white | printing: letterpress| envelope liner: fleming in pink | invite size: s8

Stop in to your local Smock retailer to get started on your custom Odin order today!

Our Sutton design looks prominent printed in mint and navy inks and we think you’ll find it easy to agree!  Our good friend, Jessica at Salutations in Charlotte, North Carolina submitted this letterpress suite to us for printing.  The repeating Sutton motif looks almost floral as the invitation background pattern – adding to the ornate feel.  On the exterior of the pocketfold – we have offset printed our sinclair pattern in navy – and on the folio interior the classic feel is seen within our sherbrooke pattern also in navy.  Blues and greens can be incredibly versatile ink colors when it comes to wedding invitations.  Navy ink is a superb choice for a sunset ceremony whereas mint can match back to the fauna at the wedding venue.

inks: mint + navy | fonts: stock + smock spencerian | paper: 2-ply ivory | printing: letterpress| folio exterior: sinclair pattern in navy | folio interior: sherbrooke pattern in navy| invite size: 5.125 x 7.75

We’re always excited to see the creative and unique invitation orders from Michelle at Paperkiss in Balmain, Australia.  This beyond beautiful custom invitation is letterpressed in our glacier ink which adds even more to the nautical design.  Such a soft color palette makes this invitation even more charming!  We also feel the soft hue helps set a romantic atmosphere for the upcoming nuptials.  We’ve heard that starfish represent a love that cannot be measured – and this makes this invitation all the more sweet!

inks: glacier | fonts: custom | paper: 1-ply white | printing: letterpress | invite size: SQ8

How to vote: Visit smockpaper.com/wedding and choose your favorite invitation design. Roll over the photo and click the “like” button that appears. That’s it!

Why vote: For every vote cast through April 12, 2012, we’ll donate $1 to Earthwork’s No Dirty Gold campaign (up to $500) to help put an end to dirty gold mining practices that are devastating the planet.

What happens with the winning design? The invitation design with the most votes will be the next Smock design of the month. From 4/14 – 5/14, all custom orders that feature the winning invitation design (wedding invitations, stationery, save the dates, you name it!) will be 10% off (or 15% off for orders with 6 or more pieces!). You can place your order with one of our amazing Smock custom dealers.

So why should you care about dirty gold mining practices? If you’re engaged, there’s a good chance  you’ve already got a ring with some gold in it (and you may be looking to purchase wedding bands soon, too). There are certain dirty mining practices that have really terrible impacts on the communities and the environment surrounding the mines – did you know?

• The production of one gold ring generates 20 tons of mine waste.
• The drinking water in mining communities often becomes contaminated, and mine drainage can also raise acid levels in rivers and lakes that can be harmful to wildlife and people.  Some mines even dispose of toxic waste in rivers, lakes, and oceans on a regular basis.
• Some of the refining processes that are used in mines release chemicals that cause smog and acid rain.
• Many gold mines create solid waste, too: by employing a process known as heap leaching, these mines drip a cyanide solution through high piles of ore. The solution strips away the gold, but a lot of waste is left over from the process (read: the waste from these sites can sometimes reach over 300 feet – which is nearly the height of a 30-story building!). Many of these heaps are often abandoned because they are too costly to dispose of properly.
• Indigenous people around the world typically lose out when mining leases are granted. In rural communities, locals often become vulnerable to eviction without notice, meaningful compensation or an offer of equivalent lands in a new region because legal land titles aren’t always on hand (even if a family has occupied the same lands for generations).
• Mining is a dangerous job: rock falls, tunnel collapses, fires, heat exhaustion, and other dangers claim the lives of over 15,000 miners every year, and while the profession only accounts for 1% of the world’s labor force, it accounts for 5% of on-the-job fatalities.

Wondering what you can do to help? It’s really easy to take action. Sign the Earthworks pledge today, and be sure to support retailers who are actively pursuing clean gold sources. If you choose to work with a retailer who’s not on that list (like Macy’s or Costco – the only two retailers in the top 10 list that haven’t committed to sourcing responsible gold) be sure to ask your jeweler about the source for the gold in your ring.  Other ways you can help:

• Recycle old jewelry, and have old rings melted down to make new ones. Support jewelers that offer products made with recycled gold.
• Buy vintage or antique jewelry.
• Keep jewelry in your family and pass on to your children or grandchildren.

We have Liz at Paper Place in Austin, Texas to thank for submitting this bright and beautiful Dawson invitation to us for printing.  Lively and cheery are definitely adjectives that come to mind when taking a look these beauties!  We feel that pairing our ocean and yolk inks together is the perfect choice for a wedding in early spring.  When this is the time of year we’re used to seeing softer color palettes – pastels, too – it’s refreshing to see such a bubbly and bold invitation.  The couple also chose a custom letterpress sleeve which adds even more pizazz!

inks: ocean + yolk| fonts: smock clermont + carrington| paper: 1-ply white  | printing: letterpress| letterpress sleeve: custom pattern in yolk | invite size: S-8 for sleeve

Paper Place was also sweet enough to send along the accessory pieces they printed in house to coordinate with the letterpress wedding invitations we printed.  The reply card, information card and rehearsal dinner card were sent along with the invitations.  The larger reception invitation and registry card were sent separately by the groom’s parents.  We love that the vibrant color palette is maintained throughout this set.  We always adore working with the lovely ladies at Paper Place – and we’d like to give a huge THANK YOU to them!