For those of you still finishing up last minute shopping, we wanted to take a moment to share some of our favorite gift giving ideas this holiday season. I polled the Smock team for their suggestions for great presents and honestly wish I could be the recipient of all of these incredible gifts! These ideas are sure to please.

Smock’s creative director and designer, Amy Graham Stigler, is in love with upcycled mittens made from old sweaters. (You can visit Simple Up for easy to follow patterns for making your own hat and mittens.)

Smock co-owner Debbie Urbanski recommends Cannellini heirloom beans – these beans are so delicious you’ll never go back to grocery store beans again. In fact, they are so popular, Rancho Gordo was sold out of them for nearly a year!

My personal favorite gift to give this holiday season is a great hand-poured soy candle (or two) from Linnea’s Lights. Not only are the fragrances amazing, but the packaging is simply divine.

Our client coordinator, Lindsy, is a big fan of this pretty embroidered clutch from Free People. It’s a lovely gift for any lady in your life like a sister or a special girlfriend.

Beth Ann, one of our in-house graphic designers, is gifting this great recipe basket from Longaberger this year. This handcrafted basket is the perfect gift for the cooking or baking enthusiast in your life.

This idea is quite near and dear to our hearts – our office manager, Carrie, took old salvaged books and created cool boxes by hollowing them out and lining them in scraps of our eco gift wrap. She’s filling each with fun little goodies for her family and friends.

Working with incredible retailers across the country and internationally is, hands down, the best part about what we do at Smock. They keep us inspired and energized and looking forward to creating imaginative, sustainably printed letterpress for customers worldwide. One store in particular that continues to amaze us is Urbanic Paper Boutique and their fabulous blog Parcel Post, where owner Audrey Woollen routinely feature a glimpse into life at Urbanic and the great paper products they carry. We’re always delighted when Smock products pop up in their weekly Friday at the Shop feature and have found ourselves continually loving the great photos they’ve taken of our 100% post consumer recycled gift wrap.

All of our gift wraps are double-sided, printed with bright festive patterns that coordinate with many of our letterpress greeting cards and letterpress gift tags. Later this week, we’ll be featuring Urbanic in our Smock Store Spotlight feature so be sure to stop back for all the behind the scenes details of one of our favorite paper shops!

{Photos by Urbanic for Parcel Post.}

Featuring beautiful letterpress details by Smock in our Rhon design, calligraphy from our master calligrapher Debi Zeinert, and the beautiful styling of Lemiga Events, this tablescape is undeniably beautiful. Once again sent to us by the lovely Debra Saba of Luxe Expressions, Debra and the other talented professionals of StudioWed in Atlanta pulled together this tablescape design that has us totally inspired. (And the photos, taken by Blue World Studios, are just as beautiful!)

From the amazing linens from I Do Linens, to the adorable place cards poking out of pretty peaches, to the breathtaking flowers from Tulip, the details are so fresh and so pretty. It would make for a beautiful wedding, but would be equally as brilliant for a great anniversary or engagement party. The possibilities are endless!

We are completely charmed by how lovely our Smock letterpress menus and place cards look nestled in among such fabulous details. And how amazing is that cake from Sweet Sensations? Even the fresh lemons and adorable bottles of lemonade are incredibly sweet – we’re so thrilled to have our Smock letterpress included in such an inspiring design!

A big thank you to Debra for all of the incredible inspiration this week – it’s such a pleasure to share it with everyone!

We loved seeing our Rhon letterpress wedding invitation design in pewter and verbena inks pop up in this beautiful inspiration board featured here on The Inspired Bride yesterday. We think this kind of sunshine-filled inspiration is perfect for a vibrant summer affair and we extend a big thank you to Maddy of The Inspired Bride for including Smock! Also, The Inspired Bride is celebrating the launch of their beautiful new site, so be sure to pop over and visit for lots of fabulous ideas sure to inspire.

{Inspiration Board via The Inspired Bride}
Inspiration Board Credits:
Decorated Tent, The Knot
Placecards, Martha Stewart Weddings
Groom’s Tie and Boutonniere, The Knot
Bridesmaid’s Dress, Jenny Yoo
Table Card, The Knot
Planter Decor, The Knot
Cake, Cake Girls
Invitation, Smock
Honey Jar Favor, The Knot

Smock is proud to support The 3/50 Project, an independent movement aimed at saving the local shops and stores that make our communities unique and our local economies stronger. Have you taken the 3/50 pledge? Jump in and add your name to the list in support of the 3/50 movement today!

In support of the 3/50 project, we wanted to share some of our favorite shops to visit in Smock’s neighborhood here in Syracuse, NY…

If you’re in the market for a great read, visit Second Story – One billion books on Amazon? Overwhelming. A beautifully curated selection of novels, poetry, nonfiction, magazines, and even a few cookbooks? Much more calming. Plus this place has great sandwiches, teas and smoothies.

{Great chai and heavenly cupcakes at Roji Tea Lounge}

In love with a great cup of tea? Don’t miss Roji Tea Lounge, one of downtown Syracuse’s true gems. If you’re a tea junkie, you can buy some of the best loose teas ever here to take home…or simply enjoy the calming atmosphere, vegan deserts, fabulous music, and really, really good tea. Bubble tea too!

We have a bunch of chocolate lovers here at Smock so we highly recommend Sweet on Chocolate – chocolate makes some of the sweetest gifts, and this cute little shop – only a few minutes walk from Smock’s print shop – makes the best dark chocolate truffles ever.

{Mint boar soap from Syracuse Soapworks}

If you’re searching for the perfect Mother’s Day gift or really a gift for any occasion, you have to visit Syracuse Soapworks. Located just a few blocks down the street from Smock’s print shop, their soaps are fragrant and amazing.

When you realize your entire house looks like an Ikea showroom, Smith Interiors is the place to go for slightly more upmarket modern furniture. We try to stop by this place every so often just to oooh and ahhhh over the cool lights and crazy cool couches.

What are your favorite shops in your community? Share them with us so we can visit if we’re ever in town and be sure to pay a visit yourself sometime soon. If you’re looking for cool stores that carry stationery/invitations in your own town, check out our list of great shops that also happen to carry Smock invitations & paper goods. And, don’t forget to visit The 3/50 Project and start spreading the word to help support local shops!

Smock co-owner, Debbie Urbanski, is an avid lover of nature and the earth as well as a lover of literature and the written word, so she was thrilled to pass along her first recommendation for this week’s installment of Smock Eco Reads. Debbie shared a bit of insight into The Wall, a 1962 novel by Austrian author Marlen Haushofer that she recently read and I know I personally can’t wait to read this novel after her review…

{Source}

So I’ll admit that the premise of this novel did not sound mind altering or gripping – something happens in the world to pretty much everyone, some kind of catastrophe, and this woman becomes trapped in the mountains behind an invisible wall with only a dog, a cat, and a cow for companions. There really aren’t any other people, other than the narrator, in the entire novel. And let me get this out in the open: though I love the world, the planet, and I’m a vegetarian, I’m not a pet person. I don’t really get pets. So a book about a woman whose major companion is her dog? I spent a week with this book on my nightstand, staring at the cover, wondering if I was ever going to get past the first page. But when I started reading, I found a book that was beautiful, moving, gripping, sad, quiet, and amazing.

It’s not a “hit you over the head” environmental book, but it does suggest the devastation and violence that people bring to each other and the landscape. And it does show how a quiet simple life in the middle of nowhere can be filled with complexity and beauty. And it also shows how small humans are, and how big the “other” is – the animal world, the natural world. And it has some of the best descriptions I’ve ever read of mountains — how they’re mesmerizing and menacing and jaw-dropping and scary and gorgeous. But in addition to this, it’s just a gripping read. There is hint of a tragedy that’s finally revealed in the last few pages and I couldn’t take the suspense–I had to read ahead.

The narrator is a meditative soul that I missed the moment the book was finished. It’s been a month or two since I closed up the Wall, and I still miss the book, and I really haven’t been able to get into another novel since. The one small tragedy of this book – I haven’t met anyone else who has read it, let along heard of it (I found it in a great list book called 500 Great Books by Women). So pick this book up, read it, and then pass it on to a friend. It looks like it’s out of print, but you can buy it used or find it at your library, which is more eco anyway.

I did some digging around and it looks as though there are a few used copies of The Wall available on Amazon as well as on Half, including some rare first edition prints. If you end up picking this one up, make sure to let us know!

Today we are excited to bring you the latest feature to Smock’s blog, our new series Smock Eco Reads. At Smock we recognize that green living extends beyond pretty letterpress stationery so we are thrilled to be sharing some of our favorite eco reads, the places where we gather inspiration and insight into all things eco. First up, two blogs I count among my personal favorites – Inhabitat and Inhabitots!

Naturally, Smock’s love for great eco design extends far beyond our own eco-friendly letterpress stationery and letterpress wedding invitations so it should come as no surprise that I am completely in love with both Inhabitat and Inhabitots, a duo of eco blogs centering on sustainable design. Covering a range of projects, products and inspiration from architecture and interior design to toys, games and clothing that are as child-friendly as they are eco-friendly, the team of Inhabitat/Inhabitots are always providing fresh insight on new ways to make your life increasingly green. From the serious to the playful, you are sure to walk away feeling educated and inspired to adapt real changes in your lifestyle for the greater good of the environment.

A couple of my favorite recent posts include these adorable upcycled umbrella raincoats for dogs, designed by industrial designer Taryn Zychal. I wonder if she can make one large enough for my full grown black lab?

And, seriously, how much prettier are these beautiful Easter eggs colored with natural dyes than the garish fluorescent colors you get with one of those grocery store egg dye kits?

I love the mantra of the Inhabitat crew that good design and green design should be one and the same and with Inhabitots they take it a step further, setting out to prove that becoming a parent does not mean having to sacrifice good style nor true sustainability. And if you ask me, they do a brilliant job at both. What can I say? I’m a huge fan.

At Smock we are no strangers to printing incredible customizations of our letterpress wedding invitations brought to us by the great stores we work with, but recently we’ve also been lucky enough to print some fabulous customized invitations for a wide range of other occasions. We love the idea of adpating a wedding invitation design for other events because really, letterpress is gorgeous for any celebration, isn’t it?

This version of our Kurai design, brought to us by RSVP Today in New York City, is updated in papaya and silver inks and includes Hebrew text for a result that is youthful and elegant. We love how a simple pop of bright color, along with our Beaumont serif font, changes the look of the design so dramatically and makes it so perfect for inviting loved ones to celebrate a Bat Mitzvah.

We love this take on the original Helani letterpress design customized as a perfectly adorable baby announcement, a variation on the Helani reception card for a client of Kustom Kreations in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Printed in clover and lake inks, with the addition of the very sweet Etienne script font, it’s bright and fresh and the perfect way to celebrate the birth of a beloved little one.

Printed for Luxe Expressions in Atlanta, this invitation is for a bridal showcase hosted by The Atlantan Brides, and boasts bright raspberry and pewter inks with tangerine edge painting in a custom design based on Helani. The cheerful envelope liner is our Oesa pattern in fun tangerine ink and together it makes for a truly festive invitation. We love this use of a bold and bright letterpress design for a coporate event.

Sweetly printed on our Ellie note card from Smock’s social line, this baby shower invitation is truly adorable. We can think of no better way to invite guests to celebrate the upcoming birth of a new loved one.

This version of Nevis was printed in lake and midnight inks for a farewell brunch and features edge painting in gold, which we absolutely love. Printed at our Save the Date size, the invitation is perfect for inviting loved ones to celebrate good food and good cheer and was brought to us by Arabesque of Naples in Naples, Florida.

Here at Smock we get to work with some pretty cool people throwing some amazing parties, which we absolutely love. In fact we find it so much fun that we want to share those parties with everyone else! If you’re hosting a great brunch, baby or bridal shower, birthday party, anniversary celebration, or a fabulous spring kick-off barbecue, we want details! Email us at hello@smockpaper.com and tell us about your event and you could be featured on Smock’s blog. Parties of all shapes, sizes, and themes are welcome! In the meantime, check out this fabulous baby shower at the incredible Thoughtful Day, a blog we positively adore.

We love this use of our adorable Liony letterpress invitations featuring hand calligraphy by our favorite calligrapher, Debi Zeinert of Blooming Quill, in Whimsy for a first birthday party. It’s simple and oh so sweet, and the perfect way to set the stage for a fantastic birthday celebration.

One of the things we most love about our Smock letterpress wedding invitations is the complete versatility in design. By selecting the patterns, envelope linings and ink colors of choice, a bride or groom can dream up a totally new version of a Smock design that is unique to their personality and their event. Lately, we’ve been seeing a lot of gorgeous adaptations of the lovely Vettore design and wanted to share one that we find particularly fun. The original Vettore design is printed in midnight and sea mist ink for a pretty, classic look.

In this Vettore customization, the couple chose mango and clover inks for a look that is much more modern and bold. By using calligraphy accents the design remains a bit traditional and yet completely updated.

The bold mango patterned backing in our Willoughby pattern is an exciting and unexpected touch when guests open the envelope, which is beautifully lined in clover Willoughby.

We adore this version of Vettore, customized by RSVP Studio in Toronto and their client, for its fun and festive nature. It’s somehow strikingly bold and quietly tradtional all at the same time and we couldn’t love it more.