We’re so excited to introduce our newest card in the “change the world” letterpress card series, where we donate 100% of profits to a critical environmental issue. The second card in our series is called Fracking, and will benefit Earthworks. The cards also come with an anti-fracking tattoo!

Here’s the problem:  In the U.S., we’re drilling around 2,000 new oil and gas wells per month. 90% of these new wells use a process called “hydraulic fracturing”, also known as fracking. To get the natural gas out of the ground, fracking requires 3-15 million gallons of water plus a lot of chemicals. Rarely do we know what these chemicals are; the oil and gas industry is exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Superfund law. A large percentage of this chemical laced water remains in the crevices of the earth, soaking into the ground, and threatening our clean water supply.

Is there a realistic solution? Fracking is scary, but it’s only part of the problem – change needs to happen. Earthworks’ Oil & Gas Accountability Project is working to reform the entire oil and gas industry. Earthworks believes that corporations should be allowed to extract and process mineral fuels only if they can do so without harming human health or contaminating the air, water, and soil, with an eye on impacts at all levels: local, regional, and global. This means achieving the following goals:

1. No water pollution: protect public health, the environment, and the climate from toxic, hazardous, and carcinogenic chemicals used in the extraction of fossil fuel energy resources;
2. Low emissions: protect public health, the environment, and the climate from pollutants emitted during the drilling and ongoing production of energy resources;
3. No-Go Zones: protect sacred areas, fragile ecosystems, neighborhoods, drinking watersheds and densely populated areas targeted for energy development;
4. Landowner or Community Consent: continue to develop and then implement laws and policies ensuring that landowners have essential co-equal rights to negotiate with, and to say ‘no’ to, energy development.

Take action now:

• Contact your legislators and ask them to protect our clean air and clean water from fracking by supporting the FRAC Act. The FRAC Act would close the “Halliburton loophole” in the Safe Drinking Water Act that allows drillers to inject hazardous materials — unchecked — directly into underground drinking water supplies.
• Get informed: learn more at Earthworks.
• Make a contribution: help Earthworks continue the good fight by making a donation. If you follow this link, you can get your very own “Gas and Water Don’t Mix” temporary tattoos (created & designed by Smock!) when you make a contribution to Earthworks (while supplies last). 
• Join the conversation on our tumblr blog: In collaboration with Earthworks, we’ve created a tumblr blog called Gas and Water Don’t Mix (gas-and-water-dont-mix.tumblr.com), a place where those who care about fracking can build a communal voice around the issue. Concerned citizens can go on and add a photo of themselves in a place they love, and include a few sentences about why they are freaked out by fracking. We’re encouraging everyone to don the Gas and Water Don’t Mix temporary tattoo in solidarity of the issue on the blog.

We’ve been hard at work here at Smock dreaming up beautiful new letterpress stationery goods for our biggest release of the year, and we can’t wait for you to see everything that’s new! We’ve got lots of notebooks (including classy new spiral notebooks!), calendars, new man-friendly stationery, double-sided gift wrap, fabulous keepsake boxes, shiny foil stamped occasion cards, handy notepads, and lots, lots more. Hurry over & see all the gorgeous new stuff today!

It’s easy to get swept away in these beautiful and delicate letterpress save the dates.  These beauties were submitted to us by our great friend, Nancy at Epitome Papers in Edina, Minnesota.  We think you’ll agree that these save the dates are current and look absolutely fabulous printed in three ink colors.  The oversized textured starfish is the perfect motif for a seaside wedding in Key Largo, Florida.  These save the dates are whimsical in their own right – while still being playful and chic.  The seahorse pattern envelope liner really makes a bold statement of what guests can expect as far as wedding atmosphere.  We can just close our eyes and feel the warmth of the golden sunshine and the white sandy beaches!

inks: spring + slate + inkless blind deboss | font: smock harrison | paper: 2-ply white bamboo | printing: letterpress | edge painting in spring | back patterning: gala in spring |liner: the seahorse pattern in slate | invite size: S8SQ

Our good friend, Shelby at Seaside Papery in Coronado, California submitted this lovely Burstell letterpress wedding suite for printing.  Talk about being pretty in pink with the most beautiful feminine touches!  We are totally smitten with the perfect pocketfold – offset printed on both the interior and exterior.  The taupe ink is such a soft, neutral tone- and when you pair this with a light shade of pink this set looks all the more delicate and truly picturesque.

inks: taupe + pms 176u| fonts: smock harrison + inigo | paper: 1-ply white | printing: letterpress |folio exterior: champlain pattern in taupe | folio interior: sherbrooke pattern in pms 176u | invite size: 5.125 x 7.75

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!

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!

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.

Letterpress cards, notepads, and stationery in pretty shades of blue have been extremely popular this year, and it’s easy to see why! This on-trend color works in many different shades: a vibrant, true blue paired with crisp red and nautical patterns appeals to just about everyone, while a deeper navy and rich royal blues work well for men (or for women who like deep, rich colors!). For a fresh, feminine look, lighten things up a bit and go with turquoise. Which shade of blue are you?

1. Breakers boxes: Small $6, Medium $12, Large $18 | 2. Rhino Letterpress Cards $14 for a 6 count box | 3. Lobster Letterpress Card $4 | 4. Breakers Jotter Notepads $6 for a 2-pack | 5. Pearl Notebook $9 | 6. Phillips Boxed Offset Cards $12 for an 8 count box | 7. Talt Notebook $9 | 8. Chatham Scratchpad $7 

All Smock goods are made around Syracuse, New York with the planet in mind: our notebooks and notepads use 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper, and our greeting cards are printed on our exclusive (and sustainable) bamboo paper.