As we near the end of our Smock Design Contest honorees, it’s time to share our 1st runner up – a beautiful custom letterpress social note brought to us by Francis-Orr in Corona del Mar, California. This design is truly unique, printed in seamist, papaya and midnight inks in a vibrant combination of color and pattern. The background of the card is our willoughby pattern in seamist and the patterned envelope liner also features our willoughby pattern in midnight. Guest judge Nole Garey of one of our favorite bogs, Oh So Beautiful Paper, loved this design and says, “A gorgeous mix of pattern and color! The papaya ink around the monogram creates a beautiful contrast against the pale patterned background. I’m also just as smitten with the juxtaposition between the flourish design details and strong serif type of the monogram. Gorgeous!”

Recently we announced the winners of our second semi-annual Smock Design Contest. Our finalists for this Smock Design Contest were selected by the Smock team and our Creative Director, Amy Graham Stigler. Our good friend Nole Garey of the incomparably inspiring blog Oh So Beautiful Paper then selected the first place winner and runner-ups from among our favorites. We love her picks and know you will, too!

Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks as we reveal all of the winners and detail the incredible creations that earned these beloved Smock dealers a spot at the top – we can’t thank them enough for their endless inspiration and enthusiasm!

Papery & Cakery in Boca Raton, Florida
Francis-Orr in Corona del Mar, California
The Write Image in Salt Lake City
Urbanic Paper Boutique in Venice, California
Judy Paulen Designs at Bloomingdale’s in Manhattan
Just Paper & Tea in Washington D.C.
Wordshop in Denver
Salutations in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Paper & Chocolate in Dallas
Gus & Ruby Letterpress in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

These letterpress social notes are a customization of our Loire design from our Social Occasions album featuring a custom calligraphy monogram printed in robin’s egg blue. They are perfect for everyday correspondence, but equally appropriate when used as beautiful, personalized letterpress thank you notes.

These pretty letterpress social stationery pieces are from our Juine suite featuring a folded social note and a grommeted hang tag. Both are printed in olive and azalea inks, and the envelope is lined in our mondsee pattern printed in azalea. The hang tag features our Smock Clermont calligraphy font while the social note showcases Farringdon, one of the standard monogram options available in our Social Occasions album. Thank you to our friends at Alphagraphics in Chicago for bringing us this cool customization!