We’re happy to announce that we are participating in the Delavan Center Open Studio this November. We’re hosting a shopping event on Friday, November 3rd from 5-8pm and Saturday, November 4th from 10am-4pm to kick off the holiday season! Come by our Syracuse print shop to stock up on discounted holiday cards, notebooks, keepsake gift boxes, and gift wrapping essentials. We’ll also be offering letterpress printing demonstrations with free takeaways, shop tours, refreshments, letterpress coloring sheets for the kids, and more. And we’re bringing back our popular wreath-making workshops, too! Join us for a fun crafting session that’s great for adults and for kids (we recommend ages 8 & up). Sign up for a workshop below!
We will be offering three separate wreath-making workshop sessions during the event: 6:00 pm Friday, and 11:00 am and 2:00 pm on Saturday. Workshop sessions will be $20 each, and will last for about an hour. Please arrive at least 10 minutes before your session. If you’re unable to attend a session, we’ll also have wreath-making kits available for sale!
Our shop is located at 509 West Fayette Street, studio 135.
Follow along on Facebook for updates and sneak peeks!
Join us for a gift wrapping workshop on Thursday, December 8 from 6-8pm! The class will be held in our studio, which is located at 509 West Fayette Street in Syracuse. Learn how to wrap like a pro during this 2-hour gift-wrapping session – your $30 class fee includes wrapping materials for 3 medium-sized gifts, and we’ll show you how to make unique gift toppers and create an invisible seam (each attendee will get 3 full sheets of gift wrap to work with, so if you have lots of smaller gifts, that’s fine too!). All proceeds from the workshop will be donated to our friends at Onondaga Earth Corps. You’ll have the opportunity to stock up on additional gift wrapping essentials during the event as well. Sign up below to secure your spot!
In a few weeks we’ll be hosting our 2016 Holiday Shop! Join us on Friday, November 4th from 3-8pm and Saturday, November 5th from 10am-4pm at our Syracuse print shop for a warehouse sale and several workshops. It’s the perfect opportunity to stock up on gifts, cards, calendars, and gift wrapping essentials to prepare for the upcoming holiday season. We’re excited to be welcoming calligrapher Virginia Lucas Hart to offer calligraphy workshops on each day of the event (sign up here!) and we’ll also be bringing back our popular wreath-making workshops this year, too! Virginia is a talented calligrapher based out of New York City and we’re thrilled to be hosting her at our event. Take a peek at the photos below to see some of Virginia’s past workshops for an idea of what to expect!
Photography by Virginia Hart and Naomi Davis.
We’re hosting two events with our BFF Bella Figura at the Bella Figura Flagship Store! Join us on Saturday, May 14th from 2-6pm to meet calligrapher Ted Clausen, sip champagne, and enjoy sweet treats from Madison Lee’s Cakes! Ted will be offering on-the-spot calligraphy, so you’ll have the chance to have your name or favorite phrase calligraphed on a keepsake card like the ones shown below! On Wednesday, May 18th we’ll also be hosting an all-day trunk show event with in-house designer Brenda Fox and client coordinator Sarah Sadler. In addition to sips and sweets, we’re offering a trunk show special at both events: buy 75 invitation sets or more and get 25 free!
The store is located at 1031 Lexington Avenue (at 74th Street) in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. We hope to see you at the events — RSVP on Facebook today!
It’s trunk show time! We’re holding special events with three of our stores next week, and we’d love for you to join us! Our invitation experts will be on hand to discuss your design ideas, and we’re offering a special promotion to trunk show attendees: buy 75 or more invitations and get 25 free. See below for the times and locations of each event, as well as details on how to RSVP!
- The Papery: 1219 Locust Street, Midtown Village, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Thursday, April 21 from 4:30 – 7:30pm. RSVP to cassey@paperyofphilly.com and see more event details on their Facebook event.
- The Pleasure of Your Company: 10749 Falls Road, Suite 104 Lutherville, Maryland. Saturday, April 23 from 10am – 4pm.
- Just Paper & Tea: 3232 P Street NW, Washington DC. Sunday, April 24 from 12:00 – 4:00pm. RSVP by emailing justpaper1@aol.com, or by calling 202-333-9141.
National Letter Writing Month is in April, and to encourage more people to get in on the fun, we’re including free cards with every online purchase between now and March 25, 2016! We’ll include a pre-selected assortment of offset (flat printed) and/or letterpress printed cards with every order, and orders over $25 will receive at least one pack of jotters with their free gift. No code is necessary to take advantage of this offer, and domestic orders over $100 shipped within the US and Canada will receive free ground shipping. Happy shopping!
We’re excited to announce that we’ll be participating in the Delavan Center Open Studio event again this November! The Open Studio will be held from 5-8pm on Friday, November 7, and 10am-4pm on Saturday, November 8. Our shop is located at 509 West Fayette Street, Studio 135. We’ll have shopping, tours, printing demonstrations, refreshments, crafting, coloring sheets for the kids, and more! Over 40 studios in the building will also be opening their doors to the public, so it’s a great opportunity to see a variety of Syracuse artists in one day. We’ll also be hosting a wreath-making workshop series, where you can make a wreath like the one shown below! We’ll have a variety of paper patterns available, including holiday, so whether you want to make a wreath using only one of our gift wrap patterns or several, you’ll get the chance to make your own! 
Workshop sessions will be $12 each, and will last for about an hour. 3 sessions will be available during the times listed below. Please arrive at least 10 minutes before your session. If you’re unable to attend a session, we’ll also have kits with wreath supplies available for sale at the event!
Our 2013 holiday collection has arrived! Combine any of our printing methods (digital printing, letterpress printing, foil stamping, and blind embossing) to create jaw-dropping, custom holiday photo cards. Customize your holiday cards by changing the inks, fonts, motifs, and more on any of our existing designs to make them your own, then add in some of our popular embellishments (die-cuts! foil edging! patterned envelope liners!) to create the most wow-worthy Christmas (or Hanukkah! or New Year’s!) cards ever. Plus, you’ll save $50 when you order by December 10, 2013! Take a look at our custom holiday cards or visit your local Smock dealer to get started on your order today!
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.
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!
