One of our favorite letterpress holiday cards this year, this custom design was an honoree in our latest Smock Design Contest. Brought to us by our fabulous friends at Byrd & Bleecker in Fort Worth, it was printed in olive and azalea inks, a festive nontraditional color combination for the holidays. An envelope lined in azalea Seneca stripes is the perfect finishing touch. We love how these turned out! Many thanks to Libby for working with us on this truly inspired design.
Printed for the fine folks at Kate’s Paperie, these lovely letterpress invitations were printed for one very lucky bride’s beautiful bridal shower. They feature bright and cheerful heliotrope ink on our white bamboo paper with the climbing flower motif from our Social Occasions design library. Many thanks to our friends at Kate’s for bringing us this pretty design!
We’re excited to be kicking off a new round of Smock Store Spotlight features with Wordshop in Denver. A unique paperie with a beautiful storefront, Wordshop is Denver’s premiere indie stationery shop, offering a wide range of eco-friendly and artisan brand stationery, letterpress and paper goods. Proprietress Jill Alyn has an English degree and an unsurpassed passion for stationery and the written word. Wordshop is, for her, a longtime dream come true.
Please share a bit about yourself and your background. What makes you tick?
I am a wordgirl. I have an English degree. I never would have gotten into business school. I’m one of you who has also collected greeting cards for years. Good, thoughtful text makes me tick. From a. favorite design to me’shell ndegeocello.
What was the inspiration behind Wordshop?
There wasn’t a proper paperie in Northwest Denver (1) and (2) I had been dreaming of doing this for a really, really long time.
What’s your favorite part about what you do?
Hands down, connecting with people. Brides, mamas of brides, hopeless romantic card buyers, people who still see the value of the written word.
What stationery trends are you currently loving?
Great pattern on pattern invites, regional assembly of text is taking the crafty look to upscale design, and the return of the reply envelope – funk the postcard reply.
For first time visitors to Denver, what are your recommendations for must-do sights and scenes?
Table 6 for seasonal and local deliciousness, H|Burger for their roasted marshmallow and Nutella shake, Highlands Square shopping district, oh and the mountains are pretty, pretty.
What are you top prized possessions?
1. my little wordshop
2. an old dresser full of cards I have received, and cards I have purchased and will never send
3. a metal sculpture of peace doves from the seventies, snagged up from my parents house
4. a black, vintage ’79 Nicole Miller dress – a total show stopper.
If you could only have three fonts on your computer, what would they be?
Smock Clermont, Lawrence and Stockton
If you were a PMS number, what would you be?
7499 – daytime I am Victorian ivory + 5753 – nighttime I am pewter.
If you could describe your personality in letterpress, what Smock design would you be?
I would be Cavall. I think I already am. (Understated, some flair, a dotted line for annunciation. ) As for color, nothing is classier to me than black and ivory.
Thanks so much, Jill! If in Denver, be sure to stop by and pay Wordshop a visit.
Brought to us by Jenny’s Paper Ink in Atlanta, we love this customization of our Piedmont letterpress invitations. Designed for a rehearsal dinner, they were printed in blind deboss and espresso ink and paired with a bold and colorful backing in robin’s egg. Talk about fun!
We printed these cool save the dates in our Nass design for our friends at Gus & Ruby Letterpress. They are letterpress printed in pewter and a custom lime ink for a fresh, modern look. We love the mix of colors and great typography – big thanks to Gus & Ruby for working with us on this fabulous design!
You couldn’t tell by the snow storm that slammed Central New York last night and early this morning, but spring is on the way! We’re getting so excited to start up our annual Community Supported Agriculture program with Grindstone Farm and it got us thinking about our friends at the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York. We recently contributed pro bono letterpress printing to their fundraiser event at Candle 79 in New York City honoring chef Leslie McEachern of Angelica Kitchen for her 30 year career as a chef supporting local organic agriculture in New York State. It was an honor to be a part of this event!
All of the letterpress pieces feature our Rhon design printed in peach and taupe inks. We love this color combination! It felt appropriately earthy for this autumn event while still being super sophisticated.
NOFA-NY sent over a few photos from the event. The food looks so good! This is our kind of party.
Many thanks to our friends at NOFA-NY for extending us the honor of being a part of this important event and for your ongoing efforts! Read more about NOFA’s work on the NOFA-NY website.
We’re fairly partial to pretty letterpress save the dates around here and this customization of our Rhon design that we printed a while back is no exception. It’s printed in clover and black inks for a fresh, summer-inspired look. Many thanks to our fabulous friends at Union Street Papery in San Francisco for bringing us this awesome save the date!
The second runner up in our latest Smock Design Contest, as selected by guest judge Audrey from Urbanic Paper Boutique, is a truly one of a kind letterpress baby announcement from Rock Paper Scissors in Franklin, Tennessee. Using our popular Liony motif paired with our Piedmont design, it was printed in a sophisticated pairing of taupe and sand inks. A space was left for a photo and our Harrison calligraphy font was put to fine use on this cute custom creation. Thanks so much to Rock Paper Scissors for bringing us this great design!
Brought to us by our lovely friend Debbie at RSVP Today, we just adore these pretty save the dates and letterpress invitations. Showcasing our Sabion design, the letterpress save the dates were printed in midnight ink on our pearl colored bamboo paper. To complement the save the dates, the letterpress invitations feature our Dorset design printed in pearl and black. Together the look is elegant and chic. A big thank you to Debbie for bringing us these fabulous customizations!
The first runner up in our latest Smock Design Contest, as selected by guest judge Audrey from Urbanic Paper Boutique, is a gorgeous custom letterpress invitation from our friends at Paperkiss in Australia. It features lovely script printed in taupe with corner rounding and taupe edge painting for a look that is simple and sophisticated. Many thanks to Paperkiss for working with us on these stunning letterpress invitations!
