Jolie Colis is a local Syracuse company that takes after our own hearts. Proprietress Carol has a love for paper and a passion for well-wrapped gifts, and specializes in offering gift styling services that dazzle. This pretty package features our Veranda recycled gift wrap, made up with satin ribbons and tiny little sparkles and beads that play off the floral design. You can see more on the Jolie Colis blog. So lovely! Thanks for sharing, Carol!

This gorgeous customization of our Sutton letterpress invitations was sent to us by our friends at Kate’s Paperie and is among the honorees in our most recent Smock Design Contest. It was printed in a custom bright turquoise ink paired with pewter and calligraphy accents for a look that is elegant and formal. We love this fresh and chic color combination for a traditional summer wedding. Many thanks to Kate’s Paperie for working with us on this stunning invitation set!

Recently we were honored to have Brides ask us to create our vision of the perfect invitation for the upcoming royal wedding. With our Aberdeen letterpress invitations as our inspiration, we wanted to create something modern yet very sophisticated and regal. In shades of peacock and chartreuse paired with elegant script and a square shape, we love this look for a formal and stylish wedding celebration. We envision them enclosed in envelopes with a fabulous liner, gorgeous hand calligraphy and a patchwork of vintage stamps to complete the look. Check out all of the designs on the Brides magazine website and many thanks to our friends at Brides for asking us to contribute!

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!

Wear Organic is a project from Pesticide Action Network UK aiming to reduce the problems from pesticides used in cotton, particularly by promoting organic and fair alternatives. We regularly partner with PAN North America on collaborative projects and love their mission to spread awareness about the environmental impact of pesticide use in agriculture and food production. Gain more inspiration for wearing sustainable fibers from this Wear Organic interview with Leah Borromeo.

Wondering where to shop for organic clothing? Threads for Thought is one of our favorite places to shop for organic and sustainable apparel. They offer stylish basics and a collection of fashionable clothing, with a portion of sales donated to charitable causes. Also check out Nau. Their incredible selection of outdoor and everyday apparel is stylish, urban-inspired and sure to make your closet happy. Nau also donates 2% of sales to their partners for change, making them a kindred spirit to our own mission here at Smock.

{Photos from (top) Threads for Thought and (bottom) Nau.}

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!

We’re so excited to share this fabulous birthday party this morning! Our Creative Director, Amy Graham Stigler, recently planned an incredible party to celebrate her husband Zach’s 40th birthday. (Which just so happens to be today!) Back in the day Amy and Zach used to host an annual Valentines Day party – it’s such a great time of year to celebrate and get festive after the chaos of December and downtime of January. Then kids came and the party went by wayside, but this year they decided it would be fun to resurrect the celebration. However, little did Zach know that Amy decided to make the party a surprise birthday party as well, including a card with the invitation asking guests to plan to toast Zach’s 40th birthday at the party. His brother even flew in from Seattle to surprise him and gave the honorary toast.

Zach loves old school rap so a recurring theme throughout the party was 40 oz of Funk complete with 40 oz beers! A mix cd of Zach’s favorite old school rap songs were set out as favors and cocktail napkins were printed with a favorite LL Cool J quote. In true form, Zach donned one of Amy’s oversized chunky gold necklaces. Amy mixed up an assortment of festive punches and set up the fixings for a “guys” bar with an assortment of whiskey, scotch and beer. Tasty hor-d’oevres and a dessert table were set out for munching and decorations were mainly silver, white and sparkly with the number 40 incorporated here and there.

Many thanks to Jaclyn Tyler for sharing these incredible photos from the party and a big happy birthday to our friend Zach! Here’s to 40 more!

{Photos by Jaclyn Tyler.}