Once upon a time we shared with you a whole bunch of gorgeous letterpress designs that we recently honored in our Smock Design Contest. Today we’re back with our first runner up! This design is a custom letterpress birthday party invitation based on our Graham design brought to us by Luxe Expressions in Atlanta. They are printed in bright hues of custom deep pink and green and feature our roxen pattern on the back. Created for an 80s theme 40th birthday party, our guest judge Kristen Magee of Paper Crave says, “The vibrant colors and bold pattern make this such a fun invitation, and the “40” emblem graphic gives the invite a bit of a funky edge. The design is versatile and could be used for so many different types of occasions, but I love it as a 40th birthday party invite. The message it sends is, ‘I’m turning 40, I am completely fabulous, and you are going to have an absolute blast at my party!'” We couldn’t agree more.

Brought to us by Kate’s Paperie, these gorgeous letterpress wedding invitations and matching letterpress save the dates were printed in wisteria and silver inks. They feature a pretty patterned backing in our champlain pattern in wisteria and showcases our Graham motif from our Social Occasions album. The envelopes were lined in champlain printed in reverse, wisteria on white. This client took advantage of our free save the date promotion, good now through December 31, 2009.

Brought to us by our friends at Bennett Schneider in Kansas City, Missouri, this custom letterpress wedding invitation design features a cool pairing of pewter and chartreuse inks and features the Graham motif from our Social Occasions album. The reverse side features a pretty chartreuse backing in our champlain pattern with a perfectly coordinating envelope liner in champlain in pewter. These invitations are modern and fun, and set the perfect tone for this reception at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.