Having first printed beautiful letterpress wedding invitations for Cathy and Tom in our Cavall design, we were sincerely thrilled when No Regrets in Newton, Massachusetts contacted us again about printing letterpress event schedules for the couple’s guests. Using the same size booklet as our letterpress program covers, we created a completely custom piece where we letterpressed the exterior and offset printed all of the weekend event information on the inside so guests would know where to be, what to see and what to wear the weekend of Cathy and Tom’s celebration. The exterior is letterpress printed in raspberry and peacock inks while all of the details inside were flat offset printed in peacock. We also corner rounded the booklet to give it that perfect finishing touch, making it a truly special way for the couple to welcome their guests and invite them to join in on all of the weekend fun.
Thanks to team at No Regrets for the great opportunity to print something so special and fun!
The Miami Herald featured Smock this week and it was so exciting. We were blown away by their amazing compliments – we love when others are as excited about what we do as us! According to the Miami Herald, our bamboo “paper’s texture is soft and elegant, and the impressions made with the cast-iron presses create a quality only possible with a craft requiring the personal attention to every detail provided by Smock’s employees – successfully mixing an antique art with contemporary charm.”
BRIDES magazine blog also mentioned Smock recently, citing our suggestions for ways to trim costs while selecting letterpress wedding invitations. Looking for ideas to keep letterpress budget-friendly? Consider using 1 ink color and opting for a reply postcard instead of a traditional reply card with envelope – both are sure to save you money without sacrificing great design.
Style Me Pretty, one of our absolute favorite wedding blogs, featured our new letterpress wedding invitation designs, recently unveiled at the 2009 National Stationery Show. Style Me Pretty also hosted a giveaway featuring our latest letterpress thank you card designs, perfect for both bridal and everyday correspondence. Thank you, Abby, for sharing our new designs with your readers! It’s always a thrill to see our letterpress wedding invitations and letterpress cards pop up in fabulous places!
Other great Smock mentions: Great photos of Smock’s National Stationery Show booth on RiverDog Prints | Maria from Ritzy Bee visits Smock at NSS | New Smock Everyday cards at NSS on design*sponge | According to Hip Hostess, Smock makes lovely letterpress | Nicole of a little sussy lists Smock as one of her favorite vendors at NSS | Smock sponsors the Brooklyn Pop Up Wedding Series | Kristen of paper crave features Smock’s new letterpress Everyday cards | New Smock letterpress Everyday cards on Freshly Blended | Traditionally Modern Designs features Smock’s letterpress cards on sustainable bamboo paper | My Mom Shops features Smock at the National Stationery Show
We can’t think of anything that shows gratitude and appreciation more than a beautiful hand written note on a lovely letterpress thank you card printed on soft bamboo paper. We’ve printed a few lately that have left us dreaming of mailboxes full of sweet sentiments on pretty letterpress cards and could not resist sharing them.
Brought to us by Perfectly Personal by Jen in Chappaqua, New York, this Rhon thank you note is printed in saffron ink on ivory. This card is sunny and bright and sure to bring smiles to the faces of loved ones.
Printed in pearl and clover, these pretty thank you cards are our Chasseral design. Created by Paper Dolls of Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, New York, these note cards are the perfect way to thank loved ones for sharing in your celebration.
Using our Cavall design in 1-color letterpress, printed in raspberry ink, these letterpress thank you cards were brought to us by No Regrets in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. Sitting down to write thank you notes can only be considered delightful with cards as lovely as these.
It’s pretty much a given that here at Smock we are absolutely in love with paper, but we also happen to have a great love for chocolate. Dark chocolate in particular. With that said, it should come as no great surprise that we are completely fascinated by the inspiration behind Vicki Petersen’s store, Paper & Chocolate, in Dallas. A store dedicated to two things we absolutely love? Heaven!
With a unique background in computer programming, later to become a CPA, Vicki’s dreams and passions came together in 2006 with the opening of Paper & Chocolate. Having always been a lover of paper and having taken several classes in calligraphy, letterpress and bookbinding, the time was finally right to make the leap and allow her creative side to take over. Offering a wide array of stationery, gift wrap, greeting cards and custom wedding invitations, alongside an incredible selection of gourmet chocolates, Paper & Chocolate is one of those places we could browse for hours.
As the idea for Paper & Chocolate was forming, Vicki had the opportunity to visit the Minnesota Center for Book Arts and with a true passion and love for bookbinding, she decided to open a store that would focus on paper and offer classes and workshops to visitors. The first location she found offered unique character and a great patio and fireplace, but sadly also came coupled with a lot of structural issues that resulted in her finding another location in a popular Dallas shopping district which boasts a great Art Deco theatre, the Inwood Theatre. However, during that time the concept for the store grew and, with the hope of one day including a café, Vicki took her husband’s suggestion and named her new venture Paper & Chocolate, after her two favorite things.
Today, Vicki loves working with brides to create the wedding invitations of their dreams and looks forward to the bustle of lunch time when working professionals in the area stop by to check out the shop while away from their desks. She even has a smaller press where is she able to give customers quick letterpress demonstrations and to share with them the true art form that is letterpress printing. If you’re ever in Dallas, you want to be sure to visit Vicki at Paper & Chocolate!
And, of course, we had to ask Vicki…
If you could describe your personality in letterpress, which Smock invitation would you be and why?
Vettore! I love the design, classic yet distinctive. The horizontal orientation makes it elegant and unique. The color choices are endless so for someone who always wants change it is perfect.
What’s your favorite chocolate treat? What’s the most unusual chocolate you’ve ever had?
I love our Wiseman House Wild Woman Truffle. It is dark chocolate at its best. I have to say I am a traditionalist so I love my chocolate to taste like chocolate. I don’t love the unusual chocolate flavors, but I love the sea salt chocolate-covered caramels by Fran’s.
What’s your top pick destinations for first time visitors to Dallas?
I think most people have a stereotype of Dallas that doesn’t fit the reality. We have an incredible art district centered around the Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center so that is where I would start. In the evening, I would take a visitor to the Meyerson Symphony Center, a contemporary structure designed by I.M. Pei that has the feel of an old world concert hall with incredible acoustics. Of course, in between all that would be lunch and dinner at some of our well known restaurants, Stephen Pyles or Fearings, and then some smaller gems like Sharon Hage’s York Street Dallas or Nonna. The art district is growing and this fall our new opera house and performing arts center will be opening.
Where are your favorite places to shop?
The shopping in Dallas is outstanding so locally I usually shop at small shopping areas like Inwood Village, where we are located, Preston Center and for a large shopping center, NorthPark Center. Away from home I love the Pearl District in Portland and abroad, anywhere on the Left Bank in Paris, especially the Sunday organic market, Marché Raspail.
What’s the best vacation you’ve ever taken?
This is a tough question for me because I was able to spend a summer in London with my oldest daughter. I think I loved that most because we actually lived there and felt like we knew London and our neighborhood so much better because we lived, shopped and walked there every day without feeling like a tourist. Paris, however, is my favorite city so it is my favorite vacation spot.
What new trends in stationery and gifts are you in love with right now?
I am still in love with letterpress so every new design delights us and we love showing them to our customers. We also love the people are enjoying really beautiful gift wrapping for their gifts.
Can you describe the sweetest or most memorable card or stationery you’ve ever received?
Anything from my 3 year old grandson is what I love right now!
Thank you so much, Vicki, for giving us a glimpse into Paper & Chocolate – we can’t wait to make it to Dallas to come visit!
These beautiful letterpress place cards are one of our new favorite Smock customizations! Based on our Lashar letterpress wedding invitation design, they feature letterpress printing in gold paired with gorgeous custom hand calligraphy by Smock’s Master Calligrapher, Debi Zeinert of The Blooming Quill.
The bright raspberry ink of the calligraphy coordinates perfectly with the raspberry pattern backing in our Taihu pattern for a look that is truly elegant. What guest wouldn’t love to arrive at an event and see their name displayed in such a luxurious fashion? Add personalized letterpress place cards to our list of must haves!
One of the things we are most excited about for the National Stationery Show in a couple of days is unveiling our new Social Occasions album, featuring beautiful eco-friendly letterpress and flat offset printing for all occasions. More than just stationery, our 20 social suites feature calling cards, hang tags, social occasions (parties, announcements, births, holiday), stationery, letterhead, and anything else you can dream up. {Download a sneak-peak of the 20 suites here!, 35mb} Perfect for personal or professional use, our social album contains an extensive motif and monogram library, 5 colored bamboo papers, and the ability to mix and match letterpress and offset printing, creating exquisite options for every budget. Smock’s custom social designs will be available through fine retailers across the nation and internationally following the National Stationery Show, so be sure to stay tuned! Look for more photographs coming soon on our web site too….
We’ve been talking about it all week, but we can’t believe that the National Stationery Show is just a few days away! If you’ll be attending the show, make sure to pop over to booth 2741 where the entire Smock team will be hanging out and looking forward to meeting you. Smock is proud to offer an extensive line of true environmental letterpress stationery on luxury bamboo paper and we just know you’ll love our new designs as much as we do. Stay tuned later this week for a sneak peek at some of the exciting new things on the way from Smock!
As we gear up to head to New York City this weekend for the 2009 National Stationery Show, we wanted to share a few photos of Smock’s 2008 stationery show booth – it’s hard to believe it’s already been a year since Smock first launched at the show! Our Creative Director, Amy Graham Stigler, did an incredible job of making our first booth absolutely beautiful and we can’t wait for everyone to visit us this year – you can find us at booth 2741.
Smock’s very first National Stationery Show booth showed off our pretty double-sided gift wraps made from 100% post consumer recycled paper – we think it would make totally pretty framed wall art, too! Our Calliope suite {top right} has become one of our best sellers, featuring a fun blue and orange color combination and the sweetest of butterflies and flowers that are oh so chic.
Displays of Smock’s pretty custom letterpress wedding invitations, informational cards, catalogs, gift wraps and greeting cards were made even prettier by great lighting in our tiny little booth. And who doesn’t love bright pink peonies in spring?
We’ve had such an exciting first year and we can’t wait to see what the 2009 show has in store. We promise to come back with lots of photos to share with those of you who can’t visit us in person and to everyone else, we can’t wait to see you next week in New York!
Stay tuned this week for lots of show-related news and special sneak peeks of our many new releases!
Getting to see the latest customizations of our letterpress wedding invitations is so much fun for us and so often these days we find ourselves completely smitten by the patterns and colors couples are selecting for envelope liners. Our envelopes are made with our gorgeous bamboo paper and each one is hand-lined so that your envelope can show off your personality just as vividly as the invitation design itself. Envelopes have never looked so good! All of our envelope liners are custom printed just for you, so you get to choose from our 27 patterns and our 37 ink colors to make a liner all your own.
This envelope liner is our Seneca Stripe pattern printed in black ink. How chic!
Our Clairveaux pattern printed in black, this envelope liner is especially pretty.
This liner is the pretty Geneva pattern in verbena ink, a bright color makes a bold statement that we love.
Refined and elegant, this envelope features Rousseau in midnight ink.
This envelope liner is completely fun using our Seneca Stripe again, this time printed with verbena ink.
Printed in clover ink, this liner is our Willoughby pattern, one of our most popular.
Clairveaux printed in gold ink makes for a beautiful and traditional look.
Another lovely envelope with a Willoughby liner, this one in sea mist ink, this envelope also features a letterpressed return address on the back.
Today Smock is thrilled to be sponsoring a giveaway with one of our favorite blogs, Oh So Beautiful Paper. Make sure to visit for all of the giveaway details and your chance to win any three of your favorite letterpressed boxed card sets from Smock’s social line. Thanks, Nole!
