We are so excited to kick off another round of the Smock Design Contest! Over the next 10 days, we’ll be honoring some really gorgeous designs that have been sent to us by our Smock retailers. So without further ado, let us begin by showcasing our first honoree!

Joellen and the team at Bennett Schneider, Inc. brought us what may be the perfect color selection for the letterpress wedding Aberdeen suite.

The tangerine ink helps this wedding announcement pop in such a way that it doesn’t overpower the design or distract from the details.  Sometimes all it takes is a little tweak to make a letterpressed card look fantastic, and that is just what they did!

inks: tangerine + black | fonts: Spencerian +  Cooper  | 2-ply ivory | printing: letterpress | liner: payette in tangerine | invite size: S-6

This design won an honorable mention in our Smock design competition for the first half of 2011. This twice-a-year competition recognizes outstanding and inspired designs submitted by our beloved dealers.

We’re so happy to be able to share more photos and highlights of our West Coast travels! It was such a treat to be able to visit Sugar Paper when we were in LA  – it’s the most adorable stationery boutique with so much style and charm. Chelsea from Sugar Paper gave us the scoop on what’s trending, what they love & how they’re making the world a better place.

Is there a cause or charity your store supports? Tell us all about it:

Sugar Paper donates to a myriad of charities throughout the year.  Our clients are very philanthropic and we support their causes through donations.  This year, however, we have chosen pediatric cancer as our personal cause.  Jamie and I are both new mothers and a close friend recently lost her baby to a rare form of cancer.  Her battle was a tough fight and loss of baby Quinn has left a mark on our hearts.

What about your store are you most proud of? What makes you unique?

We’re proud of the Sugar Paper team.  The invitation business is driven by deadlines and our days can be very busy.  We feel lucky to work with a group of creative people who work extremely hard and make us laugh every day.  Laughter seems to make the load lighter.

What do you predict will be the biggest wedding or stationery trend for 2012?

Hottest color palette right now?

If someone is visiting your store, what’s another essential stop in your neighborhood?

If you’re visiting our original location on Ensley Avenue, Clementine Bakery is a MUST.  The chocolate chip cookies are gooey in the middle and crisp on the edge – our favorite kind.  If you visit our Brentwood Country Mart location, the Mart is a destination in and of itself.  Caffe Luxxe serves artisanal coffee and Sweet Rose Creamery makes homemade ice cream that will knock your socks off.  The salted caramel is our personal favorite.

A huge thanks goes out to Chelsea for filling us in on everything Sugar Paper – if you’re in LA, be sure to stop in!!

**Be like Sugar Paper and support research for pediatric cancer by visiting any of the following foundations:

Pediatric Cancer Foundation

Alex’s Lemonade Stand

Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation

St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital

During our West Coast travels, Lindsy and I had the chance to stop in and visit lots of our LA dealers – we were thrilled to be able to stop in to the shops and meet our lovely retailers in person! Today we’re highlighting some images of two of the stores we visited during our trip – we’ll start with Presence Studio City, a stationery and gift shop in Studio City. Presence offers a carefully curated selection of unique gifts – including some gorgeous hardcover books, one-of-a-kind jewelry, home decor, fragrant candles, and more.

We chatted with Kaila from Presence – she was kind enough to tell us more about this sweet boutique!

What about the store are you most proud of?

We try to showcase unique yet affordable gifts that people won’t find anywhere else. We also pride ourselves on our customer service – many of our stationery and gift customers come back on return visits because they were so happy with their experience.

What’s the hottest color palette right now?

We’ve been seeing a lot of blues right now – cool tones of blue paired with silver, lots of navy, some turquoise here and there too. Blue is definitely a popular color right now.

One of our other stops in LA was to Landis Gifts & Stationery – a shop that truly has something special for everyone. Located on Larchmont Boulevard – an area that got its start in the early 1920’s – the shop is nestled into one of the most historic areas in LA and is surrounded by a wonderful mix of boutiques and restaurants.

Edie shared some thoughts about some of our latest products – check out her interview with Lindsy!

[iframe http://www.youtube.com/embed/0Noymj7rL8k 650 370]

Although it seems we have just kicked off the summer season, it’s time to start looking ahead to fall weddings that are only around the corner! What about fall inspires you — maybe it’s the foliage or the the cool nights or the feeling of change? One of the things we have been seeing a lot of lately is lots of jewel tones paired with light vintage colors and classic themes, these are all great inspirations for a lovely autumn wedding! We love this pairing of our Eggplant and Antique Gold inks letterpress printed in the Lashar wedding invitation design, submitted by our friends at Inklinations in Manhasset, NY.

inks: eggplant + antique gold | fonts: clermont calligraphy font + cooper | paper: ivory 2-ply bamboo | printing: letterpress

by Racheal Decker, In-house Designer.

At long last, we’re so excited to tell you about the upcoming Summer Social that we’re hosting with Urbanic on June 9th in Venice, CA. Special friends Bash, Please, Mrs. Lilien, 100 Layer Cake, and photographers The Why We Love will be there and Sweet Lucie’s is sure to steal the show with their amazing gourmet ice cream. We’ll be crafting, sipping lemonade, mingling and celebrating summer with sundresses and good company. Hope to see you there!

Long before leaving town and setting up temporary residence in the Javits Center for the 2011 National Stationery Show, our design team was hard at work creating the perfect letterpress invitation to wow would-be visitors. Printed in vibrant hot pink and papaya inks, the invitation features highlights from our new letterpress wedding album including inspired new fonts, our show-stopping letterpress sleeve, and a great die-cut invitation shape. (Yes! We now offer letterpress sleeves and die-cuts in two awesome shapes!) Our latest designs (which we’ll share more of here soon) are all about inspired typography, bold and cheerful color, perfect patterns and an abundance of embellishment options. Letterpress sleeves, new letterpress printed belly bands, die-cuts, hand bordering, custom postage stamps and more! Albums ship in just a few weeks so visit your local Smock retailer for all of the goods!

While we’re off at the National Stationery Show this week, you can take advantage of incredible savings on Smock stationery and paper goods! Starting today, visit One Kings Lane to enjoy a fabulous discount on our letterpress cards, keepsake boxes, gift tags and more. Happy shopping!

If you can believe it, it’s that time of year again! It’s time for the 2011 National Stationery Show! Smock will be holding down the fort with inspired new additions to our Everyday and Studio collections and a stunning new letterpress wedding album. We can hardly wait to show it all off! If you’re attending the show, be sure to swing by and see us in booth 2241. See you soon!

Our rockin’ friends at Salutations sent us this fabulous beach-inspired letterpress invitation design a while back. We’re calling it an oldie but goodie, featuring pewter ink on our seamist bamboo paper. It’s tea length to fit our #10 envelopes, which were lined in our seneca stripe pattern in coordinating pewter ink. We love this design, featuring oceanic motifs from our Social Occasions album, for summer weddings and destination weddings and love how it brings an unexpected touch to a beach chic look.

Title: Edge Painting Love
Photographer: Cyd, letterpress marketer
Medium: iPhone
@ Smock since: 2009