If you’re looking for a traditional wedding invitation suite – then look no further! We’re head over heels for this simple and sweet letterpressed set submitted to us by our friends at The Dandelion Patch in Reston, Virginia. Letterpressed in black ink with gorgeous mulberry edge paint that acts as the perfect accent to this one color set – we can’t help but swoon! After looking at photos of the The Ritz Carlton in McLean Virginia, where the fabulous wedding was held – we see what a fanciful and lavish venue the couple chose for their special day. Of course we believe tossing our mulberry ink into the mix helps keep this set looking romantic, but this set also encourages the feeling of the winter months. The three letter monogram on both the invitation and letterpress belly band adds another touch of elegance to this striking set!
ink: black | font: smock spencerian | paper: 1-ply white | printing: letterpress | edge paint in mulberry | liner: the champlain pattern in mulberry | letterpress belly band | invite size: S6
Submitted to us by our good friend, Elle at Petite & Sweet in Toronto, Canada these letterpressed Hekla baptism invitations are downright swank! I mean talk about being up-to-the-minute! These invitations showcase our royale and inkless blind deboss inks – and the end result makes for some of the most chic invitations we’ve had the joy of printing in quite some time. The envelope liner adds another nice modernistic touch to this anything but simplistic set! We think these invitations are the perfect prelude to such a memorable occasion – and helped achieve the vision the proud parents were hoping for. We look forward to many more unique and current customizations from Petite & Sweet!
inks: royale + inkless blind deboss | fonts: shaw + social | paper: 2-ply white bamboo | printing: letterpress | edge painting in royale | liner: the ridley pattern in royale | invite size: S8
We love hand bordering! Bringing metallic gold to the front of this rehearsal card was a great way for Rugg Road in Boston, MA to accentuate the silver font and shell-colored liner. I think Cristina did a fantastic job this one. It’s simple and elegant and we were very impressed.
inks: silver + shell + gold metallic | fonts: cahun + lazlo | paper: 2-ply ivory | printing: letterpress | metallic gold hand bordering | rehearsal card |
We’re overjoyed to share these recently printed Lashar wedding invitations submitted to us by our friend, Linda at Pen & Paper in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. What better color combination is there than mulberry and gold for a wedding celebration in December? When guests open up the pocketfold they will see the most incredible wash of mulberry and we think this is where the set is most romantic. Around here we LOVE December weddings and the colors that come with the holiday season.
inks: mulberry + gold | fonts: cooper + smock clermont | paper: 1-ply ivory | printing: letterpress |folio exterior: marav pattern in gold | folio interior: sinclair pattern in mulberry| invite size: 5.125 x 7.75
Our latest Smock Design Contest was yet another success (THANK YOU!). We were so thrilled to see all the customizations, and the hard work from our lovely dealers certainly paid off! At this time we are pleased to show off the Smock Design Contest Winner Plaques! Designed by our talented in-house designer Lindsy Aragona, these stunning plaques are letterpressed in our rich ocean and azure inks on our 2-ply white bamboo paper. The amazing Debi Zeinert adds her gorgeous touch of hand calligraphy. We gave these plaques to our top ten winners. Our next Smock Design Contest will be featured in 2012!
We are beyond thrilled to share a few articles and blog posts that our work has been featured in recently! We love it when the amazing editors, bloggers, and magazines out there decide to feature our stuff. Our first feature was from Brides magazine — which highlighted our Isle gift-tags.
Next up, Stationery Trends. The latest issue featured our Hekla design, a modern invitation with gorgeous chevron patterning — and a new addition for 2011.
One of our beloved Smock retailers (the Stationer of New Orleans) was featured in the issue alongside a few pieces of custom Smock stationery!
Stationery Trends also gave Smock a few shout-outs in their summer edition, featuring our bee-autiful Honeycomb thank you cards, our gift wrap flowers from the National Stationery Show, and the oh-so-sweet Sugar & Spice greeting card.
Earlier this year, Greetings Etc. also showcased Smock – Birthday Turtle made an appearance, and a few of our amazing Smock retailers (The Dandelion Patch, Paper & Chocolate, and Sweet Paper) were also featured!
And last – but certainly not least! – we were thrilled to see our calendars on Design*Sponge, our Pollen scratchpads and letterpress calendars on Oh So Beautiful Paper, and lots of letterpress love all-around from Design Crush, 100 Layer Cake, Paper Runway, Outblush, Paper Crave, and Invitation Crush. Thanks again to all of these amazing publications for choosing to feature Smock!
We were SO excited to team up with Antoinette at Paperista for the incredible paper project that we’re about to share. The stationery boutique wanted to create a super-special display for a recent bridal event, so they teamed up with a local college design student to create fashion out of paper. Rika VanHeerde Snyder – a student in the Apparel Design Program at the University of Minnesota and intern at Joynoelle – created the most amazing, one-of-a-kind, letterpress wedding gown and cocktail dress for the display. The dresses were made entirely from recycled Smock stationery and invitations, as well as a bit of our eco-friendly gift wrap. We were completely blown away by the end result — take a look!
Rika worked with hundreds of scraps of bamboo paper to create the dresses.
The corset top on the wedding gown is completely stunning. The gown was crafted with our ivory bamboo paper, and some of the letterpress ink colors that are shown include raspberry, mango and taupe.
The cocktail dress was created with our white bamboo paper and features pretty hints of blue (our Ceylon gift wrap).
A huge thank you to the lovely ladies at Paperista for choosing to work with us on this incredible project!
{Photos by Erica Loeks Photography}
It’s easy to get swept away with this charming letterpress invitation customization made to our Burstell design submitted to us by our friend Ailbhe from Pretty as a Picture in Ireland! This modern text based invitation has clean lines and the right amount of flourishes to add a touch of elegance to this set. We love the luscious raspberry on the interior of the folio even more because it is probably not something guests will be expecting! The exterior of the folio is printed in our virelles pattern which looks positively nature inspired! Pretty as a Picture always sends us the coolest customizations-and it’s safe to say this will be another crowd pleaser!
ink: espresso | fonts: spence + graham| paper: 1-ply ivory | printing: letterpress |folio exterior: virelles pattern in espresso | folio interior: sinclair pattern in raspberry | invite size: 5.125 x 7.75
Our good friend Mayra from Always a Bridesmaid in New York, NY did a wonderful job with this Cavall letterpress wedding invitation customization. Orchid seems to be one of the best inks to use with the Pippen liner and brought just the right amount of energy to the simple, text-based design of this invitation. We look forward to seeing what comes next from Always a Bridesmaid!
ink: orchid + red | fonts: smock spencerian + stockton | paper: 2-ply white bamboo | printing: letterpress | corner rounding | liner: the pippen pattern in orchid | invite size: s-8 |
In San Fransisco, we had the chance to stop by a few more Smock retailers – first up: Paperwhirl. We spoke with Kitty, one of the owners of the trendy Union Square stationery shop.
What cause do your store support?
Paperwhirl tries to support local artists whenever possible – a lot of the cards and merchandise that we keep in the store comes from local artists in the Bay area.
What about your store are you most proud of?
We’re probably one of the only independent businesses on Union Square – it’s mostly chains, and we’re one of the few small, privately owned shops in this area. We’re also proud of the fact that we’ve been in business for almost 30 years.
If someone is visiting your store, what’s another essential stop in your neighborhood?
I love this shop called Downtown – it’s got some really edgy, organic clothing.
What’s the hottest color palette out there right now?
We’ve been seeing lots of bright, happy colors lately – oranges, corals, and pinks have been really popular for summer.
Our next stop was to Cherish – a sweet shop with lots of paper love. They had a great studio set up that’s perfect for parties – we got to see one getting started during our visit! This particular party was a birthday and scrap-booking event, and looked like so much fun! There were tons of beautiful papers to be found throughout the shop – we couldn’t get enough.
Ryan from Cherish filled us in on the shop – check out our interview with him!
What cause does your store believe in? How does this impact the store?
We give lots of donations to auctions that benefit local schools throughout the city – we tend to do a lot of gift certificates for parties and studio space usage, so we donate a lot of our services.
What about your store are you most proud of? What makes you unique?
We’ve narrowed down our store image to be more about local artists – we have a lot of items in the shop that are made locally, and some we make ourselves. It’s a win-win – we love offering a selection of local goods, and it provides an opportunity for the artists to get exposure, too.
What do you predict will be the biggest wedding or stationery trend for 2012?
I’ve noticed lately that a lot of brides are more mindful about the environment when it comes to their wedding stationery, and I think that trend is going to grow even more in 2012. They’re scaling back, trying to waste less paper, and making their selections extra special – choosing quality over quantity.
Thanks so much to Paperwhirl and Cherish for welcoming us with open arms! Be sure to stop in to these fabulous shops if you’re in the San Francisco Bay area!