It’s not often we get to see what we eat outside of our homes and the grocery store. In September, a few of us had a chance to get up and personal with our peppers and onions during a tour of the beautiful Grindstone Farm in Pulaski, New York. Many Smock employees have CSA shares from Grindstone, and it was enlightening to get a good, hard look at what goes into creating our tasty, organic produce.

We spent a long time talking with Vic and Dick de Graff about what it’s like running a small organic farm in the snow belt of upstate New York, where snow comes early and often, and the local food movement is just catching on. They have adapted to the weather over the years by growing many of their vegetables in hoop houses, like the one featured above, in order to extend the growing season into November.

While Grindstone farm may look like an idyllic place to live, farming is anything but easy. One mistake, like forgetting to cover the lettuce before a potential frost, can ruin an entire crop for the rest of the year. As a farmer, your backyard is your home office, and there is always more work that should be done. But just like our love for creating beautiful, sustainable letterpress goes beyond the normal 9-5, the farmers at Grindstone choose this life because of a passion for growing and providing food for friends and neighbors, and because they want to spread the idea that feeding the world can happen one small plot of land at a time.

Interested in finding a farm like this near you? Check out localharvest.org for CSAs, U Pick Farms, Farmers Markets, Grocery Co-ops and more!  Want to see more photos from our trip to Grindstone Farm & our CSA pick-up spot here at Bella Figura? Check out this slideshow!

Celia at Urbanic came to us for these “day of” pieces for a September wedding. Our Odin design was a perfect fit, especially when designed using the right cartouche and blend of our ocean and peacock inks. Carrying the design over to the table numbers and place cards was a great way to make the motifs stand out at the reception.

inks: peacock + ocean | fonts: cecilia + social | paper: 1-ply white | printing: offset | program with cartouche | program size: #10

Are you ready for take off?  We bet these custom letterpress wedding invitations will make you swoon!  This whimsical set was submitted to us by our good friend, Darcy at Pearl Beach Paperie in Orlando, Florida.  The invitation is printed in an AMAZING combination of cherry and black inks.  The exterior of the folio is offset printed in cherry which adds to the romantic vibe!  You can see the couple’s passion for airplanes and even a bit of the couple’s personality in every piece.  This set features just about the cutest reply postcards we’ve ever seen!  The reply postcards ask guests if they’re ready for take off or grounded due to inclement weather -as the choices are to accept or decline.  These creative invitations let guests know that the wedding celebration will be filled with fun!

ink: cherry + black | fonts: submitted| custom artwork: submitted | paper: 2-ply ivory | printing: letterpress | folio exterior:custom pattern in cherry | folio interior: custom pattern in gold | liner: custom pattern in gold |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 were so thrilled when Lily Kesselman (the amazing photographer behind this next real wedding) shared her images of Katie & Jack’s gorgeous New York wedding. Katie worked with our friends at Judy Paulen Designs for their elegant Haddington wedding invitations, which were printed in midnight ink on our white bamboo paper.  This wedding is overflowing with preppy sophistication and we can’t get enough of it!

Katie and Jack were married at the Convent of The Sacred Heart on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. After the ceremony, the couple rode to their reception in style in an iconic vintage taxi, while the guests and bridal party headed to the reception on chartered Greyline double-decker buses – complete with champagne and a tour of the city!

Our great friend, Toni at The Write Image in Rockville, Maryland submitted these breathtaking Sabion letterpress invitations to us.  Our midnight and lavender inks print beautifully on our thick 2-ply bamboo paper. The couple chose to coordinate their set with two cards that were printed with the lavender front patterning and then two cards were printed with only midnight ink – which makes for a peppy look with contrasting pieces! Corner rounding and a beautiful patterned envelope liner in midnight complete this suite.

inks: midnight + lavender | fonts: poetica and therese | paper: 2-ply ivory bamboo | printing: letterpress | front patterning: sinclair in lavender |corner rounding |liner: the rousseau pattern in midnight | invite size: S8

Sent to us by our friends at Bridals by Lori in Atlanta, Georgia these precious Dorset letterpress baby announcements will surely tug at your heart strings!   These adorable baby announcements are printed in pearl and pewter inks with corner rounding to make for the most gracious curves and a completely finished look.  We love to see the unique customizations proud parents dream up to celebrate their new bundle of joy! Paired with our champlain envelope liner in pearl we love this added feminine touch!  We think you’ll agree that these baby announcements are absolutely precious.

inks: pearl + pewter| fonts: smock bescal + stockton| paper: 2-ply ivory | printing: letterpress | edge painting in pearl |back patterning: sinclair in pearl |corner rounding |liner: the champlain pattern in pearl | size: S6

Lose your heart in San Francisco with these recently printed custom letterpress wedding invitations designed by Lindsy Aragona, who is just one of our many wonderful in-house designers.  This ultramodern and whimsical set was submitted to us by our great friends at Union Street Papery in San Francisco, California (would you have even guessed?).  The San Francisco Bay Bridge is letterpressed in our lovely coral ink and the bubbly persona is carried through onto all pieces.  They say people go crazy for a great city like San Francisco-and we’re just as crazy for this imaginative set!

inks: coral + peacock | fonts: clementine and stockton | paper: 1-ply ivory bamboo | printing: letterpress | invite size: S8

This is the first order sent to us from The Wedding Company in Hong Kong and we already can’t wait to see what’s coming next! Michele uses a combination of whisper and pearl inks to give a wonderful 2-color accent to the invitation text of this Dawson-inspired design. The border chosen frames the English invitation as well as the Mandarin one in such a beautiful way. We are very happy to showcase our newest friends, particularly when this is the quality of the invitations they come up with. Well done Wedding Company!

inks: taupe + pearl + whisper | fonts: cameron + carrington | paper: 1-ply ivory | printing: letterpress | size: s8 | 3-color, bilingual invitations |

We’re in fall mode around here, and we thought the best way to kick off the weekend would be a little arts & crafts project. These paper pumpkins are super cute & pretty easy to make — and you only need a few supplies! Here’s what you should have on hand:

• A sheet of your favorite Smock gift wrap (I chose our Crochet wrap, but Koi, Jade, or Veranda would work nicely, too!)
• Scissors
• Brads
• A mini hole punch (or a pen/pencil)
• A stapler (optional)
• Tape or glue (optional)

First things first: you’ll need to cut a bunch of thin strips out of the gift wrap (mine were about 8 or 9 inches). Don’t cut the strips much longer than this, or it will get too heavy and your pumpkin won’t sit upright. I cut about 20 strips of paper, but you can cut more or less depending on how “full” you’d like your pumpkin to be (again, keep in mind that you want the pumpkin to stand up, so try not to weigh things down too much). The thickness can vary, but the length should be the same.

Next, arrange your strips in a circle like so:

From here, there are a few ways to do things. I chose to staple the bottom of my pumpkin together, and gathered about a third of the strips at a time and stapled them in the middle. When I had three little groupings, I stapled all three together to keep things secure. You could also use glue for this part, or if you’d rather, you can hole-punch the ends of the strips and use a brad to secure everything at the bottom. Using a brad will make it easier to adjust the “body” of your pumpkin, but I liked having half of the pumpkin secure and then making adjustments up top.

Next, you’ll need to punch a (small) hole near the end of each strip. After you’ve punched the holes, one by one, push the brad through each hole, and then secure the brad.

Next, you’ll want to make the finishing touches. I cut a medium and a thin strip of paper and wound them up tightly to create the stem and a curly little vine.

I adhered the stem by stapling & folding the paper, and then taped down the vine with a thin strip of tape on top.

And voila! A sweet little paper pumpkin — cute decor for fall AND a fun little DIY project for the weekend — what’s not to love!?  Are you planning on creating a Smock pumpkin patch?? Send us your photos on Twitter — we’d love to see them!