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!
Congratulations to Katie & Jack, and thanks again to Lily for sharing these beautiful photos! Be sure to visit her blog to see more photos from their big day:
part 1 |
part 2.
Vendors:
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!
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!
It’s that time of year again — the Smock letterpress holiday sale is back! This year, we’ve got even more options to choose from for custom letterpress holiday cards, and to make the holidays even sweeter, we’ve got a special promotion going on! Between now and December 1, all custom letterpress holiday orders will receive free printing on our luxury bamboo envelopes. All you have to do is purchase the blank envelopes, fill out a coupon with your local Smock dealer and we’ll take care of the rest. Need some ideas for your holiday cards? Check out some of the customizations below!
These are just a few of the designs available for the 2011 holiday season — check out this slideshow on Flickr if you’re looking for more inspiration!
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}
Got the back to school blues? This DIY is an adorable way to spruce up your school books (or any other books, for that matter) and it’s super easy! You will need:
To start, you’ll need to measure and cut your sheet of gift wrap to fit your book. We recommend giving a 3-4-inch margin on either side of the (open) book, and then a 1-2-inch margin above and below the book.
After you’ve cut your gift wrap, fold up the top and bottom of the sheet. Be sure that the folds are not shorter than the book. Use a few pieces of tape in the middle to keep everything straight.
Next, with the book inside, fold the paper in half, making sure the sides are even. Then, take the top part of the gift wrap and fold it neatly under the book’s cover. Repeat this step on the bottom.
After you’ve made even folds, carefully slip onto the book, securing the book’s cover into the little pockets that the folds create. Secure with tape.
Tada! We are loving the end result. And since our gift wrap is double-sided, you can alternate patterns – perfect for prettying up a set of books to display at home!
You’ve sent save the dates. Ordered invitations. Received invitations. Jumped for joy. Then stopped to realize you haven’t got a clue how to put these things together. Not sure how to stack your cards? Invitation assembly got you stumped? Don’t worry – we can help! Check out this how to and allow us to walk you through the entire process – we made it easy for you!
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You need these letterpress invitations now. We’re serious. Our 14 brand new letterpress wedding invitation designs just launched on our web site and they’re available in stores right now, too. Some of our favorites include the chevron-crazy Hekla, the preppy formal Breton, and the romantic flutter of Aneto. We didn’t feel like stopping after 14 designs, though — the new album features a customization of each design, so we’ve doubled the amount of pretty you can choose from. We only spent, oh, about 9 months on this release. But it was worth it.
Planning a Bar or Bat Mitzvah? Wedding? Birthday Party? Rehearsal Dinner? Baby shower?? These new designs are perfect for special occasions, and they’re all completely customizable, so go crazy & make one your own. We think you’ll love the die-cuts (or perhaps some hand bordering?), and the new gift wrap liners are pretty cool, too. We even have coordinating postage stamps to go with each new design.
Dying to get your hands on some of that gorgeous bamboo?? Visit a Smock dealer & see the new collection today.
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!
We recently had the pleasure of printing these gorgeous die-cut invitations for our friends at Urban Coast in Florida! These luxe invitations invited local industry experts to a special evening with esteemed wedding and event planner, Bryan Rafanelli. Inspired by our National Stationery Show invitations, we created a beautiful set of invitations and insert cards using one of our new die-cuts, which were neatly packaged in a stunning 2-color sleeve. Taupe and Papaya inks on our white bamboo paper made for a chic, summery look that we just adore.
ink: taupe and papaya | fonts: alice (new for 2011!) and century | paper: white 1-ply bamboo | printing: letterpress | die-cut: chesapeake | sleeve: letterpress, seneca pattern in taupe; marsden cartouche in papaya