Brought to us by our lovely friends at Urbanic Paper Boutique, this next honoree in our Smock Design Contest is a customization of our Helani letterpress wedding invitation design. We love the gorgeous color palette, printed in azalea and pewter inks, and the fun mixing and matching of patterns. The letterpress invitation itself is printed in 2-color letterpress with patterned backing printed in azalea ink in our willoughby pattern. The reply post card was printed in 1-color letterpress in azalea ink with a sweet little accommodation card printed in pewter ink. For the perfect finishing touch, the envelope was lined in our champlain patterned printed in pewter.

Thank you so much to Urbanic for allowing us the great pleasure of printing this letterpress invitation suite. To learn more about this amazing Smock dealer, check out their recent Smock Store Spotlight feature.

The next honoree in our Smock Design Contest is this cool custom letterpress birthday party invitation brought to us by our friends at Wordshop in Denver. A play on our Bourbon letterpress thank you card, it’s printed in gold and pewter inks in honor of a very special first birthday party. We love this custom design and are honored to include it among our Smock Design contest winners.

As promised last week, we’re so excited to share with you the winning designs in our latest Smock Design Contest. This breathtaking customization of our Engadine design is a letterpress save the date brought to us by our friends at Gus & Ruby Letterpress in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The warm burnt orange and ruby colors were custom ink colors chosen specifically to match the look and feel of the couple’s wedding. Samantha from Gus & Ruby shares, “We were so happy to collaborate with Heather (the bride-to-be) to create a classic save-the-date that would set the tone for her fall wedding.  The rich colors and seasonal graphic made this design the perfect choice.”

Thank you so much to Samantha and Whitney of Gus & Ruby for bringing us this amazing customization. To learn more about their fabulous store, check out their recent Smock Store Spotlight feature.

Smock and our parent company Boxcar Press are looking for a creative, inspired, stationery-loving individual to join our team as a blog intern. We are looking for someone with passion, incredible writing skills and the ability to contribute approximately 3 to 4 blog posts a week. This is a six month unpaid internship offering an unparalleled opportunity to gain an intimate working knowledge of a cool letterpress shop and our Smock stationery line. You’ll work closely with and have the opportunity to be mentored by our blog editor and get awesome experience researching, prepping, and writing for blogs with national readership.

Candidates can live anywhere in the world, but a reliable internet connection and access to email is a must. For more information please email press@smockpaper.mom with your resume, a brief description of why you’d like to work with us, a writing sample, and a short list of your favorite blogs and why you love them. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Recently we announced the winners of our second semi-annual Smock Design Contest. Our finalists for this Smock Design Contest were selected by the Smock team and our Creative Director, Amy Graham Stigler. Our good friend Nole Garey of the incomparably inspiring blog Oh So Beautiful Paper then selected the first place winner and runner-ups from among our favorites. We love her picks and know you will, too!

Stay tuned over the next couple of weeks as we reveal all of the winners and detail the incredible creations that earned these beloved Smock dealers a spot at the top – we can’t thank them enough for their endless inspiration and enthusiasm!

Papery & Cakery in Boca Raton, Florida
Francis-Orr in Corona del Mar, California
The Write Image in Salt Lake City
Urbanic Paper Boutique in Venice, California
Judy Paulen Designs at Bloomingdale’s in Manhattan
Just Paper & Tea in Washington D.C.
Wordshop in Denver
Salutations in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Paper & Chocolate in Dallas
Gus & Ruby Letterpress in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

A unique stationery boutique on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, RSVP Today is a quaint by-appointment-only studio specializing in fine stationery and a beloved Smock dealer. Proprietress Deborah Hassan holds a business degree from New York University and spent many years in the corporate world working for a Fortune 500 company before becoming an entrepreneur. She shares, “When it came time to open my own store I wanted to sell a product I was passionate about. My love for paper began when I was a child; collecting samples of invitations and stationery that I purchased and received throughout the years.”

Debbie’s studio space is filled with gorgeous letterpress creations and is a haven for stationery lovers. She works attentively with each client to dream up the invitations, card and announcements of their dreams, filled with unique details and personal touches. We love this recent customization of our Cindrel letterpress wedding invitation design that she created with a client for their upcoming June wedding. It features a custom folio printed in azalea ink that showcases a unique customization of the Cindrel motif creating a frame around the couple’s wedding date. The interior of the folio is printed in our pippin pattern in blush ink and features several inserts detailing event information, lists of local accommodations and more. The letterpress invitation itself is a horizontal version of our Cindrel design printed in azalea ink paired with navy to match the other event details the couple is planning for their wedding.

In our typical fashion, we had to ask Deborah a few questions to get a feel for what makes her tick…

If you were invited to the White House for dinner, what would you wear?
I would want to wear something elegant and special. As with any invitation, it is important to have a memorable and unique presentation that reflects the event.

If you could describe your personality in letterpress, which Smock design would you be and why?
It would be Vettore, which I used when I did my letterpress holiday cards through Smock. I used Spence and Engravers printed in red ink.

What would you suggest as must-visit places for first time visitors to New York?
My studio is right across the street from the Guggenheim Museum and Central Park, both must sees on your visit. It is also right off Madison Avenue, an area boasting some of the most renowned stores in the world.

What is your favorite part about what you do?
I love helping people find the right invitation and making the experience fun instead of stressful. My store has a warm, unique and cozy atmosphere that makes people feel comfortable and excited to take part in planning their event. I love stationery and enjoy looking through my books with my customers.

Smock was recently featured in two of our favorite trade magazines. Greetings Etc. did a lovely article featuring our website. They talked about the design and functionality of our site and also covered a bit about our company history, sharing insight from co-owners Debbie Urbanski and Harold Kyle.

Giftware News interviewed us about our company history, our love for letterpress and our eco initiatives. They also featured a photo of our Lamby letterpress greeting card. Thanks to both Giftware News and Greetings Etc. for featuring Smock – it’s such a pleasure to be recognized by our favorite publications!

Another custom design, these letterpress save the dates from Union Street Papery in San Francisco feature a cute penguin motif that the couple is incorporating throughout their celebration. We printed these in grass and midnight inks – they were then corner rounded and edge painted in grass. For the perfect finishing touch, the envelope was lined in our modsee pattern, also in grass. From the colors to the embellishments to the cute little penguins, everything about this save the date design is fun, personalized, and a unique reflection of this couple’s upcoming Southampton wedding.

These custom letterpress business cards for Enchanting Tomorrows were brought to us by the folks at Rugg Road Paper Company in Boston. They are printed in papaya ink on our white bamboo paper and feature a flower motif from our Social Occasions album. We love the unique spin on a traditional business card with a vertical orientation – it’s fun and playful and perfect for Alycia’s wedding consulting and floral design business.

Earlier in the week we shared a little sneak peek of our Smock display at The Wedding Party this past weekend. Today we are back with more gorgeous photos from the lovely Jen Huang so you can see even more of the inspired vendors who were a part of this magnificent bridal event.

First up is Jen herself and the beautiful display of her photography and wedding albums she brought with her to the show. Jen’s work is modern yet timeless and her personality is so sweet and charming – we loved spending the day with her!

(If you think you recognize this white rose wedding cake from Sylvia Weinstock from the winter issue of Martha Stewart Weddings – you’re right! It was on display at The Wedding Party for all to see.)

One of our favorite displays at the event was the gorgeous spread of cookies, macarons, cakes, cupcakes and other treats from One Girl Cookies.  Everything was so pretty it was almost hard to eat. (Almost. Trust us, we did sample many many treats that day.)

In addition to pretty cakes and cupcakes, there were also gorgeous flowers in soft shades of pastel and blush pink. Fluffy rose centerpieces and rose scented-candles were scattered throughout the space creating a lovely sensory experience visitors won’t soon forget.

And there were even more cakes and sweet treats. These red velvet cupcakes feature cute little cupcake sticks from For Your Party – colors and designs can be customized for any event.

We loved the vibrant bouquets and floral arrangements from Stone Kelly Events & Florals. The rich jewel tones were in contrast to the a lot of the other pastel flower creations throughout the show and the punch of color was really beautiful.

Another favorite were the party decorations on display from Confetti System. The shimmery pastel metallic colors were so festive and a really fresh look. We’re looking out for this look to be a new trend in weddings for 2010!

Of course, no recap is complete without an obligatory photo of the Smock team. Here is Lindsy and I as we finish up prepping our space for the event and look forward to meeting lots of enthusiastic brides. Thanks to our new friends at Sperry Tents for snapping this quick photo for us!

A big thank you to The Wedding Library and the awesome staff at the New York Palace for your warm hospitality and for pulling together such an amazing event. We loved being a part of it!

{All photos from Jen Huang unless otherwise noted.}