In preparation for the 2009 National Stationery Show, Smock’s Creative Director, Amy Graham Stigler, has been hard at work to make sure our booth, 2741, is really fun and a cool place to hang out while we’re at the show. We joined forces with awesome Etsy seller LilaFrances to dream up these cute Smock hangers that we absolutely adore. Our only regret is not having her make us more so we could fill all of our closets at home with cute Smock paraphernalia!
Are you on Twitter? Now you can follow Smock!
We believe Twitter will be a great way to keep you up to date on all of the fun day to day excitement at Smock as well as to help promote Smock stores across the country and internationally. Have a cool promotion or exciting news at your store? Let us know and we’ll be happy to help spread the word! What’s even bettter? Next week while at the National Stationery Show, we’ll be posting regular updates on both Twitter and here on the Smock blog so you can stay up to date on all of the stationery show excitement. Make sure to follow us and say hi so we can follow you, too!
As we gear up to head to New York City this weekend for the 2009 National Stationery Show, we wanted to share a few photos of Smock’s 2008 stationery show booth – it’s hard to believe it’s already been a year since Smock first launched at the show! Our Creative Director, Amy Graham Stigler, did an incredible job of making our first booth absolutely beautiful and we can’t wait for everyone to visit us this year – you can find us at booth 2741.
Smock’s very first National Stationery Show booth showed off our pretty double-sided gift wraps made from 100% post consumer recycled paper – we think it would make totally pretty framed wall art, too! Our Calliope suite {top right} has become one of our best sellers, featuring a fun blue and orange color combination and the sweetest of butterflies and flowers that are oh so chic.
Displays of Smock’s pretty custom letterpress wedding invitations, informational cards, catalogs, gift wraps and greeting cards were made even prettier by great lighting in our tiny little booth. And who doesn’t love bright pink peonies in spring?
We’ve had such an exciting first year and we can’t wait to see what the 2009 show has in store. We promise to come back with lots of photos to share with those of you who can’t visit us in person and to everyone else, we can’t wait to see you next week in New York!
Stay tuned this week for lots of show-related news and special sneak peeks of our many new releases!
Smock is proud to support The 3/50 Project, an independent movement aimed at saving the local shops and stores that make our communities unique and our local economies stronger. Have you taken the 3/50 pledge? Jump in and add your name to the list in support of the 3/50 movement today!
In support of the 3/50 project, we wanted to share some of our favorite shops to visit in Smock’s neighborhood here in Syracuse, NY…
If you’re in the market for a great read, visit Second Story – One billion books on Amazon? Overwhelming. A beautifully curated selection of novels, poetry, nonfiction, magazines, and even a few cookbooks? Much more calming. Plus this place has great sandwiches, teas and smoothies.
{Great chai and heavenly cupcakes at Roji Tea Lounge}
In love with a great cup of tea? Don’t miss Roji Tea Lounge, one of downtown Syracuse’s true gems. If you’re a tea junkie, you can buy some of the best loose teas ever here to take home…or simply enjoy the calming atmosphere, vegan deserts, fabulous music, and really, really good tea. Bubble tea too!
We have a bunch of chocolate lovers here at Smock so we highly recommend Sweet on Chocolate – chocolate makes some of the sweetest gifts, and this cute little shop – only a few minutes walk from Smock’s print shop – makes the best dark chocolate truffles ever.
{Mint boar soap from Syracuse Soapworks}
If you’re searching for the perfect Mother’s Day gift or really a gift for any occasion, you have to visit Syracuse Soapworks. Located just a few blocks down the street from Smock’s print shop, their soaps are fragrant and amazing.
When you realize your entire house looks like an Ikea showroom, Smith Interiors is the place to go for slightly more upmarket modern furniture. We try to stop by this place every so often just to oooh and ahhhh over the cool lights and crazy cool couches.
What are your favorite shops in your community? Share them with us so we can visit if we’re ever in town and be sure to pay a visit yourself sometime soon. If you’re looking for cool stores that carry stationery/invitations in your own town, check out our list of great shops that also happen to carry Smock invitations & paper goods. And, don’t forget to visit The 3/50 Project and start spreading the word to help support local shops!
Smock co-owner, Debbie Urbanski, is an avid lover of nature and the earth as well as a lover of literature and the written word, so she was thrilled to pass along her first recommendation for this week’s installment of Smock Eco Reads. Debbie shared a bit of insight into The Wall, a 1962 novel by Austrian author Marlen Haushofer that she recently read and I know I personally can’t wait to read this novel after her review…
{Source}
So I’ll admit that the premise of this novel did not sound mind altering or gripping – something happens in the world to pretty much everyone, some kind of catastrophe, and this woman becomes trapped in the mountains behind an invisible wall with only a dog, a cat, and a cow for companions. There really aren’t any other people, other than the narrator, in the entire novel. And let me get this out in the open: though I love the world, the planet, and I’m a vegetarian, I’m not a pet person. I don’t really get pets. So a book about a woman whose major companion is her dog? I spent a week with this book on my nightstand, staring at the cover, wondering if I was ever going to get past the first page. But when I started reading, I found a book that was beautiful, moving, gripping, sad, quiet, and amazing.
It’s not a “hit you over the head” environmental book, but it does suggest the devastation and violence that people bring to each other and the landscape. And it does show how a quiet simple life in the middle of nowhere can be filled with complexity and beauty. And it also shows how small humans are, and how big the “other” is – the animal world, the natural world. And it has some of the best descriptions I’ve ever read of mountains — how they’re mesmerizing and menacing and jaw-dropping and scary and gorgeous. But in addition to this, it’s just a gripping read. There is hint of a tragedy that’s finally revealed in the last few pages and I couldn’t take the suspense–I had to read ahead.
The narrator is a meditative soul that I missed the moment the book was finished. It’s been a month or two since I closed up the Wall, and I still miss the book, and I really haven’t been able to get into another novel since. The one small tragedy of this book – I haven’t met anyone else who has read it, let along heard of it (I found it in a great list book called 500 Great Books by Women). So pick this book up, read it, and then pass it on to a friend. It looks like it’s out of print, but you can buy it used or find it at your library, which is more eco anyway.
I did some digging around and it looks as though there are a few used copies of The Wall available on Amazon as well as on Half, including some rare first edition prints. If you end up picking this one up, make sure to let us know!
Here at Smock, we are avid believers that small changes are the first step toward making a big impact so we wanted to share some tips on incorporating a little green into your life. In honor of Earth Day, our office manager Carrie, one of the most eco people we know, has shared some of her tips for adopting a greener lifestyle. Little steps can add up to big change, especially if you continue looking for ways to be more eco-friendly in your habits.
– Substitute 1 car trip a week by walking or biking instead
– Opt for paper egg cartons as they can be used to sprout seeds and then planted directly into your garden in the spring
– Recycle your plastic bags, whether they be from the grocery store or the bag that comes with your newspaper to keep it dry in the rain. These days, most every grocery store accepts shopping bags for recycling.
– Switch to reusable shopping bags. Not only is it more eco-friendly, but an increasing number of stores actually offer a small discount for providing your own bags, although you may need to ask for it when you checkout.
– Try to buy products of a high recycled content and/or look to make sure you’re choosing items that are recyclable in your area
– If certain kinds of plastics can’t be recycled in your area, reuse the contatiners around your home as storage containers or as planters
– Instead of tossing junk mail, reuse the backs of paper for scratch paper, making shopping lists, or even to use in your printer for everyday printing at home or at the office. At the very least, recycle junk mail instead of throwing it away.
– If you’re in the habit of doing so, quit buying bottled water and instead buy a reusable BPA-free aluminum or plastic bottle, some even come with water filters to remove the taste of chlorine
– Avoid large grocery purchases that might lead to wasted food – most people would be surprised to know how much energy goes into food production. Make smaller trips more often so you can use what you buy, which also saves money!
– Look into local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs. Smock subsidizes CSA memberships for all employees through a local organic farm which means we get to enjoy delicious produce that doesn’t have to be shipped to us during the summer months.
– Try to make purchases that incorporate recycled or reused materials. These days you can find a ton of options for handmade jewelry, clothing and accessories either locally or via Etsy and similar online marketplaces
In addition to these great first steps, Carrie will be sharing more insight on how you can make green living a greater priority in your life as a part of Smock’s latest blog feature, Green Living. Let us know if you have any specific topics you’d like us to cover and we’d be happy answer your questions!
Getting to see the latest customizations of our letterpress wedding invitations is so much fun for us and so often these days we find ourselves completely smitten by the patterns and colors couples are selecting for envelope liners. Our envelopes are made with our gorgeous bamboo paper and each one is hand-lined so that your envelope can show off your personality just as vividly as the invitation design itself. Envelopes have never looked so good! All of our envelope liners are custom printed just for you, so you get to choose from our 27 patterns and our 37 ink colors to make a liner all your own.
This envelope liner is our Seneca Stripe pattern printed in black ink. How chic!
Our Clairveaux pattern printed in black, this envelope liner is especially pretty.
This liner is the pretty Geneva pattern in verbena ink, a bright color makes a bold statement that we love.
Refined and elegant, this envelope features Rousseau in midnight ink.
This envelope liner is completely fun using our Seneca Stripe again, this time printed with verbena ink.
Printed in clover ink, this liner is our Willoughby pattern, one of our most popular.
Clairveaux printed in gold ink makes for a beautiful and traditional look.
Another lovely envelope with a Willoughby liner, this one in sea mist ink, this envelope also features a letterpressed return address on the back.
Today we are excited to bring you the latest feature to Smock’s blog, our new series Smock Eco Reads. At Smock we recognize that green living extends beyond pretty letterpress stationery so we are thrilled to be sharing some of our favorite eco reads, the places where we gather inspiration and insight into all things eco. First up, two blogs I count among my personal favorites – Inhabitat and Inhabitots!
Naturally, Smock’s love for great eco design extends far beyond our own eco-friendly letterpress stationery and letterpress wedding invitations so it should come as no surprise that I am completely in love with both Inhabitat and Inhabitots, a duo of eco blogs centering on sustainable design. Covering a range of projects, products and inspiration from architecture and interior design to toys, games and clothing that are as child-friendly as they are eco-friendly, the team of Inhabitat/Inhabitots are always providing fresh insight on new ways to make your life increasingly green. From the serious to the playful, you are sure to walk away feeling educated and inspired to adapt real changes in your lifestyle for the greater good of the environment.
A couple of my favorite recent posts include these adorable upcycled umbrella raincoats for dogs, designed by industrial designer Taryn Zychal. I wonder if she can make one large enough for my full grown black lab?
And, seriously, how much prettier are these beautiful Easter eggs colored with natural dyes than the garish fluorescent colors you get with one of those grocery store egg dye kits?
I love the mantra of the Inhabitat crew that good design and green design should be one and the same and with Inhabitots they take it a step further, setting out to prove that becoming a parent does not mean having to sacrifice good style nor true sustainability. And if you ask me, they do a brilliant job at both. What can I say? I’m a huge fan.
Today Smock is thrilled to be sponsoring a giveaway with one of our favorite blogs, Oh So Beautiful Paper. Make sure to visit for all of the giveaway details and your chance to win any three of your favorite letterpressed boxed card sets from Smock’s social line. Thanks, Nole!
At Smock we are no strangers to printing incredible customizations of our letterpress wedding invitations brought to us by the great stores we work with, but recently we’ve also been lucky enough to print some fabulous customized invitations for a wide range of other occasions. We love the idea of adpating a wedding invitation design for other events because really, letterpress is gorgeous for any celebration, isn’t it?
This version of our Kurai design, brought to us by RSVP Today in New York City, is updated in papaya and silver inks and includes Hebrew text for a result that is youthful and elegant. We love how a simple pop of bright color, along with our Beaumont serif font, changes the look of the design so dramatically and makes it so perfect for inviting loved ones to celebrate a Bat Mitzvah.
We love this take on the original Helani letterpress design customized as a perfectly adorable baby announcement, a variation on the Helani reception card for a client of Kustom Kreations in Lincolnshire, Illinois. Printed in clover and lake inks, with the addition of the very sweet Etienne script font, it’s bright and fresh and the perfect way to celebrate the birth of a beloved little one.
Printed for Luxe Expressions in Atlanta, this invitation is for a bridal showcase hosted by The Atlantan Brides, and boasts bright raspberry and pewter inks with tangerine edge painting in a custom design based on Helani. The cheerful envelope liner is our Oesa pattern in fun tangerine ink and together it makes for a truly festive invitation. We love this use of a bold and bright letterpress design for a coporate event.
Sweetly printed on our Ellie note card from Smock’s social line, this baby shower invitation is truly adorable. We can think of no better way to invite guests to celebrate the upcoming birth of a new loved one.
This version of Nevis was printed in lake and midnight inks for a farewell brunch and features edge painting in gold, which we absolutely love. Printed at our Save the Date size, the invitation is perfect for inviting loved ones to celebrate good food and good cheer and was brought to us by Arabesque of Naples in Naples, Florida.