05/26/2010

Erin + Jeremy’s Literary Vintage-Inspired Wedding Invitations

I love the concept behind this week’s real invitations a collection of individual pieces resembling vintage paper ephemera from the 1800s through the 1950s! Â Hello!Lucky, the design team behind this custom wedding invitation suite, combined letterpress and digital printing to create a sense of romance and nostalgia:

From the Hello!Lucky team: We designed these invitations for our dear friend Erin and her fiance Jeremy for their upcoming destination wedding in Calistoga, California. Â The bride and groom are both academics Erin teaches law and Jeremy is an astrophysicist so they wanted their invitation to have a book-ish feel.

We decided to use the concept of a collection of found paper memorabilia including a book-page invitation, a snapshot of the bride and groom, map and shuttle bus enclosures, brunch ticket, and RSVP telegram giving the invitation suite a vintage, romantic and nostalgic feel.

The wedding invitation is inspired by the opening chapter of a classic novel (think Jane Austen) and was letterpress printed on deckle-edged paper to emulate a page torn from an authentic book. Â Wedding details are printed on a vintage-style postcard from Calistoga, the wedding’s location.

The RSVP card is a letterpress printed Western Union telegram and includes witty, mad-lib style blanks that guests can fill out. Â We also designed a 1950’s-style “advertisement” for the free wedding shuttle, including a information card enclosed in a small coin envelope, as well as a vintage bus-ticket invitation to the farewell brunch.

A old-fashioned map of downtown Calistoga guides guests to their hotels and local attractions. Â We also designed a state fair-inspired rehearsal dinner invitation for a Kansas City style BBQ (the groom hails from Kansas City), featuring a picnic napkin checker pattern and a blue-ribbon pig. Â Finally, we included a smallÂ black and white snapshot of the bride and groom posing in a bookish manner.

Sigh… I love the romanticism of the novel page invitation, while the accompanying enclosures bring an overall balance to the full suite. Â So lovely!

{image credits: Hello!Lucky}

*Hello!Lucky is one of my fantastic sponsors; for more on my editorial policy, please click here.

05/25/2010

NSS 2010 – Part 11

Whew! Â Eleven recap installments later and I’m finally ready to wrap up the coverage of this year’s Stationery Show. Â I saved the most photo-heavy booths for last, so let’s dive right in! Â First up, the Crane booth, where I caught a glimpse of the new Studio collection as well as old stationery and invitation favorites:

{love the grosgrain ribbon lamp and fold-out folio for seating card displays at a wedding!}

{cards from the new Studio collection}

{gorgeous embossing details on this wedding invitation}

{crane & co.}

Did you know that every single card from Crane’s bordered stationery collection is hand painted? Â This year, Crane brought two hand-bordering artisans down to the Stationery Show to demonstrate their craft:

{a bone folder is the only tool used to create a uniform width for each border}

{the final product!}

Next up are a couple of what I affectionately refer to as the “mega booths” with several participating exhibitors in one booth area. Â First, the Ladies of Letterpress booth, featuring Pistachio Press, Thomas Printers, May Day Studio, Paper Mill Designs, Ink & Iron, Hazel and Violet, Dandy Lion Press, and Flywheel Press!

Next, the Let {her} Press booth featuring Bird Dog Press, Paper Stories Letterpress, Paper Parasol Press, Robin Beth, and Lucky Bee Press:

{bird dog press}

{paper parasol press}

{paper stories letterpress}

{lucky bee press}

{robin beth}

I also stopped by the Vigo booth to check out the latest from Delphine, as well as cards and gift wrap from 1973 and many others:

{delphine}

{I love the foil stamping details on these cards from sanna annukka}

{cute cards from the claudettes}

{awesome gift wrap}

So that’s it from this year’s show! Â If you missed any of the recaps from the show, you can check them all out right here. Â I’m already looking forward to next year’s show!

{all photos by Oh So Beautiful Paper}

*Delphine is one of my fantastic sponsors, for more information about my editorial policy please click here.

05/24/2010

NSS 2010 – Part 10

Before I wrap up my coverage of this year’s National Stationery Show tomorrow, I’ve got a few more booths that I’d like to share with you.Â First up, another perennial favorite – Fugu Fugu Press – with their incredibly sweet letterpress cards and new fill-in-the-blank letterpress dinner party invitations:

{fugu fugu press}

I’m always impressed by the work fromÂ Maginating Letterpress – from the adorable characters to the near-perfect letterpress registration on each card, no detail is overlooked:

{quite possibly the cutest card ever!}

{love the spot varnish on these two holiday cards}

Maginating-NSS5 {maginating letterpress}

I also stopped by the Pearl & Marmalade and The Great Lakes booth to check out their latest cards, prints, and get a sneak peek at their upcoming 2011 calendars:

Pearl-Marmalade-NSS3 {pearl & marmalade}

{the great lakes}

I spent some time catching up with Carrie and Hal from Red Cap Cards and checking out their latestÂ greeting cards (I always love Carrie’s illustrated Halloween cards), notebooks, and a new series of cards featuring a collaboration with illustrator Blanca Gomez:

{Carrie’s illustrations look even more amazing when letterpress printed!}

{red cap cards}

Over on the other side of the Javits Center, I probably could have spent an hour just in the Egg Press booth gawking at all of their new cards – not to mention the new wrapping paper!

{a sneak peek at the 2011 desktop calendar}

{love theÂ multi-dimensional elements of this die cut birthday card}

{egg press}

Old School Stationers also had aÂ bunch of new botanical prints for this year’s show – my favorites are the bees and mason jar prints below – as well as new installments in their series of animal prints and cards:

Old-School-Stationers-NSS4 {old school stationers}

I always love stopping by the Blue Barnhouse booth â€” Brandon’s letterpress cards are both impeccably printed and completely hilarious:

{love this “build a community” letterpress print}

{blue barnhouse}

I always love running into the ladies (and fellow DC residents!) of Haute Papier â€” their new wedding invitation book is stunning!

{haute papier}

Of course, a trip to the Stationery Show wouldn’t be complete (at least for me) without a trip over to the Smock booth to check out their latest wedding invitations and everyday stationery designs:

{smock}

I’ve got a few final booths left for tomorrow, plus a big announcement coming up a bit later in the week!

{all photos by Oh So Beautiful Paper}

*Smock is one of my fantastic sponsors, for more on my editorial policy please click here.

05/23/2010

NSS 2010 – Part 9

We’re definitely nearing the home stretch in this year’s Stationery Show coverage, but I have a few more booths from NSS 2010 to share with you! Â First up, Sweet Letter Press out of Boulder, Colorado with an adorable collection of wedding invitations and letterpress stationery:

{sweet letter press}

Yellow Owl Workshop exhibited this year as part of the Aesthetic Movement booth (along with Austin Press and a few others), where they showcased their latest rubber stamp sets, correspondence sets, and screen printed note cards:

{yellow owl workshop}

You already know that I’m a huge fan of Spark Letterpress, and it was wonderful to finally see their work â€” from their gorgeous wedding invitations to holiday cards â€” in person at this year’s show!

{spark letterpress}

Paper Loop is always one of my favorite stops at the Stationery Show â€” Sara and Rob create adorable illustrated greeting cards and I always look forward to seeing their latest creations!

{paper loop}

After seeing the sneak peek from Avie Designs last week, I was super-excited to see the entire booth in person. Â Avis pulled together a wonderful collection of cards, invitations, and gift wrap for this year’s show:

{avie designs}

I somehow missed Kamal’s booth at last year’s show, so I was thrilled to finally meet her this year! Â Luckily, Kamal was in a corner booth this year, which gave her plenty of space to spread out and showcase her gorgeous stationery:

{one of Kamal’s beautiful wedding invitations for Bella Figura}

{kamal}

The ladies from Sugarcube Press were back at this year’s show with a ton of new cards, not to mention the adorable 6-week-old Sugarcube baby! Â Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of the baby, but I did manage to get a few of the booth:

{love the spot varnish and blind impressions on the cards above}

{sugarcube press}

I loved the mix of sweet and saucy over at Tiselle â€” from the beautiful wedding invitations and fill-in party invitations to the baby mama and braille card series:

{tiselle}

Some of you may have seen a preview of the L2 Design Collective booth on twitter â€” the “I saw it on” card series was one of my favorites from the show:

{L2 Design Collective}

Check back tomorrow for a few more booths from NSS 2010!

{all photos by Oh So Beautiful Paper}

*Spark Letterpress is one of my fabulous sponsors, please click here for more on my editorial policy.

05/23/2010

NSS 2010 – Part 8

This next group of booths from the Stationery Show includes a few of the booths that managed to fit an incredible amount of personality into their tiny space! First up, Enormous Champion, with tons of details from their Kingdom Animalia series and letterpress stationery all the way to their customized booth sign offering free high fives, hugs, and handshakes:

{enormous champion}

Night Owl Paper Goods had one of my favorite booth designs at last year's show, and this year did not disappoint! The booth was totally full of Night Owl's signature wood veneer stationery and letterpress cards, as well as new notebooks and a sneak peek at their 2011 calendars:

{night owl paper goods}

Over at the Sycamore Street Press booth, Eva and Kirk used charcoal gray fabric backdrops and a sweet paper garland to highlight their new letterpress cards, prints, and 2011 poster-style calendar:

{sycamore street press}

Even with a more minimalist booth design, the Old Tom Foolery booth is a must-visit at each year's Stationery Show. This year, Joel and Lauren debuted a poster field guide to typestaches (mustaches created from different fonts) and a new headline collection of greeting cards:

{in keeping with Old Tom Foolery's signature typestache, each booth visitor was asked to pose with an OTM typestache-on-a-stick — can you spot me and Ami in the mix?}

{old tom foolery}

I always love stopping by the Two Trick Pony booth at the Stationery Show — the bold stripes and bright colors make for a very happy booth environment! And this year, in addition to their collection of screen printed note cards and invitations, you can check out a peek at Two Trick Pony's first ever calendar:

{two trick pony}

Ami and I stopped by the Twig & Fig booth to check out their latest greeting cards and invitation designs — the team at Twig & Fig has also been working with some pretty unusual materials recently, like the hot pink acrylic invitation below!

{kind of incredible, right?}

{although intended for a bat mitzvah, I could totally see this swarovski crystal invitation also being used for a bridal shower}

{twig & fig}

And last up for this group, Hammerpress, with some of my all-time favorite Valentine's Day cards, as well as other holiday cards, calendars, note cards, and prints:

{this year, hammerpress created the most beautiful letterpress paper bird garland — which you can see in action over on the haystack needle}

{hammerpress}

More soon!

{all photos by Oh So Beautiful Paper}