Featuring Esther Aarts and Giveaway!

Today we're featuring our friend Esther Aarts! Esther lives in Nijmegen, Netherlands, and runs an illustration and design studio called Esta. We love the playful stories her designs tell and her use of bold color combinations. In addition to illustration and hand lettering, Esther also enjoys experimenting with "small press" projects, like making mimeograph and Gocco prints. We've had the pleasure of working with Esther over the years and always admire the designs she dreams up. Her retro cards are sure to make your friends and family smile this season!

What inspired your design for the holiday collection?

Dutch graphic design from the 50s and 60s mixed with contemporary illustration styles and my tendency to stick eyes on non-living things.

What are you currently working on?

Some cool client work, and I'm working on a new set of prints containing 4 dueling characters. They're a bit different than my usual prints, and I'll be working with overprints a lot (when two colours printed on top of each other create a new third colour), which makes the project a bit unpredictable in an exciting way.

What influences your style the most?

I'm a total sucker for traditional print with a limited amount of colours. Hello!Lucky is a great fit for me with the letterpress! Even when doing work for offset or web, that old school aesthetic influences me on a subconscious level. There's also a lot of seriously good work from other designers to look at—which has a continually butt-kicking effect!

What's your favorite holiday tradition?

We've got our typical Dutch variation on Santa Claus, called Sinterklaas. He celebrates his birthday on December 5 by giving lots of presents and candy (typically marzipan, chocolate and gingerbread-like mini cookies). Tradition is giving and receiving the first letter of your name as a chunky chocolate letter. If your Sinterklaas is very generous, you get your entire first name in Chocolate Letters!

Best holiday memory?

New years eves, playing records with friends and selecting all sorts of silly tunes and generally having a good time!

To enter to win an assortment of 20 letterpress cards by Esther Aarts (assorted occasions) head over to Esther’s blog today where she’s hosting a giveaway! Gooood luck!

**A winner has been chosen! Thanks for participating!**

Featuring Jacqui Lee and H!L Giveaway!

Today we're checking in with our featured designer Jacqui Lee! Jacqui is an illustrator currently enjoying life in Vancouver, BC. Much of her work is inspired by decades past, and she hopes to take some of that retro charm and add it to her own creative endeavors. We love her hand drawn text and illustrative qualities in each of her holiday cards. It must be fun to live inside her head when she's coming up with such hilarious designs like Fa la la and Animal Sweaters. Who doesn't love a band of musical woodland creatures? So glad Jacqui is a part of our collection!

What inspired your design for the holiday collection?

To be honest, there wasn't any specific thing that inspired me. It was more of a group of things. What I can definitely say is the enthusiasm shown by the Hello!Lucky team when we were first going through ideas was a huge inspiration. It was a great starting point that propelled me through the whole process. Oh, and I may have listened to some holiday tunes on repeat.

What are you currently working on?

Something really exciting that I can't talk about (yet).

What influences your style the most?

This is a tough question! I feel like I'm always being influenced by the new and different things coming out of the creative community. If I wanted to try and pin a specific influence down, I would have to say mid-century illustration, especially children's books. During my time in art school I was definitely influenced by all of the amazing work surrounding me, but I think I've always been drawn to the whimsical and charming work done by illustrators like Art Seiden, Cliff Roberts, and Charley Harper. Visually devouring all of this work has probably made a mark on my own to some degree.

What's your favorite holiday tradition?

Baking cookies! I must have my gingerbread men.

Best holiday memory?

My childhood home had a very large hill in the backyard where we would have all-day-long toboggan parties with friends and family. We would hurtle ourselves down that hill all day long until it was dark out. Then we'd retreat inside to eat cookies, drink hot chocolate and warm up by the fireplace.

To enter to win a $100 gift certificate to Hello!Lucky (which you could use to order Jacqui Lee’s holiday cards!) head over to her blog today where she’ll be hosting a giveaway! Best of luck!

**A winner has been chosen! Thanks for participating!**

Featuring Morris & Essex and Hello!Lucky Giveaway!

Today’s feature is about Morris & Essex! Morris & Essex products are all designed and printed by the mastermind Eliza Jane Curtis in her farmhouse studio in the small historic district of Limington, Maine. Her work is a combination of letterpress, linoleum cut block-printing and silkscreen, using both traditional screen printing techniques and a Gocco machine. It's obvious Eliza takes extra special care when creating her gorgeous cards and patterned prints, because they are impeccably made! We love that her production process includes carving with her bare hands and that she takes advantage of all the wonderful possibilities of printmaking. For more fabulous designs, check out her Etsy site here!

Q: What inspired your design for the holiday collection?

A: Each of the cards has a different look, and my inspiration was pretty diverse for each of them. I was thinking of beautiful Nordic fair-isle knitting patterns while drawing the "Stars" card. "Folk Tales" is definitely inspired by traditional folk arts too. I happened to be staying in Barcelona while working on some of the other designs, so I think some of that city's gorgeous tile patterns and busy colors found their way into the designs.

What are you currently working on?

I'm sketching up some cute Valentine designs, and I've been working on lots of patterns. I'm silk screening some really bright, fun patterns on canvas for sewing into tote bags and zipper pouches. I'm hoping to have those up in my Etsy shop in time for Christmas.

What influences your style the most?

History. I have a big collection of old cards and magazines, craft books and junk from the past hundred years; a lot of them I got from my grandmother. That's one of my favorite places to look for inspiration. And of course I'm also inspired by nature; I live in the country, and I spend lots of time taking pictures of flowers, leaves, seeds and stalks and vines and weeds, and those forms always find their way into my work.

What's your favorite holiday tradition?

Christmas at my parents' farmhouse in Maine; my cousin Lisa's buttery, fresh homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast; a day spent cooking and lounging around with family and smells of food and pine needles filling the house; a sumptuous feast in the middle of the afternoon (especially my mother's cranberry-orange relish and my father's homemade fruit pies!) and then after dinner, a long afternoon walk in the snowy fields to work off a little of the food, with all the dogs running alongside and tumbling in the snow.

Best holiday memory?

Northern lights in the sky on Christmas night.

To enter to win a $100 gift certificate to Hello!Lucky (which you could use to order Morris & Essex holiday cards!) head over to Eliza’s blog today where she’ll be hosting the giveaway! Good luck!

**A winner has been chosen! Thanks for participating!**

Shannon May Giveaway!

Today we’re featuring the lovely designs of Shannon May! Although Shannon spent her childhood on the coast of southern Connecticut, we're excited to have her as a neighbor illustrator living in Berkeley. Her designs are inspired by science and geometry, and still maintain a whimsical quality that we just adore. Not only is she a killer card designer, she spends her free time making fabulous jewelry (lintu) and fine art (themooncraft), all available on Etsy. We can't wait to see more of Shannon's work in the future!

Q: What inspired your design for the holiday collection?

A: I've always been interested in math and science, finding beauty in the simplicity of equations and diagrams. But, being more of a visual art person than a physicist, I try to use that same imagery to describe other things, like the holidays!

What are you currently working on?

Illustrating a cookbook for an amazing publishing company here in San Francisco, but it's still under wraps... Shhhh.

What influences your style the most?

Math and outer space!

What's your favorite holiday tradition?

Finding the pickle ornament! My mom would hide it in the tree and all the kids would scramble to find it. The one to find it first got a gift, and I was very, very good at finding it.

Best holiday memory?

Hearing hooves on the roof.

To enter to win a $100 gift certificate for Hello!Lucky (which you could use toward any of Shannon May's lovely designs!), comment on this post telling us your favorite part about the holidays! The winner will be selected at 12:00pm Friday, November 4th and we will email you with the exciting news!

**Thanks to everyone for participating! The winner of the Shannon May giveaway has been chosen. Stay tuned on our blog for more fabulous holiday giveaways to come!**

Featured Designer and Jolby Giveaway!

In celebration of the new website and the beginning of the holiday season, we will be featuring the amazing designers that collaborated with us on our new 2011 custom holiday collection! Each artist or group truly inspired us with their festive illustrations, and after months of collaborating behind the scenes, we're ready to shine a little light on our dear designer friends. We've gathered some Q&A about the creative minds behind our spectacular collection, and the first to the spotlight? Jolby!

Jolby began in 2005 when design duo Colby Nichols and Josh Kenyon joined forces in Portland, Oregon. Their jolly illustrations and super colorful combinations create the perfect mix for holiday merriment. We're more than excited to feature their cards this season, and hope you all find as much fun in their designs as we do!

Q: What inspired your design for the holiday collection?

A: For us the holidays have always been about celebrating with family and coming together to recharge. We wanted both cards to reflect that and to make whoever was receiving it smile. As far as style goes, we are both heavily inspired by mid-century children's book illustrators and especially their holiday pieces. Hopefully a little bit of that comes through on these cards!

What are you currently working on?

Each year we try to take some time to work on a solo art show for a gallery, and we're up to our ears in one right now. The new collection of work is called "Shapes & Smiles" and it explores everything in our lives that makes us happy. It's really refreshing to take a break from our client work to produce art and explore new mediums.

What influences your style the most?

So many things: Our favorite artists, the amazing creative community that surrounds us in Portland, nature, our family and music. We are always trying to push one another to try something new and to take something further. What's your favorite holiday tradition?

Colby: When I was a kid, my dad used to make these homemade cinnamon rolls and they are amazing. I always look forward to those. Josh: For me it's Thanksgiving dinner. It was my mom's favorite holiday, and it just rubbed off on me. I love gathering with my family around the table to talk, eat and be with each other. Nothing is better. Best holiday memory?

Colby: Finding a Mega Man NES cartridge in my stocking one year. It blew my mind! I played it all day. Josh: When I got "Denver the Last Dinosaur" pajamas and a fake guitar as presents.

To enter to win a $100 gift certificate of customizable Jolby designs from the holiday collection, head over to their blog here!

Triumphantly Announcing Our New Website!

Drumroll, please...We are thrilled to announce the launch of our brand-spankin'-new website!  We've been laboring over this baby for months and months and are sooo excited that it's finally (finally!) here!

The new site includes a fab new collection of custom holiday photo cards: This year we got together 16 of our favorite illustrators/designers—the likes of Susy*Jack, Hammerpress, Tom Frost (featured above), Lab Partners and more—and collaborated on a whole collection of fun and unique holiday cards.  We can't wait for you to see them!

Additionally, the new site features beautiful photography by Edyta Szyszlo...we had so much fun styling these shots!

We also have a gorgeous new wedding invitation collection with Anne Smith (another illustrator we've admired/been deeply envious of for years and years)...

And we're thrilled to introduce our brand-new customization tool, which is going to make it a breeze to customize cards.  It's super cool, if we do say so ourselves, and allows you to change colors, choose fonts and drop in photos on the fly. It makes ordering fun and easy and gives you a lot of control over the final result.

You can also send your order straight to print (that's how much control you have over design, people!) to cut down on the turnaround time.  Normally, it can take 1-2 business days (or weeks, for those of you prone to dilly-dallying!) to approve a manually-created proof, so this is an exciting new feature.  Of course, you still can have our designers put their finishing touches on your design or incorporate any special requests, but how awesome is that??

That being said, please bear with us as we get settled into our new digs (there are bound to be a few hiccups along the way!). Some products may be temporarily unavailable online while we get our shop in order, but we promise they'll be back soon!  If you have any questions or need help with a product that is currently not available on our site, don't hesitate to drop us a line or give us a ring! We'd love to hear from you! US: info@hellolucky.com or 415.355.0008  UK: ukinfo@hellolucky.com or 020 7378 9740

Our New Website is Coming!

The big BIG news is out! We have been hard at work for months preparing for our new-and-improved website and blog. Unfortunately, we had to put our current site on hold in order to get all of the bits and pieces sorted out, but be assured, it will be grand! There are so many exciting new designs, customization tools, and even a few giveaways for the upcoming holiday season. Stay tuned because our new site is going live on Friday, October 28th and we can't wait for you to see!

We are still available to answer any questions during this time, so feel free to call us at 415-355-0008 or email info@hellolucky.com.

See you soon!

Visit to Kansas City!

Letterpress lovers take note! Recently, one of our intrepid employees took a trip to Hammerpress in Kansas City, Missouri and came back with some great photos of their lovely studio!

Check out their very organized shelves of metal and wood type, as well as the impeccably well kept presses.

In their impressive brick and mortar storefront, they sell greeting cards, posters and lots of one-of-a-kind goods.

A closeup view of their beautiful wooden wall and display.

Thank you to Brady, Matt, Eric and Jenn for the tour around the studio!

You can purchase their awesome posters here.

Real Wedding: Katie and Ashley

Check out these beautiful wedding photos posted on Two Bright Lights! Katie and Ashley's May wedding took place at the Maple Grove Inn in Knoxville, Tennessee - the deep greens and luscious flower bouquets are oozing romance.

Who doesn't love tiered cupcakes?!

Katie and Ashley customized our Big Day wedding invitation to create their own unique take on the design (see the original inspiration here!).

The couple turned the heart + initials icon found on the original Thank You Card into a light display inside their reception tent. They also used the invitation icon as the cover of their guest book - brilliant!

All photos by Dixie Pixel Photography

Studio Snapshot: Assembling Day-of Wedding Materials

It's summertime! For us, that means we're busy producing materials to be used at summer weddings, including programs, place cards, and table top decorations. We love to see how an invitation design can be translated to day-of wedding decor, especially when customized to match the wedding colors. Our Architecture invitation looks striking as a table number (above) and a welcome drink sign (below).

These tented signs work great as double-sided menus - one side for hors-d'oeuvres and and the other for cocktails!

We like to use a bone folder to fold each place card, guaranteeing an even score. Its all in the details, after all!

Beautiful Decals by Shanna Murray

We are huge fans of Shanna Murray and found this  post on Creature Comforts about her new decal collection.

We think a customized decal would be fantastic as decoration for a wedding, such as "The Smiths" or " Eunice & Daniel"!

Or maybe a sweet note on the wall of a baby's nursery or playroom...

How darling!

National Stationery Show: Our favorites!

We saw a ton of inspiring work at this past National Stationery Show, including these cheeky postcards (above) from La Familia Green. We were also pretty smitten with these adorable pencil cases and tea towels from Pie Bird Press:

Our neighbors at Egg Press wowed us with their bold colors and quirky illustrations:

Suzy Jack had these fun pencil cups:

And first time exhibitor Fig. 2 wowed us with these neon cards:

Custom Wedding Signs by Chocolate Butterbean

We absolutely love these hand-painted signs by Chocolate Butterbean! A perfect addition to your wedding!

This horseshoe sign would be an absolute smash with our Elegant Equestrian design!

Or a sweet wedding gift...

James L. Tucker's Prints on Hall Ready

One of our esteemed printers, James, has been busy making prints on off hours at Hello!Lucky.  He recently had a solo show in Aspen and Hall Ready featured his work yesterday.

Love the historic Americana. Who doesn't love Babe the big blue ox? (titled Lumber)

If you're in San Francisco, check out his work at The Perish Trust at 728 Divisadero.

Rock on, James, and keep that cylinder rollin'!

Check out his statement and bio, and see more of his work here.

Commemorative plates

It may seem as though we are just a wee bit obsessed with The Royal Wedding, but when we found these plates designed by our most favorite, Jonathan Adler, we couldn't resist! They are part of a series of designer commemorative plates that will be auctioned off on April 29th to benefit Shelter, a British housing and homelessness charity.

Alternative Wedding Invitations

R.S.V.P.H.R.H is an exhibit of re-designed wedding invitations for the royal wedding at the Rag Factory in London. What a dream project!

Read more about the exhibit here.

Styled!

We are ooing and ahhing over this eye-feast, a new mag—Styled— on A Subtle Reverie. Gorgeous! Here's a pinkie-taste of the deliciousness:

Find fab inspiration on all styles of entertaining, from Easter egg embellishment to lemonade stands. Decadent photography and Delectable DIYs. Love it! Again, the link.

Enjoy!

Hot off the Presses: Visit Boston!

Brides in Beantown will be so happy! We've added Lab Partners' beautiful Visit Boston wedding invitations and save the dates to our collection. Get a closer look here, and stay tuned for more to come!

Hot off the presses: Visit Miami!

It may be cold and rainy here in San Francisco, but it's bright and warm in Miami! We are thrilled to showcase our newest collaboration with our friends at Lab Partners - Visit Miami. See the whole suite here.

Stay tuned for more destinations!

Letterpress Rug

Decorating (and re-decorating!) is clearly one of our favorite pastimes. This letterpress rug couldn't be more perfect for our new studio makeover!

Via Swiss-Miss