Valentine's Card Making Party

Last week we hosted a Valentine's card making  party at Chronicle Books' shop on Union Street in San Francisco, featuring a valentine's version of the Owl-y Friend card by Petra Boase, from our book Handmade Hellos.

We had a great turnout - so much fun!

By the end of the night, we had a crazy number of variations on the owl, and lots of happy crafters!

The owls (and some non-owls) were as varied as their makers...

We dubbed this one the "red hot" owl - love the color combo!

And what about these "disco wings"!?

Glitter was one of the more popular supplies...a comedian once called glitter the STD of crafting, and our party proved that out...my the end, it had spread everywhere! Hilarious!

Some crafters were inspired by the Wood You Be Mine? project from the book, by Two Trick Pony, and made their own vignettes (this one uses some cute cardinal wrapping paper from Snow & Graham).

Or how about this hilarious birthday card? The little alien is made from a patterned paper by EIEIO.

Owl with wings and eyes akimbo... Thanks to everyone who attended, and a special shout-out to Christina Loff for organizing. Happy Valentine's Day!!

Target Red Hot Valentine's!

Target has some great Valentine's items featured on their Red Hot Shop this month, including this hilarious mug!

The perfect way to drop a hint to your sweetie if you're angling for an engagement! (who, you?? never...!)

These ruffled knickers are adorable - perfect for some hanky panky!

Also loving this Little Pink  address book from Peter Pauper Press...

The candy stripe pattern on the inside are just too cute!

And would'ya look at that? We're featured this month, too, with our Valentine's card kit, created exclusively for the Red Hot Shop!

Check out all their fabulous Valentine's finds right here!

Giveaway Winner!

Thank you to all for all the wonderful comments!  And, the winner is (drumroll please).....Mandy Murphy who wrote:

I would love to be in the drawing! The new site is awesome! I keep using the personalize option to create invites. I just can’t pick a favorite because i like so many! I hope I’m the lucky winner!!!!

Congratulations Mandy!  Please email info@hellolucky.com for the prize code which you can use toward any custom stationery on our website.

Thanks to everyone for participating - and stay tuned for more opportunities to win fabulous stationery.  You never know when the mood may strike!

One Hundred Smackers Giveaway!

We're in a celebratory mood (new President, new year, new website, etc...) and want to share the love!  So, we're giving away $100 toward any custom stationery product on our website.  Take a gander at our wedding invitations, save the dates and personalized stationery and leave a comment if you are interested in being included in the random drawing. The winner will be announced on Monday!  Good luck!

2009 Preview Party!

We recently held our 2009 Stationery Preview party and are thrilled to report that it was a huge success!  We collaborated with some of the most amazing wedding vendors in the Bay Area to transform our working letterpress studio into a beautiful event space complete with red carpet!  Above, the fab Morgan Doan, event planner extraordinaire and mastermind behind this event, and Sabrina chatting by the welcome table.  Our sponsor booklet featured our new Sparrow design by Joel Dewberry.

Guests arriving...it was a fantastic crowd - some of the best and brightest in weddings...

The studio on its way to being transformed. Got Light? did an amazing job with the lighting and draping - we were truly blown away by the difference a little "pipe and drape" made.  The back-lit bar was provided by Blueprint Studio Collection and Wildflower Linens provided the lovely table clothes. DJ John Jow turned the place into a mini-nightclub with his expert music mixing.

Jane Hammond Events provided the seriously delicious hors d'oeuvres, including bite-sized crab cakes, empinadas, and mushroom tartlets and the most amazing brownies of all time.  Andronico's Market provided the excellent wine (selected by the talented Jeffrey Porter).

We made these little buffet signs - the holder was just a standard restaurant sign holder that we spray-painted a matte pink and the orchid pattern on the sign is from one of our new collaborations with Joel Dewberry.

One of the things we were celebrating was the launch of our latest invitation collections including a collaborations with EIEIO, Joel Dewberry, Julia Rothman, and the always amazing Lab Partners.  They did a destination series featuring New York, San Francisco, Hawaii and London (London and New York pictured above).  We've already gotten such and incredible response, we're already thinking about adding some new destinations to the line!

Sharla Flock designed the gorgeous floral arrangments - we love her subtle use of color and texture.

She used pieces from our large collection of flea market found vases and bowls to create an eclectic look.

One of our talented printers, James, did demonstrations of the letterpress printing technique.

We were also celebrating the launch of our new website which we are SO excited about.  The dapper Mr. Daniel James of Three Rings and brilliant event planner, Lisa Feldman, check out the new look.

We had a whole selection of our work on display - this was a variation on our popular Cherry Blossom design - including fan programs, and round menus designed to fit into the dinner plates.  We were also introducing our new digital printing option - an excellent (and fast!) alternative to letterpress (or a budget-friendly way to augment beautiful letterpress invitations).

Gorgeous photography by Allure West.

Thank you so much to all our incredible partners in this event and to everyone who came out for the party!

Our New (Extra Fancy!) Website is Here!

We're so excited our new website is finally here - check it out!

You can now order wedding invitations and save-the-dates easily online!

Check out our new proof preview feature when you shop for wedding invitations or save-the-dates (additional products will have this soon) - you can play around with type, color, & formatting - our favorite feature is the ability to drag the text boxes around so you can change your text placement on the fly!

Browse our inspiration boards created by Kathryn from Snippet & Ink...

Learn all about the letterpress process...

Meet our awesome staff...

Shop for cute personalized stationery!

and greeting cards...

as well as fabulous gifts, including our new book, Handmade Hellos!

We are so thrilled with the way it turned out!  That being said, it's brand-spanking new, so there are a couple bugs here and there which we are fixing as fast as we can.  If you come across something that isn't working properly or have any feedback, we'd love to hear from you - please email us here!  Note to folks on Internet Explorer 6 - it's time to upgrade! Sadly, our site is now too schmancy for the abilities of IE6 - but you can download IE7 here...

Happy browsing!

Website sneak peak

We've been busy little bees over here at Hello!Lucky working on our new website...and it's finally almost ready!

Here's a little peak! Stay tuned for more...it's launching Monday!! (with a little luck!)

Daily Candy San Francisco

Huzzah! Our studio was featured in Daily Candy San Francisco today! We're offering a special deal for Daily Candy readers - type in DAILYCANDY at check out to get 25% off (or visit us in our studio/shop at 977 Howard Street between 5th and 6th). Happy holidays!

The Handmade Hellos Crafting Party!

The crafting party last night was a smash hit!

All of our demo stations were full of ambitious crafters–Hello!Lucky's snowy variation on Petra Boase’s Owl-y Friend yielded many colorful results! You can download the template here to try it out for yourself!

Our Handmade Hellos contributors demonstrated various craft projects. François Vigneault instructed guests on how to make postcards composed of found maps, a fun and easy project for anyone with a crafty eye.

Sarah Adler's magical banner project used dainty little boxes to enclose a quirky greeting one letter at a time!

Stacy and Nicole (above) from Pancake & Franks had a station devoted to their accordion card, which uses durable board ends to make up a booklet.

Jody Warshaw, Christina Loff, Kate Woodrow from Chronicle Books showing off their projects!

Happy crafters!

Jeffrey McGrew from Because We Can fashioned his card into part of his ensemble!

Nancy Deane from Chronicle Books shows off her owl.

Sarah Adler watches as one of her students displays her very own magical banner.

The Hello!Lucky staff were, of course, busy at work! Pictured above, Max Koch and Shauna Leytus were the studio bartenders while, below, James Tucker and Alex Ewers greeted incoming crafters!

Aaron Cohick, our lead pressman, was kind enough to demonstrate the ins-and-outs of our vintage Heidelberg presses throughout the evening.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Gettin' ready for the crafting party!

We're getting ready for tonight's crafting party! The studio's abuzz with decorating and preparations!

Anna made these adorable buttons for H!L staff.

Alex hanging decorations in our front window...

And Anna hanging signs on our card display...

We're going to be making great holiday-inspired craft projects tonight, courtesy of Handmade Hellos contributors. Here's Sarah Adler's set-up (she owns Hearts & Anchors) - so cute!

Crafter extraordinaire François Vigneault getting his project ready...

Hello!Lucky is doing a snowy variation on Petra Boase's Owly Friend from the book (download the template here!).

More decor from around the studio!

The party starts tonight at 6 p.m. Come one, come all!

Hello!Lucky Studio 977 Howard Street (between 5th and 6th) San Francisco Closest BART: Powell Street Closest Parking: 5th & Mission garage - just 1.5 blocks away! There is also street parking on Howard and across the street from the studio.

SF Chronicle article & book launch party!

Thanks to Anh-Minh Le (who also writes a fabulous blog!) for her article about us in today's San Francisco Chronicle!

The piece compares and contrasts our aesthetics, as reflected in the style of our homes.

Eunice's dog Simon also makes an appearance - his, ahem, windy antics are the inspiration behind our I Stink (I'm Sorry!) skunk card.

For those of you in the Bay Area, come check out our book launch party Thursday, December 11 from 6 - 8 p.m at our studio at 977 Howard Street (between 5th and 6th). There'll be crafting galore with Handmade Hellos contributors Hearts & Anchors, Pancake & Franks, Pie Bird Press, Francois Vigneault!

The Nest meets Hello!Lucky

  It feels totally crazy and surreal, but Sabrina's house is featured in this month's Nest magazine. (Sabrina is 1/2 of Hello!Lucky's founding team, the other half of which is sis Eunice!).

Shooting the article was so much fun - we had incredible team of creative folks to work with, including stylist Anthony Albertus, writer Riann Smith, photographer David A. Land and stylists Yael Gitai and Racine Christensen along with The Nest's wonderful creative director Lisa Aelion.

Above, our lounge/TV room, bar, and built-in dining nook.

Our bedroom and garden, which was designed by Pete Vafiades, the most awesome gardener ever (he worked with the previous owners of our house to turn the garden from a sad patch of dirt to an urban oasis!).

Videographer Kathi Watson filmed Sabrina giving a tour of her house, pointing out highlights including a magnificent and, let's face it, weird piece of 70s textile art!

Finally we included shout-outs to some of our favorite Bay Area haunts, including Tail of the Yak, Bi-Rite Creamery and  Blue Bottle café. So there you have it, 5 minutes of fame! Hurrah!

Check Out Our Bust!

Ahem, our feature in Bust Magazine that is!  A couple of projects from our new book, Handmade Hellos, are showcased in this month's issue!  Very exciting!

The cards are based on projects by contributors Sarah Neuburger of the Small Object and the always sassy MikWright.  Learn how to make hilarious mini-family portraits (complete with stylie hair) through the age-old practice of thumbprint art! And that circa-1965 shot of Aunt Cheryl in a plaid pantsuit that's been crying out for an audience?  A perfect candidate for a cheeky holiday greeting - just add scissors and glue!

Happy crafting!

Free Wedding Websites

  Our first two wedding websites just launched over at Project Wedding. Hooray! The websites are free, private, and easy to customize. They're the perfect place to store all the event details, directions, photos, and guest book. How fabulous is that? The one above is based on our popular Cherry Blossom wedding invitation, originally created for an editor at Martha Stewart Weddings. (Note - we're now offering our designs in an affordable digitally printed format; contact us for more details!).

This one's based on our Antoinette wedding invitation design. We'll be adding lots more designs to the Project Wedding gallery in the next few weeks, so stay tuned and feel free to let us know if there's a design you particularly want us to adapt!

Handmade Hellos is here!

It's official! Our new book Handmade Hellos: Fresh Greeting Card Projects from First-Rate Crafters, published by Chronicle Books, is now available at a store near you (including Barnes & Noble, Fred Flare, and of course here on our website)! There are way too many great projects in the book to showcase them all (click here for more info and a full list of contributors), so here's just a taste!

Simple, elegant Big Number Birthday Card by our talented friends at Binth.

Fabulous Owly Friend collage card by the lovely and talented UK-based Petra Boase.

New Baby Nest fabric collage card by London-based Abigail Brown.

Brilliantly simple and stylish origami self-mailing note by Norway's Darling Clementine - you'll be using this folding technique for years to come, trust us!

Pop-up "Ahoy there!" pirate ship card by one of our favorite illustrators, Kate Sutton.

Road trip post card set by the brilliantly creative Francois Vigneault!

Genius silk-screen on balsa wood valentine by Two Trick Pony (can also be adapted to a save the date card or even a dinner party invite "Wood you come to dinner?" ha ha).

Witty horoscope card by the talented crew at Egg Press.

Hilarious thumbprint Humpty Dumpty card from The Small Object (there is a broken Humpty inside, making this the perfect sympathy or apologies card) - check out the upcoming issue of Bust magazine for a wonderful family portrait variation on this for the holidays, which must be seen to be appreciated! (Also included in the issue is a variation on the fantastic MikWright contribution to the book!)

Adorable Library Book birth announcement by Paper + Cup.

Ridiculous and hilarious Fuzzy Octopus by the fabulous Daniel James which we had fun making with both kids and adults at last spring's Maker Faire.

And of course there are a few projects in the book by us, too, including this snazzy Blue Ribbon Card...

The adorable how-to illustrations were created by Sarah LaBieniec, half of dynamic design duo Lab Partners. So quick, get your copies - stocking stuffers for all!!

Hello!Babies

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of two new Hello!Lucky babies, both miraculously born on September 26 (which also happened to be Sabrina's wedding anniversary)!

The darling and lovely Miss Olivia O'Donnell (and her adorable birth announcement)...

and the cute-as-a-button Mr. Lucas Tan...

And congratulations to Jennifer and Ryan and Celine and Tang, the proud parents! Hello, lucky babies!!

In Memoriam: Tana

Sad news today - Tana, the beloved dog of Hello!Lucky employee Kelly B. passed away this morning. Tana was a much-loved fixture in our studio. She spent her days sleeping under desks, watching the passer-bys and occasionally receiving snacks from other employees when Kelly wasn't looking. She was even known to participate in the occasional brainstorming meeting, giving her silent but meaningful consent as we developed new stationery designs.

Tana, you will be missed.

Memorials to Tana created by our staff (above).

Modern Met Studio Visit

We had the pleasure of meeting Alice Yoo, founder of My Modern Metropolis, a new social networking site, on Friday.  She and her husband Sam stopped by the studio and we had fun giving them a tour and chatting about what it's like to be an entrepreneur (read about their visit here).  Fellow designers often approach us for advice on starting a small business, and we're always happy to share experience, so herewith, a couple of our top tips:

1. With great autonomy comes great responsibility. Being entrepreneur is liberating and creative, but comes with sleepless nights and big ups and downs.  You have to have guts of steel and be ready to work long hours. And you have to be humble - there is no job that is too low when you're starting out (including cleaning toilets, licking stamps, and answering phones!)

2. Choose your partners well. Be sure everyone's ready to roll up their sleeves and put in their fair share of work, cash, sweat, grey hairs, sleepless nights, etc. One of our biggest criteria in selecting employees is whether or not they have "Hello!Lucky in their hearts" (to quote one of our hilarious and beloved veteran staffers!). If everyone's passionate and loves what they do, success will be more likely to follow.

3. Develop great products. Be true to your vision, but listen to the market and refine accordingly. And make sure the economics of creating, selling, and distributing the product are workable (discount your projections by at least 10% - entrepreneurs tend to be a wee bit optimistic - they have to in order to handle the risk!). If you can't find funding for your business, whether it's from friends and family or investors, it's probably not viable.

4. Cut your losses. If something isn't working, change course. Everyone makes mistakes; it's how you respond to them that determines the final outcome.

5. Stay objective. Every entrepreneur has moments when they wonder whether it's worth it to go on; sometimes this happens with uncanny frequency!  It's also easy to take ups and downs (especially the downs!) personally and lose confidence. While you need to be realistic, it's also vital to step back from the setback of the moment and look at the positive, whether it's press mentions, customer testimonials, or sales. If things are trending in the right direction, then keep it up and don't take the setbacks personally!

P.S. Happy Labor Day!

Hot off the presses!

We're super excited about our latest card release - some of our best cards yet! The new collection features this fab psychedelic love card, and  3 new designs by Julia Rothman ("Support" is one of our faves - perfect for girl friends, moms, and bridesmaids! These were also just featured on Design*Sponge - thanks, Grace!).

We're giving the "Lookin' good" card (below) to Eunice & Sabrina's mom, who celebrates her 60th birthday this week but still has washboard abs looks a like a beauty queen, with no surgical intervention! (Go, mom!)

We're also thrilled to introduce a brand new collaboration with one our favorite UK-based illustrators, Kate Sutton (she also has some fantastic DIY card projects in our new book, Handmade Hellos). "Choo Choo" (inspired by the Simpsons!) is one of our favorites.

This globe illustration cracks us up and the sentiment is so sweet (awww!)...

Kate also did some wonderful Mother's and Father's Day cards for us:

We illustrated a garden-themed Mother's Day card as well, plus an anniversary card featuring a tattooed circus strong man (below). Both use a cool new watercolor wash technique we recently developed...

And finally, there's our favorite - the BBQ parade Father's Day card! The hilarious anthropomorphic grill items continue their shenanigans on the back of the card - you'll have to buy it to see them!

All these cards are letterpress printed on 30% post-consumer waste recycled cardstock, and are available right here for just $4.50 a pop!  Enjoy!

Celebrity sighting of the year: Jonathan Adler!

Today, we had the honor of meeting one of our biggest design crushes, Jonathan Adler, when he stopped by our booth at the New York Gift Fair. We can't begin to describe how happy this made us (see our died-and-gone-to-heaven smiles above!).

Maybe it was the feng shui of our booth, or maybe it was just meant to be. We used Adler's fabulous Utopia Totem Vase in our booth display, and just yesterday shot the cover story for The Nest magazine at Sabrina's house, which is features several of his pieces. The day before, we'd even received an order from India Hicks, host of this season's Top Design (on which Mr. Adler is a judge), for her lovely shop The Sugar Mill in Harbour Island, Bahamas.

We're thrilled to say that he was simply charming in person - and was even kind enough to pose for a photo with us. Our crush lives on! Swoon!