Hot off the press: Circus Cards!

We're gearing up for the National Stationery Show in May which means our printer is busy at work cranking out all of our new letterpress card designs. We'll be launching around 50 new cards this May and we haven't been this excited for a new release in a long time. One of the things that makes this release so special is the fact that we're now able to incorporate gold foil in our cards. We can't wait for that sparkly release.

This year we also expanded some of our favorite existing lines. Expect to finally see more sock monkeys! Another line we've been itching to grow is our vintage circus series. You can see the first card hand drawn by Eunice here.

We're adding 5 more cards to the circus series and you're the very first to see all 5 of the new designs. One of the things that makes these cards so special is that each one is hand drawn by our founder and creative director Eunice Moyle. We had so much fun coming up with the ideas you see illustrated on these cards. And our printer did an amazing job letterpressing these beauties.

We hope they're as well received in the rest of the world as they are in our studio.

Do you have a favorite? Leave a comment telling us which one and one lucky commenter will win all 5 - before anyone else can get their hands on them!

Look for these cards in stores and on our site in mid-May.  

Winner picked and announced here! 

Don't Forget Mom!

Mother's Day is May 12th this year and this is just a friendly reminder to remember Mom!  To help you with your gift giving ideas this year we're offering 20% off all personal stationery on our site. What better way to show Mom your appreciation than gifting her with some sweet personalized stationery?

Be sure to check out our letterpress Mother's day cards and pick out the perfect one for your Mom. And while you're there you may as well pick one up for Dad too - Father's day will be here before you know it!

Enter code DearMom at checkout for 20% off your order of personal stationery or greeting cards. Expires May 10th. Order early so it arrives in time!

 

New! Skyline Invitation Suites

We're so excited to announce that we have added more designs to our ever popular skyline wedding invitation series. We get so many requests for cities so deciding which ones to design next was easy! We took a look at our list and picked the top six most requested skylines. With a couple general skylines thrown into the mix we're hoping we please brides in cities all over the world with this release!

Here are the six new cities we're welcoming to our skyline family this week: Portland, Austin, New Orleans, Edinburgh, Wine Country, and Mountain Skyline. Be sure to click through and view the entire suites for these new wedding designs as we spent a lot of time picking the perfect icons for all the corresponding pieces!

And don't forget about the cities we already have in this series which include San Francisco, New York, Boston, London, Seattle, and Desert Skylines. All our skyline wedding invitation suites are available in both letterpress and flat printing. And like all of the designs on our site these skylines can be personalized to match your wedding colors. So be sure to play around in our custom tool online and pick the perfect palette.

And don't forget we also have some skyline letterpress greeting cards available for those of you who want to show your city pride but aren't getting married. We're busy printing more cities but right now you can find letterpress notecards featuring San Francisco, New York and London skylines.

Looking for a city we don't have yet? Tell us in the comments which ones we should design next!

 

Jude's Picks: Favorite Apps

Last week I shared some of Jude's favorite books and movies and this week I thought it would be fun to share some of the apps he's been enjoying. Crazy that a toddler would have favorite apps, I know! But it's a brave new world! I appreciate these apps for their educational qualities, he's pretty eager to learn when he has that ipad in his hands.

The peeps at Toca Boca make some of our favorite apps, but Toca Doctor is probably the top choice these days (bug squishing! Burping! Farting! and all kinds of other hilarity). This app actually helped me convince Jude that brushing his teeth is cool and fun and not simply a horrific exercise in torture - I stand behind anything that can help me explain oral hygiene to a toddler!

Not that Jude would ever get the iPad right before bed (hello, cracked out temper tantrum), but this Nighty Night is darling (and in several different languages - it's always tricky to find great apps in French, so this is a big plus in my book). You turn out the light and say good night to each animal on the farm and watch them settle down for the night - the illustrations are adorable and it's full of amusing details.

Another beautifully designed app with great illustrations, Tam & Tao in Numberland is a very popular choice with Mr. Jude. Full of fun puzzles, coloring and counting games, and cool, dimensional animations.

As always let me know if you have any fun app suggestions for kids! I love hearing about new ones.

 

April is National Card & Letter Writing Month!

We’ll take any reason to celebrate writing letters and sending cards the old fashioned way. So when we found out April was National Card & Letter Writing month we thought we should spread the word and celebrate all month long. We’ll be giving away a card every day this month, either here on our blog, or over at our Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or Google+ pages. Be sure to follow us in all of those places so you can enter to win. And feel free to enter as many times as you like!

Here’s to good old fashioned letter writing and keeping the USPS in business with lots of letters to deliver! Spread the word and write your loved ones and friends lots of letters this month.

And don’t forget to check out our wide range of all occasion letterpress cards on our website here.

Jude's Picks: Reads, Tunes & Films

As a parent to a very active three year old I am always on the look out for great reads, apps, and music that will keep him entertained. I also love sharing what Jude is currently getting excited about. So here's the most recent installment of Jude's Picks...

Creature by Andrew Zuckerman is a great alphabet book filled with gorgeous rich photos. Jude is currently totally nuts for animals and this book from Chronicle is one of his latest faves.

One of my favorite books when I was a kid, Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever (Le Grand Livre des Mots is the French/English edition which you can get here ) is filled with all kinds of fantastic vocabulary words accompanied by Richard Scarry's classic animal characters. Be warned it includes a few questionable choices - I wonder, does the little pig really, really, dream of growing up to be a butcher?

Dancing around the kitchen with Dad is still a favorite activity - this month's top pick is anything by the Talking Heads.

French Songs for Children is a long standing favorite (when he was a baby, this album would instantly calm him even in the midst of a screaming fit, and thus has been a permanent fixture in the car for the last three years). Remarkably tolerable - Lucienne Vernay was a French singer in the 40's and 50's and the vintage quality remains charming even after having listened to it about 15 million times!

Rio is Jude's latest film of choice - it's actually not too bad (though, given my druthers, I'm definitely more of a Nemo, Cinderella, Robin Hood, Dumbo kind of gal - all recently tired of, alas) - Jamie Foxx and Will.i.am play a couple of amusing hip-hop-y birds and it is pretty hilarious when you realize your toddler is shaking his booty and singing "I like to party, I like to samba!" while you change his diaper!

Jude is also a huge fan of nature documentaries (again, nuts for animals - trucks, firemen? eh, whatevs, but a good wildebeest stampede really rocks his socks!) the BBC's Africa with David Attenborough has just recently dethroned the reigning champion, Planet Earth.

I'm always on the lookout for recommendations so please share what your kids are loving in the comments!

Shop Feature: Postmark

We are so thrilled to pick up our store features again. This time we're kicking off with a great shop we love in the UK called Postmark. Postmark has two shops, one of which is located in Balham, just a little south of our offices in London Bridge. When Postmark in Balham opened their doors they added greatly to to the the area's increasing reputation for being a shopping destination for those seeking out a more individual retail experience. We chatted a bit with the owners to give you a little more insight into this great independent boutique.

We are a small family run company based in South London. Run by a team of passionate card lovers with over 25 years experience, we pride ourselves on our hand picked selection of cards. We mainly deal with small independent publishers with over 95% of them based, designing and producing in the UK.

Our Balham store first opened it's door in 2004 and soon became a neighbourhood favourite. We won the title of 'Best Independent Card Retailer - London' in 2008 and the buzz and excitement this created was the catalyst for us opening our East Dulwich store in December 2008. In 2009 we then became the first company to retain and win this award twice. This award is the industry 'Oscars' and rewards and recognises excellence in the greeting card industry.

We pride ourselves on customer service and are always looking for new and exciting ways to stand out from the rest. In both our stores, you can use the first of it's kind, in house postal service. Each store has an in store postal service, enabling customers to send their cards and parcels to anywhere in the world without even leaving the shops. Just pop in, pick a card, write it and we will do the rest! We have been finalists in 2007,2010 and 2011 for 'Best Retail Initiative' for our fresh and intuitive retail ideas. From our 'Golden ticket' campaign to our most recent 'Beat the postal price increase' campaign starting in November 2012.

While Hello!Lucky is one of our favourites we also stock cards from Caroline Gardner, Urban Graphic, Simon Drew, Noi Publishing, Almanac Gallery, Rachel Ellen, Pigment Productions, The Art File, ArtPress, Stop The Clock to name just a few as well as numerous small up and coming publishers who we feel could be the next big thing!

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Thanks for taking the time to chat with us Postmark and thanks for being such a supporter of our cards over the years. You can shop Postmark's great inventory of cards online or visit one of their two locations if you are in the UK.

Locally Grown Love Event Recap

We had a great time this past Sunday at the Locally Grown Love event here in San Francisco. It was one of the most fun and unique wedding events we've attended and it really felt more like a great party with lots of useful information for brides to be or anyone who likes organizing events and throwing parties. And did we mention it was held at Studio Trilogy, a recording studio that boasts Lady Gaga as one of its clients? An impressive lineup of classes and panel discussions were scheduled throughout the day and we kicked things off with a wine and cheese pairing tutorial led by Domaine Somm.

Lia took her imbibing very seriously and prepared the perfect blend of goat cheese and pepper jelly to match with her Riesling.

The owners of Succulence were on hand to teach people how to care for air plants and succulents and we loved the inventive terrariums they brought. We were also surprised to learn that most blooms used in bouquets and boutonnieres can be replanted and enjoyed for years. What a great way for guests to remember your big day!

With high ceilings, amazing acoustics and a beautiful private patio, the venue would be a great place for a a special event (maybe a musical wedding?). We were lucky enough to be there on one of San Francisco's rare sunny days and Lillian soaked up as many rays as possible!

Its always a party with our friends from Magnolia Photo Booth Co. and we simply can't resist their silly props and instant mementos. This is surely one for our collection!

Congratulations on a great event Locally Grown Weddings! We had a blast.

Studio Shots

It's been a while since we've shared some snapshots of what's been going on in the studio on the blog. As you can see we are having a lot of fun watching our printers mix ink and we're printing many new designs in preparation for the National Stationery Show in May. If you're on Instagram be sure to follow us there for daily shots of what's happening around the studio!

Inspired by the success of our Going Strong card Eunice is hard at work drawing new designs for an entire series of circus themed greeting cards. This is the start of one of five new circus designs.

Almost as fun as the colors are the names that our printers give some of the inks in our studio.

Another brand new design on press. Jon just finished printing one color here so the full design isn't revealed. Can you tell what it is?

We're so excited about our new gold foil collection and we love seeing the shiny samples laying around the studio.

A pretty blue press.

 

Izzy's Bouquet Inspiration by Vanessa Mason

I’ve just been away visiting family in Switzerland for a few days, but I’m back again to inspire you to plan your dream wedding. If like me you’re still hungry for more inspiration from Harry Judd (think band Mc Fly and 2012 Strictly Come Dancing winner) and his sweetheart Izzy Johnston’s wedding, read on. Her pretty pastel bouquet, which was made of brunia, freesia, sweet avalanche, pacific blue and avalanche roses, is so on trend. Pastels like nectarine, white linen, African violet and dusk blue are really top of the colour charts as well this spring according to colour trend forecasters Pantone, so take note.

And whilst you’re in a ‘floral’ frame of mind, why not check out Hello! Lucky’s brand new wedding designs: Classic Rose and La Vie en Rose. Again pinks and yellows stand out from the crowd, judging by what dress French actress Marion Cotillard was wearing to the BAFTAs 2013 and by the colour Dame Helen Mirren dyed her hair.

The colour yellow could be that of your bridesmaid’s dresses, table flower arrangements or going away outfit and pink carefully used is great all round, but particularly special for the flower girl’s dresses. I'd steer away from dyeing your hair pink for your special day, but you never know it may be just your thing!

If you're in the UK and need help with your wedding flowers, call upon these experts:

Florists: G Lily, Jamie Aston, McQueens, David Austin

Wedding planners: Isabel Smith, Mark Niemierko, Zoe Lingard

Photo credits: Bouquet made of two tone arum lilies, pink roses, hyacinth, brunia and lisianthus by Aleit weddings. Bouquet made of apricot coloured David Austin roses by David Austin.

Hello!Lucky Loves Love

We love celebrating all holidays around the studio, but Valentine's Day is the one we get most excited about. This year we decided to do a 'secret valentine' exchange, we all drew names and brought in a sweet little something for the co-worker we picked. Of course the creative packaging, original presentations, and handmade gifts were so very Hello!Lucky. Did you see how all out we went for Christmas? Here are some scenes from Valentine's Day around the studio. Enjoy!

Lia brought in chocolate covered strawberries for everyone.

Lillian gifted Holly with this amazing package of candy. Holly is the biggest candy lover among us and is the go to person when we need a little sugar fix, she's always holding.

How adorable is this hand stitched bag Lia made Stewey and filled with a seed bomb?

Heather's amazing package to Shayna. What was in there? Girl Scout cookies!!

Lyndsey gave Christina this sweet little rose bush in a heart container and some delicious chocolate.

The note from Heather's package to Shayna. And Shayna looking adorable holding her cookie from Stewey - who, like the sweet little cupid he is, brought in his famous 'Stewey's Chewies' for everyone in the studio.

We hope you had a sweet Valentine's Day! xoxox

DIY Holiday Tassel Garland

We pretty much love all holiday decor, but when it comes to our favorite, it's gotta come on a string. Garland is the best way to spruce up any room, especially during the holidays. With plaid fabrics popping up more and more this time of year, we couldn't wait to get crafty with it. This DIY does require a bit of handywork, but materials are very inexpensive. Instead of heading out to your local craft store, look in your own home for materials first! You might have an old flannel pillowcase that's missing it's match, or a plaid shirt you've outgrown from last year. And the twine can be replaced with ribbon or fishing line. The best part about this DIY holiday tassel garland? There's no-sewing required!

Drape these tiny tassels over your apartment-sized Christmas tree, or gather them up for a front seat on the mantle. Here's the how-to below!

Materials:

1/2 yard plaid fabric (or an old shirt or pillowcase), 1/8" gold ribbon, jute twine, scissors, ruler (optional)

How to:

Step 1. Cut your fabric into 4" x 6" pieces (This DIY can easily be made bigger! Just cut bigger rectangles of fabric)

Step 2. Cut your ribbon ahead of time. 5" strips is plenty to work with. Set the ribbon aside for later.

Step 3. From each end, cut 5 even slits, 2" long. This part doesn't have to be exact. It just gets rolled up, anyway.

Step 4. Pinch the bottom where the slits on both sides end and roll up.

Step 5. After rolling, pinch the ends of the fringe and fold together.

Step 6. Hold the tassel with one hand while grabbing the ribbon with another. Tie the ribbon around the neck of the tassel in a double knot, leaving a 3/4" loop. Cut any excess ribbon. (Friendly help encouraged here!)

Step 7. String your twine through the loops of your tassels and display!

These mini tassels can be made with any pattern, and can be hung just about anywhere! For more festive DIY ideas, visit our website!

Wunderfaire Photos

We had a lovely time last night at the IDEO Wunderfaire craft show. It was a great warm up for this weekend's Bazaar Bizarre where we will have a booth Saturday and Sunday!

It was great to see our friend Stacy of Pancake & Franks at the show last night.

Some cute kids clothes from Vivi Kids.

We forgot who made these wood necklaces but we loved them!

Some really neat lego jewelry from emiko-o.

Stewey & Heather looking adorable in our booth last night. Visit us this weekend for great deals on wrapping paper, holiday cards, and more! We have a sale bin and we want to empty it! Details for Bazaar Bizarre here.

Sunday in Color

I love, love, love beautiful children's design, especially lovely French things, so needless to say I was super excited for the launch of my super fabulous friend Sonia's new shop, Sunday in Color.

The site features collections of her favorite gorgeous toys, decor, and stationery from different countries - France, Thailand, Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands...how adorable are these Japanese globefish paper balloons?

and this adorable little mouse in a box by the Danish lifestyle design company, Maileg? So sweet.

Or this basket by Petit Pan, one of my favorite shops in Paris - so excited to be able to buy some of their things here!

We're super excited to be able to offer our lovely readers a 15% discount on everything in the shop until October 31st.  Just use the coupon code "hellolucky" at checkout.

The Sweetest Day Giveaway!

Today is the Sweetest Day! For those of you who are unfamiliar, the Sweetest Day is a holiday in which we are encouraged to do something kind or give something sweet to our loved ones or those who could use some love. It began in Cleveland, Ohio in 1922 when a kind gentleman and local candy company employee Herbert Birch Kingston wanted to give candy to the less fortunate people in his community. It's since spread nation wide and every third Saturday in October we take time to do something sweet for others. In celebration of this lovely day, we're giving away our letterpress greeting card Sweet On You! Leave a comment below telling us how you're celebrating the Sweetest Day and we'll send one lucky winner this card. The winner will be contacted on Tuesday, October 23rd. Good luck and Happy Sweetest Day! xo

 

Studio Craft Night!

We try to use our stock pile of crafting supplies as often as we can around here. And we love it when our employees stay after work to get some crafting done.

This week designers Shayna and Kelly made some amazing paper crafts to decorate our white walls. We're especially loving these paper pinwheels. Our team hot glued buttons to the centers for an extra pop of color. Cute! Want to try your own? Smock has a handy tutorial for making paper pinwheels with patterned paper. They make great table decor or aisle markers at a wedding, too. Match the patterned papers to your invites and you'll have a dream decor.

 

Halloween Costume Sneak Peek!

Halloween is just over the horizon, so it's time, once again, for another possibly overly ambitious halloween costume!  This year's costume is inspired by the boys' various sea creature obsessions - Jude happens to be a big fan of turtles at the moment, and this concept was inspired by a turtle embroidery kit that our mom did back in the 70's.

The idea is to have the shell be made from a piece of patchwork which will then be stuffed with batting for a cool soft sculpture look - I have a feeling Jude's really going to enjoy throwing himself around once he realizes being ensconced in this costume will make him semi-impervious to doing himself bodily harm. The overall costume will have a front and back shell attached to each other with wide bands of fabric and elastic, paired with a green long sleeved tee and leggings. Some cute rosy cheeks, a red sassy bandana, and voilà! Turtle-y goodness!

Of course, Sabrina's twins James and Alex must have coordinating costumes! James loves starfish and suction cups right now, so our plan is to make him a plush starfish costume with suction cups glued all over the front like starfish feet. Possibly a bit of a patchwork look on the back to match Jude's 70's vibe. Still have to sort out the logistics of the neckline - fingers crossed!

Alex is going to be a jelly fish - essentially an organza or other sheer fabric fashioned into a bubble skirt with some tulle for structure, worn decorated with shimmery paillettes and ribbon tentacles. It will be blue so we don't compromise his masculinity TOO much!  Love the idea of a little starfish perched on his head as an homage to James.

We're thinking that the dads will be dressed as fisherman, complete with pipes, yellow hats, and stripey shirts. Sabrina and I are tbd - possibly mermaids (really just an excuse to own a pair of metallic American Apparel leggings) although we are toying with turning Sabrina, who is very pregnant at the moment, into a pufferfish, her belly being perfectly proportioned!

Stay tuned, the crafting begins in full force this week! We'll be sure to post photos of the finished costumes here!

And the Last Lucky Friday Winner Is... Oh my!

With such an outpouring of Lucky Friday Love, we couldn't choose just one winner! Instead we chose ONE LUCKY WINNER to receive the ten thank you cards— *PLUS* we're going to give away one card to FIVE OTHER LUCKY WINNERS!  Yay! We couldn't help ourselves. It's Friday!

So, without further ado (or adieu) here are the FIVE LUCKY WINNERS: Erica, Emily C, Tasha, Alisia and Richelle! We'll contact you each to receive a surprise thank you design.

And... drumroll please... the Luckiest Lucky Friday winner of TEN THANK YOU CARDS IS:

 MARY!

We'll contact all the winners early next week.

Thank you all so much for the Hello!Lucky love.

Stay in touch!

XOXO

 

 

Lucky Friday Finale!

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the Grand Finale for our Lucky Friday Giveaway!  Each Friday we've featured one of our letterpress greeting cards. This week, to celebrate, we're going to choose ONE SUPER-DUPER SPECIAL WINNER to receive a selection of ten beautiful thank you cards as our way of saying thanks for all your lovely comments over the years! Post a comment by 12 p.m. PST the following Thursday, and we’ll announce our extra lucky winner on the following Friday!

The winners from last week are (drum roll, please): Zoe, Brianna and Shay B! We’ll contact you soon to arrange sending your TYPE(FACE) SORRY card.

Design: We couldn't decide on just one—with so many dear and delicious designs to choose from— so we settled on a tall, short stack of thank-yous. Artist: From the Moyle with the Mostest, to Rockin' Rothman, our selection will be a short list of the finest designs. Inspiration:  We've been so inspired by all our gracious, gorgeous, globe-trotting, card-craving clientele— we wish we could thank you all! Who to send them to: If it's ten friends you want to high-five, or one friend who deserves ten times the love, you can savor choosing the lucky one or two or three or... Favorite detail: We could get lost in all the sweet details; it's nice knowing there's a thank you for everybody. Why letterpress? Our love of letterpress is what started the whole shebang, and for that we give thanks!

Don't forget to post your comment, and tune in next week to see our last, luckiest winner!