Prairie Collective is an SF favorite

We're sure all you blog lovers out there are familiar with Design*Sponge's Friday column, "We Like it Wild." Here in San Francisco, we love it wild. Fortunately, we have access to the most creative wild collectors in the area! To continue with the ecological theme, we're thrilled to shine a little light on the crew behind the scenes.

Local shop Prairie Collective provides top quality floral arrangements, and home & personal accessories - one location, two businesses. What we love most is their use of natural, raw materials and clean presentations. Studio Choo, the floral purveyor, is the collaboration of Alethea and Jill, friends and florists with an eye for design. They are also the authors of We Like it Wild, and get to scour the land for beautiful, naturally grown plants.

What is the perfect pair to your green accessories? Jewelry, of course! Magpie and Rye is the home & body accessory portion that stocks some incredible geometric and organic style pieces. What we're loving right now? Arrows & stones! They also have stunning home products that will add a bold touch to your space.

Check out more from Studio Choo and Magpie and Rye online, or go visit them at Prairie Collective, 262 Divisadero St. in San Francisco!

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!

Real Wedding: Erin and Nick in Sonoma

We're thrilled to share Erin and Nick's beautiful Sonoma wedding! There were bushels of beautiful photographs, taken by Kate Harrison Photography, so it was hard for us to choose! Nevertheless, we narrowed them down as best we could— all the more for you to savor!

Such a fun and stylish wedding party! The ladies have such beautiful bouquets and we love the simplicity of the boutonnieres.

Our Heartland wedding stationery was a perfect choice for the style and venue!

Love the door at the altar—this photo is so magical!

Such a fun way to escort guests to their places!

And such splendid places!

Congrats, Erin and Nick. We wish you all the best! And thanks again to Kate Harrison for sharing the beautiful images!

Pottery Barn Decorating Workshop

Last weekend, we got to teach a special event decorating workshop at Pottery Barn at Stanford Mall and at Chestnut Street in San Francisco!  We shared DIY craft ideas from Handmade Weddings, along with party & wedding decorating tips. I, for one, had been clueless about Pottery Barn's awesome entertaining selection before the workshop -- turns out the have fabulous glass drink dispensers, cake stands, linen-wrapped candles, and mercury glass votives -- all great accent pieces that make a table scape feel polished and stylish!

We showed the class how to decorate a table in two different styles: Romantic (left) and Happy Graphic (right), using similar projects in different palettes to show just how easy it is to create a unique look. The flowers were picked out by our friend, florist Nancy Liu Chin (we did a DIY arrangement -- Nancy, hope we did your flowers justice!).

We started with recycled glass jars, which we wrapped in linen and stretch denim and stenciled with table numbers - the same project gets a totally different look just by choice of materials.

We finished each wrap with a simple row of stitched "X"s. They slip on and off easily, and you can reuse the containers -- no special sewing skills needed!  We wrapped books in papers matching each palette to use as risers, adding height to the table (helped achieve a pleasing pyramid composition. And who doesn't have some books lying around? So easy!).

The Happy Graphic side featured a palette of reds, yellows, and blues plus kraft and denim accent textures. We incorporated patterns with fabric-wrapped favors and DIY bread basket liner.

We added graphic pop with an easy fabric-covered button napkin ring and striped dollar store party favors (who knows what these things are called?! please tell us!).

Drink flags are one of our favorite party details.  All you need are bamboo skewers (available at most super markets) and ribbon or paper. We did a simple satin ribbon flag for the Romantic side...

...and a paper pennant for the Happy Graphic side.

Thanks to Pottery Barn for hosting us, and to all the wonderful folks who attended the workshops - it was great meeting you!

Dreamy Candies at Andie's Specialty Sweets

Remember the sweet little sugar buttons we featured a while back? Andie's Specialty Sweets in Los Angeles has broadened their beautiful repertoire to include these gorgeous goodies:

Absolutely adore these acorns. And they're chocolate filled, with a cocoa bean in the center!

And this edible sugar skeleton key is fabulous! Reminds us of our Whimsy Save the Date.

Be sure to visit the Etsy Shop, here and find more sweet sculpted delights.

Pot + Pantry: 7X7 Best of the City!

We're mighty proud of Donna for winning 7 x 7's award for her adorable housewares shop, Pot + Pantry in Noe Valley/Mission in SF! It was less than a year ago that she left us to start it all up, so we toast her honor.

And we had to share these hilarious cookies with you, perhaps as inspiration for Father's Day gifts, or just as a clever treat for the carnivores in your life:

Of course, the presentation is key.  It was all part of a "Meat Market" show she did a week or so ago.

Check out the Pot + Pantry Blog for more fun.

It all made us think of our BBQ Parade Father's Day Card.

Happy hunting!

Reminder— A Midsummer's Eve Affair, Tomorrow, June 4th!

Come craft with us tomorrow, at a Paper Source near you! See you there!

Summer Streamers and DIY Party Decor

The DIY experts over at Made recently posted this tutorial on creating colorful streamers that we absolutely love!

Wouldn't this make great decor for a summer wedding?

Perhaps a great compliment to our Mi Amour design with Mexican paper flags?

Sewing paper ... how perfect!

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!

Kate Spade at Bed Bath and Beyond!

As you may have gathered by now, we are big fans of Kate Spade. So we were super thrilled to hear that Bed Bath and Beyond is featuring a new line of bedding by Kate Spade.  Picked up on it first on Family Style and we had to share.

Just love the tangy colors! Images courtesy Bed Bath and Beyond— be sure to have a look on their site as the colors are actually a little more vivid than you see here.

Or if you're more into graphic minimal, these stripes might suit splendidly.

Ooh, and these cheerful heirloom roses would surely keep a bedroom sunny! Love!

Enjoy perusing, here.

And again, a little plug, since we wouldn't want to miss you if you should happen to be in NYC:

Visit Hello!Lucky at the National Stationery Show, booth # 1536.

May 15th – 18th from 9-6

Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York City

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.

A Midsummer Eve's Affair— Save the Date!

Here's a little teaser for an exciting upcoming crafting event:

Click on this link to the Paper Source website for more details, and to register for a workshop near you!

James & Alex's Cardboard Box Birthday!

Sabrina's twin sons James and Alex's cardboard-box themed 1st birthday party was this past Saturday - it was a huge success!

It all started one night with some hilarious antics involving a Huggies box...

...which made Sabrina think that cardboard boxes would be the perfect theme for their party! It also worked perfectly with a happy graphic style inspired by Paul & Ann Rand's Sparkle & Spin, a favorite since childhood!

The invitations were printed on kraft board with box-inspired envelopes. The party was billed as B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Box)!

We transformed cardboard boxes into all kinds of vehicles for the party -- a car...

...a prop jet...

...and a castle guarded by Ugly Dolls, ducks, and piggies...

...and a fierce / playful dragon!

Monsieur Hugo, a party-goer, aboard a cardboard bus...

Fun custom balloons were a graphic accent...

...along with mini-box favors (instructions can be found in our book, Handmade Weddings)...

...and paper hats!

Cardboard flowers in yarn-wrapped bottles (instructions are also in Handmade Weddings), sodas and stripe-y straws...

Eunice & Sabrina with cousins Jude and Alex eyeing each other...

Happy 1st birthday, James & Alex!

Special thanks to our friend Jillian Northrup of Because We Can for the amazing photos - check out her photo stream here. And props to Noe Valley Bakery for making the delicious cake based on our design! And finally, high-fives to Craft Night for your cardboard creativity (you know who you are!)!

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!

Bow-tie paper clip DIY

Spotted this cute DIY over at How About Orange...such a cute and easy idea to brighten up your paper clip collection. We think this would be a super cute idea for place cards too! Just use a different color or pattern for each escort card and then use the same fabric to decorate each table - your guests can even wear the paper clips on their lapels! See the full instructions here.

Midsummer Night's Dreamy

Love these bone china tea lights/votive holders by Karin Erikkson.  Would be so dreamy for an evening's reception at a rustic chic wedding.

And we thought these vellum cut paper votives would be beautiful for an asian-themed wedding reception. Gives us DIY ideas, wethinks.

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

Teeny Hand-Blown Bottles

How gorgeous and adorable are these! Hand blown borosilicate glass bottles, made from the same sort of glass as Pyrex and your everyday run-of-the-mill scientific glassware. Amazing!

We have a weakness for miniature things anyhow, so we really have a shine on these. Love green glass!

Lordy! A wine bottle and a teeny Erlenmeyer flask!  The maker is a pro and has a degree in scientific glass blowing, but the work is surprisingly affordable. The etsy shop is called Kivaford. Imagine our surprise! Wouldn't these be fab as wedding favors, for wee bud vases?

Studio Snapshot: Moving Day!

We all love to know what goes on behind the scenes - a glimpse into the kitchen of that hot new restaurant or the chance to sit at the drawing board of our favorite fashion designer... we're giddy at the thought!  So in the spirit of sharing, we welcome you to our latest weekly feature - Studio Snapshot.  You might get a sneak peek at a snazzy new design we're dreaming up, hear about fun happenings around the studio, or meet some of the awesome people who make Hello!Lucky a super fun place to work!

Our current project is a little office makeover and here Lillian organizes samples in preparation for their shift across the studio.  How gorgeous is that shelf with its lacy carved details?  It was custom made just for us by our lovely and talented friends at Because We Can!

The result of all that hard work is a bright and airy space where customers can browse stationery, buy the latest greeting card or discuss custom wedding invitations with our helpful staff.  Pop in and say hello!

We adore this charming turquoise settee for spontaneous client chats and our giant farmhouse table is just the place for full scale design brainstorming!

Rows and rows of organized samples make it easy to spot favorite designs and gather inspiration!

A letterpress dress?  Oh yes!  This festive number was handmade by one of our crafty employees with Cherry Blossom save the date and RSVP cards.  Could there be a new trend in paper bridesmaid dresses?

A travel themed display showcases some adorable variations on our Destination Series created with local design duo Lab Partners.

With so many vivid colors and sweet little details its hard to pick a favorite but we're always going to be partial to our home sweet home - good old San Francisco!

We hope to see you soon!

Sweet vintage button designs!

Swooning over these particularly gorgeous edible sugar buttons from andiespecialtysweets.

They come in chocolate for those who like a little kick, and a little more of a rustic feel.

They make us recall of one our sweetest custom save the date designs— a  darling variation on Big Day!  Drop us a line if you're interested in this design for your wedding: