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
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:
Lucky Friday Week #3!
Now onto the third edition of our weekly feature: Lucky Fridays! Each Friday, we’ll feature one of our letterpress cards. Then we’ll choose THREE LUCKY WINNERS to get a free card. Post a comment by 12 p.m. PST the following Thursday, and we’ll announce the winners on the following Friday!
The three winners from last week are (drum roll, please):
Melissa, Anneleen and Amorette!
Heather will contact you shortly to arrange sending your Stinky Skunk Card!
This week’s feature:
Design: Support
Artist: Julia Rothman
Inspiration: We don’t mean to leave you hanging, but we’ll tell you when you’re older.
Send it to: A female confidant, a bosom friend, or a gentleman that you wish to befuddle udderly.
Our Favorite Detail: We like that we can’t quite tell if the lingerie style depicted is staying abreast of the trends, or if it’s a little behind the times.
Ideas we scrapped for this one: We were a little “strapped” for ideas for a men’s version of the card.
Why Letterpress? Gives you the street cred to make designer in-jokes about Pantone and PMS, type-drawers and point size. (Whuh?!)
Don't forget to post your comment and check next Friday to see if you’ve won!
Julia's Super Gorgeous Invitation!
We are thrilled to welcome the very talented Julia Kostreva to our fab design team. She designed this gorgeous invitation suite...
Don't you just love the split fountain printing (that super cool blend from limey green to orange)...
...and the hand drawn type? We do!
This was printed by the always fantastic Studio on Fire...
Trunk Show with Duchess + Elizabeth Dye!
We are thrilled to announce that we are hosting a trunk show with Duchess Custom Clothier (sartorial splendor!) and Elizabeth Dye (dreamy dresses!) Please join us!
Elizabeth will be showing her full 2011 collection as well as some unique pieces, and Duchess will be showcasing gorgeous custom suits. Both are based in Portland so be sure to take advantage of this opportunity to meet them in SF!
Hello!Lucky will be previewing new wedding stationery designs and offering free wedding invitation samples.
For more information or to book an appointment, please e-mail info@hellolucky.com
La Moustache Party de Mr. Hugo
We were very pleased to be invited the La Moustache Party de Mr. Hugo (who you may remember from his recent appearance as a French clown)...
His mom, Vanessa, is hilarious and quite the style maven, and she did not disappoint with the many cute and funny details!
Like these snappy little moustache cupcake toppers (the cupcakes were DELICIOUS - from That Takes the Cake)
and these hard candy lollipops...
She had all kinds of simple, yet ingenious, touches - Washi tape bands add cute graphic flair to plain glass bottles...
Love these little paper cups!
Of course, one must have a selection of moustaches on a stick! These fab paper 'staches available here and the wooden 'staches here...
...and we loved the hilarious bunting made from photos of famous mustaschioed gentlemen - ah, Tom Selleck...
And the random celebratory moustache imagery that popped up in unexpected places...love those Y-fronts!
Ah, how we love a well-designed par-tay! Bonne anniversaire, Mr. Hugo!
Nice Drawers!
Found this gorgeous handmade chest of apothecary drawers on Etsy at a little shop called redroosterbab. Imagine the crafting potential! And the potential to indulge our weakness for hoarding crafting materials.
What a nice piece for a rustic wedding, to hold secret guest favors, or escort cards. Maybe a stretch, maybe not?
They can be custom ordered in all sorts of beautiful colors, too.
As kids, our best friend's enigmatic father kept an old library card catalog full of manner of mysterious goodies. Nostalgia!
Fun with Parallels!
Wow! We realized what Julia Rothman's new wedding invitation design, Daydream, reminded us of. A potter friend of Hello!Lucky makes whimsical work that coordinates beautifully with this design!
See what we mean? Pretty swell, huh? Jana Evans is the creator of this fun and funky porcelain— all hand made! She wheel-throws and hand-builds and then etches all those fine lines. Beautiful and fascinating stuff! But the curves and lines just made us draw parallels (so to speak!) to Daydream.
Jana is doing an artist residency at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. It's a mecca for clay and ceramic enthusiasts and pros. Check out the Bray website by clicking on the link above if you're interested in seeing more amazing work!
Had to share this fun pitcher, jar, and bowl set too. Can't get enough of that drippy green glaze! Gorgeous!
Design By Leftovers on Design Milk
Good Morning! Wow! We needed a pick-me-up with our coffee and these VIVID pieces did the trick. Aren't they gorgeous!? Found on Design Milk— their creators are a Swedish group called Design By Leftovers. The above piece is called San Francisco Leftovers. Yes, Ma'am!
We'll take two, please. They're small.
Sometimes one just needs a triple shot of color to get going in the morning, no?
Jude's Big Top Birthday!
Saturday was Jude's first birthday party, and what a fun little fête it was!
We served fresh popcorn in vintage style popcorn boxes, sugar cookies frosted with royal icing (so fun to paint!) and delicious cupcakes with chocolate frosting with little flags made from ribbon and satay sticks - classic birthday treats!
The cake was a yellow cake with buttercream frosting, with a cute little banner (it's been a hot trend this year, and I couldn't help myself - so perfect for the circus theme!) And how perfect were these napkins? I found them (as well as stripey straws, paper fringe and more) at a super adorable little shop called Shop Sweet Lulu!
We provided clown noses, for those who didn't happen to have any appropriate circus attire on hand...
...or who just happen to look ridiculously cute in one...
We made these charming birthday hats out of pom poms, ruffly paper trim, stickers and poster board - so fun!
One of Jude's birthday presents was this amazing Schylling baby piano that Sabrina picked up at the super marvelous shop Paxton Gate's Curiosities for Kids which was a big hit at the party - she brought over hers too so we could have dueling pianos...
Jude, striking a pose...
One of Jude's friends, the ever charming Miss Eva, arrived dressed as a tiger! How apropos, given the presence of this Ring 'o' Fire - hilarious!
We painted an upside down flower pot to look like a circus pedestal - a perfect place to pose this vintage Dumbo doll and his strong man friend...and I made simple striped slip covers for our ottomans to transform our living room into an instant big top!
Now, a great party is all about enthusiastic guests: Sabrina's son James, seemingly unperturbed by his amusing head wear and sporting a natty suit! Quite the sartorial splendor!
Darling Hugo, who's half French, looking very adorable as a tiny French clown!
Our friends Jillian and Toast of Because We Can, came in hilarious cowboy attire...(props to Jillian for staying up 'til the wee hours the night before decorating cookies!)
The whole family, getting our circus on...
Alas, the birthday boy was a little less than enthusiastic about sporting a birthday hat!
Sabrina and her son Alex, having a jolly time! (How could you not, while double fisting kazoos??)
The party reached it's peak with an all kazoo birthday salute!
Happy Birthday, Jude!
We'll be posting tutorials for the Ring of Fire, Pennants, Circus Sugar Cookies, the cake topper and more, all week, so stay tuned!
Heartland Evolution
We thought y'all might be interested in seeing all the great ways we've riffed our Heartland/Apple Farm design. So many people have adapted it to their own farm setting— so we thought it would be nice to share! Above is our original Apple Farm design on the left and a super cute version that Melanie Case commissioned on the right. Love the apple and orange on the same branch, brilliant!
How sweet— a Michigan Cherry orchard and a ceremony in Sun Valley Idaho! Love the horseshoes and the cowboy chic.
Then Eunice did a great riff on the Sun Valley Idaho version for Shannon and Jason and their Texas ranch wedding. It's fun to see the two versions of the trees— we got it right on the bottom RSVP with the more deciduous looking variety. Check out the adorable Super 8 film of their wedding here.
Another great aspect about Heartland is that we can often substitute motifs from our other designs with great results! The motif from our Vintage Rose design was perfect for the garden wedding on the left, and our Mi Amor birds went wonderfully with the Mexican flags on the right!
Such a perfect design for a Napa wedding!
Let us know if you'd love any of these designs for your wedding by contacting info@hellolucky.com. Take a screen shot and send it along via e-mail, or give us a call to ask about the process of using one of these fabulous rustic wedding invitation designs.
Introducing Lucky Fridays!
We're delighted to announce a new weekly feature: Lucky Fridays! Each Friday, we'll feature one of our letterpress cards. Then we'll choose THREE LUCKY WINNERS to get a free card. Post a comment by 12 p.m. PST the following Thursday, and we'll announce the winners on the following Friday!
Design: Oompah Band
Artist: Esther Aarts
Inspiration: Tahoe Swiss Chalet restaurant; Swiss Oompah bands, Lowly Worm, Esther's fabulous retro illustrations
Send it to: Your best drinking buddy, nephew who is learning to play the recorder (gateway to any number of crazy, erm, AWESOME, instruments), anyone who plays the flugelhorn or tuba.
Our favorite detail: The musicians' curly chins
Ideas we scrapped for this one: Dutch milkmaid milking a flower-garland & bell-bedecked cow: "Happy Birthday! Milk it for all it's worth!" Erm, might conjure up image of cow's udder...
Why letterpress? Makes it feel like an heirloom you found in your Swiss uncle's attic, next to his size 56XXL lederhosen.
Photo credit: Alan Morrison via Just Brass
Remember, post a comment and check back next Friday to see if you won!
designworklife
Love this blog, designworklife. We found they had posted about our Jude Turns 1 party invitation, and in the process turned up all sorts of beautiful things! Foremost in our minds today were these amazing wee artist books by Elsa Mora (click on her name and be awed at her cut paper creations!)
Be sure not to get completely derailed by Elsa's amazing stuff, though, as there are all other sorts of goodies to see on designworklife.
Enjoy!
Invitation evolution & inspiration
Many of our designs start as custom commissions created in collaboration with our clients -- and take on a new life from there! Our Big Day invitation is a great example -- originally created for bride Jean Weisman, a writer who wrote the invitation copy, the design was featured in Martha Stewart Weddings along with the rest of Jean & Devin's gorgeous wedding (planned by AE Planning & Design). We made a version that could be ordered on our website...
...and adapted a DIY version for our new book, Handmade Weddings...
A bride in Brooklyn loved the design but wanted us to replace the Golden Gate with the Brooklyn Bridge, and put her own unique spin on the text...
... and we created an invitation in a similar style for Bear Flag Farm...
Here's a save the date variation with photos and cute flags!
Today we spotted this design on Brooklyn Bride and this design by Kenzie Kate -- more designs inspired by Big Day?
Regardless, this is a shout-out to all of our awesome, creative clients, who give us the opportunity to create new designs every day!
Photo credit (top): Sabine Scherer
Papercraft
We spotted Papercraft over on Book by its Cover - incredible! Obviously, we love all things paper, and this book is no exception. Let the crafting begin!
Happy Valentine's Day!
This is a message we can all take to heart. xo
Lynette Andreasen's Metalwork and Jewelry
Adore Lynette Andreasen's work! She incorporates embroidery into a lot of her metal sculpture and jewelry. Love the contrast of textures.
Embroidered flowers on a pewter plate. Gorgeous and utterly fascinating! Want it!
That would be quite a piece to wear out on Valentine's Day, no?
Love the shadow, the silhouette and the softness of the fibers.
This one reminds us a touch of Joel Dewberry's Ironwork and Architecture designs. Love, love!
La Mascarade
How incredible is this children's masquerade?
Now this is a party I'd love to go to! So inspiring!
Shot by Imke Klee and Antonios Mitsopoulos and styled by Estelle Gaubert, for Desastre Exquis Magazine Paris
Yarn wrapped Monograms
If you are looking for inexpensive baby or wedding decor project, look no further than this yarn wrapped monogram from Evie S. - such a cute idea! We can easily see a couple of these spelling out a baby's name or with an ampersand as a fun wedding element...the possibilities are endless! This project reminds us of our yarn wrapped bottles from our new book, Handmade Weddings!
Full instructions here. Via Creature Comforts.
Gorgeous New Zealand Linens
LOVE THESE! Artist Melina Martin from Wellington illustrates and silk screens these beautiful designs for table runners, tea towels and pillows. Found her here on Etsy.
She draws her inspiration from the nature and culture of New Zealand.
Maybe we see a little Maori influence here?
Beautiful! And what a backdrop! We would like to go visit, please...?