Lucky Friday # 33, Halloween Card Giveaway!

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the 33rd edition of our Lucky Friday Giveaway! Each Friday we feature one of our letterpress cards. 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):

Ruth, Sara and Wolfie!

We’ll contact you next week to arrange sending your Going Places card!

Now for this week's spooky selection:

Design: Skeleton Fiesta Artist: Eunice Moyle Inspiration: Cleaning a closet full of vintage souvenirs we found some spooky sugar skulls and thought we ought not just let our calaveras out of the closet, but give them maracas and let them party! Who to send it to: Any guy, ghoul or witch with whom you have a funny bone to pick. Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one: An archaeology-themed romantic Halloween card reading "I Dig Your Bones" gave us the shudders, and our "Happy Howl- a-Ween" card with an "Owl-len Ginsberg" cartoon reading from HOWL— never mind— forget we ever said that. Favorite detail: The fact that the itsy-bitsy spider is depicted with all 28375764 of its eyes makes us cringe with ghoulish glee. Why letterpress? Nothing else could quite capture all the crisply creepy detail.

Don’t forget to post your comment, and tune in next week, same time, different stationery, to see if you’ve won!

Lucky Friday # 31! Julia Rothman's Robots!

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the 31st edition of our Lucky Friday Giveaway! Each Friday we feature one of our letterpress cards. 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!

Back from our brief hiatus, here is this week's card:

Design: Robots Artist: Julia Rothman Inspiration: Witnessing a short circuit crash our batteries-not-included Roomba into our computer desk gave us a deep thought. Who to send it to: Any humanoid named Rosie, Wally or particularly Marvin; or a hot bot with a birthday in the distant future— the year 2000. Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one: We let the paranoid android jokes go the way of the difference engine, and the strangely risqué robot card reading "Byte Me" obsolesced faster than the Tandy. Favorite Detail: Love the little K-9. And the Bohr model balloon fills us with nuclear age nostalgia. Why Letterpress? Such futuristic subject matter requires equally futuristic print technology.

Don’t forget to post your comment, and tune in next week, same time, different stationery, to see if you’ve won!

Lucky Friday # 30! An Epic Birthday Card!

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the 29th edition of our Lucky Friday Giveaway! Each Friday we feature one of our letterpress cards. 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):

Rachael, Lauren and Brian C!

We’ll contact you next week to arrange sending your Cup of Tea!

Now for this week’s edition:

Design: Epic Birthday

Artist: Eunice Moyle

Inspiration: After consulting the oracle we were thunderstruck with visions of divine design & pierced through the heart with love for letterpress!

Who to send it to: a buddy having a big birthday bacchanal, a femme fatale with a face to sink a thousand ships, or an Adonis with an Achilles heel for fine print.

Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one: Our "Stoic Stationery" jokes couldn't even crack a smile & we didn't dare even look at using Medusa.

Favorite detail: We're still a little giggly about how Zeus and the Minotaur have the same labyrinthine chest hair.

Why letterpress? Must avoid cause for clash of our Titans of Typesetting.

Don’t forget to post your comment, and tune in next week, same time, different stationery, to see if you’ve won!

Lucky Friday #29! Esther Aarts is our Cup of Tea!

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the twenty-ninth edition of our Lucky Friday Giveaway! Each Friday we feature one of our letterpress cards. 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):

Emily Masters, Whitney and Ayana!

We’ll contact you next week to arrange sending your Good Show card.

Now for this week’s edition:

Design: Cup of Tea Artist: Esther Aarts Inspiration: Two cups Cubism and a dash of Deco, steeped deeply in Esther's brew of brilliance. Who to send it to: A friend with whom you'd love to share a cup, a potter you wish to invite to sup, an herbalist on your list, or a tea lover you hope will be THE lover. Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one: "You're the cream in my coffee, the spice in my cider, the lime in my lager, the malt in my milk, the rocks in my scotch, the twist in my tonic, the juniper in my gin..." we couldn't figure out how to end it (let alone, draw it!?) Favorite detail: We're tickled pink by how many hearts she has hidden. Why Letterpress? Such fine stationery suits Esther's style to a tea.

Don’t forget to post your comment, and tune in next week, same time, different stationery, to see if you’ve won!

Lucky Friday # 28, Good Show!

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the twenty-eighth edition of our Lucky Friday Giveaway! Each Friday we feature one of our letterpress cards. 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):

Lisa, Denise and Jessica N!

We’ll contact you next week to arrange sending your Barrow o' Bananas card.

Now for this week’s edition:

Design: Good Show

Artist: Eunice Moyle

Inspiration: Considering the artistic acrobatics and feats of strength, skill and endurance that go into putting on a Good Show, a fine card is a fitting reward.

Who to send it to: A lovely lion-tamer, a serious sword swallower, a truly talented trapeze artist, or a high-lonesome singer out on the circuit.

Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one: We thought of entitling it "Break a Leg," but that was too risky!

Favorite detail: The dainty, teeny feet of the daring, dashing trick rider.

Why letterpress? Why, no other method would suitably show the fineries of such a dashing an Edwardian equestrian.

Don’t forget to post your comment, and tune in next week, same time, different stationery, to see if you’ve won!

Lucky Friday #27, Sock Monkeys Gone Bananas

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the twenty-seventh edition of our Lucky Friday Giveaway! Each Friday we feature one of our letterpress cards. 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):

Lindsey M, Adele Jackson, and Echo Dannelle!

We’ll contact you next week to arrange sending your Sucker for You card.

Now for this week’s edition:

Design: Barrow o' Bananas

Artist: Eunice Moyle

Inspiration: We could hardly think of any happier combo than barrow of bananas and a barrel of (sock) monkeys! But any monkey is bound to go bananas with a barrow all to himself!

Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one: A gaggle of gracious geese, An orange orangutan on a pile of oranges reading "Orange I Lucky?!"

Who to send it to: A person or primate who made your day a little (or a lot!) sweeter.

Favorite detail: Sock monkeys aren't too skilled at delayed gratification, 'twould seem.

Why letterpress? We would never monkey around with our greeting cards.

Don’t forget to post your comment, and tune in next week, same time, different stationery, to see if you’ve won!

Lucky Friday # 26! Sucker for you.

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the twenty-sixth edition of our Lucky Friday Giveaway! Each Friday we feature one of our letterpress cards. 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):

Kendra, Amanda and Camille!

We’ll contact you next week to arrange sending your Treat Yourself card.

Now for this week’s edition:

Design: Sucker for you

Artist: Eunice Moyle

Inspiration: We’re suckers for silly puns about cephalopods.

Who to send it to: Someone you’re really stuck on, friends of the lollipop guild, a soccer lover lover who’s a sucker for psychic sea-creatures.

Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one: “Inking of You.” ‘Nuff said.

Favorite detail: Only an octopus could fall so heels over head!

Why Letterpress? If pressed, an romantic octopus card might get you out of (or into) a tight squeeze.

Don’t forget to post your comment, and tune in next week, same time, different stationery, to see if you’ve won!

Lucky Friday # 25, Treat Yourself to a Julia Rothman Birthday Card!

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the twenty-fifth edition of our Lucky Friday Giveaway! Each Friday we feature one of our letterpress cards. 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):

Mirabelle, Joseph and Mary!

We’ll contact you early next week to arrange sending your Octo Sailors card.

Now for this week’s edition:

Design: Treat Yourself

Artist: Julia Rothman

Inspiration: A sugar smorgasbord from Swedish fishes to licorices, it's every designer's desire to depict the decadent-est of birthday wishes..

Who to send it to: Your sweetie, a sweet sixteen, a sweet tween or a sugarplum fairy queen (or king.)

Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one: A menagerie of sweet creatures living on the big rock candy mountain: Chocolate bunnies, peppermint pigs, swedish fish, licorice scotties, jelly babies, gummy bears and... a candy ass?(!)

Favorite detail: We can’t decide if it’s a box of Andes Mints or Turkish delights! And the candy corns and unicorn horns and tootsie rolls and marshmallows and… !!!!

Why Letterpress: Because that's how we print our sweet greeting cards— letterpress is the icing on the cake.

Don’t forget to post your comment, and tune in next week, same time, different stationery, to see if you’ve won!

Craft inspiration from Felt & Wire

Calling all crafters! Felt and Wire is an excellent source for sprucing up your paper products and gifts. We piled a few of our favorites, but there are endless choices! Check out their shop here.

(above: Paperphine twine)

Paperfinger stamp

Top Hat tape

Lucky Friday # 24 Octo Sailor Birthday Card

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the twenty-fourth edition of our Lucky Friday Giveaway! Each Friday we feature one of our letterpress cards. 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):

Whitney, Emily and Zoë!

We’ll contact you early next week to arrange sending your Dinosaurs card.

Now for this week’s edition:

Design: Octo Sailors

Artist: Eunice Moyle

Inspiration: A bit of Busby Berkeley birthday stylishly swirly and smiley sailor shenanigans.

Who to send it to: A beloved Octogenarian or perhaps a favored seafarer with a taste for tako.

Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one: “Here’s lookin’ at you, Squid” with a giant squid’s giant fish-eye was too creepy.

Favorite detail: The overall effect of the pinwheel pattern of poly-podes is pretty octo-riffic.

Why letterpress: Octopi (or octopodes, if you prefer), like pressmen, can do a lot with a little squirt of ink.

Don’t forget to post your comment, and tune in next week, same time, different stationery, to see if you’ve won!

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.

Lucky Friday # 23, Julia Rothman's Dinosaurs Card for a BIG little Guy!

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the twenty-third edition of our Lucky Friday Giveaway! Each Friday we feature one of our letterpress cards. 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):

Darilyn, Sherri N and Brenda Eden!

We’ll contact you early next week to arrange sending your Bundle of Joy card.

Now for this week’s edition:

Design: Dinosaurs

Artist: Julia Rothman

Inspiration: Big ideas abound when there’s dinosaurs around!

Who to send it to: For a big birthday for a little guy, terrible lizards make for terrific cards.

Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one:  A surfer stegosaurus on a card that read “Cretaceous, Dude!” But we realized that was waaay bogus.

Favorite detail: The absence of T-Rex lets a little big guy fill in the big blank with a big roar!

Why letterpress: Dinos left some impressive fossilized prints behind— similarly, our ancient technology will withstand the test of time.

Don’t forget to post your comment, and tune in next week, same time, different stationery, to see if you’ve won!

Lucky Friday # 22 Bundle of Joy, Baby Congratulations!

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the twenty-second edition of our Lucky Friday Giveaway! Each Friday we feature one of our letterpress cards. 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):

Mary, Marjolein, and Alyssa!

We’ll contact you early next week to arrange sending your Good Luck card.

Now for this week’s edition:

Design: Bundle of Joy

Artist: Anna Hurley

Inspiration: We don’t quite know how it happened—  something in the water, or a glimmer in the eye— it felt like the idea just fell out of the sky.

Who to send it to: A couple whose wish was granted—that the stork has landed.

Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one: We had a version of the card with a weary looking stork carrying triplets, reading: “Stork Up and Save!”

Favorite detail: We like how the skyline could be most anywhere, but it has a mix of San Francisco urban and Scandinavian flair.

Why Letterpress? You’d be stork raving mad not to send or stock such striking stationery!

Don’t forget to post your comment, and tune in next week, same time, different stationery, to see if you’ve won!

Lucky Friday #21: Esther Aarts Good Luck Card!

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the twenty-first edition of our Lucky Friday Giveaway! Each Friday we feature one of our letterpress cards. 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):

Stephanie, Monique and Amy Marie Wingate!

We’ll contact you early next week to arrange sending your Rock On! card.

Now for this week’s edition:

Design: Good Luck

Artist: Esther Aarts

Inspiration: Hello!Lucky knows a thing or two about the subject at hand.

Who to send it to: A fella hoping luck will be a lady, a woman in want of a wishbone, a chap you wish to charm and cheer on.

Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one: Two chickens pulling on the ends of a wishbone, reading “Good Cluck.”

Favorite detail: Love the Raggedy Ann face on the first place ribbon.

Why letterpress? Sometimes you really should press your luck.

Don’t forget to post your comment, and tune in next week, same time, different stationery, to see if you’ve won!

Fabulous Wedding Gift Guides

Feeling wedding gift blues? Want to give something other than kitchen platters or silverware? We feel your pain. Although wedding registry's are super helpful and a guaranteed success, there's something special about wrapping up the perfect gift for the happy couple. Refinery 29 recently came out with two brilliant gift guides that will have you feeling gift bliss. Here are a few of our favorite suggestions!

Custom Mugs by BROOKLYNrehab (above)

Custom return address stamp by Paperfinger (ideal for sending thank you cards!)

Ideal Bookshelf print by Jane Mount (for their new home together!)

Diana F+ Kirameki Lomography Camera (perfect to capture honeymoon highlights!)

More great gift ideas can be found here: The Ultimate Wedding Gift Guide and Best Host and Hostess Gift Guide

Thanks R29!

Orla Kiely Kitchenware

Have we mentioned how much we love Orla Kiely?  We discovered these delectable earthenware jars in the kitchen section. Sadly, these only ship in the UK, but all the luckier for our British staff and clients. Perhaps we might come to some arrangement with our UK connections?

But there are charming offerings for everyone.

Just a little taste. Visit orlakiely.com for more.

Happy Independence Day!

YAY for the Fourth of July weekend! Our employees are getting ready to celebrate our country's independence, and we're showing our true colors! Lot's of reds, whites and blues popped up in shop today, and we just had to share!

You can write down your Big Ideas for a patriotic theme party!

Many Thanks to our H!L readers! Hope you have a terrific (and safe!) holiday weekend!

Our shop will be closed Monday, July 4th but back in action on the 5th. See you then!

Lucky Friday # 20, Julia Rothman Rocks the Birthday Card

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the twentieth edition of our Lucky Friday Giveaway! Each Friday we feature one of our letterpress cards. 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):

Christa, Jean K and Lindsey!

We’ll contact you early next week to arrange sending your Belated Birthday card.

Now for this week’s edition:

Design: Rock On

Artist: Julia Rothman (or maybe we should call her Julia Rock-man from now on)

Inspiration: Catching a wave of New Wave nostalgia, jonesing for some Joan Jett, or blasting Blondie on the boombox.

Who to send it to: A Jem of a friend or a Misfit on your list.

Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one: Our singer-songwriter version featured a Garfunkel fro wig, a harmonica stand, a tambourine and a pair of Birkenstocks and it read “Happy Folkin’ Birthday.”

Favorite detail: Love that we amped up the palette with some hot pink ink.

Why letterpress? Why guitars, why Chucks, why leather, why letterpress? Dude, because it rocks!

Don't forget to post your comment, and tune in next week, same time, different stationery, to see if you've won!

Hello!Lucky featured in French Paper Sample Room!

The French Paper Sample Room, a site dedicated to designs printed on their various papers, featured a couple of our greeting cards by Esther Aarts!

We use French Paper Construction Cover White Wash for almost all of our trade cards - it's 100% recycled and really makes our inks pop! They've also got a great assortment of colorful envelopes to complement every design. Thanks French!

Lucky Friday #19, Belated Birthday Card

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the nineteenth edition of our Lucky Friday Giveaway! Each Friday we feature one of our letterpress cards. 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, Cozette and Addie!

We’ll contact you early next week to arrange sending your Under the Sea card.

Now for this week’s edition:

Design: Belated Birthday

Artist: Eunice Moyle

Inspiration: Some things just take a little longer, no? But it's worth it!

Who to send it to: Many will admit to being a little sluggish when it comes to sending snail mail, so send it to a friend who you might have left behind on the snail trail.

Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one: For a while we had bees on the brain. “To Bee or not to Bee-lated,” with a harried, flustered postal carrier bee was a clunker.

Favorite detail: The back of the card is cute in an ant-ique kind of way. (see below!)

Why letterpress? Pressmen are busy as bees setting type with coppers, brasses and slugs! (ooh, pardon for being SO letterpresoteric)

Don’t forget to post your comment and check back next week, same time, same stationery (; D), to see if you’ve won!