National Stationery Show!

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Whew! We just wrapped up another National Stationery Show - complete with old friends, new designs and lots and lots of inspiring new work. Our own booth featured a lovely felt sign made by our staff (above) and a couple projects from Handmade Weddings, like these yarn wrapped bottles...

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...and fun paper link chains!

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We were super excited about our new products, like this "Treat Yourself" card from Julia Rothman....

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...and our reversible journals!

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Some amazing people stopped by our booth to visit, but our favorite visitor was Eunice's son Jude - he really put the rest of us to shame with his amazing sales skills!

Hello Lucky's newest salesperson

Real Wedding: Mary & Gregory

Hudson Valley Rustic Wedding

Last week Style Me Pretty featured this beautiful, rustic Hudson Valley wedding of Mary & Gregory. The photography is by the talented Maggie Harkov.Our Heartland design comes to life with this incredible old barn. A perfect venue for a fabulous party!

Heartland Wedding Invitation and RSVP

We absolutely love this DIY chalkboard seating chart!

Heartland Wedding Invitation

Rustic Hudson Valley Wedding

Check out Style Me Pretty for more photos and inspiration!

And if you happen to be anywhere near the Hudson Valley....

Visit us 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.

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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.

General Knot & Company on Snippet and Ink

You may have noticed we're a tad partial to ties. Spotted these splendid knots on Snippet and Ink, from General Knot. Love everything about this business.

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They use vintage fabric finds to make very limited editions of these handsome, handmade-in-the-USA ties.

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Totally dig the tags, too! They look letterpressed...

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We want at least one or two for all the men in our lives, to help us cope with our sudden fit of tie envy.

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Bowties and Neckties

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All of a sudden, we're starting to see super fashionable bowties and neckties and, honestly, its about time! Why should girls have all the fun?! There are some great offerings out there from General Knot & Co (above) and Forage (below).

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Loving these simple graphic ties from J. A. Christensen:

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This Pierrepont Hicks bowtie is reversible!

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Bow-tie paper clip DIY

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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.

Jude's Big Top Birthday: Birthday Cake Banner!

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A slightly tardy post on how make the little flags that topped Mr. Jude's Big Top Birthday Cake (thank you for your patience, dear readers, things have been a little busy here at H!L HQ!)   We thought these little banners were the perfect topper for a circusy cake!  That perfect stripey candle and equally genius napkins found at Shop Sweet Lulu...

Download the tutorial here (with printable flags!)

Sweet vintage button designs!

Swooning over these particularly gorgeous edible sugar buttons from andiespecialtysweets.

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

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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:

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La Moustache Party de Mr. Hugo

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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)...

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His mom, Vanessa, is hilarious and quite the style maven, and she did not disappoint with the many cute and funny details!

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Like these snappy little moustache cupcake toppers (the cupcakes were DELICIOUS - from That Takes the Cake)

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and these hard candy lollipops...

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She had all kinds of simple, yet ingenious, touches - Washi tape bands add cute graphic flair to  plain glass bottles...

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Love these little paper cups!

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Of course, one must have a selection of moustaches on a stick!  These fab paper 'staches available here and the wooden 'staches here...

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...and we loved the hilarious bunting made from photos of famous mustaschioed gentlemen - ah, Tom Selleck...

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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?

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They can be custom ordered in all sorts of beautiful colors, too.

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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!

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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.

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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!

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Had to share this fun pitcher, jar, and bowl set too. Can't get enough of that drippy green glaze! Gorgeous!

Sweet Treats!

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We can't think of any better cure for a case of the Mondays than plates of gorgeous cookies - can you?  Our lovely Kelly has been baking up a storm lately and treating us to heaps of delectable goodies.  So sweet on mismatched vintage china, we can just imagine these pretty cookies as part of a wedding dessert bar!

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Chocolate Chip with Toasted Almonds and buttery Shortbreads with Macadamia Nuts... and oh yes... dipped in more chocolate!  Yum, pass the milk please!

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Jude's Big Top Birthday!

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Saturday was Jude's first birthday party, and what a fun little fête it was!

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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!

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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!

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We provided clown noses, for those who didn't happen to have any appropriate circus attire on hand...

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...or who just happen to look ridiculously cute in one...

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We made these charming birthday hats out of pom poms, ruffly paper trim, stickers and poster board - so fun!

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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...

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Jude, striking a pose...
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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!
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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!
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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!
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Darling Hugo, who's half French, looking very adorable as a tiny French clown!
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spacer spacerOur 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!)
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The whole family, getting our circus on...
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Alas, the birthday boy was a little less than enthusiastic about sporting a birthday hat!
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Sabrina and her son Alex, having a jolly time! (How could you not, while double fisting kazoos??)
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The party reached it's peak with an all kazoo birthday salute!
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Happy Birthday, Jude!
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We'll be posting tutorials for the Ring of Fire, Pennants, Circus Sugar Cookies, the cake topper and more, all week, so stay tuned!

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!)

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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!

Felted, Crocheted Animals

Prepare yourself for some intense cuteness... we thought we'd indulge ourselves a little for Valentine's Day. We have a nostalgic weakness for crocheted stuffed animals. But then, the felted ones are a double-whammy of adorability (pardon the new word.)

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Oh heavens! So cute! We have to share our Beaver Love for Valentine's Day.

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A chenile duckie! We can't decide which is our favorite.  But how great are these for a baby shower, or for a new arrival?

MillieFern on Etsy made these— they are some of the best we've seen.  And of course, I bet you might find or commission a sock monkey.