Lucky Friday Week Six!

Now onto the sixth 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):

Christina Y., Luz B. and Cheryl V.!

Heather will contact you early next week to arrange sending your Going Strong card.

Onto this week's offering:

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Design: Sick Octo

Artist: Eunice Moyle

Inspiration: Surreal dreams about the Octopus’s Garden after slightly suspicious Tako sushi takeout.

Who to send it to: Your favorite immune-compromised “Manic Monday” multi-taskers, moms, managers or minions (or any of the above). Or cheer up someone who feels a little clammy, over his head, underwater, or washed up.

Ideas we scrapped in favor of this one:  We decided to make a gender-neutral octopus to avoid absolutely any association with “Octomom.”

Our favorite detail: We wonder how to make hot tea under the sea?

Why Letterpress? We’re suckers for textured tentacles. And wouldn’t it be handy to hire an octopus typesetter?! And think how much we’d save on ink!

Don’t forget to post your comment on the blog and check next Friday to see if you’ve won!

Midsummer Night's Dreamy

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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.

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

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!

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

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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?

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:

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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!

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We are thrilled to welcome the very talented Julia Kostreva to our fab design team.  She designed this gorgeous invitation suite...

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Don't you just love the split fountain printing (that super cool blend from limey green to orange)...

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...and the hand drawn type?  We do!

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This was printed by the always fantastic Studio on Fire...

Trunk Show with Duchess + Elizabeth Dye!

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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

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!

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!

Oompah Band Letterpress Card

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.

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Photo credit:  Alan Morrison via Just Brass

Remember, post a comment and check back next Friday to see if you won!

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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!

Invitation evolution & inspiration

Jean & Devin's invitation

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...

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...and adapted a DIY version for our new book, Handmade Weddings...

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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...

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... and we created an invitation in a similar style for Bear Flag Farm...

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Here's a save the date variation with photos and cute flags!

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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

Marzipan, anyone?

We were just thinking about how much we love marzipan. So tasty, so gastronomically superior to fondant.

But marzipan is one of those things that can be done really well, or can just as easily fall off the wagon into the territory of hyper-kitsch. We would like to see some cake makers bring back the art of marzipan sculpture. See how charming marzipan can be?

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How 'bout them apples!?

Aren't they just edible?! (Why yes, yes they are.)

Perhaps they could be made in the style of our new Heirloom Harvest, or Lavender Harvest wedding invitation suites?

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Marzipan photos found via Room Candy.

Party Inspiration!

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We came across this super brill on Somewhere Splendid - so cool and inspiring!

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Love the loose, modern, fun approach and the quirky little animal details...

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We have a seriously thing for neon pink and love the way it pops when combined with cool neutrals...

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And, well, seriously, ANYTHING with a meerkat...!  See more here.

Cute Origami Favor Boxes

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How cute are these little origami boxes?  We found them over on Les Surprises de Fifi Mandirac (these are her super adorable papers - love the mixed patterns). She found this on K.Design, a lovely blog with all kinds of cute origami ideas...

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They would make adorable favor boxes and they look pretty easy to make!  You can find the instructions here (they are very clear, but in French, so a quick translation follows, should you need it!)

Row 1: I used a piece of square origami paper (12  x 12 cm or 15 x 15 cm)

Row 2:  Fold along dotted lines

Row 3: Unfold the left and right sides

Row 4: Raise the left side; bring the flap down and inside

Row 5: Repeat on the right side

Conseil:  Tip: to make a cover, use a slightly larger piece of paper

Dana Tanamachi for Weddings!

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We posted on the amazing Dana Tanamachi a little while ago, but we had to bring her up again, because (drum roll please!) she is available to do custom lettering on  anything covered in chalkboard paint - i.e. a totally amazing something something for your wedding!  How amazing would having something like the above be?  Amazing! Cover a sheet of plywood with chalkboard paint and voila! a genius thing for your décor and a fab keepsake!  We could also imagine seriously cool backdrop for the ceremony or a photo booth...We are giddy; oh the possibilities...

This rant a continuation of a rant on 100 Layer Cake...

Essimar

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Ok, totally obsessing over Essimar Papel - the work of artist Esther Ramirez.

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She creates all kinds of seriously cool wraps from scrap, confetti, masking tape and the like...

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We happen to be working on a really cool custom invitation that is all about found paper and handmade details (gold leaf! neon pink! so exciting! - more on that later), so needless to say when we came across Esther's work we were super duper inspired!

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Amazing, right?

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Check out more of her projects on her blog and her etsy shop...

Via MyLittleDay