Real Wedding: Lisa and Rory

We couldn't be happier to share the extraordinary wedding of our friends Lisa and Rory. Since we first met the happy couple (what seems like ages ago!) we've been dying to see photos of their big day, and we are not surprised to see how beautifully it came together. Lisa and Rory wed at The Olde Bell in Hurley, England amongst historic timber framed buildings and lush greenery. It was the perfect venue for their rustic, vintage inspired wedding. Their story is featured on Martha Stewart's Brides Guide today (yes, we're jumping with joy!) where you can read more about their ideal I-do's.

It was such a pleasure designing their invitation suite! So much detail and care went into creating the perfect set, and they match perfectly with the scenery. In order to accommodate the space of the venue, the couple sent two sets of invitations, some for both reception and ceremony, and others to just the reception. The ceremony invitations were screen printed on floral handkerchiefs and tied to letterpress printed card stock. The reception invitations were a bit more playful, including a balloon to inflate reading the details of the party! It definitely set the mood for the night, and we love that they incorporated the balloons in their day-of decorations.

Photographer Chloé Browne of Caught the Light Photography did a fantastic job capturing the whimsical spirit of the celebration. With such a beautiful bride and groom, it must have been a piece of cake!

At the reception, the table numbers stood above glowing floral arrangements by Chantal Flores Design. The signs were inspired by British pub names, and each had a unique and rustic illustration to top it off.

Variable printed place cards were looped with ribbon and attached to knick-knacks that match the table theme. The pig made an appearance at the Pig and Whistle Table, and the crown at The Royal Wee. Oh so clever!

Their not-so-traditional wedding cake was made up of different cheese wheels! Who doesn't love cheese and fresh fruit? It was finished with a hand-cut paper cake topper by yours truly!

Each guest received a printed paddle fan with the details of the ceremony. It may not always be warm in England, but luckily the couple ended up with fabulous weather for their day!

Say Fromage supplied a photobooth for the event, and the photos were assembled by guests into a scrapbook. It's such a great way for friends and family to leave notes and memories! The couple also included our chalkboard word bubbles and various props to spruce things up.

Congratulations to Lisa and Rory!

Check out the entire Martha Stewart Weddings feature here!

Credits:

WEDDING DESIGNER & PLANNER: Mary Lee Herrington of Forever & Ever Events (http://www.foreverandeverevents.com) PHOTOGRAPHER: Chloé Browne of Caught the Light Photography (http://www.caughtthelight.com) STATIONERY, SIGNAGE & PHOTO BOOTH PROPS: Hello Lucky (http://www.hellolucky.com) VENUE: The Olde Bell (http://www.theoldebell.co.uk/) FLORIST: Chantal Flores Design (http://www.chantalfloresdesign.co.uk/) GOWN: Britta Kjerkegaard of The Couture Gallery (http://www.thecouturegallery.com/html/tcg.html) SHOES: Christian Louboutin (http://www.christianlouboutin.com/) FURNITURE HIRE: Theme Traders (http://www.themetraders.com/) HAY BALES: Holdshott Farm Shop (http://www.pfo-shop.co.uk) MUSIC: New Hot Cross Band, represented by Sternberg Clarke (http://www.sternbergclarke.co.uk/) CEREMONY SINGER: Sara Al-Qaiwani, bridesmaid PHOTO BOOTH: Say Fromage (http://www.sayfromage.co.uk/) MAKEUP/HAIR: Kaz Fernando (http://www.kazfernandomakeup.co.uk/) CHEESE CAKE TOWER: Tastes Delicatessen (http://www.tastesdeli.co.uk) LIGHTING/DJ: Gosh Management (http://www.thegoshgroup.co.uk/)

Letterpress Printing Classes at SFCB

Have an interest in learning about letterpress? Know someone who does? Well now's the time to get printing! The San Francisco Center for the Book just released their Spring 2012 Workshops & Events Catalog and it's full of opportunities for beginners and professionals. It could be a tremendous holiday gift for a loved one, or a New Year's resolution project for yourself! Classes range from $40 - $600 and from 3 hours to 5 days! What a great way to learn something new. And if you like to plan ahead, our very own printer James Tucker will be teaching the Advanced Letterpress Production Printing: Core Curriculum class on April 14 and 15. Sign up today!

Sweet Paper Proposal

This might just be the sweetest proposal we've ever been a part of! Months ago we were approached by a strapping fellow in the early stages of proposing to his beautiful girlfriend. He explained how the lucky bride-to-be has always been a fan of Hello!Lucky, and that he wanted to go above and beyond by incorporating letterpress into a handmade book with which he would use to pop the ultimate question.

In just a few words, the future groom had us melting. His short and sweet story finishes with a hidden box and a sparkly ring.

And of course, this book has the happiest of endings...she said YES! We were immensely delighted to help our friend take the leap, and think it all turned out magically. Congratulations you two!

Tour with Printeresting

Be sure to head over to Printeresting today where they feature a studio tour of Hello!Lucky! Our printer James showed the crew around and introduced them to the pressroom and shop. We love having visitors come to the studio so feel free to come say hello any time!

SFMade Pop-Up Shop

We had a lovely time at the opening reception of SFMade's Pop-Up shop at Banana Republic last Thursday! If you haven't seen the images on our Facebook page, you can enjoy them here!

From now until December 26th the Banana Republic flagship store is home to the products of a few of SFMade's local members.  You can find bags from Rickshaw, coffee from Ritual, and holiday cards from yours truly. There's plenty more to see so head over to Banana Republic on 256 Grant Avenue in San Francisco today!

Featuring Hammerpress!

Today we're thrilled to bring you our friends from Hammerpress! Hammerpress is a design studio and letterpress company based out of Kansas City, Missouri. You may remember our delightful tour of the Hammerpress studio earlier this year. The crew was enormously kind and showed us a fabulous time. We love their mix of vintage and modern and their cozy, woodsy designs. They offer tons of cool cards and paper goods in their shop, perfect for any holiday gift! Keep up with their blog here for updates on new products!

What inspired your design for the holiday collection?

Our inspiration for this project was, with all of our work, to create a collection that we like and feel good about. The unique thing about this project was not being quite so limited with color since it was not being produced in house. All of our work is letterpress so we typically don't have as much freedom with the amount of colors. Also, there are some things that just would not work on press here at the shop that we can do digitally. Also, working with Hello!Lucky wasn't too hard to swallow either.

What are you currently working on?

We are fortunate to have many different kinds of projects going at all times. We are currently working on some identity work for a new soda fountain / coffee shop project here in Kansas
City.  We've been involved in the project in a very hands on way ( i.e. demolition and finding materials, etc.) so it's a great a joy to work on the back end of the project as well. Currently we've got a lot of return customers for holiday mailers which is great. Some of them we have been working with for years. We just finished a large project with Boulevard Brewing Company here in Kansas City.  Boulevard is a highly respected brewery and has continued to grow since there impetus in 1989. We have had a lot of their beer so it's an honor to work with such a great company. As usual, we are also constantly working on new card ideas and larger print work as well.

What influences your style the most?

I think we have a lot of influences here at the shop, we all look at different things. Primarily our ideas stem from ephemera and design work from the past. Anything from postage stamps and matchbox labels ( we just bought a huge collection of 300 or so Indian matchbox labels ) to broadsides, rodeo posters, ticket stubs, old faded signs, found photos, you name it. We have a lot of stuff laying around.

What's your favorite holiday tradition?

Spending time with family and friends. We usually have a Hammerpress dinner party and I really like that.

Best holiday memory?

My best holiday memory would have to be when i was 8 or so. I woke up and ran upstairs to the tree ( why our tree was upstairs I don't know ) and found not only the Hot Wheels mountain race track set but also the giant Godzilla action figure with the handle that made what I think was a plastic flame come out of his mouth. That was just too much to handle.

To see the entire Hammerpress holiday collection for Hello!Lucky head here!

Featuring EIEIO and Giveaway!

Today we're delighted to feature the adorable Jean Orlebeke of eieio papers! We love Jean's designs because she has a totally unique style, and her collection stands out with it's embellished and geometric flare. Not only did eieio come up with these awesome designs for our holiday collection this year, but she also designed a few of our most popular wedding invitations! Check out her shop of prints here and scroll down for a holiday giveaway!

What inspired your design for the holiday collection?

To get in the holiday mood I put the sound track for Charlie Brown's Christmas on and chose a few eieio 'classic' wraps to translate into cards. Usually I try to design wraps that are more embellished or festive than the rest of the eieio designs. I typically don't use classic holiday color palettes, as my customers are small shops, and want the wrap to work in January as well. Instead I add a metallic ink, a gloss varnish or draw a motif that is ornate. I had so much fun re-coloring some of my favorite designs into classic holiday colors.

What are you currently working on?

My work is around 70% branding and identity. Right now I am working on two new identity projects: a perfume label and a film festival. I'm also working on some textile designs and the interface for an educational Earth Sciences product.

What influences your style the most?

Modern sculpture, natural forms, fiber art.

What's your favorite holiday tradition?

My family's Christmas Eve casual dinner. My mother always made a big buffet, which included everyone's favorites. We would make up our plates (several times) and eat sitting around the fireplace. Before we went to bed we had a funny ritual that my dad would tape each year: each of us would enter the room doing silly improv dances and make a grandiose presentation of hanging our stockings up on the fireplace. My mom's was always the most dramatic performance. She would hang up a thigh-hi stocking -- which in our family was a punchline that never got old.

Best holiday memory?

I always wanted a cat when I was growing up and on one Christmas Eve (I was 13), as I walked through the kitchen I saw a tiny gray paw reaching out from under the basement door. My parents were planning to give her to me on Christmas morning, but there was no way that little kitty was going to spend the night in the cold basement alone!

To enter to win a 2 boxes of Hello!Lucky letterpress holiday cards, leave a comment below telling us your favorite foods to eat during the holidays. We will choose a winner on Monday November 14th at 12:00pm. Good luck!

**A winner has been chosen! Thanks for participating!**

Featuring Office of Nature and Giveaway!

Katherine Patton is the powerhouse behind the design studio Office of Nature. Like Katherine, we're constantly inspired by vintage type and design, and when she agreed to be a part of our 2011 Holiday collection we were certain she would come up with something out of this world. Well, we were right! Her type-tastic designs have us gushing with excitement. Now living in Toronto with her family, she works for Zync as well as maintaining a freelance design practice.  Check out her shop here!

What inspired your design for the holiday collection?

I've always been inspired by historical typography. Anything from store signage, illuminated manuscripts, antique packaging, subway signs, anything really. I love how a typeface can have the power to represent an entire era or city or industry. They each have their own personality and I've always loved trying to pair them together. For the Christmas cards, I really wanted them to have that optimistic nostalgic feeling. Like if you rooted through your grandma's old photo boxes you might find one of these cards she saved.

What are you currently working on?

I'm always working on new prints for kids in my Etsy shop. Right now, I'm finishing up some alphabet prints. One is all hand-drawn, based on vintage type, and the other is sort of a super-modern geometric alphabet. I'm also a professional graphic designer so I actually spend a lot time doing less illustrative work. I love the variety of being able to rebrand a huge global company one day and then design a poster for a taco truck the next.

What influences your style the most?

I'm always looking to Mary Blair for the way she uses texture and shadow. She's amazing in so many ways. I also have a ton of typographic reference books that I'm always leafing through when I start a project, and I'm so thankful to be married to another super-talented designer who helps art direct my work when I need it. Also, Pinterest is my best friend.

What's your favorite holiday tradition?

Ever since I was a little girl I always made sugar cookies and spent hours and hours decorating them. I'd make 6 or 8 different colours of icing and every year I'd try to make the colours brighter and brighter. As food colouring technology evolved, this got easier. This Halloween....I finally made black!

Best holiday memory?

The one Christmas I spent in NY with my soon-to-be husband. We made a turkey in our tiny oven that we'd never used before and made all the fixings. We strung up some sad little lights in our empty loft and played the Charlie Brown soundtrack on repeat. My parents visited and ventured all the way out to Bushwick on the subway to have Christmas dinner with us.

To enter to win 2 boxes of limited edition Good Cheer letterpress cards designed by Office of Nature, head over to her Facebook page here where she will be hosting the giveaway!

(boxed sets include 6 cards and envelopes)

**A winner has been chosen! Thanks for participating!**

Studio Snapshot: New Valentine's Day Cards!

Here's a little sneak peek of some new letterpress Valentine's Day cards on the press as we speak! This is just one of many new card designs making their big debut soon, so stay tuned!

Featuring: Darling Clementine & Giveaway!

Today we're featuring the lovely and charming duo behind Darling Clementine! Ingrid Reithaug and Tonje Holand are too cute for words, and have a mod style that we are crazy about. In addition to graphic design and illustration, these ladies make beautiful stationery. You can order their adorable and customizable digital holiday cards here, but as a special offer, the DC ladies are giving away 2 boxes of the limited edition letterpress cards! We want them all for ourselves, but know you will love them just as much! Darling Clementine has its own shop in Norway, but if you can’t get there you can purchase their illustrations, trays, cushions and other stationery products online here. Enjoy!

What inspired your design for the holiday collection?

The inspiration for Darling Clementine's cards for Hello!Lucky is a combination of objects that have a traditional Scandinavian Christmas feel and objects from our modern ways of celebrating the holiday. We wanted to express the expectations we have for the holiday by indicating present shopping, Christmas decorating and finding traditional objects from the loft.

What are you currently working on?

We are both on our maternity leaves at the moment, so currently we are both spending the days looking into the beautiful faces of our newborn babies; our proudest creations so far!

What influences you the most?

Our Scandinavian design heritage combined with our modern color palette.

What's your favorite holiday tradition?

We love taking part in a Christmas fair for designers that is hosted in Oslo every first weekend in December, having a chocolate gift box workshop with red wine and dark chocolate overload, as well as putting up favorite baubles in our windows!

Best holiday memory?

Christmas present shopping in London and the wonderful smell in childhood homes Christmas morning!

To enter to win 2 boxes of limited edition letterpress cards designed by Darling Clementine, comment below and tell us your best holiday memory! The winner will be selected Friday, November 11th at 12:00pm. Good luck!

**Thanks to everyone for participating! The winner of the Darling Clementine giveaway has been chosen. Stay tuned on our blog for more fabulous holiday giveaways to come!**

Featuring Debbie Powell and Giveaway!

Today we’re excited to feature the lovely and talented Debbie Powell! Based in London, New York, and Southbourne, Debbie is an illustrator and hand letterer who loves working with all sorts of art mediums. From water colors to linoleum printing, pencil and pen to printmaking, her brilliance shines in all forms.  We love an artist who experiments with new things and especially love that in her spare time Debbie makes jewelry with the family collective Rah and Rah and her own handmade pots! What more could she conquer!?

What inspired your design for the holiday collection?

Long walks, hot cocoa on chilly evenings, Christmas parties, snowflake patterns, cinnamon sticks and paper chains!

What are you currently working on?

I have a few projects on the go at the moment—illustrations for a 2013 diary, patterns for textiles, and a regular spot in the travel pages of the British newspaper The Independent which keeps me busy.

What influences your style the most?

For a long time I have been very much inspired by the Wabi Sabi approach to art and crafts. This is the idea that nothing is perfect, and beauty is found in imperfection rather than flawless perfection.

What's your favorite holiday tradition?

My family lives right by the sea so every year on Christmas day we all bundle up and take a long walk along the beach for some after dinner fresh sea air!

Best holiday memory?

When I was ten years old my folks sent me to New York for Christmas to stay with my aunt for three weeks. We had the most amazing time: I got taken to Radio City, Rockefeller Center ice rink; I saw Santa at Macy's; New York at Christmas feels really magical!

To enter to win 2 boxes of limited edition Paper Chains letterpress cards, head over to Debbie’s blog today where she will be hosting the giveaway! Best of luck!

(boxed sets include 6 cards and envelopes)

**A winner has been chosen! Thanks for participating!**

Lucky Friday # 37, Esther Aarts Holiday Delivery

Hello all you lucky folks out there! This is the 37th edition of our Lucky Friday Giveaway! Each Friday we feature one of our letterpress greeting 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):

Harper, Sara P and Jessica!

We’ll contact you next week to arrange sending your Flying Bouquet card!

Now for this week’s snowy selection:

Design: Holiday Delivery Artist: Esther Aarts Inspiration: Postmen on ice? How perfectly pre-post-erous! Who to send it to: Any cute critter needing a particularly special, speedy delivery this holiday. Favorite detail: Oh my, how Esther works wonders with her winding, sinuous, skate-drawn script! Why letterpress? For sending beautiful letters with such beautifully pressed letters, how could you have it any other way?

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

James Tucker in Uppercase Magazine!

The fall UPPERCASE magazine is out and features our very own letterpress printer, James Tucker! The issue is all about sharp objects like hooks, knives, and other cutting tools. Check out the "Labor Intensive" section to see James's gorgeous wood-cut print! Congrats James!

Our New Website is Coming!

The big BIG news is out! We have been hard at work for months preparing for our new-and-improved website and blog. Unfortunately, we had to put our current site on hold in order to get all of the bits and pieces sorted out, but be assured, it will be grand! There are so many exciting new designs, customization tools, and even a few giveaways for the upcoming holiday season. Stay tuned because our new site is going live on Friday, October 28th and we can't wait for you to see!

We are still available to answer any questions during this time, so feel free to call us at 415-355-0008 or email info@hellolucky.com.

See you soon!

DIY Paper Quilt!

We can't believe this beautiful paper quilt was crafted entirely out of misprints and unsellable papers from Linda & Harriett's deliciously patterned calendars.  Gorgeous and green!

We're always looking for new ways to use scraps of paper and old letterpress samples (too pretty to toss away!) and this just might be in the mix for our next craft night.

Featured: Visit Hawaii on Hapa Hale!

Ahh, to be soaking in the sweet Hawaiian sun! We wouldn't mind sipping mai tai's, or tasting crunchy macadamia nuts, surfing in warm water or hiking ancient volcanoes. But, that giant blue ocean has come between us, and we must find other ways to treasure all the glory that Hawaii has to offer. One of those ways is to visit our Visit Hawaii invitation suite. Recently Hapa|Hele, a blog devoted to island life, featured our tropical invitation, and left us dreaming about all things aloha.

Things we love about Hapa|Hele? Island hopping. From these Na Pali coast prints (above) to the Big Island's magical getaways, we're gushing with island envy!

Chicago Skyline is here!

Drum roll please......Introducing, the newest member of the Skyline collection, Chicago! We know all you mid-westerners have been waiting patiently for the Chicago Skyline invitation suite to arrive, and the time has finally come! The invitation, reply card, and details card have carefully selected images of Chicago's finest monuments, buildings, and railways. We are so proud to welcome the windy city to the H!L family!

We're still working on getting the invitation up on our site, so if you're interested in Chicago Skyline just give us a call and we'll tell you how to order!

Letterpress love: Menus for Chez Panisse

Ahh, the world of letterpress shines again. Menus for Chez Panisse is a visual record of forty years of food, love, and appreciation for fine printing. In this unbelievable collection of letterpress menus printed by Patricia Curtan, you will find images of hand carved linoleum block illustrations and lead type text describing the mouthwatering ingredients from the early days of Chez Panisse. In the early 1970s when Alice Waters first opened the iconic Berkeley restaurant, Patricia printed the menus. by hand. for years. and we are gushing.

It's almost painful to imagine how many restaurants treat menus these days, when Alice Waters presented her guests with hand printed art at their dinner plate. It just goes to show how a nice quality menu really enhances the dining experience!

Be sure to purchase your own copy of Menus for Chez Panisse here or here.

Photos from Mint

Studio Snapshot: Personalized Stationery

One of the many perks of working in a letterpress studio is the access to the presses (and quality printers!). Kristine and Christina both fell in love with the same personal stationery design, but put their own unique twist on the concept. Christina's version (above) features a "from the desk of" line along with a feather motif, while Kristine (below) favored a more simple approach.

Both designs were hand-printed on our 1950's Vandercook press.

Now get to those handwritten notes girls!

...introducing Elliot!

There's a new babe in town! Elliot is the newest baby to join the growing H!L family and we are thrilled! Almost as adorable as Elliot's button nose is his letterpress printed birth announcement designed by our very own Anna Hurley. How cute are the worms and mushrooms?!

Welcome Elliot and congratulations Kelly & Erich!