Jude Miller & Crepe Paper Flowers

We love making crepe paper flowers, but artist Jude Miller takes our breath away with her delicate and intricately detailed work (via Oh Joy!).

The incredible realism and the delicate colors and details are simply stunning. So inspiring...

Her headpieces are to die for...and imagine having her fashion a gorgeous bridal bouquet that you could keep long past your wedding day!

If you're in the Bay Area and would like to learn how to make your very own crepe paper flowers, Castle in the Air in Berkeley offers a great class and carries beautiful duplex crepe paper that they import from Germany that's an absolute dream to work with, as well as all the supplies you might need to create a veritable garden of delightful paper flora.

It's a wonderful way to add floral details to your wedding design - they make great boutonnieres, table setting decor (think place cards holders, a little blossom tucked into a napkin...), hair pieces...the possibilities are endless!

Featured Retailer: Magma

We paid a visit to one of favorite design shops and Hello!Lucky stockist, Magma in Covent Garden, the other day. As always, they had an impeccably edited selection of modern, design-led gifts which we coveted, fawned over, etc.

We couldn't get enough of these ridiculous Japanese soft toys, shown on the left and far right of this shop window vignette. We relate to the expression on both their faces!

And, in our persistent effort to build our brand in the UK, we couldn't resist these diva-esque business card holders.

Magma Books, 16 Earlham Street, Covent Garden, London (Covent Garden tube) Opening hours: Mon-Sat: 10am - 7pm, Sun: 12pm - 6pm

We heart Ban.do!

Check out ban.do a brand new range of fabulous headbands brought to you by Jen Gotch and her friend Jamie. We love the combinations of vintage flowers and details, feathers and other bits of loveliness.

These would be beautiful on any bride...

Though really, any excuse to wear one of these gorgeous bits of finery is good enough for us!

Poppytalk

Our studio was featured on Poppytalk today!

You can read the full post here.

Truly hilarious cake toppers

Trolling Etsy is one of our favorite pastimes for wedding inspiration, and this quirky rabbit cake topper caught our eye:

Designer Jennifer Murphy specializes in wedding and baby shower products. You can visit her Etsy shop here.

Vintage Playing Cards

We discovered these delightful greeting cards made from vintage playing cards last week at an a little antiques shop in Camden Passage, London (near the Angel tube station in Islington).

The concept of these cards is brilliant: a graphic, vintage playing card mounted with photo corners (usually face-down to take advantage of the decorated backs) onto a plain ecru card. They're perfect for a DIY project and would make great wedding seating cards -- since cards come in decks of 52 it's easy to make multiples! Some of these vintage graphics are truly inspired, particularly of the Erte-inspired ladies with their dogs on the right. See the entire collection here.

Hello!Lucky featured on CraftZine blog

We were honored to be selected by Craft Magazine to be interviewed for their blog. Witness our ascend to stardom here:

See Natalie's original post here and view her flickr photos of the studio here.

Thanks Natalie and Craft!

Dreamy Magical Surrealism + Tim Walker

We spotted Tim Walker's Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me? spread in British Vogue a while ago and ran across him again on Decor8. We have long loved anything to do with Alice in Wonderland-style dreamy magical surrealism and are in awe of the beautiful dream-like quality of Tim Walker's photographs. So inspiring!

Love the almost chalky quality of the light and color...

Excerpts from the Soldier, Soldier, Won't You Marry Me? spread in British Vogue

Always fans of a little wink and a nod, we love the wit and quirky humor...

An exhibit of his work is on at Design Museum in London, until September 28th. His book, Tim Walker Pictures, and various other bits and bobs are available through the Design Museum Shop...

Abigail Brown

We are huge fans of Abigail Brown, one of the artists who contributed to our upcoming book from Chronicle Books, Handmade Hellos (in bookstores in September!) and were so excited to hear that she has launched a blog so we can keep up to date on her latest delightful creations.

Her quirky birds are so charming and full of amusing character...love the color palette - it reminds us of an especially delicious cupcake!

Wall art that would be so fanastic in a nursery...the little fox with the one crazy eye is hilarious!

Matchbox Tweeters! Each Tweeter tucked into in his own little vintage match box, decorated with bits of fabric and stitching...

The gentleman pictured above is so very appropriately named Bostwick P. Federhut. Seriously, the tiny turquoise hat and upturned snout is just too much! You can shop for more darling critters and more at her etsy shop...

Scenes from a Gift Show

We just finished a busy week at the San Francisco International Gift Show. In addition to catching up with some of our favorite boutiques, stores and places to buy fabulous things, we made friends with a number of new and great vendors. We were huge fans of our neighbor, Tina, and her eclectic jewelry:

We also enjoyed visiting with fellow letterpress card designer Kim Austin, from Austin Press:

We have a soft spot for early California pottery. The new styles based on vintage designs from Bauer really caught our eye:

Make Diamonds History!

We admit it; we're complete magpies but we defy anyone to walk past the shop window of Jewels by Count Alexander in Islington without stopping, jaw dropping slowly, to gaze at the fantastic, glittering display set before you.

The shop is full of the most enchanting pieces made by Count Alexander von Beregshasy, each faithfully copied from originals worn by various members of European royalty or aristocracy such as Marie-Antoinette's sapphire necklace (above) or Grand Duchess Vladimir's tiara (below).

We can't think of a better way to turn a bride into a fairytale princess - or a frog into Prince Charming if bought for his very own Cinderella!

Jewels by Count Alexander: No. 13 The Mall Antiques Arcade, 359 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 0PD

Open every day except Mondays

Pom poms and paper lanterns

We confess, we're suckers for pom poms! They're easy to make, and for those without a DIY-bent they're available in inexpensive kits from Martha Stewart Crafts (also a great resource for DIY favors, rubber stamps, labels, and wedding accessories, including one of the only print-at-home program and place card kits we've seen!). You can also get great paper lanterns in a rainbow of colors at Pearl River.

Of course, we're fans of getting creative and trying out mix-and-match colors and shapes, per this gorgeous combination by Rebecca Thuss. Lovely!

Ryantown

Last weekend we paid a visit to Ryantown, Rob Ryan's new shop in the Columbia Flower Market, London, which we heard about from one of our favorite London bloggers, Wee Birdy. (The market was heaving with people and we couldn't get far enough away from the storefront to take a decent pic so this one comes via Wee Birdy's fabulous post, as does the shot of the tiles below.)

We've long adored Mister Rob's work, especially his gorgeous, intricate paper cuts. But we were practically giddy at the sight of all the fabulous new bits and bobs to which he's applied is fanciful, organic, folk-arty style.

One of our favorites: these delicate one-of-a-kind vintage glasses, which Ryan has decorated with birdies, stars, flowers, people, and sayings. At £10 each, these make great gifts and perfect collector's items.

We also loved these new ceramic plates. This papercut, which reads "Thank you for everything" pretty much sums up the generous, whimsical spirit of Ryan's work.

One of the wonderful things about the shop is that you get to be surrounded by Ryan's quirky world: these etched glass doors sit at the back of the shop, while this "You can still do a lot with a small brain" (here, here!) tile mural greets visitors at the entrance.

And of course we adore his line of four laser-cut cards for Roger la Borde. The one on the left is quite possibly the best romantic cards we've ever laid eyes on!

And finally, we peeked in the shop window at some lovely new flower vases - love them! For ongoing news and updates visit the Ryantown shop blog. You can also shop for a limited range of Ryan's work online here.

Ryantown, 126 Columbia Road, London (Old Street tube) Shop hours: Saturday, 1 - 4 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

San Francisco International Gift Fair

We're thrilled to be participating in the San Francisco International Gift Fair. We started with a blank slate - white walls, which we painted a taupe stone color. Then, we installed shelving, as well as our fabulous new sign from Because We Can (thanks Jillian and Toast!):

We then went to work on the lighting and decor (including bright fuchsia cherry blossoms!):

And before you knew it (or, two days later) a fantastic booth appeared!

We are especially fond of our Jonathan Adler vase and fuchsia and taupe aprons:

If you are at the gift fair, be sure to stop by! We are in booth 6010 in the North Hall.

San Francisco Gift Fair, Moscone Center, San Francisco Remaining show dates: July 28 - 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.; July 29 - 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Open to the Trade only.

Show Us Your Colors!

Lately, we've been noticing vibrant and primary colors everywhere. We love the colorful palette in this shop window in Notting Hill (sorry, we didn't catch the name!).

We also love the combination of fuchsia and other bold colors in these pillows by notNeutral and this Agenda by Sukie.

And then there are the fabulous pop-art-inspired pillows by London-based designer Karen Hilton. These color palettes make us so happy!

Creatures Great and Small

We Moyle sisters come from a family of quirky scientists who spend their whole lives studying things like moss, algae (our grandmother has a magnet on her refrigerator which says "where would we be without algae?" which garners a nerdy chuckle from family members on a regular basis), birds, bugs and fish. Needless to say, we have a special place in our hearts for the natural sciences, especially for the aesthetic of the 19th century naturalist (think bell jars, insect pins, vintage magnifying glasses...). It comes as no surprise, then, that one of our favorite stores in Paris is Deyrolle, a 170-year old quintessential cabinet of curiosities on rue du Bac near the Musée d'Orsay. With creaking floorboards and cabinets chock full of fabulous specimens of all kinds, not to mention a menagerie of taxidermy creatures, it really is a natural history museum masquerading as a shop.

How fabulous is this arrangement of birds?

Much to our dismay, they suffered a fire in February that destroyed part of their historical collections and their entomology room, but they have partially reopened and are planning to continue to restore the rest of the shop. They also have an online shop with a nice stockpile of scientific charts, among other things...

Le Grand Pig

We recently had a lot of fun designing a mailer for Fork & Spoon, one of our favorite local gourmet caterers. Le Grand Pig is a fabulous menu of pig-based fare such as crepinette of fresh sausage "sliders" served with house-made bisquits and summer stone-fruit mostarda. The menu serves 15 people for $1000 and, knowing Fork & Spoon, every bite will be mouth-watering!

Hello!Lucky Shop!

The moment we moved into our new space, we fell in love with the idea of having a little shop area where visitors could purchase our letterpress greeting cards and custom invitations, which are all designed and printed on premises. We're thrilled to announce that it's finally happened, and our little shop is open to all!

Downstairs we've displayed greeting cards and boxed note cards (interspersed with vintage ephemera). Our custom studio and wedding-related items are upstairs (some examples from our baby collection are below).

The talented Francois Vigneault did our window display, based on our Birthday Cars card. Ridiculously cute!

So stop by if you're in San Francisco! We'd love to see you!

Location: 977 Howard Street between 5th and 6th (Powell St. Bart) Shop hours: 9:00 - 5:30, Monday - Friday and by appointment

Photos courtesy of Shauna Leytus and Sara Remington.

Spoonflower Custom Fabric

We just stumbled across Spoonflower (via Stitch Lounge), a site that is in invitation only beta right now but that will some day soon be available to the rest of us (one hopes! cue bit-chomping), which allows you to print your very own fabric designs. We're *dying* with anticipation. We are simply brimming over with excitement over the opportunity to design our own textiles! Not to mention, the possibilities for creating custom textiles for your wedding (amazing coordinating table runners! Textiles for bridesmaids' gifts, guest book covers, huppahs, pocket squares, flower girl dresses...we can barely contain ourselves!)

We love the adorable dolls above and retro textiles below by June Craft - check out her Etsy shop here.

Fabric by Bezzab...

A cute purse by Marceline Smith at Asking for Trouble.

San Francisco Zine Fest

We took a trip to Golden Gate Park last weekend to visit the San Francisco Zine Fest. Some of our highlights were handmade books from Newlights Press (and Hello!Lucky printer Aaron Cohick!):

As well as zines from Family Style, and new cards from Motermouth Press:

One of our favorite booths was Pod Post, with their letterpress patch kit - too cute!