National Stationery Show 2010 : Lovely Invites, Part 2

June 01, 2010 // kristen // 0 replies

If you missed it, be sure to check out the first in the Lovely Invites series.

Chewing the Cud’s invitation album was full of letterpress lovelies like Rustic Florals (top) and A Woodland Affair (bottom). Ah, faux bois love!

Chewing the Cud Letterpress Wedding Invitations

A gorgeous selection of letterpress wedding invitations by Thomas Printers in the Ladies of Letterpress booth. My favorite had to be the adorable “love birds” invite on the right. Great typography, and such cute illustrations.

Thomas Printers Letterpress Wedding Invitations

Very cool letterpress wedding invitation designs going on at the Paper Boat Studios booth. I love the top invite — the organic lines remind me of a typographic map or a cross-section of sedimentary rock. Very cool.

Paper Boat Studios Letterpress Wedding Invitations

Gilah Press had an absolutely stunning wedding invitation album. Seriously, it was great. One of my favorite suites featured oh so clever venn diagram illustrations:

Gilah Press Letterpress Wedding Invitations

A beautiful collection of letterpress wedding invitations by Pistachio Press, also at the fabulous Ladies of Letterpress booth. Lovely pattern and color:

Pistachio Press Letterpress Wedding Invitations

A new collection of wonderfully bright and modern wedding invitations by Avie Designs:

photos by yours truly

National Stationery Show 2010 : Lovely Invites, Part 1

May 31, 2010 // kristen // 2 replies

So many absolutely gorgeous invitations to be found at the stationery show, including everything from clean, modern masterpieces to letterpress lovelies and invitations created using very unique techniques and materials.

Several of my favorite invitations came from the 42 Pressed booth, which was invitation eye candy from wall to wall. One of my favorite invites from the entire show was their Aylaberry design (below top) — great typography, clean design, and those colors! For me, there was just something about the crisp, black type combined with the soft pink envelope and yellow stripes. Just a few highlights from the 42 Pressed booth:

42 Pressed Letterpress Couture Wedding Invitations

I’m very excited about Elum’s new Umi line. Elum has teamed up with Envelopments for this line of affordable invitations, offering a selection of Envelopments envelopes, liners, and enclosures that you can incorporate for a truly custom package. The invitations in the Umi collection can be letterpress printed, or flat printed at a fraction of the cost, making them a great option for those of you who love great design but don’t have the budget for letterpress.

Erin was spot on about the Parallel suite (below top), another of my show favorites (swoon … blind deboss), when she said that it’s a design that will appeal to both women and men alike. Its beauty is in its simplicity, and I love that different patterns embellish the pieces in this suite.

Elum Umi Letterpress Affordable Wedding Invitations

Gorgeous invitation designs from Atelier Isabey, and a big thanks to Andrea from Gwyneth Paige for giving us a heads up about this booth because it was simply stunning. The custom laser cut invitation (below top) was amazing, as was Atelier Isabey’s attention to detail:

Atelier Isabey Luxury Wedding Invitations

Spark designs incredible letterpress invitations, but I have to admit that I got rather distracted by their fantastic new Stationery Love album. Hello, beautiful, die-cut calling cards!

Gorgeous watercolor florals by Cat Seto make these suites a standout for the couple looking for wedding invitations with a more painterly, artistic flair:

Oh so lovely calligraphy, as well as great color and contrast — black and hot pink really make a statement, in the letterpress wedding invitation suites from Sweet Letter Press.

Twig & Fig’s use of unusual materials and techniques made their wedding invitations a must see. Hot pink laser etched lucite? Wow!

photos by yours truly

National Stationery Show 2010 : All About Details, Part 3

May 26, 2010 // kristen // 2 replies

If you haven’t checked out the first two parts in the All About Details series, then you can find them here and here.

Kamal has such a unique line — I’m really digging the new chipboard invitations and cards, and I loved that she painted her booth a dark color to showcase her goods. Creating a garland using coasters from her collection was a brilliant idea, too.

Erin and I met up with the lovely Carina of Crow & Canary at the Wild Pulp booth — by the way, you should check out Carina’s great coverage of the NSS if you aren’t already. Wild Pulp made their debut at the show this year, and I thought that the booth, which Christopher transported to the show in his pickup truck (!), fit so perfectly with the tone of the Wild Pulp collection. Can you believe that Christopher actually creates the bird nests for his cards by hand? Wow!

Jason & Ilira at Rag & Bone Bindery had a great display, which included an outfit with a paper skirt (textile top) that Ilira made the night before the show. That takes paper talent! I was also digging their oh so pretty guest books and liked that they had a project from Jason’s new book on display to hold their business cards.

Unfortunately, because I was so busy poring over Jason’s book, I managed to forget to take pictures of the rest of the booth. Hey, this was my first show, so I can be forgiven, right? Plus, it’s a really cool book! Thankfully, Jason was kind enough to send me some his photos so I can share them with you. Thanks, Jason!

Photo Credit: Jason Thompson

Walking into the Timeless Paper booth was like entering a magical paper world. I loved that Emily and her crew had all of the paper pretties on display just as they would be used at a wedding reception or party. So pretty.

The Paper Loop booth was so much fun! Their colorful, wonderfully illustrated cards brought lots of smiles, and I totally wanted to take the cute little bear that was on one wall of their booth with me. Somehow, I doubt that Sara and Rob would’ve been very happy about that.

Such a pretty, woodland display of the Martha Stewart line at the Crane booth. Would you expect anything less from Martha?

photos, with the exception of the ones taken by Jason Thompson, by yours truly

New Advertiser : Finch & Hawk Paper Goods

May 25, 2010 // kristen // 1 replies

It’s my pleasure to welcome Paper Crave’s newest advertiser, finch & hawk paper goods. Erin Vale is the talented designer behind the finch & hawk line, which includes snarky notepads — I use my Pain in the Groceries and Freakin’ To Do lists all the time — as well as customizable, printable and printed favor boxes, seed packets, and other details that are great for gift packaging, weddings, and parties. You can check out the entire finch & hawk shop right here.

images from finch & hawk paper goods

Pattern Portraits by Benign Objects

May 19, 2010 // kristen // 0 replies

Silhouettes are one of the hottest things in the paper design world right now, and Rachel from Benign Objects has taken the silhouette portrait and given it her own, unique twist by creating custom pattern portraits. You send in a high resolution photo of the subject you want to be made into a silhouette and, from there, you can choose custom colors, patterns, frames, and a size for your silhouette. These would make lovely items for the wall in any room, and they would also be wonderful as wedding gifts or gifts for any special occasion.

Here are just two examples of the types of silhouette portraits that Rachel can create for you: