Hand-Stamped Invitations

As you may know, I started L&H as a custom rubber-stamp invitation business a few years ago. I designed the rubber stamps based on what clients were looking for and hand stamped each piece. (Similar to what I do now for custom letterpress work.) It can be a really playful process, which makes for some really interesting and unique work. Lately, I've been asked to do some really neat projects - with quick turnarounds - and rubber stamps are great for this.

Above is an invitation I did for Chelsea's grandmother's 90th birthday party. She wanted to include this fantastic photo of her grandmother, so I first printed that on Italian deckled-edge paper. Then I hand-wrote the invitation text and scanned that in to print that on top. And finally, added the stamped blooms on the bottom right corner. It was so fun (& fitting I think) to use such authentic pieces like the old photo, the handwritten text and the rubber stamp for such a momentous occasion. Thank you, Chelsea!

[photo courtesy of frolic!]

From the Desk Fridays: August's Monthly Project

August's Monthly Project is here! And I love it: A Vintage Flower To/From Stamp. I knew we were going to launch the 2011 Calendar & August's monthly project at the same time, so I wanted the project to be something that would complement the calendar's reusability feature. And I thought about my old friend, the rubber stamp, that has endless uses. I also thought about how many people give our calendars as gifts. So, I decided on a to/from stamp that you can use to create your own gift tags - and specifically, using paper you often throw in the recycling bin. Of course, you can do this without a stamp, but I think the stamp bumps up the special-ness of the tag just a bit:) I hope you agree.
Check out the stamp here, as well as the just-posted 2011 Calendar!

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Weddings All Week: Stamp Love

As you may know, I started Linda & Harriett as a custom hand-stamp invitation business. I worked with brides and grooms one on one to custom design a stamp (or a few stamps) and hand-stamped each piece. I now work primarily in letterpress and do the same kind of custom consultation, but I have a very special place in my heart for stamps. I love the immediacy of working with them, the effect that the rubber has on the paper, and how every stamped piece is unique. Plus, it's crazy affordable. So, if you're up for it, it's a great way to add some fun texture and color to your wedding day.


Shown above is pretty much all the supplies you'd need. The "Bloom" stamp is my own design - and one that I have translated into letterpress. The other is a stamp I bought at the Ink Pad in the city. And after trying pretty much all the stamp pads out there, Adirondack is my favorite. The re-inkers are larger than most (great for big projects) and I think their colors are top notch.


Seen here are some great ways to use stamps for your wedding. Place cards and welcome bag/gift tags. I think it looks really nice to use varying stamps and paper shapes, while keeping the color consistent. The bloom stamp is a one-time stamp piece. I think I stamped the flower petal stamp twice to take up a bit more room. And the butterfly tag is our 100% cotton tag that I stamped with our wallpaper design - love this! - which could also be used as an escort card. Using stamps is a really great way to keep wedding paper costs down - and a great way to add a handmade feel to your wedding. It may take some practice - but if you're into it - you could stamp everything from your Save the Dates and invitations to your place cards, tags, menus, table cards - even ribbon or material. I could go on and on...

Personalize Your Note Cards

I have been hand stamping invitations for a while now and recently decided to hand stamp my letterpressed note cards. I was nervous that it would dilute the quality of the letterpress - but I have found the opposite to be true. It adds another layer - in a really good way I think. And when it is physically layered on top of the letterpressed image, as in the Summer Dress card below for Eloise, I find the chocolate ink to be like a beautiful linen screen.

While I have been personalizing stationery on a You Ask, I'll Do It Basis, you'll soon be able to personalize your note cards online through our website. Here are some samples I have done in the past:


And here's one I just did for my niece's birthday:


And this one of our Oversized Flats (8.5" x 5.5") - all elements are large & in charge on this one! Perfect for big handwriting like mine:


Having the names rubber stamped gives me the flexibility to place the name wherever I want, in any color, and on different designs. AND, the person gets to keep their stamp. I love the way it looks and can't wait to do more of them.

Email me directly at liz@lindaandharriett.com if you want your very own.

And let me know what you think of the rubber stamp/letterpress combo. I'd love to hear what you think.

K&C Wedding Week

This is going to be my one & only post of the week. Hush now, you'll be okay. :)

My sister gets married on Saturday & I'm helping with nearly everything having to do with paper. Above is a little peek at their Rehearsal Dinner menus. Instead of having them letterpressed, I went back to how L&H got started: rubber stamps. I love love love rubber stamps. I took this little fishie design from their Rehearsal Dinner invitation (which was letterpressed) and had it made into a rubber stamp. I printed the menu text on fine Italian paper using our HP printer and hand-stamped each menu in a light blue archival ink. I don't think I'll ever tire of the rubber stamped look - how the hand is so obviously behind each impression. Bryn from Paperfinger did the calligraphy you see at the top. A touch of the hand in the text bumps it up a notch.

If you find yourself missing the L&H blog, follow me on Twitter. I can't give away too many details before the big day, but I'll be tweeting here & there - or as much as the bride will let me:)

Have a great week!

Hello, Old Friend

I'm working on an amazing project right now using my old friend, the rubber stamp. You may know that I started L&H exclusively working in rubber stamps. I love how immediate it is. And living in NYC with stamp producers able to do same-day turnaround on custom designs, it feels even more instantly gratifying. Hand-stamping several pieces for a big wedding was a lot of work (and came with a lot of mistakes & re-dos) but for smaller runs like this project, it's super fun. Most people probably think of scrapbooking when they think of stamping - but it can have such a beautiful timeless effect. And it can be so easy for invitations or stationery. Maybe I should have a little tutorial on here for creating simple tasteful invites using stamps? Hmm. Would you be interested?

L&H: A New Direction

As I've mentioned, there are changes going on over here at L&H - changes I've been thinking about for a while & am excited to finally announce them.

When I started L&H, it was with imported papers, rubber stamps and ink pads - most of which I still have:) I worked with clients one-on-one and made invitations by hand, stamping each piece. The result was beautiful and completely unique. But it wasn't easy. I didn't have many clients who were willing to pay for the work involved and the stamping took its toll. Wedding invitations had to be pretty close to perfect, and there is nothing perfect about a rubber stamp - except for its imperfectness:) So I decided I wanted to try out a line of note cards. With a small line of letterpressed note cards, I signed up for the National Stationery Show last minute. I had the sale of a lifetime that first year - to Paper Source. The then-owner walked in my booth and said she had to have them after seeing our moose note cards. I was beyond thrilled. I was giddy. And hooked.

We continued to release new note cards & products. We launched a custom album in 2008, which we sold that year to about 30 stores nationwide and one in Australia. What I thought would be an easy, streamlined process turned out to be more of a headache. Most of our retailers who ordered custom work were great. One in particular gave me heart palpitations – yelling, accusing, even threatening at one point. Can you imagine? I’m in client service, and I get it. But I wasn't happy about it. People think working with brides is a nightmare. In my experience, it was exactly the opposite. And I wished I had just kept working with them directly & exclusively.

On top of wholesaling our custom work, we were still working with clients one-on-one and offering a full retail line, which included new product lines too, and selling to over 100 stores nationwide. And I was the only designer. Three years later, I’ve got my two little hands in too many places without asking myself where I really want to be - for me and for L&H.

So, my friends, I’m pulling back on the reins. I took our albums out of stores at the beginning of the year and have pulled back on almost all custom work. And just this week, I took down our stationery line from our website and have stopped our formal pr efforts. It’s all a little sad, I must admit. But while I'm sad about ending some things, I'm even happier to be starting others. This is a transition. A big transition. And I’m excited about where this is going and most importantly, I'm excited about what it means for me – more control and more flexibility & freedom.

So what’s next for L&H, you ask? The only item we plan on wholesaling from now on is our annual calendar. It’s been my favorite project every year – and a favorite of yours, too, as it sold out last year by Thanksgiving! And then moving forward, I’m going to work on limited-edition projects - projects on paper and other materials - to be released on our website about every month (via newsletter and of course here on the blog). And I’m thrilled to announce here that our very first project is a letterpressed birthday calendar! (A peek at the cover, above.) I have been wanting to do one of these for years. John and I have 18 nieces and nephews, so it will personally make things a lot easier for us! We’ll debut the birthday calendar at the NSS next weekend and offer it to retailers exclusively at the show and then launch it on our website at the end of the month. I can't wait to show it to you.

Thank you so much for all your support over the years. I am really excited about this transition and am looking forward to sharing my progress & process with all of you here.

And as if this wasn't enough to digest, I have something else to announce tomorrow! So do stay tuned. I promise it's good!

The L&H Wedding Album

After thinking about it long and hard, writing down and re-writing down the pros and cons, and sketching out the costs in Excel, we've decided to come out with a letterpress wedding invitation album. This is a huge step for us - and one I feel very good about.

For those who don't know the story, I started doing invitations a couple of years ago and hand-stamped everything myself. I worked with brides one on one to develop a design, then had a rubber stamp (or many) made specifically for that couple's invitation set. While I loved (and still do enjoy and appreciate) the immediacy of rubber-stamping, I longed for the impression in the paper that letterpress offered. When I launched my line of letterpress note cards last year, I began to think about doing letterpress invitations, but held off for some time because I was not comfortable giving up the stamping.

But that changed when I noticed my strong affection for letterpress, the petting that goes on when a new piece is done, and really how perfectly letterpress matches wedding invitations - the best quality printing process (in my opinion) and the most special day of two people's lives.

This Bloom invitation above is an adaptation of one of my hand-stamped invitations that actually appeared in last October/November's issue of Modern Bride. It'll be one of our invitations in our wedding album we hope to debut this spring.

Stay tuned...

Oysters in the Mail

You may remember my post on these cool Oyster Save the Dates I did for Dee & Doug. I also put together this simple return address rubber stamp for them, which I think is such a great, non-expensive option that in my opinion will always be far superior to labels or laser printing.

Dee was nice enough to send over a few pictures of the stuffed, stamped and addressed version:


I LOVE the kraft paper/letterpress combo. And the nautical stamps they used are perfect for this seaside wedding. Well done, Dee & Doug. And thanks for sharing!