Goodies

I am super excited about the beads I've just inherited (my sister was deciding which ones to use for her bridesmaids dresses & I got the rejects) and the colorful tape I just got from HappyTape. I don't have specific uses for either - but I'm thinking a big long necklace & decorating envelopes & notes are in the near future.

A Vermont Wedding

Scenes from the wedding in Vermont this weekend - gorgeous & so much fun.

From the Desk Fridays: Place Cards

I'm off to our very good friends wedding in Vermont for the weekend. You know when two people are just a perfect match? That's these two. I just love them & love them together and could not be more excited to help them celebrate their big day. I did their wedding invitations as well as these fun place cards taken from our misprints bin.

Have a great weekend.

With Thanks: Martha Stewart Weddings

We have been waiting for the Martha Stewart Weddings summer issue to come out and I was finally able to pick up a copy this week - in the rain, of course. Soggy pages or not, this issue is full of color. Our Crescendo invitation made the spread on page 30 where they set the stage for the rest of the issue. I love the pink & red color combo - so very sweet, so very summer. It got a little washed out in the mag, so I thought I'd share a more true-to-color version here:


Thank you to Martha Stewart Weddings for asking us to be a part of such a vibrant issue!

Coming Soon: Paper Doll Note Cards

We got so many compliments at the NSS on our little paper doll design from our 2010 calendar that we've decided to make it into a note card set. Perhaps in different colors - but I do love the yellow & gray. You'd think June was the rainy month this year - but I always think of rainy day gear for April. It was raindrops for 2008, umbrellas for 2009 and then it started with a yellow raincoat for 2010 and morphed into this paper doll ensemble. Cute cards for big and little girls alike. Stay tuned for those or sign up for our newsletter & get the announcement first.

New Online: Nate Duval Greetings

Now available in our online shop: greeting cards with illustrations by artist & printmaker Nate Duval. Nate does the most amazing hand-printed posters - and for some of my favorite bands. I am beyond excited that Nate agreed to do this work for L&H.

Many many thanks, Nate!

Color Inspiration: Shirt Racks

John & I went to our local Goodwill on Friday afternoon to find a blazer he needs for a wedding. Because of his long & skinny frame, we would have needed to reconstruct a brand new blazer. (JoS. A. Bank pretty much told him not to get one there because of that.) While there, I found myself paying more attention to the color-coordinated racks of shirts. I especially love the sorbet colors of the last one.

From the Desk Fridays: Hey Brooklyn podcast

Amber from Hey Brooklyn has posted our interview online. Eeek - have you ever heard yourself talk? I was so nervous - and kinda sound it. But Amber was great & super sweet to have me on. It was so much fun. Have a listen here.

Thanks, Amber!!

Jewelry Designer, Anne Woodman

Last night, I went to a trunk show for New York-based jewelry designer Anne Woodman. My sister introduced me to Anne's work when she got me one of her really cool vintage rings last year. I get compliments on it every time I wear it. I had never seen any more of Anne's collection in person so I was really excited to see the full range. One of the things I could not keep my eyes & hands off were her headbands. The band itself is very thin and then she's attached these gorgeous gold-wrappings. The butterflies were a favorite, as was this vintage frog piece wrapped in a gold mesh web. So unique.

You can see more of Anne's work at her trunk shows for Henri Bendel & in her new shared retail space at EDGE*ny on Bleecker Street.

Yankee Stadium

Friends of ours took us to a Yankees game last night in the new stadium. I had only been to the other stadium once, but it was obvious that this one was seriously fancy. I was super impressed with the layout (lots of room to walk the corridor) and the food selection (Brother Jimmys BBQ, Johnny Rockets, a gourmet sausage stand & Carvel ice cream - we hit them all) and the gigantic screen in the outfield (even my failing eyes could see Hideki Matsui's face was 3 stories tall). And the Yankees logo wrapped on every carton - hot dog, fries, burgers - was pretty slick I thought. But with all the bells & whistles, I was surprised to see that their graphics were very much the same or similar. The Noise O Meter? The armless cartoonish white gloves clapping? Why? Everything else seemed so new & fresh that it just seemed odd to have this fancy screen displaying the same gimic-y graphics. Maybe I'm naive to the technology required for something like that - but it just seemed ill-fitting. Or maybe it doesn't even matter. The action on the field, the company by our sides and the food in our laps were all so good.

Cut Outs

Working on ideas for wedding invitations. Above is an idea based on cut out shapes. I'm really liking the straight & a little off-kilter lines of the branches. I tend to gravitate towards the not-too-perfect much more than the pitch-perfect - especially for wedding invitations. Being able to see the hand in the design seems to make it so much more intimate, more unique, more personal - perfect for a wedding.

Post-It Notes Video

Really cool video John found this weekend on Creativity using post it notes & stop motion animation by Savannah College of Art senior Bang-yao Liu.

From the Desk Fridays: Cutouts

I'm thinking about my next screen print and am curious how my simple cut out shapes from class can translate to a wedding invitation I'm working on right now. Liking the idea of block-shaped and triangular trees. Hmm... we'll see.

Have a great weekend everyone!

GOOP & Tates

Do you know of GOOP - Gwyneth Paltrow's newsletter? I first heard of it because of the criticism that came from it's launching. People got their feathers ruffled because they couldn't dream of taking life advice from someone as high-profile & privileged as her. Whatever. I started subscribing to it earlier this year & genuinely look forward to the emails. She's got a lot of interesting friends & makes good use of that by letting us all in on a little bit of it. Anyway - enough of the defense - today's GOOP newsletter is all about cookie recipes. YUM. And at the top is Tate's. Do you know Tate's cookies? They're positively delicious. Check out today's newsletter here. And sign up for GOOP here. Enjoy.

[image courtesy of Tate's & GOOP]

Screen Printing: First Prints

A couple shots from my very first screen prints - here, on an A9 envelope (5.5 x 8.5). This was so much fun! I can't wait to dive into more projects.

Screen Printing Class

I recently hand-stamped a friend's baby shower invitations & realized how much I missed getting my hands in there - getting them dirty - making the impression with my own arm - no mechanical errors or technical issues other than ink & surface & the beautiful imperfections that come from doing anything by hand. I missed all of it & knew I needed to do more of it - but with a little structure. (Structure really helps kick me in the rear.) So when I saw that textile designer, Lena Corwin had an open spot in her Screen Printing class, I jumped on it. It was perfect timing. I'm so excited to go to my first class tonight! I can't wait to get back to using my hands - and in a whole new way for me. Stay tuned for updates.

[image above of Printing By Hand by Lena Corwin - a must read for anyone interested in printing with various tools on various surfaces]

With Thanks: Cottage Life

Thanks to Cottage Life for putting our Moose note cards in this cute spread, Moose on the Loose. The layout & shots are great. The spread reminds me of the layouts I loved in Blueprint. I don't know what it is - but I have such a soft spot for this big goofy-looking animal.

Off to the Beach!

I'm taking off early to head down to the Jersey shore for my annual girls weekend. Surfside cocktails, lots of catching up, biking around town, mini golf, my current read, maybe some Bananagrams... I can't wait!

[photo courtesy of D.S. Brennan]

From the Desk Fridays: Flower Pin

We sent out some great flower pins this week of all new designs/misprints. Love the color of this one. I'm feeling the Fourth of July already!

Happy Birthday Cake Stands

New to the shop: Happy Birthday Cake Stands. Love this one! I took it from our 2009 calendar - I just had to keep it around for more than one month.

Brooklyn Pop Up Wedding Series

Tomorrow is the first day of the Brooklyn Pop-Up Wedding Series at 303Grand in Williamsburg. Vané from Brooklyn Bride and The Wedding Library have teamed up for this fantastic month-long series of bridal shops & events. The first week includes stationery - and of course L&H! As the finale to the series, couples can be married in the undoubtedly all dressed up, Martha Stewart Weddings Pop-Up Chapel. I can't wait to go check it out next week! Find out more here.

Phish & Nate Duval

I'm going to the Phish show tonight at Jones Beach. I can't even count how many times I've seen Phish. But this was years ago - like high school. And before I could drive. I didn't even really enjoy seeing them in college so much because it seemed like the whole thing - the whole production & venue & scene - had gotten so big and kinda ugly. But now, here I am, a 28 year old quasi professional, heading to a Phish show - and I'm just as excited as I was more than 10 years ago. I have no idea if it's going to be teeny-boppers or all oldies like me - but I'm really excited to hear them live again! It's been so long. And I think it's made me want them back all the more because of that.

Above is the Fenway show poster that Nate Duval did. A five color screen print. He's pretty darn good, huh? 50 go on sale today at noon EST in Nate's Etsy shop.

Web Updates & Off to PA

I did some website updates this weekend. I've decided to go back to showing thumbnails as abstracts rather than products. I stopped mid-way so I get could get some feedback from my L&H teammates - but I'd love to know what you guys think too. You can see the work in progress here. I need to adjust some of the color (like the Lavender Zig Zag swatch), but aside from that, I think I like it better. I'm just wondering if it's too abstract & therefore confusing. Any thoughts?

We're in Pennsylvania today for a benefit shopping event at Lankenau Hospital, so I'll be twittering from there.