We are busy preparing for the 2012 National Stationery Show that’s just a few weeks away, but we wanted to stop and take a break to share the letterpress and foil stamped invitations that we printed and sent out for the show! Our modern Unique Minimes design set the tone, and we love the way our hot pink letterpress ink looks when paired with shiny gold foil stamping! As part of our mid-year release, we’ll be introducing a new book filled with invitation designs for life’s special occasions: engagements, birthdays, showers, Bar & Bat Mitzvah, baby, and more. 9 new invitation designs will also debut at the show, and those will be available  in early July at a Bella Figura dealer near you! We have the incredibly talented calligrapher Debi Zeinert of The Blooming Quill to thank for addressing the envelopes for these invitations in a metallic gold ink. We cannot get enough of the way those envelopes look!

Metallic gold is showing up everywhere this year, from high-fashion to home decor and especially in weddings. Metallic gold is one of the most glamorous and elegant colors you can add to your wedding to make it an event to remember! We love this trend so much, we’ve incorporated it throughout our new 2012 wedding invitations. This dazzling metallic isn’t just for traditional or formal weddings — it also works perfectly to add a feel of romance to vintage inspired weddings, and an unexpected flare to modern and contemporary weddings. To add this sparkling shade to your invitations, you can mix letterpress and gold foil stamping, or go with all foil printing (think matte gold and shiny gold for a super-stunning effect!).

We get to work with amazing people from every corner of this beautiful world on a daily basis, but it’s not everyday we get to ship invitations all the way to Bahrain (and that’s too bad really).  These Connemara (by Beth Ann Seal) letterpress wedding invitations are printed larger than our largest standard invitation sizes.  Measuring in at an impressive 8.25″ x 8.25″ they’re so big in fact that we needed to run them on our larger 13″ x 18″ Heidelberg Windmill press (affectionately nicknamed ‘Hindenburg‘ by our printers because it tends to be a little cranky).  Sea Mist and Navy inks,  Metallic Gold edge painting, rounded corners, and hand calligraphed Arabic text, all come together beautifully here on our 2-ply ivory paper.  We particularly love the way the fluid Arabic calligraphy compliments the repeating floral motif of the background.

inks: sea mist + navy | paper: 2-ply ivory | invite size: 8.25 x 8.25″ | edge painting: metallic gold | client coordinator: chris gannon | in-house designer: sarah walroth

This Sonoma Calligraphy (by Maybelle Imasa-Stukuls) letterpress wedding invitation set is without a doubt absolutely gorgeous! The invitation is printed in Black and Colorless Blind Deboss inks on our 1-ply white paper. Both the invitations and flat place cards are edge painted in our striking metallic gold ink. Using Light Peach ink as an accent on their flat place cards, and envelope liner really adds character to this unique set! We see this invitation being used for a very intimate and elegant wedding.

ink: black + light peach + blind deboss | fonts: streamline | calligraphy style: belle by maybelle | paper: 1-ply white | invite size: f-8 | liner: the classic color pattern in light peach ink | edge painting: metallic gold | client coordinator: jessica hanaman | in-house designer: lindsy aragona

by Jessica Hanaman, Client Coordinator.

We created these custom letterpress invitations for an event hosted by Nestlé last spring. They are a custom design derived from our Walden design, printed in antique gold and espresso inks with rounded corners and elegant metallic gold edge painting. Nestlé had these invitations printed for a celebration in honor of their first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold Certification, which is a certification bestowed upon buildings which meet or surpass rigorous standards for energy efficient and environmentally sustainable design in the architecture community. Bravo, Nestlé! We love working with businesses striving to do good things for the world.

When we’re working with couples to create their letterpress wedding invitations, we love seeing just how different they make one of our original designs by playing with personal details. This customization of our Champagne invitation is a perfect example of a couple who truly made a design their own. They opted for a subtle cream ink paired with black ink for all of the type on our thick 2-ply cotton paper, with metallic gold edge painting and a luxurious metallic gold envelope liner. It is sophisticated and completely elegant, perfect for their New York City wedding.