Hi Guys!  Hope spring is treating everyone well.  I wanted to share this great giveaway by Bella Figura!

If you loved our Pinterest contest last month, wait til you see what we’ve got in store for March! We want to see what good means to you: is it volunteering at an animal shelter? Planting trees? Donating to your local food pantry? Building homes for the less fortunate? Whatever it is, we want you to tell us about it and show us how you’re making a difference — and we’ll give you 25 free invitation sets* just for doing your good deed! It gets better: for the grand prize, we’ll give an entire set of free invitations to the person who submits the ultimate good deed. No purchase is necessary to participate, and the contest is open to everybody worldwide!

*25 free invitation sets when you order 50 or more.

Deadline: Your good deed must be done during the month of March 2012. Good deed submissions should be made by March 31 at midnight.

Judging: The team at Bella Figura will choose the top 5 do-gooders and will post them to a finalists board on Pinterest by Wednesday, April 4. Everyone is encouraged to read about the five finalists on the Bella Figura blog from April 4 through April 11, and should “like” their favorite on Pinterest in order to cast a vote. The do-gooder with the most likes on Thursday, April 12 will win the set of 100 free invitations. You must have a Pinterest account in order to “like” one of the finalists, so if you need an invitation, email dogood@bellafigura.com and we’ll send you an invite right away.

Enjoy being good during March friends! – Nicole

Today I am finally allowed to announce something that has been in the making since….April!  You are now looking at one of the newest calligraphers and designers for Bella Figura.  Two of my original designs for the new year are up and can be found here and here.

If you are not familiar with Bella Figura, they are a luxury letterpress and stationery company based out of Syracuse, New York who has a love for letterpress and a nice deep impression with punches of color and pushing the limits in options and combinations to their clients.

Without further delay I am proud to announce:

Mitty

Julian

and a collaboration with Kyle Laatsch – Modern World

Each is customizable in ink color, edge painting, liner color and pattern, corner rounding and paper color.  Bella Figura is also launching their new foil offering… I would love to see someone do my lettering with foil! (check out my fav – glamourous blooms!)

And thank you to Style Me Pretty for a lovely announcement on the launch of the new collection!

Today is the last day of the Bella Figura Sample Sale.  Get them while you can.

All samples $1.00, free shipping and 100% of sample sales go to Earthworks (protecting communities & the environment).

I was one of those brides – the sparkler exit.
These are way cooler and just as time sensitive to give that rush of excitement upon your exit. Plus they are biodegradable and apparently the $2.00 ones are easy enough for one person to light. Thanks for the info about this one Strictly Weddings Blog!

Well, I have been completely uninspired… After spending the last hours scouring the net for springtime items – this is what I have come up with. Enjoy.

My lovely sister just returned from Powershift, a conference for Green Builders and it inspired me to feature this wonderful Florida home, Acqua Liana by Frank McKinney, that I have been following and also just recently saw on Uncrate.
The home is installed with solar panels to operate the home on certain days, a rainwater collection system that collects enough water to fill a swimming pool every 14 days used to irrigate the 1.6 acres and fill the water garden, natural lighting to reduce the use of fixtures by 70% and enough water to lower the temperature of the property by 2-3 degrees – thus reducing the use of an extremely efficient air conditioning unit. Plus, all the wood used was from renewable or reclaimed wood to make this home “triple” LEED certified.This 3 story mansion has a glass water floor, waterfalls, subterranean garage, an aquarium bar, 11 bathrooms, 7 bedrooms, 2 glass elevators, golf course grass driveway, bio-feedback home tech automation, movie theater, extensive natural vegetation, glass wine cellar and more for only $29 million.

While it is certainly over the top for the every day joe – definitely and inspiration that we can take some of the concepts and apply to new building and renovations.

Word on the street these days is all about Smock Paper. With every reason – their work is gorgeous and sustainable. They use a custom bamboo paper for their letterpress, vegetable oil based inks and gift wrap made from 100% post consumer waste. Using wonderful colors and designs with a fabulous attention to detail, we should all be so inventive.