Shout out!

{credits and original post here}

I've been following this blog for a while now. Kathleen is a super talented designer from Seattle who blogs about all sorts of beautiful things, but is known for her amazing DIY (do-it-yourself) projects and is often featured as the DIY queen on Style Me Pretty. She's also designed some pretty stellar packaging pieces including the gorgeous new bags for Baked Lays. I usually check her blog every couple of weeks for some inspiration, but hadn't been there in a while since we've been a bit preoccupied. So this morning I did some catching up and was pleasantly surprised to find that she has featured two of our favorite designers. Her first post featured the beautifully screen printed "You fill me with sunshine" by Fréya Art & Design. Fréya's work is stunning. Her illustrations are so unique and she pairs them with lovely sayings that tug at your heartstrings. We currently have this print in our store along with several other sweet pieces. We are ordering more for the holidays!

Her second post features another talented group, Petit Collage. We have a select number of these stunning bamboo mobiles. There are no words for just how sweet they are. Every nursery should have one hanging. I'm so psyched that Kathleen thinks these items are as beautiful as we do!

{credits and original post here}

Designer Spotlight: Gilah Press + Design

(All photos courtesy of Gilah Press + Design)

Gilah Press + Design is so super fabulous you don't even know. Unless you've seen their graphic letterpress cards or have had the immense pleasure of receiving one of their rad party invitations. Then you probably do know.

I'm all about these coaster fill-in party invites right now. How fun are they?! From Cocktail Party, to Dinner Party to Wine and Cheese Party - Gilah's got the party scene covered.

I love the idea of throwing an intimate, luxe wine and cheese party this fall. Because I know very little about wine or cheese (aside from knowing that I totally love both), it's so great that these coaster invites help a gal out by asking guests to bring the appropriate items like "hard cheese," "soft cheese," "white wine" "olives," etc.

My DIY invites would basically be like "Come drink wine and eat cheese with me! Bring wine. Or cheese." We'd probably end up with a group of us and 4 blocks of cheddar cheese and one bottle of Riesling. Bad news. So, thanks for making these, Gilah!

We've got a sweet selection of Gilah goodies at the store, so pop in to see for yourself. We'll also be getting fun fall and holiday cards, fill-in invitations and note sets so keep your eyes peeled.

Finger Lickin' Fridays: Stuffed.

(Photo courtesy of The Brown Eyed Baker)

Ok - story here! One of my besties, the lovely Ms. Lauren "LuLu" S., and I had the pleasure of dining at Cava - Portsmouth's new tapas and wine bar - a few weeks ago. Totally fab; definitely a new fave of mine. We drank sparkling wine in delicate flutes, nibbled on delicious small plates of fresh crab and avocado and then completely stuffed our faces full of (the Cava version of) these amazing little bites of heaven. Honestly. All of our ladylike manners and our posturing as cultured, educated women went soaring out the window when our (super hunky) waiter delivered a platter of roasted medjool dates stuffed with manchego cheese and wrapped in broiled ham.

We were like ravenous dogs. There was lip smacking, finger licking, and moaning in delight over the salty, sweet, cheesy deliciousness of it all. We loved them so much, in fact, that we ordered them for an appetizer and then ordered another plate at the end of the night as our dessert. And it was perfect and I'd do it all over again and probably will.

Thanks to the Brown Eyed Baker, I can now whip up these sinful little devils and eat handfuls of them all in the comfort of my own home and without the disapproving eyes of the more refined restaurant diners. Hooray!

This one's for Wes

So, my adorable soon-to-be nephews, Wesley, age 5 and Beckett, age 3, came to our grand opening on August 6. When Sam posted a few photos from the party, this one of A.K., Beckett and me made the post. A.K. had just told Beckett to pretend to kiss me on the cheek, but really lick me. Obviously they thought it was hilarious. Anyways, the kids saw the blog post and Wesley was pretty bummed out that he didn't make it and his little bro did. So, Wes, my man, this one is for you.

{pretty cute, right? courtesy of the lovely emilie}

Timeout for my favorite fruit

{delicious dessert spotted here}

For those of you who live in New England and haven't eaten any native peaches this season, you are missing out on the most delicious fruit ever! Seriously. I love fruit. It's probably my favorite food group, hands down. I love local strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, apples etc... but, peaches win by a landslide. So stop what you're doing and head to a farm stand to pick some up before it's too late! And then if you feel like whipping up some meringue and delivering this lovely dessert to 206 Market Street, we would be so appreciative. We might even sell you a card or two.

I swooned so hard for this wedding I fell off my chair...

(Screen grab from Style Me Pretty)

You must must must watch this incredible video by Monachetti that I found via the ever-fabulous Style Me Pretty.

Oh my. I am so, SO in love with this wedding. I'd marry it if I could. I might try to.

Gorgeous people + veils to die for + posh posh posh to the max + Lisa Loeb!? = Samantha's dream wedding if Samantha could were cooler and could pull it off and was not such a nerdy horse girl.

I love this dress.

Can't afford it and it would look horrible on me, but I keep coming back to it. Isn't it just gorgeous? I'm in love.

{seen some time ago on one of my fave blogs}

I want to make my house a home.

Now that Sam and I have our store looking super cute and put together, it's time for me to pay some attention to the place I sleep every night and occasionally, if I'm lucky, relax in; my house. Since we don't have any extra cash to put towards new furniture, I'm going to have to be creative. I've been taking a break from the wedding blogs to peruse some interior design blogs and have fallen in love with hundreds of beautiful images. I suppose I should put together an inspiration board and go from there. In the meantime, here are a few select shots I adore.

{seen here}

{and here}

Finger Lickin' Fridays: I Scream.

(All photos courtesy of Kayotic Kitchen)

Oh, I'm sorry - did you say ice cream? And dulce de leche? And raspberries? And cookies? AND butter?

Ok, I'm listening.

You should all know by now, I'm a big eater. And my absolute #1 fave is ice cream (well, frozen yogurt, really). I have a small bowl of fro yo almost every night after dinner. At 9:30PM it's my nightly treat to myself. My second fave is fruit. If I could live on fruit and ice cream, I'd be a happy camper. Well, fruit, ice cream, cheese and wine - then I'd be a happy camper.

When I stumbled upon this simple, delish recipe for a fruity, ice-creamy, cookie-y concoction I was delighted. The bars look amazing - and I had a chuckle trying to pronounce the ice cream and cookie brands shown in the pictures. I sounded more or less like the chef from Muppet Babies.

Designer Spotlight: The Lettered Olive

I've been pouring through our new album from The Lettered Olive - a couture paper company based out of Charleston, South Carolina and New York City. It's just absolutely amazing. The designs range from ornate and intricate to fresh and modern and everything in between. Whitney and I fell in love with The Lettered Olive when we met the lovely ladies at the NSS and got a peek at their gorgeous wedding album.

The big, beautiful album features over 18 stunning designs - all completely and truly customizable. Choose from a full library of detailing options from incredible, lace-like belly bands, punchy edge painting, and dozens of patterned backings and envelopes liners to a large collection of fonts and broad palate of colors. The options are endless and it's a joy to mix and match elements to create the absolute perfect invitation for each client.

One of the things I really love about this book is how they included photos of a wedding/party of similar aesthetic with each design. Seeing how the design, color and tone of a wedding or event can translate into an amazing, crafted invitations or vice versa really is truly inspiring.

As if I needed any more reason to love this company, The Lettered Olive honors a serious commitment to the environment. They print on 100% tree-free cotton paper using a wind-powered letterpress. All the inks are vegetable and/or VOC (volatile organic compound) based and they use only low VOC and citrus-based solvents to clean the presses. Pretty rad, right?

Take a peek at some of their amazing designs below. Bu,t I have to say, nothing beats coming in to see the real deal in person with all the bells and whistles. The Lettered Olive pieces are seriously beautiful and the book is a treat to look through.

(all photos courtesy of The Lettered Olive)

And...

We're back!!! Turns out it wasn't the hard-drive that was giving the pretty computer problems; it was corrupt memory. Many thanks to the geniuses at the Apple store(s) for getting the girl back up and running. Hooray!!

Now back to pretty things.

Sick Baby.

Bad news bears at Gus & Ruby Letterpress today; well it's not really that bad actually. We are temporarily running an old timey no-technology (err - no credit card machine) shop as our beloved 20" iMac "Baby" has decided she needs a new hard-drive. This is slightly preposterous as Baby is only 4 weeks old; I'm hesitant to speculate, but those of you who have stopped by for a visit will know that we have our computer (which houses as our credit card processing system) in the corner of our cash wrap. You would think I would have learned this by now - but I'm pretty sure Baby wasn't happy about this situation. After all, no one puts baby in a corner.

Right?

Well in any case - we're totally still open today! Come on down!! It's just that we're cash and check only for this little time, but we're trudging through and making the best of the current set-up. As I type, Whitney is en-route to the Apple store in Danvers, MA (holler Danvahhhhhs!) with the little computer to see what we can have fixed. Fingers crossed it is fixable within the day.

I hope. I wish. I beg. I plead with the computer gods!

Sorry to all our wonderful customers and clients for any inconvenience this may cause today. We're working our hardest to have CC processing back up tomorrow.

New products daily!

Just put some Girl of All Work out on the shelves. Super cute fabric covered magnets and pins. Who doesn't need stylish push pins? Also included are adorable little books to hold business cards, address books, page flags and telegram postcards that look just like the vintage ones!

First Weekend and a little PR

Hello hello! It's been a busy and amazing couple of days for us here at Gus & Ruby Letterpress. We're slowly settling into a rhythm at the store and are making oodles of lists to help us prioritize all of the things we need to tackle in the coming weeks (and months and years!).

Among the many incredible and wonderous things that we've experienced over the last few days (not to mention months), our Grand Opening party was the bees knees. So many wonderful people came out to support us and check out the store for the first time.

Before we get to fun party pictures - check out our sweet 15 seconds of fame on NATIONAL TV (our 2nd, yes 2nd, TV interview)!! Woot woot!!

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralObject=8059207&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/specialreport/

Now - on to party pictures. As always, we were absolutely blessed to have Emilie of Emilie Inc. Photography there to celebrate with us and to take some absolutely amazing photos. Have we mentioned how much we love her? Because we just totally love her.

Pretty little storefront with lovely flowers courtesy of Mrs. Thelma Lyon.

Inside shots.

A sunny, cozy nook to meet with brides, new parents and party people and dream up perfect invitations and announcements.

Sweet treats to kick off a sweet beginning. Congdon's donuts (our fave!) and delish lemon-y G and R sugar cookies from Popover's On The Square.

We got to catch-up with dear, dear friends.

And hang with some pretty rad (and adorbs) kiddos!

We were just so jazzed to get to meet some new friends and share our excitement about the store.

Being nerdy.
Party goers spilling onto the street. It was a great night.

Best Wishes!

Just wanted to take a moment and wish Leanne and Bruce, our good friends and clients, all the best today as they tie the knot! We love you guys and wish you a lifetime of happiness!

{photo found here}

More shop pics

{Photos courtesy of Emilie, Inc.}

Busy first couple of days! Here are a few more product shots from the store. Thanks, Emilie!!! Make sure you check our new website if you haven't already: gusandruby.com